North Walk: St Ives to Pendeen Watch

Porthmear beach, The Tate and St Ives Head

Saturday May 23rd: Only just got the car parked in St Ives - with the added bonus that the ticket machine wasn't working! - left a note in the windscreen just in case. It was going to be a nice day - but started off a bit dull. Made my way back to the harbour and then found the small path around the museum which went out to St Ives Head. St Ives is quite disorientating with it's narrow alleys and back streets - and you often can't see exactly where you are, with no clear view out to the head. At the head, also known as The Island, there is a large grassy area and St Nicholas Chapel sits at the top. The path drops down onto the small beach area of Porthgwidden which had a bulldozer piling all the sand up at the back of the beach for some reason. Next was St Ives main beach , Porthmear with the Tate Gallery just behind. At the end of the beach, the path finally left St Ives for good and slowly climbed up to the cliffs.

The destination for the day was Pendeen Watch - some 13 miles or so under normal circumstances, but there were two large diversions inland due to sections of the path having been washed away. You might recall that 3 people lost their lives recently when their car was caught in a torrent of water after horrendous storms. That tragedy occurred along this stretch of coast and seven footbridges were washed away as a result of the abnormal rainfall, leaving the path inaccessible.

I have walked part of this section before - and it is spectacular, so it was disappointing to have to miss part of it, the only benefit being that the diversion now went right past a rather good pub!

As I left St Ives - I could see several walkers ahead of me - all on a long days walking by the look of them. I seemed to be aching all over and crawled along - it was going to be a long day!

For a while, I followed a couple of ladies and then eventually caught up with them - A mother and daughter, they were on a 3 day walking holiday from St Ives to Penzance and were also headed for Pendeen Watch. We watched a Kestrel quite close to the path who was obviously well used to the stream of walkers passing by. I headed off and said " see you later" as I was sure we would bump into each other again.

It was now bright and sunny, and the sea and sandy coves looked beautiful. It wasn't long before I reached the first path diversion, just before Carn Naun Point and the path headed inland skirting around farmland and then back past Treveal before re-joining the coast path the other side of the point. The Carracks rocky islands were in full view and are sometimes home to Seals. Ahead was Zennor Head after which the path would again be diverted. I very nearly took the wrong path, but there were plenty of other walkers coming in the opposite direction and on a different path to me - so I soon realised my mistake. From the Head - you could glimpse the lighthouse at Pendeen Watch in the distance - it looked a long way!

The path naturally headed inland and then the second diversion took it even further inland into the village of Zennor. The Tinners Arms at Zennor was an ideal lunchtime stop. I was joined by Ann and her daughter, Tara, who I had bumped into earlier and we ended up walking together for the rest of the day. From Cambridge, they were good company and quite obviously keen walkers. On an earlier walking holiday in Cornwall, they had walked from Westward Ho to Padstow which is about 80 miles and only the previous weekend had done a 26 mile sponsored walk!

We left the pub together and headed up the road on the inland diversion. It was reasonably well signposted and mostly though farmers fields. We reached the Gurnard Head Hotel where there was the option to walk down to Gurnard's Head itself, but as the coast path was closed either side of it, we decided to carry on and eventually rejoined the path at Porthmear Cove. The diversion hadn't been as long as we had thought but we had missed a fine part of the coast path.

Glad to be back at the coast we pressed on with Pendeen Watch lighthouse in our sights. We stopped to admire the views at the high vantage point near Bosigran cliffs where the sheer vertical drops to the sea attract alot of rock climbers apparently. We bumped into a Dutch couple of fairly advanced years who were on a weeks walking holiday and heading for Penzance. After a very British conversation about the weather - we left them to their own pace - they were staying at the same B&B as Ann and Tara - so they could compare notes later!

The next few miles were quite difficult walking - very rocky path and interspersed with the odd boggy area. The path was at high level so there were good views in both directions and just before Pendeen we came to Portheras Cove which looked very inviting for a quick dip. It was the first decent bit of sand that we had seen all day since leaving St Ives. Eventually we found ourselves at the car park behind the entrance to the lighthouse. It was built in 1900, as a result of so many ships and lives having been lost on this rugged stretch of coast. The days walk was over - we headed inland to the village of Pendeen itself. Ann and Tara went off to find their B&B and I headed for the bus stop. We would hopefully meet up on the path the next day.
I now had to find myself some accommodation and get back to St Ives for my car. Phoned a couple of places nearby but no luck. Once back at the car and after examining the bus timetables, I came up with a cunning plan to stay the night at Penzance, and then get the early bus back to Pendeen in the morning. The only trouble was - Penzance was FULL. Hoteliers were literally putting up NO VACANCIES signs as I drove past and I found myself crawling along the back streets with several other cars - all of us looking for VACANCIES signs. In the end, I phoned a couple of places in Marazion which is further down the coast near St Michaels Mount. They both said "try the Glenleigh" which turned out to be a lovely old place in the main street which used to be maternity home. It was about 8:15pm by the time I arrived - so I was tired and hungry, but fortunately there was a good pub just across the road within limping distance!