Great South West Walk

Sunday August 26

Section 41. LIZARD POINT TO COVERACK. Miles: 10.6. Grading: Moderate

Start time and location
Could you please report for registration at the RNLI station on the Lizard at 8am.
The walk will commence at 8.30am.

Parking
Plenty of parking avaialble at start points.

BUS SERVICES
An all year service, including Sundays, runs from Truro railway station to Lizard Green. It is also possible to reach Coverack from Helston – both these services are run by Truronian on 01872 273453. Information may also be found in our current Annual Guide, and confirmation of all buses can be obtained from traveline on 0870 608 2608 www.traveline.org.uk

TRAIN SERVICE
This section cannot be reached directly by train, but Truro station is on the main Plymouth to Penzance railway line, and it is possible to get a bus (see above) from outside the station. (National Rail Enquiries 08457 484950.)

MAPS
Ordnance Survey Landranger series (scale 1:50,000) Numbers 203, Land's End and The Lizard and 204, Truro and Falmouth.
Ordnance Survey Explorer series (scale 1:25,000) Number 103, The Lizard.

GENERAL
Lizard Point: seasonal café and car park.
Lizard Town (inland): accommodation, seasonal cafés, post office, general shop, gift shops, pub, car park, toilets, and public telephone.
Housel Bay: seasonal hotel.
Cadgwith: accommodation, pub, car park, public telephone and toilets.
Kennack Sands: seasonal café and car park.
Coverack: accommodation, pub, seasonal café, toilets, car park, and public telephone.

TOURIST INFORMATION CENTRE
79 Meneage Street, Helston, Telephone 01326 565431

The Route
Annual Guide Section 40 (10.6 miles – 17.1 km) Grading: Moderate, strenuous in parts

Starting from the National Trust Sales Office at England's Most Southerly Point you walk across the small free public car park to pick up the South West Coast Path behind Polbream Cove. Around the first corner you pass to seaward of the Lizard Lighthouse which, with a beam range of 29 miles (47 km) helps to guide mariners through one of the world's busiest shipping lanes. Almost immediately look right for a path to the Lion's Den, an unfenced collapsed cave formed about 150 years ago; approach with extreme care.

Back on the path you turn into Housel Bay and shortly descend by steps of serpentine rock to a stream at Housel Cove which is accessible. Next you climb up to the boundary of the Housel Bay Hotel grounds, which occupy an idyllic position. The hotel is open all year for bar snacks and the menu is temptingly posted on the Coast path.

Whilst traversing the neck of Pen Olver you see the Lizard Wireless Station which was used in the pioneering days of wireless telegraphy with a plaque on the wall dedicated to Guglielmo Marconi. This is now owned and has recently been restored by the National Trust, and is open from July to September – contact the Trevithick Trust who manage it on 01209 210900.

In July 1588 villagers from The Lizard watched the Spanish Armada pass by from Pen Olver.

Ahead on Bass Point is a white castellated building, which was the Lloyds Signal Station built in 1872 and is now a private residence. So that dues could be levied on their owners, passing ships needed to pass close to be identified, justifying the station's commanding position. This practice was abandoned in 1952 as it caused too many accidents. Adjacent to the former signal station is a look-out post which is now staffed voluntarily by the National Coastwatch Institution with direct communication to Falmouth Coastguard - lone walkers and groups are recorded in their logs, which is a comforting thought should the weather close in or for some reason one fails to reach one’s destination. In front of the look-out post a short length of red painted brick wall may be mystifying until you turn to see red stripes on the east wall of the old Lloyds building. When viewed from the sea these marks in line form a navigational aid.

You now turn north from Bass Point and on a clear day Black Head to the south of Coverack can be seen over to the right. After rounding Hot Point, where a large schist rock provides a natural seat, you next reach Kilcobben Cove and the dramatic setting of the Lizard lifeboat since 1961. Less sheltered previous lifeboat stations at Polpeor Cove and Church Cove were abandoned.

Next you drop down to Church Cove where the former pilchard fishery buildings have been made into attractive private dwellings. If resting here, it is worth thinking about food supplies as, perhaps surprisingly, you are still only 0.66 mile (1 km) from the general store in Lizard Town and the next general store is at Ruan Minor 0.5 mile (800 m) inland from Cadgwith.

The church is also quite near offering some of the more interesting applications of serpentine rock in the 12th century pillars of the porch and alternate blocks of granite in the tower, a more decorative item being the pulpit made of slabs polished to enhance the beauty of the material.

Leaving Church Cove by a kissing gate you skirt the back of some old quarry workings and start a longish climb reaching an open field after crossing two stiles. From here the mile or so to Cadgwith may be overgrown in parts and there are two streams to cross by wooden plank. Special features called the Chair, Whale Rock and Chough's Ogo are particularly fascinating.

Before the path ends at Inglewidden you go round the edge of another collapsed cave roof known as the Devil's Frying Pan (made all the more spectacular by a natural bridge over the mouth of the inlet - maybe the sea will be boiling at the bottom of the cave when you pass).

You keep straight on over the stile, through a gate on to a made-up road and turn right at the T-junction. At first sight the tarmac path looks private, but you may proceed downhill through the pleasant gardens of a house called Hillside to a stone stile on to a road, where you turn immediately right down another path emerging just above a short promontory called The Todden at the southern end of Cadgwith.

It is worth lingering here to enjoy this compact picturesque place where the fishermen, who nowadays catch mostly lobsters and crabs, still winch their boats onto the main cove. One shed houses a rowing gig, which contributes to a popular West Country sport. The village has a collection of attractive thatched cottages, some with chained-down eaves, a good pub and a tea room (open in season) with holiday accommodation converted from the old pilchard cellars.

Having torn yourself away from the view, you walk uphill past the Cadgwith Cove Inn and take the first lane to the right leading to the old Coastguard Watchouse, which some say doubled as a huer's hut, from which to spot shoals of pilchards. It is now a steady climb to Terrick Colt with plenty of jagged serpentine rock on the path, followed by a pleasant walk along the top, mainly through bracken and gorse to Enys Head. Keeping to the main path you reach a kissing gate alongside a four-bar gate, then almost immediately you turn right at a T-junction. After another gate with a stone stile beside it you descend to Poltesco, go down steps and across a wooden bridge.

To the right, Carleon Cove, as this area is called, once again used to be a pilchard fishery and the semi-circular roofless shell nearest the sea was the capstan house for hauling the fishing boats up the beach. In 1866 a factory for making ornamental serpentine products such as mantelpieces, shop fronts and church pulpits was established here with four machine shops, two of which were converted from fish cellars, a boiler house, forge and offices which now only partly exist in ground outline. However, the warehouse, next to the old capstan house, has been re-roofed by the National Trust and still carries the date stone with the initials LSC standing for Lizard Serpentine Company. Twenty men were employed here at one time and the finished products were loaded into flat-bottomed barges moored to the wharf where the pool is now and taken out at high tide to ships in the bay for transfer to London and overseas via Penryn and Falmouth.
Queen Victoria gave the industry a temporary boost when she ordered some items for Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, but weathering problems, cheaper imports and the fickleness of fashion contributed to the Company's eventual downfall around the end of the 19th century. However, from here will have sprouted the now thriving cottage industry at The Lizard offering model lighthouses, ashtrays, clock and barometer casings and many other gifts made from serpentine.

Back on the main path you now climb up to Thorny Cliff emerging by the edge of a short 9-hole golf course, which fronts a caravan park. After passing two acorn posts you reach the road and descend to Kennack Sands. You return to the Coast path behind the seasonal café. Keep clear of the two beaches, popular with families and geologists, separated by the Caerverrack Rocks, until the far end. Dogs are allowed on the northern beach.

Take the slightly inland track up to Eastern Cliff, where you have a pleasant flat stretch with the path winding through a ruffled carpet of gorse and heather. There follows a short but quite difficult descent to a garden boundary fence, across a stream and up the other side.

You then have cliff walking to an open field where you cut across the neck of Carrick Luz. Keep to seaward tracks and negotiate quite an awkward drop to Downas Cove, the upside being partly stepped, making the ascent a little easier. At the top take the seaward path to Beagles Point before crossing Pedn Boar to the former coastguard look-out hut at Black Head.

Turning here virtually from east to north, visibility permitting, you can take a last look back at Bass Point and the old Lloyds Signal Station before looking ahead to Chynhalls Point, Lowland Point (beyond Coverack) and across Falmouth Bay, possibly even as far as Dodman Point.

After a stile you are on Chynhalls Cliff and before long the former Headland Hotel (which is now a holiday complex) comes into view. The path tends to keep away from the cliff edge. You pass to seaward of a piggery and after a gentle climb come to the boundary of Chynhalls Farm and caravan site. Fork right and walk to the right of a bungalow to a made-up road.

Turn right and after 20 yards (25 m) take the steps down seaward to a Y-junction, where you go right if wishing to explore Chynhalls Point and Porthbeer Cove, a worthwhile diversion if time permits, and a lower path towards Coverack. Otherwise the shorter route is left and through a shady garden to a tarmac path. Turn right to pass in front of some cottages and fork right at the Village Hall car park. You now take a path above a children’s play area which brings you to some steep steps down to Watch Cottage, where you turn left for the car park on Dolor Point, to seaward of the Paris Hotel, Coverack.

If you have any question on any of the above please do not hesitate to contact one the event organisers found on the Contact us page click here

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