Cornwall

The South West Coast Path is England’s longest marked hiking trail and is also a National Trail. It stretches for 630 miles/1015 kilometers, running from Minehead in Somerset, along the coasts of Devon and Cornwall, to Poole Harbour in Dorset. Our base in Trekenner in Cornwall provided us a central base from which to explore some of the stunning scenery along the South West Coast Path, from the westernmost point of mainland England at Land’s End to Tintagel Castle in North Cornwall.

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The Cornish coastline has a rich mining history, with tin, copper, lead and other ores being mined in the area for more than 3000 years. The aptly named Tin Coast at the southern tip of Cornwall was littered with the relics of tin mines from their operation over the prior 600 years (some records suggest mining around Botallack occurred as far back as the Bronze Age). We hiked around Botallack and Levant – both UNESCO World Heritage Sites at the time of writing – the kids enjoying the remnants of the old mine shafts scattered along the coastline while Lisa and I took in some of the stunning views of the Cornish coastline. There were some incredible fortunes made and lost along the Tin Coast: the Botallack Mine shareholders each received roughly £12.5K over the mine’s lifetime in return for their initial £20 investment (that’s roughly £1.5MM for a£1750 investment in 2021 pounds). The Botallack Mine produced roughly 14.5K tonnes of tin, 20K tonnes of copper and 1.5K tonnes of arsenic during its lifetime.

We also ventured to Land’s End – mainland England’s westernmost point – for a 6.5 mile/10.5 kilometer walk along the Pothgwarra to Penberth portion of the South West Coast Path. We traversed some very muddy farmland around Treen before making it to Pothgwarra on the coast, but the mud was well worth it for the magic views of the Cornish coastline and stunning blues of the ocean along the trail. The rugged landscape and secluded cottages scattered along the cliffs had Lisa and me thinking a lot of the northern Sonoma County coastline. The beaches along the way were quite spectacular, the turquoise color of the ocean was amazing even under overcast skies. I can imagine the Cornish beaches being very pleasant during the summer months. Our hike culminated at – you guessed it – another exceptional English pub, the 500 year old Logan Rock Inn in Treen was an ideal spot to curl up by the fire with a couple of ales and blackcurrant cordials after the chilly temperatures along the coast. We were chatting to the bartender at the almost empty pub whilst enjoying our ales, he commented that this past summer the pub was serving more than 500 meals a day on weekends to Brits unable to spend their summer vacations abroad. He noted many of them had never visited the Cornish coast before – always opting for summer trips to continental Europe – but vowed to return to Cornwall after discovering its beaches. I’m with them, quite the memorable spot…

On our way back to Trekenner from Cornwall’s southwestern tip we made a stop in touristy Saint Ives for dinner. The Brits aren’t known for their extravagance in the kitchen, but the beer battered cod at Harbour Fish and Chips was without question some of the best fish and chips I’ve had the fortune to consume. The locally caught cod, haddock and sea bass dished up with Cornish-grown fries was very much enjoyed by everyone, all four of us would have received a Clean Plate Club badge of honor from Chris Boyer.

Closer to home (home = Trekkener) we also hiked along a section of the South West Coast Path near Tintagel, which passed by the medieval Tintagel Castle on Tintagel Island. I’m all for shelling out a few pounds here and there for memorable experiences during our travels – you only live once – but the US$70 for the four of us to stroll across the suspension bridge pictured below to set foot on Tintagel Island seemed a little steep for our day’s hiking adventure, so we gave Tintagel Island a miss (to be honest, the ruins of Tintagel Castle didn’t appear too mind blowing anyway…). We all enjoyed exploring Merlin’s Cave below the ruins of the castle, however, another beach I can imagine would be an exceptional spot for a swim during the summer months. More stunning vistas from the headlands to the north of Tintagel as we hiked, and the patchwork of deep green Cornish fields dotted with wooly sheep all the way to the cliff edges was very picturesque. We’d made sandwiches for lunch but as we strolled through the village of Treen on the way back to the car we stumbled across a couple of bakeries, all we had to do was follow our noses to the smell of hot pastry wafting down the street in the crisp autumn air. Needless to stay, the sandwiches stayed in the backpack and the four of us downed some very tasty Cornish pasties and sausage rolls for lunch! Cornish pasties in Cornwall, doesn’t get more cliché than that.

For our time in Cornwall we all loved our digs at an old dairy just south of Launceston. Debbie and her husband Nick were such gracious hosts, housing us in a brilliantly converted barn on their farm. Nick had been selling off his dairy herd since 2016 and no longer operated the property as a dairy, but they had been keeping themselves busy planting more than 7K native trees on the property. It was so nice to have a wood oven to heat our abode with the chilly temps in Cornwall during the autumn months. The kids were in heaven roaming about the property during the late afternoons before the sun set while Lisa and I enjoyed the fire with a few drinks and some of the cheese I grabbed in Bath. The party barns dotted about the property were great, I have a feeling Nick, Debbie and their friends really get stuck into it when they choose to celebrate an occasion! I know my kids will be talking for months about the zip lines/flying foxes they discovered during their adventures. It took us a whole day to dry out their clothes following their dairy adventures in Trekkener.