South West Coast Path Section 4, St. Ives to Penzance

It's said that Lands End is both the beginning and the end of Great Britain and this world class walk takes you there and back again passing through both ancient and modern Cornish Culture on the way. Walking into the heart of the regions remote and windswept mining past start on the most isolated section of the 630 mile South West coast Path tracking the relentless, restless seas around Lands End before moving into the contrast of perfect golden sands and turquoise waters in the sheltered lush valleys and coves on southern sections en route to Penzance. ​ To understand the existence of the Cornish Coast Path every walker should try to engage with the county’s mining and fishing history. Tin and copper prospecting has gone on here for 2000 years and the scars and relics of these struggles are now a protected world heritage site. Magnificent Coastal Scenery, ancient Bronze Age fields and high moorland are punctured by a stream of breathtaking mining ruins that simply cling and hang off the sheer cliffs above the turbulent Atlantic. Much of this industrial archaeology is freely wandered through on the South West Coast Path sections of which were made by the boot steps of the tinners and miners of old. For those who want to head even further into the past short detours off the path take in unique stone circles, ancient standing stones, colossal stone slab burial quoits and inhospitable Bronze Age cliff castles prolific amongst the gorse and heather moorland and tumbling cliffs. ​ For the adventurous walker the Coast Path avoids nothing. On a strenuous but exhilarating journey you will be scaling mighty cliff tops, descending to hidden smuggling coves and spending your nights inland in remote and real Cornish communities whose traditions and history are entwined with the harsh realities of life above and below these dramatic granite moors and restless seascapes. An important area for migrating birds this peninsular is the first they find after thousands of miles of flying over the ocean, and exhausted and unusual visiting birds arrive here to mix with yellow hammer, goldfinch, buzzard, curlew, falcons, and kestrels. Out at sea due to its remoteness, this is the most common section of the coast path for spotting seals, basking sharks, porpoise and dolphin pods. ​ Mediterranean coloured seas wash in and out of sandy coves, blankets of wild flowers frame the trail, the ghosts of the successes and failures of the tinners mix with the legends of mermaid sirens and hooting cairns, such a feast of magnificent natural beauty and remarkable human drama in just four days walking is probably impossible to beat. ​ Watch a play above the sea in a theatre hewn out of the cliffs, go underground in a disused mine shaft or to explore an ancient burial chamber by torchlight. Take a Surfing lesson at the ultimate Cornish surfing beach or just do no more than wander at your leisure through it all tracing struggle and survival as you complete your own journey to the end of Cornwall........ and on to the start of the rest of the world.