Zennor to Cape Cornwall and St Just

We had a lovely breakfast, served in the kitchen of the The White House. We left shortly after 9 am, complete with packed lunches, in slightly misty weather that we thought would be like yesterday's. However it wasn't! - the sun came out quite soon and we enjoyed walking round Pendour Cove and on towards Gurnard's Head, named for its apparently similar shape to the fish.Then on to Treen Cove, site of a pilchard seine and a tin mine, but very pretty now.

The going was quite slow (it was still rough underfoot) and there was a heavy shower just before lunch. We didn't put our waterproofs on soon enough, so got quite wet, but the wildflowers and greenery were beautiful in the rain. The blue of the bluebells was particularly memorable, though we're sure we must have seen royal fern today, if only we knew what we were looking for! We also saw orchids. We stopped for lunch then skirted the beautiful Portheras Cove.

The going got easier as we approached the lighthouse at Pendeen Watch. As we passed Pendeen the scenery changed dramatically, with many remains of tin mining. We walked through some of the derelict areas and close to the Geevor Mine Heritage Centre (Geevor was the last mine to be closed, in 1990) and Levant Mine but unfortunately we didn't have time to visit either (or their tea shops!). However we did have time to add to the already extensive photographic record of the two engine houses at Botallack!

We got slightly lost on the approach to Cape Cornwall and in using the GPS to find our location, we lost the screw holding one of the lenses in my sunglasses in place (the glasses were fixed at a very helpful optician's shop in Penzance, three days later). Having found the right path, we descended into a lush valley then climbed up the other side to a path close to Cape Cornwall, a strange little hillock with a chimney on top, originally thought to be the most westerly point in England - so the crowds might have come here rather than to Land's End.