looking back at sennen cove

after a wonderful hike at porthgwara, we rested at porthgwara cove cafe & enjoyed some crnish cream tea. ^^

actually i was less than enthused.

this cornish cream tea/devonshire cream tea thingy is just scones & clotted cream. when i read up, they say in america the fat content of clotted cream will make it by definition butter!

it was already nearing 2pm. the weather was holding out. we were uncertain if the glorious sunshine would continue, so we decided to drive on to sennen cove and hike to land’s end. ^^

on the way we stopped by for a very cheap but mediocre (i guess not much to complain about) £5 cod & chips at a pub. 🙂

when we reached sennen cove, parked & started hiking, the sky started to become downcast though. 😦

hiking to land’s end from sennen cove

a very pleasant hike along the southwestern coast path.

looking back at sennen cove

looking back at picturesque sennen cove & towards the north, cape cornwall was in the distance.

hiking to land’s end from sennen cove

hiking to land’s end from sennen cove

looking southwards is land’s end, the most westerly point of cornwall and england. ^^

hiking to land’s end from sennen cove

hiking to land’s end from sennen cove

there was a steeper short climb up mayon cliff to the mayon old coastguard lookout.

hiking to land’s end from sennen cove

nearer to land’s end peninsula.

hiking to land’s end from sennen cove

lots of rock formation & geology. 🙂

hiking to land’s end from sennen cove

a relaxing walk, a bit overcast sky.

cape cornwall

looking north to cape cornwall in the distance. 🙂

land’s end

land’s end coastline

the craggy coastline to land’s end peninsula.

land’s end

land’s end & dr syntax’s head

land’s end

we could see land’s end, dr syntax’s head on peel point further out to sea & dr johnson’s head.

we did not venture for a closer look, but apparently there a rock formation that looked exactly like a head with a protruding chin, and somehow named after a fictional headmaster.

land’s end & dr syntax’s head

land’s end

the first & last house resting point at land’s end. 🙂

land’s end & dr syntax’s head

looking at land’s end & dr syntax’s head northwards from the other side.

lookout

at land’s end, we rested a while at the first & last house. 🙂

on the way back to sennen cove

the glorious sunshine in the morning had passed, sky was overcast, foggy & photo lighting a bit low.

on the way back to sennen cove

on the way back to sennen cove

we walked back to sennen cove.

on the way back to sennen cove

on the way back to sennen cove

land’s end

it was a very nice hike even though we could not keep the sunshine.

we had a coffee & shared some bites. after that we drove back & was happy to be back at our very nice glencree house b&b. 🙂

glencree house proprietor booked tolcarn inn at newlyn for us. having rested, we drove a short distance to newlyn & had a really great fish dinner at tolcarne inn!^^

c.h.e.f andy

porthcurno hike

we were greeted with a morning of glorious sunshine on 9.5.2015. ^^

after depositing our luggage at the glencree house B&B, excellent place we would be staying for the next 3 days, we drove 9miles to minack theatre. 🙂

entrance to minack theatre

entrance to minack theatre

there was a large free carpark. we paid the £4.50 entrance fee. these days we view entrance fee as contribution to upkeep a place people want to visit (which is exactly what is for!), so we think only whether we want to visit a place, not the entrance fees. haha!^^

minack theatre

minack theatre

minack theatre is literally an open-air theatre carved out of granite cliffs at porthcurno! 

it’s the most famous cliffside open-air theatre in Britain, possibly in the world.

minack theatre

we could see the lizard peninsula & lizard point in the distance. 🙂

minack theatre

minack theatre

porthcurno beach (from minack theatre)

& porthcurno beach. 🙂

minack theatre

minack theatre

minack theatre

it was the work & devotion of rowena cade, who owned & started the project in the 1930s.

many concerts were held at this place & continues to do so. 🙂

minack theatre

minack theatre

porthcurno

there is a route leading down to porthcurn0 beach. 🙂

porthcurno beach

very small beach!

minack theatre, southwest coast path, porthgwarra

we took the southwest coast path, access from the minack theatre carpark. such a wonderful walk! 🙂

porthcurno hike

porthcurno hike

the meadows. i learned that meadow is an unwooded grassland primarily for making hay & not for livestock grazing.^

porthcurno hike

such beauty!

porthcurno hike

porthcurno hike

porthcurno hike

this is porthchapel beach.

porthcurno hike

porthcurno hike

porthcurno hike

porthcurno hike

we walked through the farm.

porthcurno hike

porthcurno hike

st levan’s church

& arrived at st levan’s church. 🙂

st levan’s church from up the road

we took the road back to minack theatre.

that’s the view of st levan’s church from up the road.

from road leading back to minack theatre

from road leading back to minack theatre

from road leading back to minack theatre

it was a short walk back to minack theatre, like 1/2 mile.

garden alongside minack theatre

we arrived where we started, the garden landscape & carpark entrance to minack theatre. such a wonderful morning walk.

after porthcurno, we drove further to porthgwarra. it was a bit of a u-turn in terms of the route, about 3.5miles.

single sleeper cabin

wife planned the cornwall trip & the journey to penzance.^^

we took the sleeper train from paddington at 23.45pm on 8.5.2015 & arrived next morning 7.55am at penzance, cornwall. 🙂

it was a good plan. penzance is a great base to explore cornwall. we walked-

the minack theatre, porthcurno, porthgwaraa, sennen cove & land’s end on 9.5.2015;

cape cornwall, botallack mines & dined at gurnard’s head restaurant on 10.5.2015;

the lizard peninsula, starting from kynance cove to lizard point to lizard village & back kynance cove 11.5.2015;

st michael’s mount in the morning before driving to st ives on 12.5.2015.

after day we spent 2 nights at st ives.^^

the advantages are that –

(1) the day journey london to penzance takes 5hrs & cost £215 while the sleeper takes 8hrs, we arrived fresh & no time lost & it cost £100 more per trip (i.e. per night). we had separate cabins (connecting cabins onward journey non connecting return journey). the double bed sleeper cabins were full otherwise the cost is £70 a night no more than a B&B. 🙂

breakfast – croisant

breakfast – bacon sandwich

breakfast was like irrelevant.

penzance station

europcar VW Golf

 (2) we did not want to drive long distances & picking up car from penzance, we drove less than 200miles in 6days, very short distances & quite perfect for us at our age.

we picked up a VW Gold at europcar located right at penzance station. it was a manual car. the automatic cost like 2x more!

we booked the car from rental cars.com which is like a broker/consolidator. the actual rental company was keddy (euorpcar). we guess keddy is like a second brand for europcar.

the car rental price was not that much different, however the waiver of excess insurance by rental cars.com was like 1/2 of keddy & europcar. actually we can claim excess from our usual travel insurance, but usually we just took up the insurance anyway to have less hassle. in this case we found out only at keddy that it does not actually, so it served no purpose to take up the insurance. this was because it was not excess insurance by keddy but by a third party rental cars.com so we would have to pay excess of £1000 & still claim from rentalcars.com. might as well claim from amex.

anyway, journey was smooth & not a scratch. i made sure i took all the photos for record when we returned the car & dropped the key at penzance.^^

c.h.e.f andy