Cornwall Walk 3: Pendeen Watch to Zennor (and back again)

Date: Tuesday 22nd March
Distance: 7 miles coastal path + 7 miles back by road (!)
Route: Coastal path from Pendeen Watch to Zennor Head via Porthmeor Cove and Gurnard's Head, then back along the road

In many ways, this was similar to Sunday's walk - go out of the lighthouse, get onto the coastal path, keep going till you have had a good walk and reach a village you can get back from. The only snag was that there just wasn't a way back that didn't entail either waiting around for a day for a bus back or paying over the odds for a taxi. So we walked - and then we walked back. And frankly, it hurt. With most of the walk back in cloud/ fog, not only were we walking along a lonely road back, most of the time we couldn't really see that far ahead. So, the moral of this story is, if you're going to rely on public transport, get that bit out of the way first, so that you can end up back at your car. I don't imagine Julia Bradbury has these issues.

The walk itself felt more lonely that the other ones we have done this week - although the path was still pretty clearly marked, we didn't encounter many other people and there were far fewer benches than on other stretches. Again, we were passing by deserted mines (with associated dire warnings).

Although most of the walk was on the cliff tops the climbs didn't seem too extreme at first - it was only once we got past Gurnard's Head and close to Zennor that the steepness level seemed to crank up a gear (at the same time as our tiredness increased!). I would definitely recommend doing this one with a walking stick - by the end you will definitely need something to lean on.

Notable wildlife spots were a stripy snake (possibly an adder?) that quickly slithered away and a seal bobbing up and down near Porthmeor Cove, where we stopped for lunch. The key factor in this walk was the weather, however - one moment the sun was shining (as per the photos), the next we were engulfed in fog/ cloud - thankful for those extra layers of clothing!

I wouldn't really want to do this walk again (not even just the coastal bit), as it feels more like something we had to do to get another stretch of coastal path out of the way, rather than a walk with fantastic views or sights or scenery, but a lot of this could be due to the fog.

Of all the walks we have done, this one was probably the one where you felt there was most likelihood of coming round a corner to find Neil Oliver standing on a rocky pinnacle, hair flying in the wind, declaiming "the people of this island are verrrrrry rrrrrresilient." And least likelihood of a nice cafe, sadly.