Helston to Newquay – Coastal Road Trip

Day 46 – Helston to Newquay

We will be driving just over one-hundred miles today as we head along the south coast of Cornwall to Land’s End, and back up the north coast towards Newquay. The weather has improved from yesterday’s miserable effort – yay!

Photo of the day

Coastal Road Trip, Porthcurno, Beach, Turquoise Sea, Sunshine, Blue Sky, Cornwall — The stunning Porthcurno Beach.

Portleven

Coastal Road Trip, Portleven, West side of The Lizard Peninsula, Cornwall, Sea spray — After leaving our base for the night at Helston, we drove straight down to the coast at Portleven to take in the early morning views back down the west side of the the Lizard Peninsula.

Coastal Road Trip, Portleven, Harbour, The Ship Inn, Breakwater, Cornwall — Portleven Harbour was just waking up on this early Sunday morning.

Rinsey

Coastal Road Trip, Rinsey Cove, Wheal Prosper, National Trust, Tin, Copper, Mine, — At Rinsey Cove we walked down to Wheal Prosper, an old engine house that was used to pump water out of undersea copper and tin mines. Even the National Trust car park had been built above an old mine shaft.

Coastal Road Trip, Rinsey, Cove, Head, Mount's Bay, View to Mousehole, House on cliffs — Wow, what a position for a house. Perched on Rinsey Head with magnificent views across Mount’s Bay to Mousehole, Black Rock and Lamorna.

Marazion and St Michael’s Mount

Coastal Road Trip, St Michael's Mount, National Trust, Ferry Boat, View from Marazion — St Michael’s Mount across Mount’s Bay came into view as we drove towards Marazion. Over the years the original Abbey on the island was absorbed into a fort, then later a grand house built by the St Aubyn family. When we have time we would like to go back and take the ferry across to explore the small island properly.

Penzance

Coastal Road Trip, Penzance, Egyptian House, Chapel Street — Penzance was a curious town, and like Falmouth yesterday, it was larger than we had expected. Walking down Chapel street we came across the unusual Egyptian House.

Coastal Road Trip, Penzance, Chapel Street, Pirate on the roof, Admiral Benbow Inn — Further down the road there was a Cornish pirate on the roof of the local pub (Admiral Benbow Inn).

Coastal Road Trip, Penzance, St Mary the Virgin Church, Palm Trees — Cutting down to the harbour, tall palm trees surrounded St Mary the Virgin Church.

Coastal Road Trip, Penzance, Jubilee Outdoor Bathing Pool — The very smart and newly renovated Penzance Jubilee Outdoor Bathing Pool. Remind us, where are we again? It looked like the Mediterranean not Cornwall…

Coastal Road Trip, Penzance, Pirates, Mural. The Bridge Bar, Waterside Meadery — More pirates at the next pub!

Newlyn

Coastal Road Trip, Newlyn South Pier Lighthouse, Harbour, Newlyn Pier and Harbour Commission — The Newlyn South Pier Lighthouse at the entrance to Newlyn harbour, just southwest of Penzance. The harbour is home to the largest fishing fleet in Britain.

Mousehole

Coastal Road Trip, Mousehole, Rockpool, Cafe, Orange bunting — Yes, you read right, there is a place called Mousehole. What a cool name, though it is actually pronounced ‘Mowzall’. We stopped by the Rockpool Cafe to look at the views across Mount’s Bay….

Coastal Road Trip, Mousehole, Cornwall, Mount's Bay — …. and south to the granite cottages overlooking Mousehole’s harbour front. We then set-off to wind our way through its narrow Cornish lanes.

Lamorna

Coastal Road Trip, Lamorna, Valley, B3315, Trout Stream, Cove, Lane, Trees — Continuing on towards Land’s End, we drove alongside a trout stream, through the beautifully wooded Lamorna Valley, down to Lamorna Cove.

Coastal Road Trip, Lamorna Cove, Quay, Waste tips, Cottages, Granite Quarry, London Thames Embankment, — Waste from the cove’s 19th and early 20th century granite quarries was precariously heaped down the hillside. The cottages looked a little to close to those huge boulders for comfort. The quarries had been used to provide granite to build London’s Thames Embankment.

Coastal Road Trip, Lamorna Cove, Quay, Storm Damage, Carn Dhu, Black Rock. Mount's Bay — The view out past Black Rock to Mount’s Bay. Wandering around the quay, we noticed this sign on the way back to the car… bit late.

Coastal Road Trip, Lamorna Cove, Quay, Clear Water — The cove’s waters were crystal clear.

Coastal Road Trip, Lamorna Cove Cafe, Closed Sign, see you in 2018 — No chance of having our morning coffee here, the Lamorna Cove Cafe was closed until next year.

Porthcurno

Coastal Road Trip, Porthcurno, The Minack Theatre, Open Air, Rowena Cade, Blue Sea — The truly spectacular open-air Minack Theatre at Porthcurno, with its stunning turquoise sea backdrop. The brainchild of Rowena Cade, who started building the theatre with her gardener in the early 1930s, a true inspiration. The entry fee also included access to a small but interesting exhibition telling the theatre’s story.

Coastal Road Trip, Porthcurno, The Minack Theatre, Tiered Seating, Stage, Cornwall — The theatre really was the highlight of our day. We would love to come back in season and join the 80,000 people that enjoy a performance here every year.

Coastal Road Trip, Porthcurno, Beach, Turquoise Sea, Sunshine, Blue Sky, Cornwall — Porthcurno Beach, next to the Minack Theatre, was equally impressive. The golden sand and the turquoise sea were glowing in the midday sun.

Land’s End

Coastal Road Trip, Land's End, Sign post, Julian, Jarno — Finally we reached Land’s End, the most westerly point of mainland England and Cornwall. Land’s End should be 838 miles by road from the most northeasterly point of mainland Britain, John o’ Groats. However, after leaving John o’ Groats on day 24, we traveled the long way around! 😉

Coastal Road Trip, Lands End, Longships Lighthouse, Waves crashing on rocks, Carn Bras — The rather brutal looking Longships Lighthouse, just off Land’s End on Carn Bras.

Coastal Road Trip, Lands End, Waves crashing on rocks — Waves crashing over the rocky coastline surrounding Land’s End.

Coastal Road Trip, Lands End, Whitsand Bay, Cape Cornwall — We had great views north from Land’s End across the rather choppy Whitsand Bay to Cape Cornwall.

Pendeen

Coastal Road Trip, Pendeen, Levant Mine, National Trust, Chiney, Beam Engine — Driving north along Whitsand Bay, we arrived at Pendeen and the National Trust’s Levant Mine. Like Wheal Prosper this morning, these were the remains of engine houses that pumped water from the undersea copper and tin mines.

Coastal Road Trip, Pendeen, Levant Mine, National Trust, Beam Engine, Tin, Copper, Mine — The National Trust had restored many of the buildings, and the site contains the only remaining and operating Cornish beam steam engine in the world.

Coastal Road Trip, Pendeen Watch Lighthouse, Levant Mine, Cornwall — From the Levant Mine we could also see Pendeen Watch Lighthouse, looking out across Cornwall’s northwestern peninsula. Though it was tricky to get a good shot, as it was so windy.

Carn Galver

Coastal Road Trip, Carn Galver, B3306, Zennor — As we passed another National Trust mine at Carn Galver, the coastal road started to feel more barren and windswept.

Zennor

Coastal Road Trip, Zennor, St Senara's Church — St Senara’s Church in the small village of Zennor. Alphabetically, Zennor is the last parish in Britain…. random fact of the day! 😉

Coastal Road Trip, Zennor to St Ives, B3306, Road, Treveal, Atlantic Ocean — Continuing along the B3306 towards St Ives we had sweeping views past Treveal to the Atlantic Ocean.

St Ives

Coastal Road Trip, St Ives, Porthmeor Beach, St Nicholas Chapel — Arriving in St Ives, we made our first stop at Porthmeor Beach looking towards St Nicholas Chapel on the headland.

Coastal Road Trip, St Ives, Porthmeor Beach, Rocks, Waves Crashing, Southwest Coastal Path — Waves were crashing against the rocks below the Southwest Coastal Path.

Coastal Road Trip, St Ives, Sea Spray, Behind Porthmeor and Tate, Barnoon graveyard cemetery — Salty sea spray filled the the afternoon air behind Porthmeor Beach and the Tate St Ives.

Coastal Road Trip, St Ives New Lighthouse, St Ives, Harbour Beach, Smeatons Pier — As we left the town we looked back at the Harbour Beach and the St Ives New Lighthouse at the end of Smeatons Pier. We had seen its identical twin lighthouse yesterday morning at Mevagissey…. who would have know this trip would lead to a deeper lighthouse interest and knowledge! 😉

Gwithian

Coastal Road Trip, Gwithian Beach, St Ives Bay, Sunset, Kite-surfers — Looking back across St Ives Bay and kite-surfers enjoying the breeze at Gwithian Beach.

Coastal Road Trip, Gwithian Beach, St Ives Bay, Windy, Julian, Jarno — We look a bit cold at windy Gwithian Beach!

Coastal Road Trip, Godrevy Lighthouse, Island, Point, Gwithian Beach, St Ives Bay — Godrevy Island and its lighthouse, northeast along Gwithian Beach.

Godrevy-Portreath Heritage Coast

Coastal Road Trip, Hell's Mouth, Navax Point, Godrevy-Portreath Heritage Coast, National Trust — Driving along the cliff tops towards Portreath we stopped to peer over the edge of Hell’s Mouth towards Navax Point.

Coastal Road Trip, North Cliffs, St Agnes Head, Godrevy-Portreath Heritage Coast, National Trust — Then a little further along the coastal road, the red North Cliffs seemed to be crumbling away. You can just make out St Agnes Head in the distance.

Coastal Road Trip, North Cliffs, Sun Rays, Clouds, Godrevy-Portreath Heritage Coast — Looking behind us, golden sun-rays were bursting through the cloudy late afternoon sky.

Porthtowan

Porthtowan, Beach, Village, Cornwall — Continuing our journey towards Newquay, we made a quick stop to look down on Porthtowan Beach.

Chapel Porth

Coastal Road Trip, Chapel Porth Beach, Pebbles, National Trust, Cornwall — The National Trust Chapel Porth Beach was nestled into a cosy quiet cove just south of St Agnes Head.

Perranporth

Coastal Road Trip, Perranporth Beach, The Watering Hole, Dusk — The sunlight had almost gone by the time we reached Perranporth Beach, hence a slightly grainy picture! But the Watering Hole cafe lit up on the beach looked quite inviting. Newquay was our next stop for the night.

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