South-West Coastal Path — Lizard to Polurrian Bay

This is day two of some walking I did with a group last weekend from Lizard Point. This time we were headed west to Porthleven, just over 14 miles away. That was our ambition anyway, but as soon as we set off it became clear that some heavy weather was heading across the sea in our direction.

There was a high wind, and each band of heavy rain was followed by some moments of respite. These photos are all in sunshine, because the rain (and later hail) was so heavy I didn’t want to get the camera out. So you’re seeing the sunny gaps.

From a little after this stage the temperature dropped, the winds picked up, and the dark clouds brought large hailstones flying horizontally in from the sea. It was pretty tough going for about an hour. In fact, there was one point where the hail was so heavy it was painful on the side of our faces, so we had to stand for about five minutes facing inland and listening to (and feeling) the hailstones ricocheting off our waterproofs.

But then the weather passed again, and we moved on, cresting the top of a hill to see our destination in the far distance. The first large building on the clifftop on the right is at Mullion Cove.

By mid-afternoon, we reached Polurrian Bay, and knew how these trees felt.

So, even though the sun came out, we were exhausted (and some wanted to watch the Rugby) — so we cut the walk short at the rather luxurious Polurrian Bay Hotel on the cliff top, and spent the rest of the afternoon sitting in the shelter of the sunny conservatory, enjoying beers.

View South-West Coastal Path in a larger map

Originally published at www.steveparks.co.uk.