South West Coastal Path

Just back from a week walking from Falmouth to Lands End with my wife and three children.

We set off from Falmouth and headed for Helford. Gentle going with a couple of very average beaches. Helford passage was lovely. We headed inland to Mawnan Smith and stayed at Gold Martin a good B&B and ate in the local pub which was also good. On the second day we paid a fortune (£18) to cross a couple of hundred metres of water before heading towards Coverack. Due to high tide in the next creek which would have involved a long detour we went cross country for part of the way which was actually really interesting. We stopped at Porthallow and the pub for lunch which was okay but the bar man was fairly miserable.

From there we headed on to Coverack. Lovely fishing village and a great B&B (Arlwyn). We ate in the warm evening sunshine by the harbour wall. Next morning we had our only rain; a full five minutes of our whole trip. We stopped at Kennack Sands a nice beach for a break. Just outside the beach was the ugly eye sore of endless static homes; so glad we don't have these here in Jersey. On to Cadgwith which is a fascintaing little fishing village; wish we had planned to stay here. But on we moved to Lizard. By this stage we were starving but delighted to stumble across http://www.annspasties.co.uk/ strangely located down the side of a house. Best pasty I've had and ideal walking food.

Lizard town itself was a bit dull. We stayed in the Top House Inn which was fine. Sue wandered down to the lighthouse in the early morning and watched the seals on the rocks. We moved onwards to Mullion Cove a very pretty spot and stopped in a cafe.

One of the sad things of Cornwall is the sheer cost of cafes. Way more expensive than here in Jersey with on the whole poor quality. When I think of Colleens Cafe at Greve de Lecq or Plemont Cafe here in Jersey which are outstanding and we have a much higher cost base.

Our next stop was lunch at Poldhu beach cafe. This goes down at the worse of the lot. £4.75 for two pieces of white bread toasted with a bit of ham and tomato inside and no garnish. We moved on to Gunwallow beach and excitedly took our shoes off to walk along the beach all the way to Portleven. But big mistake as big pebbles and sharply rising incoming dumping sea. We had to quickly climb the cliff and return to the path. Eventually we made it to Porthleven, my favourite spot on our coastal walk. Very friendly Harbour Inn with good food and whilst noisey as it was in the centre still great.

Next day in the distance we saw Penzance our target. We stopped at Praa sands, a lovely beach on the way but strode onwards. At Marizion we had our pasty stop. Again a good one. And then straight to Penzance and our first real town since Falmouth several days before.

We were staying at the YHA so being early and to avoid the sun we went to the local cinema and watched the afternoon viewing of Harry Potter in our smelly clothes. Family review of the film was a little disappointing but a nice break. The cinema itself I thought was great with clearly lots of history.

We walked up to the YHA to our family room. I'm a great YHA fan having used them for many walks in the Lake District and elsewhere.

Next morning we got a Taxi to Mousehole and then the long quite tiring hilly walk to Lands End. This was my favourite days walking with lots of interest. Emma (11) flagged a little before being revived at the great cafe at Porthcurno. Portcurno with the Minack Theatre also had a great beach. Revived we knew we were nearing the end so our speed increased. The last couple of miles reminded us of Grosnez here in Jersey. Similar granite cliffs and gorse. Infact much of the walk was like our north coast with similar rock formations. But being totally biased our coastal path is far nicer and with Bonne Nuit beach and Bouley Bay we win hands down.

The end of the walk was a total disapointment. How can such a beautiful part of England be so ruined with tacky bits and bobs. To see so many Europeans wandering around one can only think what was going through their minds. Still as a family we had a great week together avoiding machines, getting some exercise and seeing places we had not been too.

Being in the holiday business I'm always comparing what we have to where I go. And Jersey stacks up very well. Our cafes are great, our beaches are the best, our coastal walking is at least as good as the South West Coastal Path, our accommodation is not overpriced, and Jersey people do make vistors welcome. We had a great time but as we flew in over St Ouen's Bay looking over to Corbiere Light house, over Rocco tower, over St Ouen's beach and into land Jersey takes some beating.