SOUTH WEST COAST PATH

thursday, 21st MAY 2026

Start location: Kynance Cove (SW 68714 13285)

End point: Poldhu Cove (SW 66779 19793)

Map: Explorer 103

Yesterday, my weather forecast app was promising me some pretty decent weather for today but when I got up this morning I was faced with very thick fog.

Lizard Point high tide: 09:05

Lizard Point low tide: 15:39

We drive the short distance to Kynance Cove but the heavy fog persists and I can’t see a thing.

I start the day at the National Trust car park at Kynance Cove where I come across some of the native bloody cranesbills.

I’m pretty much bang on high tide so I’m going to go over the top of the cove. I descend steeply down towards the cove before taking the high water path which takes me around the top of the cove.

I continue along the path which takes me down to the beach at the far side of the cove, passing below the Kynance Cove Cafe.

As I climb out of Kynance Cove I pass more of the native bloody cranesbills. The views back overlooking Kynance Cove should be magnificent but I can barely see a thing.

At the top of the cliffs there are loads of rooks and I can hear choughs but I can barely make them out.

It is an unexpected surprize to find loads of heath spotted orchids as I thought I would be a bit too early this year.

Three choughs fly past me and I can make them out despite the fog.

I amble along the top of the cliffs, enjoying the wildflowers.

I continue along the cliffs, enjoying the views to reach Predannack, passing conservation grazing cattle on the way, although they are shrouded in fog.

The fog is so thick that I can’t make out any of the cliff edges or any of the correct paths so I accidentally follow a path inland and get lost. I don’t mind as I’m not in any rush but I struggle to find a path back out to the coast. The sea thrift, however, is at it’s best and there are plenty of other wildflowers to enjoy.

I know I must have strayed inland as I can no longer hear the sea but I can hear a cuckoo. Eventually I resort to my OS Maps app and find a footpath which takes me back out to the coast at Lower Predannock.

It is now a pleasant walk to Mullion Cove, which comes into view.

I amble along the cliff top and then start descending down to Mullion Cove.

I ascend the other side of Mullion Cove and pass the Mullion Cove Hotel. I’m now on Polurrian Cliff.

I head along the cliffs enjoying more of the wild flowers and pass Carrag-Luz or ‘Love Rock’.

I amble down a path towards Polurrian Cove, admiring the flowers on either side of the path.

I reach sandy Polurrian Cove. I waste more time pottering along the sandy beach before climbing back out of Polurrian Cove and heading along the cliffs.

I’m now towards the end of the walk and the fog is starting to lift.

I stop briefly at a memorial bench, in memory of Liz Rudd, which has magnificent views, to let some walkers pass me. As I’m admiring the views some more choughs fly past me, making their delightful racket.

“If ever our souls part to say goodbye
meet me there, where the sea meets the sky;
lost, but finally free.”

I pass the Marconi monument, a granite monument commemorating the first transatlantic radio transmission on the 12th of December 1901. I continue along the cliffs enjoying the masses of pink sea thrifts.

I reach Poldhu Cove where the Poldhu Beach Cafe can be found and waste more time on the sandy beach. The beach is covered in seaweed.

FLORA AND FAUNA

Flora and fauna encountered on the walk today includes :-

bloody cranesbill
choughs
rooks
stonechats
swallow
cuckoo
cormorant
heath spotted orchids
foxgloves
ragged robin
sea thrift
bluebells
kidney vetch
oxeye daisy
red campion
scabious
flag iris
common dog-violet
wild carrot
ribwort plantain
bladder campion
cats-ear
hogweed
gladioli
red valerian
aeonium
mint
echium

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 8.4 miles which amounts to 22153 steps. It has taken me 4 hours. The weather has been extremely foggy and I’ve barely seen a thing. Seven 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!