Day 3 Porthcurno to Pendeen

16 March 2013: 29km. Started 08:30. Arrived 17:00

Cooked breakfast at 07:30 and my host still recounting scores of walking stories.  He has walked almost all the National Trails and many day challenges.  Meanwhile his wife had taken all the sheets off my bed and they were in the washing machine – “because the weather might get worse and they need to be on the washing line”.  Unfortunately too late as the rain started and I was unpacking waterproofs from my freshly packed rucksack before I had even put a foot outside.  I (graciously, I hope) declined the offer of an England flag and a Lands End – John O’Groats sticker for my rucksack as I suspected they wouldn’t even survive the walk to the “second start point” at Lands End.  This day marked what for most people is the start of their walk but of course I had opted to start at The Lizard as the most southerly point of mainland UK.

As I strolled through the village to the coast path, a Kernow Doc car swept past me – a reminder that others are working even early on a Saturday morning.  The coast path ascended steeply to the famous open air Minack Theatre.  This amazing theatre built in a rock gully was created by Rowena Cade who bought the headland for £100 in the 1920s.  Following an open air performance of A Midsummer Night’s dream with which she was involved, she offered her cliff garden for a performance of The Tempest.  The open air theatre grew from there and building the theatre took the rest of her life.  Amazingly, she used concrete mixed with sand from the beach, carrying much of it herself up the cliff path in sacks.  Truly an inspirational vision for a quiet and remote corner of the Cornish coast.

Eventually I reached the Enys Dodman Arch and Lands End.  Sadly, this point has been turned into a commercial shopping and entertainment complex with a huge car park.  However it being March, many of the “attractions” were closed.  It took me quite a long time to find the place to get my form stamped and sign the End to End book – based at the big new hotel rather than at the traditional Temperance Hotel.

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I sheltered from a squally hail shower then walked down to the First and Last Café and looked out at the Longships Lighthouse before turning towards Sennen.  I did make sure I went right round Cape Cornwall – my host from last night had been one of the forces behind the extension of the South West Coast Path to include the Cape rather than take a short cut and miss it out.

From Cape Cornwall, the route passed multiple old tin mine workings, both restored and unrestored, all built near a magnificently scenic coastline.  I headed for my overnight stop at Pendeen – inland from the coast.  This is a sizeable village including two pubs, two cafes, various tourist shops, post office, branch doctors’ surgery, community hall, weekly farmers’ market and, most importantly for me, a commendably well stocked general store open even so late on a Saturday afternoon.

My destination for the night was one of the pubs which provided exactly what I wanted – a clean, basic, warm room with plenty of scope to dry out my wet waterproofs and boots.  There was even a bath – so much more relaxing at the end of a walk than a shower.

Of course, I could eat at the pub and enjoyed a hearty but relatively inexpensive chicken curry cooked by the landlady.  The only other custom was from locals discussing football and losing at darts the previous evening.  It had been a good day and I was now truly underway bound for the far north.