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St Ives Holiday Land's End to St Just walk 1st July 2022

Catherine and Andy had carefully planned this last day of our holiday. However, the bus driver had taken a sickie and we had an hour to spare in St Just. This all worked out very well in the end with a pleasant coffee in the village and a lower tide on the shore for our walk. The sightseeing bus took us to Land's End and from there we walked past the Iron Age fort at Maen Castle to Sennen Cove, full of sand and several surfers. We were able to walk a mile along the beach before diverting up to the South West Coast Path which carried along for another 2 miles. The route was mostly along the cliffs of Gurland and Nanjulian with quite a few remains of ancient mine workings along the way. After a delightful walk in beautiful conditions we eventually got back to St Just after about 6 miles of excellent walking.

The walk started in the St Just coffee shop, supposedly a bus will come sometime..

So we formed an orderly queue

Aha, here it comes!

Back on track we found the site of Maen Cliff Castle.

This is all that remains - the only entrance to the Iron Age fort

Dropping down into Sennen Cove, we found this boat winding house, now an art gallery.

Sennen Cove, a mile of sand, with a few rocks, puddles and stones to negotiate.

"I can do it!"

After the beach, the route got a bit more difficult

Careful!

All made it, let's head north.

Old mine shafts riddle this area

Six spot burnet moth

View back to Sennen Cove

This is not the place to learn how to dance

We never did decide what the purple fields were made of - it was neither lavender or flax!

Well, I think we agreed about that direction.

Some more gunnera on the way up to St Just.

About 6 miles

St Ives Holiday Porthcurno Walk 30th June 2022

Starting from Treen village we headed down to Penberth Cove, a tiny hamlet still home to a few small working fishing boats. A steep climb up and we were on the cliff top at Cribb Head. The South West coast path took us along to the site of the Iron Age fort of Treryn Dinas. Here we stopped for a drink and to try to decide which rock may be the famous Logan Rock. This 80 ton boulder will rock a little if pushed but was some way away and we weren't too sure which of the rocks it actually was. Further on towards Porthcurno we came across a white stone pyramid. The cable hut that originally stood there from 1870 was replaced by one lower down in the valley, but fishermen had been using the hut for navigation purposes, so the pyramid was built in its place. Once we had descended into Porthcurno we had a look at the cable hut that has the largest collection of transatlantic telegraph cables in one place. Further up is the Porthcurno Museum and this is where we stopped for our leisurely picnic. The route back to Treen was across the fields and considerably shorter than our morning route. It would have seemed churlish not to go to the local hostelry called The Logan Rock, so we succumbed after a moments hesitation.

Leaving Treen behind us, we headed for Penberth

We came across this huge growth of gunnera on the way down to the cove

This tiny village is home to 4 small fishing boats

Economically marginal, but what a place to work!

At least one of these is a sailor, so let's get fishing!

Two girls waiting for Poldark, but he wasn't filming here this day

From Penberth, the only way is up. It needed a few breather stops on the way out.

Ah, that's a better slope

Looking at the view towards Porthcurno

Porthcurno beach at the end, Minack Theatre a bit further on.

Logan's Rock - it's behind you ....... somewhere.

Site of the first hut to receive overseas cables, now a navigation point for sailors who have lost their phones.

Sign on the outside of the Cable Hut near to the beach.

All the submarine cables ended here, then re-wired to a much larger building up the valley.

After our picnic we took the short way back to Treen

Some people really take a risk getting that ideal angle.

The Logan Rock - found it at last.

After a hilly 4.1/2 miles, we deserved a wee drink.

Not sure if he'd walked all the way though.

About 4.1/2 miles

Strollers and Morning walkers 29th June 2022

The weather looked unpredictable as eleven of us set out from North Street car park on Linda and Pauline's walk, making our way along the bank of the river Rother on the new Lipchis Way. As we stopped to hear a little of the background of the new glass house at Woolbeding, a few drops of rain were in the air so it seemed appropriate to stop for coffee under a huge Oak, after a bit of tree hugging with our coffee we crossed the A272 onto Midhurst Common and up to Sunset Hill. The weather was fine so some layers of clothes came off before reaching the Jubilee path and into Midhurst via South Pond, almost 4.5 miles gentle walking. We met more MFC members at the Red H restaurant where we were well looked after.

A happy bunch!

No stiles on this walk - hurrah!

Time for a rest!

Young people -- always on their phones!!!

and here's another one!

Guess whose boots these are?

Just pondering....

Denis finding out how Deep South Pond is, answer deeper than a walking stick!

I think I can hear noises inside this tree!

OK said John, I'll just check it out.

Ten steel ‘sepals’ that take four minutes to open to form a 141m2 crown

MFC enjoying Sunset Hill - The friends of Midhurst Common volunteer group were formed in 1986 in response to a proposed development of 230 houses that was subsequently stopped, the group now help maintain and preserve the area for recreational use.

And guess who came to lunch. Welcome, old friend!

Nice lunch at Red H.

St Ives Holiday Mount St Michael trip 29th June 2022

This was theoretically a day off from walking and we instead went to Mount St Michael, near to Penzance. Lovely gardens and a spectacularly sited house, reached by a causeway, as long as the timing is right! St Michael's Mount probably had monastics buildings from the 8th to the 11th Century and the earliest existing buildings date from the 12th Century. After many changes of ownership, the St Aubyn family purchased it in 1659 and descendants of that family still live there. The buildings were used as the home of Frankenstein in the 1979 film Dracula. The National Trust now own and manage most of the Mount, but the family have a 999 year lease.

Ready to walk the causeway to St Michael's Mount

As well as the castle, the Mount also once had a large population which peaked at 221 in 1811. The population in 2011 was 35

Around the garden are many lovely gardens, tended by the National Trust

Main entrance. There is a small tunnel from the harbour built by miners which carries a narrow gauge railway, but is only used for goods, not people.

Inside the chapel at the top of the castle

Plenty of reading matter if there's no-one to play draughts with.

The present Lady St Aubyn, busy knocking up some doilies to make ends meet.

This is Lettice Knollys, first cousin once removed to Elizabeth I. The 3rd of 16 children she married the Earl of Leicester and was then banished from the royal court as Elizabeth I was also charmed by the Earl. Married 3 times, lived to 91. No connection with St Michael's Mount, just somewhere for the National Trust to store the portrait.

Causeway, before the tides comes in

The Earl of Oxford captured it and then held if for 23 weeks during a siege by Edward IV troops in 1473/4

We managed to leave the Mount well before the tide covered the causeway

St Ives Holiday Geevor Tin Mine 28th June

This day had a poor forecast so we thought we would have a look at Geevor Mine and see if the rain held off. Deciding we would take a tour of the mine seemed a sensible decision. It was fascinating to see the extent of the mines under the sea and extending up to a mile out to sea. After going through the processing sheds we had to make a dash through the weather to Wheal Mexico, a 200 year old mine with safe access above sea level. Most of the old mine workings are now flooded. Once we had completed our Mine visit we drove down to a NT building called the Botallack Count House where we were allowed to eat our lunch inside. The Botallack Mine (as seen in the Poldark TV series) was visible through the rain, but we decided to call it a day and returned to St Ives.

All signed up for the tour, hats were compulsory and much needed as we later found out!

This huge motor's job was winching all the heavy stuff up and down the mine, 1000ft down

This was the locker room - the brown dust was everywhere. Left as it was on the last working day in 1990.

The dummy in the showers proved a bit of a surprise for some!

Only 1% of the rock brought up was tin. To find it, the pieces of rock had to be changed to the size of sand particles. Part of this process was in the huge rotating drum where steel balls crushed the rock.