July 19, 2024

We woke this morning to a heavy fog. The tent was wet inside with condensation and outside from the mist, so we packed up, ate a hurried bite for brekky and headed off towards the beach and the coastal path. Leaving Coverack we again climbed to cliff tops and looked out over turquoise water, craggy rocks and grey or white beaches. The occasional seal was bobbing around out to sea and young families were enjoying the fine weather on the beach.

Having left before 7 am, at the first 2 villages we passed the cafes were not yet open and it wasn’t until 10.30 that we found a tiny outdoor popup Cafe at Cadgwith where we could sit and relax and enjoy coffee/coke and share a slice of cake. In fact it wasn’t supposed to open til 11am but a passing neighbour called out to our young host that she had customers waiting. The sign on the gate informed us that half the profits would go to the Ukraine war effort so we were happy to support the business.

Last night we had spent time planning the next few days. Tomorrow (Saturday) is forecast to be rainy and we still have 68km to get to Penzance. We hoped to walk at least half that distance today, then camp and hopefully make it to Penzance by 7pm Saturday night. We made bookings for 3 nights’ accommodation in Penzance but were unable on google maps to find a suitable camping spot for tonight.

We had some good sections of well maintained trail today with a great outlook over the ocean. At around 11.30 we made it to Lizard Point for lunch – the most southerly point of mainland UK.

We stopped here for lunch and then continued on, hoping to put a good few miles more behind us before finding somewhere to camp.

Around 3.30 we stopped at a tea shop at Mullion Cove and a very helpful lady suggested a possible campground another 7km or so along the track. We thanked her but thought it might be too far off the coastal path so when we got near the turnoff, we asked a young man if he knew of a camping ground. He directed us a couple of km along a road to a popup campsite where we have now set up our tent. The ground just has a tap and a portaloo but it is cheap and ours is the only tent here. We are expecting rain tonight and tomorrow so will no doubt be packing up a wet tent in the rain tomorrow.