the lizard – Neil Baldwin's blog : Warning contains walking, technology, photography, holidays.

Porthleven to Poldu Cove

Very sunny morning after rain over night, might need the poncho today as showers are forecast. We drove to Poldu Cove to catch the bus. It is a lovely little beach and the waves were rolling in, they looked surfablen and the sign about surfing etiquette confirmed that it is a surfing beach. We spotted our first sand martins of the holiday, nesting in the sandy edges of the beach as well as skimming over the stream that runs down the beach.

The bus was late but we expected that the one we got the other day left Lizard on time but was late to Mullion. There were a couple of people I recognised from the bus the day before. We were soon in Helston high street which has a feature you don’t see very often. Each site of the road between the pavement and the rod there is a foot wide stream of flowing water. The bus stopped very close to a taxi rank, and one was waiting and took us to the car park near Penrose house.

From the carpark we walked through the park attached to the house, which is very mature woodland, but not many birds. The path runs along the edge of the body of water called the Loe. It is I guess what used to be an estuary which has been blocked over at the sea end by a sand bar. The pebbles on the bar were really polished.

The wind was blowing strongly not really tshirt weather, but the sun was shining bright. We walked along the cliff above the beach to Baulk point, where we had lunch. Helen made phone call on her mobile and claimed that Marconi being near by had something to do with the excellent signal!

We meandered on past Green Rock and on to Church Cove where we had a look at a small church, called Church of Storms, nestled behind the rocks. The wood work in and around the church was carved perhaps reflecting the carpentry skills of boat builders who would have been around in years gone by. The roof itself looked a bit like the inside of an upturned boat hull.

Round the next headland was Poldu Cove our walk was over quicker than we had anticipated. The weather held out for us, I think we were very lucky, at one point we had a shower to the north and a shower to the south. As it was still early afternoon (1430) we decided to have a look at Porthleven harbour.

We parked up for free in a side street in Porthleven and walked round the harbour, I got a couple of panoramas for processing later.

Whilst on Loe Bar I found a bird ring GB 11 S 42133, which it turns out is for a homing pigeon, I submitted the details and got back very quickly details of the owner who lives in Redruth. At least he knows that his bird was lost in action.

St Anthony in Meneage circular walk

Not such an early start this morning, we thought a more leisurely day was in order. We drove to St Anthony in Meneage to do a circular walk via Helford, which is near Frenchmans Creek made famous by Daphne Du Maurier. Getting to the start was a mini adventure we had to do manoeuvre round a dust cart and turn back due to a closed road. The roads in Cornwall can be unforgiving with their walls on each side so it is best to give them plenty of space.

After parking up (£2) we headed off up the river bank until we could no more, then joined the very narrow road. It made a change to be in very lush habitat that you find around valleys with streams at the bottom. In Manaccan we stopped at a coffee shop recommended by a talkative, and friendlky lady we had met on the way. 2 cappucinos and a pain au chocolat £5.80 reasonable.

More woodland valley followed on the way to Helford where we assisted some lost walkers. At Helford the heavens opened and we had to take shelter under a tree for a while, which gave me the opportunity to get this blog entry up to date. From Helford we headed along the permissive path along the head land which is part of the Maenporth estate. It is wooded and we finally added coal tit and long-tailed tit to the holiday list. The path dropped don to sea level many times and we stopped at one beach and had our lunch, cheese sandwiches again.

A bit further on a beach was invaded by a landing part of children in sailing boats being towed by two power boats. Towards the end of the headland we ended up doing a bit a circuit where the path is not very well signposted. Luckily the walk had been fairly short and we were not tired, so the extra walking was not an issue. We eventually got back to the car where I took a panorama picture of the river which was not full of water.

On the way back we took a detour to have a look at Coverack. Once back to the hut we went to the pub for a pint but it was closed. I took another panorama from the opposite side of the valley.

Mullion to Lizard Point (11 miles)

Woke up this morning to very bright sun, however the weather is supposed to turn a bit later. We were up relatively early made sandwiches and drove down to the green at Lizard to catch the bus to Mullion then walk back to the car.
The bus was a popular choice the people waiting more or less filled it up. After stopping at a couple villages and doing three point turns, we arrived at Mullion cricket pitch. There followed some confusion I had decided to leave the map at the hut but take a photo of it, trouble was I missed Mullion.

After asking 3 people we eventually found the coastal path. The weather was great the sun was out but there was a breeze to take the edge off the heat. We followed the path Helen spotted a seal.

We stopped for lunch at a place with a view, the cheese sandwiches tasted all the better for it. A bright green beetle landed on Helen and was not in a hurry to fly away. I got some photo’s and video of it. It really was tucking into the grape I dropped.

At one point I had a look over the cliff edge and spotterd some movement, through the bins I could see bird of prey chicks. We debated them into Peregrins but when an adult Kestrel turned up and fed them it settled the argument.

We were getting very tired as we approached Lizard Point but we found the time to have a look for the Choughs and were rewarded with cracking views followed by a fly past. The cafe was welcome we had a soft drink and shared an ice cream. We then headed back to the car via a less troden path.

We took the opportunity to whizz over to Helston sainsbury’s to get a card reader and the car washed. A long day but very enjoyable.

Rain on The Lizard

After an early night we were up relatively early, the rain the weatherman promised had descended. You could see sheets of rain rushing past the house up the valley. There was a bit of a swell and the waves were crashing on to the rocks off the beach.

After some breakfast we decided to do a drive about day and headed to Falmouth to have a look at the National Maritime Museum, which we had visited some years ago and remember being worth a look round. We took a detour to have a look at The Lizard, as we suspected it is a bit of a kiss me quick place, but it will be a welcome stop when we walk from the house when the weather is better.

Once parked up in the museum car park (£3.30 for 3 hours, but plenty of spaces!) we headed over to the museum entrance, we passed though the shops which included deli’s and a Rick Stein fish and chip shop. The museum was how we remembered it it was well worth a visit plenty of stuff for everyone you and old.

By the time we had had a good look round and some coffee and cakes, it had stopped raining, so we headed for a quick look round the town. The car park was now full and people were queuing for spaces! Much of the town was shut as it was Sunday, so we headed back to the hut taking in a detour to look at Gweek to recee the place in case we wanted to use it as a walking base later in the week.

The temperature was much higher as the rain had passed though, and we were on the tail end of the low pressure front. We went for a quick walk along the coastal path but it started to rain again. We saw plently of sea birds passing through some we recognised as gannets, others perhaps shearwaters. I also noticed that some opf the birds round here are rather trusting, in the village there are lots of jackdaw who let you get within two metres of them, then there was a couple dunnocks who were very trusting. Best of all there were some swallows gliding about 6 inches off the road surface up and down the hollow that the road made at the bottom of the village. The would glide towards you at about ankle height then steer away at the last moment.

We were back in time to watch the Canadian grand prix which looks like it will be wet, bring it on.