St Ives to Penzance Walking Blog
I managed to set aside 3 days for a quick walk from St Ives to Mousehole. Thought it was a great opportunity to refresh my memory of this season’s favourite walk (about 75% of all our 2013 walks included this section). The plan was to do the longest day on my own (St Ives to St Just) and then my wife Amelia to join me for the second 2 days (St Just to Porthcurno and Porthcurno to Mousehole).
Day 1 : (September 30th):
St Ives to St Just The weather forecast was not looking great but I have seen worse. I set my alarm for 06:30 was out of the house by 07:00 and parked up and car park paid by 08:30 in St Ives. In light mist and drizzle I set off for Porthmeor beach to start my walk.
There were a few dog walkers but no sign of any other long distance walkers. This was to be a challenging day so I set off at pace, within a couple of miles I took off my coat and didn’t put it back on all day. In fact it was very warm and I was soon worrying whether I had brought enough drinks. (Picture shows me looking a bit hot)
I reached Zennor by 11:00 and the turn up to the Gurnard’s Head pub by 12:00. It was shortly after I ran out of drink. By 13:30 Pendeen lighthouse loomed into sight but by then I was gasping for a drink so decided I had to divert into Pendeen, the 1 mile into Pendeen seemed like a long way but I was soon swinging my heals on a bar stool at the North Inn, after a couple of drinks (only one alcoholic) and a 45 minute rest I felt capable of the final leg to St Just. Didn’t particularly want to retrace my steps to Pendeen Lighthouse so walked down the road and through Geevor Mine museum to rejoin the path a bit further on. The old mine workings along the coast here are really very special.
A few miles further and Cape Cornwall appeared. After careful studying of the ordance survey map I plotted the shortest possible route into St Just (by this stage I didn’t want to walk a step further than I needed to!). At 16:30 I walked into the Commercial Hotel in St Just and was welcomed and shown to my room by a very friendly receptionist. Boots off and a quick snooze before a large steak for supper at the Kings Arms (just across the square)
Day 2: (October 1st):
St Just to Porthcurno Foggy morning, Amelia arrived about 09:45 in a taxi from Porthcurno having left her car there. We set off down the road towards the Cot Valley where we rejoined the path, this required a bit of careful map reading in the fog. Fog cleared and some pleasant walk down to Sennen Cove. Arrived at the Beach Restaurant (/cafe) at 11:30 in time for a well deserved large Latte (just what we needed).
The path from Sennen Cove to Lands End has some wonderful views and is one of the more leisurely sections, however the rain started to come in heavily.
We found a nice spot just after Lands End to sit and have some lunch, but after that the rain poured down and it was heads down and trudge/squelch to Porthcurno and Seaview bed and breakfast. We poured water out of our boots when we took them off, but after a warm shower and dry clothes from the car we both felt much better. With the benefit of our car we were able to drive the 1.5 miles to the Logan Rock pub at Treen, where we had a good meal in front of a real fire. The other walkers staying at Seaview who went to the Cable Station Inn Pub at the bottom of the valley reported that it was better than it looked from the outside.
Day 3: (October 2nd):
Porthcurno to Mousehole A misty but dry morning for this days walking. Athough the distance was not great this was a tough day, the path presenting hills and rocks and never allowing you to get into your stride. Having set off at 09:30 we arrived at Lamorna Cove for lunch at the cafe at about 12:40. The coffee was good but the cheese and ham pannini was not! We compared notes with an Australian couple walking the path over lunch it was very pleasant.
After lunch we set off on the remaining 2.25 miles to Mousehole, straight away we came across this bridge?? Not quite sure why it is needed?? The first two thirds were again challenging walking but just over an hour later we walked into the beautiful harbour at Mousehole. We had booked into the Old Coastguard, a treat for our last night. We had a lovely night, great room and wonderful food, the Old Coastguard is a great hotel to finish your walk at and it also avoids the rather boring last couple of mile walk into Penzance.