Day 26 - The Lizard king
- Paul Juckett
- Jul 2, 2020
- 2 min read
After yesterday's south coast amble, I headed down to the Lizard peninsular today and power walked 13 miles in four and a half hours (yesterday was 15 miles in seven and a half).
I started at Poldhu Cove with the sun beginning to break through.
Situated on the headland to the south of Poldhu Cove is the Marconi centre - Built on the site that was bought by Marconi in 1900, it was from here that the first Transatlantic wireless message was sent on 12th December 1901 (the message was three dots, the letter s in morse, and was heard by Marconi and two engineers in St. Johns, Newfoundland, thus disproving the common belief that radio waves travelled in straight lines).
There is a obelisk on the coast path celebrating this achievement.
The Coast path certainly doesn't travel in straight lines! a short walk brings you to a reasonably steep decline to Polurrian Cove (pictured below), before immediately taking you up a long sustained climb into the Hamlet of Mullion.
Once you reach the outskirts of Mullion, you are immediately faced with a steep descent from in front of the Mullion Cove hotel, down to Mullion Harbour a small fishing harbour with limited working boats nowadays.
Another steep climb awaits those who plan to venture further south and, once you've completed that the path levels out a little as you reach the Lizard Peninsular.
A large flat area lies inland, there is a small airfield and a couple of buildings dotted around the horizon. Trees are few and far between and as far as the eye can see a grassland area can be seen. Devoid of any farming other than cattle grazing, the area forms a large nature reserve for birds and insects.
The landscape gives a big clue as to how bleak this area is when it faces the winter storms from the Atlantic.
After a coupe of miles, you can get glimpses of the Lizard Lighthouse and the village bearing it's name, but the eye is drawn to the sheer cliffs that descend into a boiling sea. Gulls nest on the cliffs, whilst smaller birds nest in the grasslands at their tops.
It was from one of these cliffs (Rill Point- pictured) where the Spanish Armada was first sighted in 1588.
Shortly after Rill Point, the path descends steeply down to the beautiful Kynance Cove.
I turned on my heels and retraced my steps, the sun and rain were fighting a continual battle for supremacy (which I am glad to say the sun won, despite a couple of showers). So, having (foolishly) believed the weather reports that said "no rain", I felt it prudent to get back to the car just in case the heavens opened!
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