Mullion Cove

Date: Wednesday 20th March 2013
Route: Circular route from Mullion Cove
Distance: 7 miles

With a beautiful day instore, we decided to tackle another walk on the Lizard Peninsula from the AA's 1001 Walks.

A bit further round the coast than Kynance Cove, the starting point for a walk earlier in the week, Mullion Cove boasts a small working harbour owned by the National Trust and once a mainstay of the pilchard industry.

The walk starts off by heading up onto the hillside away from the coast, crossing farmland and the Kynance Nature Reserve, before returning back to Mullion Harbour along an open and at times slightly boggy section of the coastal path.

It is no surprise that this walk is situated in an official Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, although I would say that the Lizard walk that I blogged about previously is slightly more beautiful.

I must admit, I may just be slightly less enthusiastic about this walk because we got a bit lost and ended up on a very muddy trail (see photo above); slipping into a muddy puddle and getting so dirty that my husband refused to give me a hand up probably wasn't a high point of the walk either, but despite all of this, I would still recommend this walk (though possibly when the land has dried out a bit!).

Sennen Cove & Land's End

Date: Tuesday 19th March 2013
Route: Sennen Cove past Land's End and back again
Distance: 3 miles-ish

With glowering skies and a dire weather forecast, we needed a quick walk that would blow away the cobwebs but not result in us being blown away in turn!

The solution we chose was to drive down to Sennen Cove, which we have passed through a few times on sections of the Coastal Path, to take the rugged and well-trodden path to Land's End. Having past the old coastguard station and the wreck of the RMS Mulheim (which crashed because the captain caught his trousers on a lever on his chair and knocked himself unconscious, if Wikipedia is to be believed!), we headed over the hillsides to find various tourists having their photos taken and grumbling about the lack of non-Fairtade teabags at the visitor's centre, while a small army of handymen painted, mended and generally set about getting everything ready for the coming summer influx of holidaymakers.

Once past Land's End, the number of people on the path drastically reduced, leaving us with space to contemplate the rocky scenery, watch the waves crash against the cliffs and listen to the noise of the sea and the wheeling seabirds. Admittedly, this felt like a walk of two halves, but it was still a great way to spend a morning before the rain came in. 

Portreath and Tehidy Country Park

Date: Monday 18th March 2013
Route: Circular route from Portreath
Distance: 4 miles

Another walk from the AA's 1001 Walks, starting and ending in the village of Portreath on the north coast of Cornwall, complete with large sandy beach, rock pools and caves to poke around in.

This walk offers a nice combination of coastal path and woodland walking and proved to be a good short walk for a day of sunshine and showers. The walk begins by following the coastal path around the headland, past some pretty luxurious properties (extreme garden furniture envy!), then up onto the wild and woolly weather of the cliff tops.

After the usual combination of heart-stoppingly steep cliffs, a well-trodden and easy path, bright blue seas and wheeling seabirds, the path heads inland and into the car park of Tehidy Country Park, with many woodland paths and a particularly high Labrador count. I suspect that later in spring the forest trails will be accompanied by carpets of bluebells and rhododendra but the for the time being it's more about daffodils and wild garlic.

The final stretch of the walk sees the wood thinning out alongside a busy golf course, then passing a farm before entering more woodland above Portreath before coming back down to sea level. Recommended, if not the most remarkable of walks.   

Kynance Cove, Lizard Point and Church Cove

Date: Sunday 17th March 2013
Route: Circular walk from The Lizard Village
Distance: 6.5 miles

A quick visit to Cornwall - and after torrential rain and grey skies in London, it is a relief to find blue skies and sunshine on the most southerly part of Britain.

This is a favourite walk from the AA's 1001 Walks - a handy ring binder containing (as its name suggests!) 1001 Walks from across the UK - you just pull out the page you want, rather than having to carry a heavy book around with you.

There are a few reasons we keep coming back to this particular walk - the scenery is fantastic, the path is relatively easy, there are a couple of great tea stops en route and the Lizard Peninsula really does feel as far away from day-to-day life as it is possible to get.

The walk starts in the Lizard Village, before heading down to the exceptionally beautiful Kynance Cove. From Kynance, the coastal path makes its way along the cliff-tops, past Shetland ponies, to the  opportunity to stop for the most southerly slice of cake in the UK and onward past lighthouses, a radio station, the coastguard's lookout point and finally to the new lifeboat station at Church Cove, from where it is a short stroll back inland, past picture-book thatched cottages. One of the best walks in one of the most beautiful areas of the country.