SOUTH WEST COAST PATH

wednesday, 20TH MAY 2026

Start location: Kennack Sands (SW 72662 16415)

End point: Coverack (SW 78326 18739)

Map: Explorer 103

It’s not a particularly warm day today and is fairly blustery.

Coverack high tide: 08:31

Coverack low tide: 15:08

I wander down from our apartment for the week towards Kennack Sands.

I pass the Mora Beach Cafe on the way down to the beach here and wander down on to the beach to waste a bit of time. It’s close to high tide so I’m going to have to climb over the dune systems rather than walk all the way along the beach.

I walk across the beach and climb back up on to the cliffs, enjoying all of the wildflowers and wildlife on the low cliffs.

I'm pretty much on my own now until I reach Coverack! I walk along easy paths over Eastern Cliff through gorse and heather passing Spernic Cove, Lankidden Cove, Butter Cove and Downas Cove to reach Beagles Point.

I pass a memorial to the crew of Sea King XV702 who perished close to here on the night of the 21st March 1974. They were so young.

On Beagles Point I admire the view back to Lizard Point which will soon disappear from view.

I climb over the cliffs to reach Black Head where a butterfly finally settles enough for me to take a photograph, this time a pearl-bordered fritillary.

I reach the old coastguard lookout at Black Head and then turn in a northerly direction and enjoy the flora and fauna here.

Easy walking takes me on towards Coverack but before reaching the small fishing village, I have an awkward descent down to Porthbeer Cove which twists and turns all over the place, is strewn with rocks and very overgrown. I’m afraid I don’t make a very elegant descent, spending a large part of the time sliding down rocks on my arse. It doesn’t help that my backpack is so heavy.

I leave the delightful Porthbeer Cove and another easier path takes me into Coverack where I enter the village along a path covered in flowers.

I pass the small harbour full of fishing boats. A long stretch of the road is closed here while repairs are being made to the sea wall.

Coverack is looking lovely on this spring day. I pass St Peter's, the parish church here and continue through Coverack to reach the car park at the end of the village, my destination for the day.

“Coverack - Fishing village on the shore of a rocky bay which has a sandy bottom and looks as translucent as a swimming pool. Stone pier and lifeboat station at the southern end of the village. Boats run fishing trips for visitors.”

— AA Book of the Seaside, 1972

FLORA AND FAUNA

Flora and fauna encountered on the walk today includes :-

chaffinch
wren
pheasant
cuckoo
swallow
skylarks
whitethroat
pearl-bordered fritillary
speckled wood butterfly
wild carrot
foxgloves
ribwort plantain
red campion
rape
herb robert
forget-me-not
bladder campion
common dog-violet
bluebells
sea thrift
flag iris
red valerian
birds-foot trefoil
kidney vetch
gorse
bloody cranesbill
three-cornered garlic
scabious
ox-eye daisy
mexican fleabane
aeonium
gladioli
echium
red hot poker
iris
roses
pelargoniums

PODCAST

The podcast of today's walk is now available. You can subscribe via Apple Podcasts or listen using the player below.

MARKS OUT OF TEN?

According to my phone I've walked 6.1 miles which amounts to 18244 steps. It has taken me 3 and three quarter hours. The weather has been cold and windy and that last descent down to Porthbeer Cove was horrible. Six out of ten!

WALK DETAILS

MAP

SOUTH WEST COAST PATH

sunday, 17TH MAY 2026

Start location: Kennack Sands (SW 72662 16415)

End point: Kynance Cove (SW 68714 13285)

Map: Explorer 103

The weather is on the cold and windy side at the moment so my fleece is on which I would never normally do this late in the season.

Lizard Point high tide: 05:45

Lizard Point low tide: 12:25

Lizard Point high tide: 18:09

We are staying in an apartment next to Potters Bar in Kuggar near to Kennack Sands. I amble down towards Kennack Sands, passing Thai Wok Takeaway (a tiny little takeaway shack that seems to be very popular), Kennack Sands Holiday Park and Sea Acres Holiday Park.

The flowers on either side of the road are looking lovely.

Before reaching Kennack Sands I join the South West Coast Path on my right, to head towards The Lizard and Kynance Cove. It’s quite a short walk today. I have a last view over Kennack Sands before heading off to Kynance Cove.

I amble along the path to Poltesco Cove where a footbridge crosses a wooded river.

Here can be found the ruins of a serpentine works, once a thriving Victorian factory making mantlpieces, gravestones, shop fronts and polished ornaments made from the local serpentine stone quarried locally.

I come across a lone early purple orchid just starting to go to seed.

On leaving Poltesco I come across a small herd of Exmoor ponies being used for conservation grazing.

I reach flowery Cadgwith and enjoy the roses and poppies here.

I wander down to the beach trying to avoid all of the fishing equipment left clumsily lying around! A fishing boat is just being winched in as I arrive.

Leaving the beach, I pass the Cadgwith Cove Inn before climbing out of the village in front of a row of cottages overlooking the harbour.

I head out of Cadgwith, passing the Devil's Frying Pan, where the collapse of a sea cave has led to the creation of a 100 metre deep hole.

I reach a small habitation at Church Cove.

I head towards the Lizard Lifeboat Station at Kilcobben Cove.

A stone memorial here tells me that on the night of the 29th December 1962 ‘The Ardgarry’ and her crew of twelve were lost in a storm off of this coast.

I reach bass point. A plaque here tells me that on the 15th of January 2004, the Breton trawler ‘Bugaled Breizh’ sank off Lizard Point with five sailors losing their lives.

I pass the Bass Point National Coastwatch Station.

I pass the Housel Bay Hotel where three choughs fly by me. It's a pleasant morning so I continue ambling around to the Lizard Marconi Wireless Station, the oldest surviving Marconi wireless station.

I pass in front of the Polbrean Youth Hostel and then continue along the coast path in front of the lighthouse.

I wander down the footpath towards Lizard Point, the most southerly point on mainland Great Britain.

Choughs have taken up residence around here. They became extinct in Cornwall in 1973 but returned in 2001. They have been relatively successful in recent years with 48 pairs raising 129 young last year. I see a few of them flying around but they are difficult to photograph.

I continue along the cliffs towards Kynance Cove enjoying the magnificent views and the lovely wildflowers.

Before reaching Kynance Cove, Pentreath Beach can be found which is a little difficult to reach, involving scrambling down what appears to be little more than a goat track. It definitely looks worth the diversion but it's too adventurous for me with my heavy backpack.

I amble along to reach Kynance Cove where I come across some of the native bloody cranesbills.

I descend steeply down to the cove. For a change I’ve got quite a bit of beach so I waste quite a bit of time here. There are only a few people here. I strap back on my bag and climb back out of the cove and back up to the car park where my lift awaits.

FLORA AND FAUNA

Flora and fauna encountered on the walk today includes :-

blackcaps
wrens
chiffchaffs
swallows
whitethroats
choughs
stonechats
cow parsley
alexanders
red campion
bluebells
rape
foxgloves
ribwort plantain
wild carrot
cuckooflower
hogweed
cats-ear
bladder campion
gorse
early purple orchid
navelwort
scarlet pimpernel
scabious
sea thrift
exmoor ponies
three-cornered garlic
kidney vetch
red valerian
borage
gladioli
roses
nasturtians
aqualegia
mesembryanthemum
birds-foot trefoil
bloody cranesbill

PODCAST

The podcast of today's walk is now available. You can subscribe via Apple Podcasts or listen using the player below.

MARKS OUT OF TEN?

According to my phone I've walked 8.3 miles which amounts to 23174 steps. It has taken me 4 and a half hours. The weather has been cold and windy but it has been a lovely stretch of the coast. Nine out of ten!