St Ives to Penzance

This was the first proper section of the South West Coast Path that we walked, and the fact that we came back for more is evidence of the fact that we thoroughly enjoyed it. Contours, through whom we booked the walk, describe this leg as the 'Far West of Cornwall' and the walking is everything that you imagine Cornish coastal walking should be - spectacular cliffs, pretty fishing villages, sandy coves and wildflowers. The north coast is more rugged than the south, so although this leg of the path is short (just four days of walking - and some people do it in three), the scenery is varied. Some of the underlying rock is granite, and where this is exposed there are lovely big feldspar crystals.

There are reminders of the area's industrial past, with ruins of old tin mines, and the section starts in St Ives, which is a bit touristy but is primarily a very attractive centre for the arts. Inevitably, given that this is the 'Far West' you walk past Land's End. This is definitely a tourist trap, but we managed to avoid too many crowds by visiting on the day of the FA Cup Final, and in any case most of the visitors don't venture more than half a mile from the theme park!

We walked this section of path in May 2007 and the weather was mixed - we came home sun-burnt, but several days started misty and there was more serious rain on a couple of occasions. The wildflowers, especially the bluebells, were beautiful and in places (especially on the southern section) the vegetation was lush. We met up with two men, each of them walking the entire length of the South West Coast Path, but we didn't meet many other serious walkers and, away from the tourist attractions, we frequently had the path to ourselves.

We travelled by train from Downham Market to Kings Cross then from Paddington to Plymouth and from Plymouth to St Erth. That's 'St Erth for St Ives' of course, immortalised in the Flanders and Swann song 'The slow train' - though both the station and the little train down to St Ives were very much functional, more than 40 years after the Beeching Report.