SouthWest Coastal Path-Penzance to Plymouth-2023: A Great Beginning

Great Beginnings

A gorgeous, sunny day to start our hike. Rain gear and fleeces were all packed but all we needed was sun screen today, and lots of it! We set off from the harbor at Penzance, heading east along the coast. Our destination for today was Porthleven, just 14 miles for today. As we walked, we could see the small island with the stunning St. Michael’s Mount on it, from Penzance right through to our first little village stop at Marazion. Here we loaded up on water and bought our packed lunches for today. Since we are hiking through Cornwall, of course we had to sample the Cornish Pasties for lunch . . . And they were delicious . . . And very large!

Most of the day was highlighted by beautiful coastal scenes, small villages with beautiful plants and flowers. The hike itself started out very easy along a boardwalk, then moderate as we made are way along the coast then finally a bit strenuous as we climbed through the cliffs and crevasses. We passed a fair number of old Tin Mines and old Tin smelting ruins that you can see in one of the pictures below.

We reached Porthleven around 3:30 in the afternoon and following tradition, stopped at the first pub in the harbor for a few recovery Pints, Ciders and G&T’s. A nice restaurant, fish dinner, after dinner drinks and we were ready to put our tired feet up for the night and rest for day 2.