My first holiday of the year has been a long time coming but, the waiting is almost over…
[Image credit: cornwalls.co.uk]
CornwallI’ll be staying at site not far from Mullion and south of Helston, with a designated field for tent pitches, away from the touring caravans. There’s no extra charge or timer on the showers and, at £15 a night, it’s cheaper than some of the other options I had considered.
In this post, I’d like to run through a list of items I’ve drawn up to keep me occupied throughout those four days. Let’s start with the obvious one:
[Image credit: walkingthecountry.blogspot.com]
The Coastal Walk
I’ve already plotted out a thirteen-mile walk along the South West Coast Path that should begin in Mullion and continue south, in an anti-clockwise direction, as far as Ruan Minor. Along the way, I’ll pass several coves along with Lizard Point (the true southernmost point of British mainland). Contrary to circular coastal walks of the past; I’m hoping to be able to catch a bus from here back to my car… A return route is hard to devise without treading back over your former footsteps and I’m not willing to push my left knee too hard – the coast is likely to be so tough that I may have to stop sooner.
Currently, I’m looking to reach Cornwall on Saturday morning – I won’t be able to pitch up before 13.30 – meaning that Sunday looks like the best day for a coastal walk and it’s also one where the buses appear to be most frequent.
[Image credit: cornwalllife.co.uk]
A Second Coastal Walk?
Lizard Point is a priority for me on this trip; regardless or whether I walk or drive to it. Further west, there is Land’s End but I’ll leave you to read through the reviews on Trip Advisor, so you can see why I’m not keen to spend any time (or money) there…
There’s also the question of time – if I’m walking on the Sunday then, I’ll intend to make Monday my ‘rest day’, which only then leaves me with Tuesday; when I’ll also need to contemplate a journey home. Depending on the state of my knee and feet, I may attempt a shorter walk towards the south-west of Cornwall; viewing Land’s End from a respectable distance.
[Image credit: nationaltrust.org.uk]
National Trust
Currently, I’m looking at a good three-hours of driving to get from my front door and down to the camp site near Mullion… I aim to leave early in the day, in the hope of beating any mass of traffic and another intention is to stop somewhere after two-hours, leaving just an hour or so of driving to follow.
One idea, of course, is to stop at a National Trust property (I am a member), where I could take a welcome break from driving, explore somewhere new and get something to eat. I decided that somewhere between Plymouth and St. Austell would be ideal but this is my (current) list of places I could visit over the long weekend:
Cotehele (this one’s a favourite)
Antony
St. Michael’s Mount (combined with Praa Sands)
Poldhu Cove
Lizard Point
[Image credit: cornwalls.co.uk]
Goonhilly Downs
This is a discovery I made whilst pawing over an OS map for Lizard. While the name may raise a few sniggers, Goonhilly Downs is a stone’s throw from the camp site and, it’s also home to Goonhilly Earth Station. As someone who’s obsessed with Interstellar and who has almost finished reading Carl Sagan’s Contact, I find this place exciting, even if I’ve over-enthusiastically misunderstood its former purpose. This could be my Saturday evening or, one to follow Sunday’s coastal walk.
Studying my two OS maps even further, I can see standing stones and other historic features dotted all over the place. There’s not point in trying to visit them all in one trip. But neither am I one to attempt to ‘live’ on a campsite.
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[Image credit: coastalwalker.co.uk – Sorry, Ruth!]
Whichever way I decide to do this, you’ll get to read about it, piece by piece, right here.
