Today we started by going to Lands End, or more to the point to Sennen Cove which is about a mile away from Lands End as I had found a walk that took us along the costal path and back again. We had taken a number of layers with us, but as we set off the sun came out and we did the whole walk in t-shirts a bit of a change from yesterday. The start of the walk is quite a steep climb up Mayon Cliff to Black Stone Headland where a former Coastguard Lookout has been refurbished, this was built in 1891 and should be open with a telescope available for use, but I think it has been hit by Covid and was definitely closed up, all the same it did provide a good view across the headland. The next landmark was the wreck of RMS Mulheim which was a German cargo ship that on 22nd March 2003 was wrecked at Land’s end after the chief officer fell unconscious while on watch. in heavy seas later that year the ship broke into two pieces. The wreckage below the cliff is dangerous with unstable structures and it is not feasible to secure the wreckage so it has been left to rot, you actually get a great view of it as you look down the cliff, you also have a good view of the Longships Lighthouse, built in 1795 it was originally manned by four men who spent one month at a time on the lighthouse, apparently they cooked their meals in the lantern by the Argand lamps! they received £30 per year and free food at the lighthouse, but they had to fend for themselves the rest of the time, during storms the lantern was so often under water that the present grey granite circular tower was built in 1875, this tower is 35 metres high and 35 meters above the sea at high water, it should have a white light that shines out to sea and a red light that shines towards the shore but despite watching it for some time we couldn’t see the red light. Finally we arrived at Lands End which is very commercialised, the first and last house is now a cafe selling ice cream and the sign post (which was only actually put up in the 1950s) is now a commercial operation, you can only have a photo taken in front of it if you pay to have one of their ‘photo packages’ which means they put either the distance to your home town or a message up and charge you £10 for the photo! We walked round the various buildings and had planned to have something to eat but everything looked like it came from the local supermarket so we didn’t bother and instead walked back to the car. The whole area is stunning and actually quite a popular route, when we set off we were one of only a few cars in the car park and we didn’t meet many people on the walk, as we came back the walk was quite busy and the car park was completely full with people queuing to come in so we definitely got the timing right! We drove back to the apartment to drop off the car and them set off to Mousehole, the walk is approximately 3 miles along the coastal path, the first part of the walk is along the promenade in Penzance, which according to my information is the only promenade in Cornwall, the jubilee pool was open today although there were more people sitting round the sides having coffee than were actually in the pool! We walked all the way to the end of the promenade then arrived in Newlyn. There are three quays in Newlyn including a small medieval one, it is also where the Ordnance Survey Tidal Observatory calculate the mean sea level used in OS maps. Newlyn was once Britains third largest fishing harbour, and until recently boasted the last pilchard processing plant in England, it is still a busy fishing port, we found a pub that had a couple of seats overlooking the harbour so we had a drink and sat and watched the world go by, I think this is probably my favourite small village on the Cornish Coast as a lot was going on. Fully refreshed we continued the walk to Mousehole which Dylan Thomas said was the prettiest village in England, and there is speculation that it was the inspiration for Llargub, the village at the centre of Under Milk Wood. Far be it for me to disagree with Dylan, but although it is quite quaint, I think I have been to prettier villages but as they say beauty is in the eye of the beholder! We walked round looking for somewhere to have a coffee and/or something to eat but there were very few places open and those that were had long queues so in the end we decided to get the bus back to Penzance and have something there. A bus literally runs between Penzance and Mousehole and back again, it has to do a three point turn when it gets to Mousehole as the roads out of the village are so narrow! We ended up having a cream tea at the cafe that is literally next door to the apartment which was really nice and not too far to go once you have had your fill of scones, jam and cream! We came back to the room for a bit of a relax before heading out for something to eat this evening, after an amazing Thai last night we are going to try the Italian tonight.
