Day 1: South West Coast Path

“Cornwall is a place where the land meets the sea in a dramatic and beautiful clash.”

Unknown

After a two week repositioning cruise from Florida to the Netherlands, we’ve landed in the Cornwall region of England where we are exploring the region by walking the South West Coast Path. We became interested in and acquainted with this area through the British television shows Doc Martin and Poldark, and a book about a couple who walked the trail called The Salt Path.

We’re traveling with our friends Trev and Kim, and have settled into an Airbnb in Penzance—a real town, not just the title of a play. Rather than hiking the path point-to-point we’re busing to and from starting points. The bus system here is extensive, and a bit nerve wracking at times. Double-decker buses drive down narrow lanes with high hedges on each side that I would hesitate to navigate in a Volkswagen Beetle; and they do it on the left side of the road. Impressive.

One characteristic of many coastal hikes is a roller coaster of terrain as we ascend to the tops of cliffs and then descend to beaches. You’ll see plenty of that in Laurie’s Relive video.

https://www.relive.com/view/vKv2dg8xA46

This part of the path also had a unique feature: Land’s End—the westernmost part of the English Coast. A fine spot for a lunch break of a Cornish Pasty.

And as you can see from the photo gallery, we were blessed with sunny weather, albeit a bit windy. Many of the sandy beaches look like they would be at home in Hawaii or other tropical climes. In fact, there were plenty of surfers clad in wetsuits enjoying the waves.

Question: Have you ever fallen in love with an area of the world through a show or book, and decided to visit it?