Trevaunance Cove-Perranporth
A stroll along the South West Coast Path
Distance: 6.8 km [4.2 miles]
Duration walking: 1 hour 20 minutes.
Total Time: 1Hour 50 minutes
Difficulty: Moderate with some steep climbs
Date: June 8th 2020
Start Temperature: 15°C End Temperature 18°C
Trevaunance Cove, close to St. Agnes, Cornwall is real mining country. The cove was built to take away the tin for smelting and import the coal for the pump.
Usually this is a thriving place with a pub, cafe or three, art shops, restaurant and an RNLI shop, plus lots of locals surfing. There are also toilets, but these are locked.
But today I did not go to the beach; I went directly East from the small car park (FOC ATM).
The Route
After crossing the road and passing the toilets, there is a flight of steps that takes you up the cliff to the top of the cove.
Then another
And another
But once you have sweated up them, while dodging dog eggs, you get a view that is worth while.
The coast path is well defined here but the views are, to say the least, not the brilliant.
This was to become a theme for most of the walk. Industrial mining is not romantic, pretty or environmentally benign.
Trevellas Porth Cove, which you can walk to from the Trevaunance Cove, is next to Blue Hills.
I have a confession to make, I once got cut off by the tide here and had to climb my way up the cliff to get out. Never really in danger as I could have sat it out for a few hours, but made me wary of the speed of the tides on the North Coast.
The SWCP turns inland here to face Blue Hills Tin Mine.
Beautiful isn’t it.
The path joins the road here at the moment as there has been some cliff erosion that has made it too dangerous to walk along, but it soon doubles back on itself, just on the other side of the stream.
As usual, there are good signs, but I am not sure if they tell the truth on this section.
Now this is A picture of an old mine chimney, it has been adding the warming carbon dioxide for us since 1826, until 1906, when, like Dylan, it went ‘electric’.
♫There must be some kind of way out of here,"
Said the joker to the thief
"There's too much confusion
I can't get no relief.
Businessmen, they drink my wine
Plowmen dig my earth
None of them along the line
Know what any of it is worth♫
Nice.
Once back at the cove, there is another set of steps. These ones just vanish up into the sky.
But well worth the climb as it get to the interesting part of the walk, if you like geology, or gliding.
Just don’t go too close to the edge as it is very crumbly and unstable at the moment.
Heading inland a little bit, the SWCP gets a bit confusing, keep to the right, or you will end up following the old path down to the sea, rather quickly.
Now, out of the blue, well, rather overcast and white today, there is this secret passage.
I just had to go though it to see what is on the ‘other side’.
It is Perranporth Airfield. This is an old WW2 air field, but for the artists amongst us, is more famous for Peter Lanyon’s last flight in his glider.
Sharp Grass was painted just before he died.
Image from
https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/sharp-grass-232757After a few moments contemplation, I found a sign and moved on.
The path is not so great at the top of he cliffs, but as it was dry, it was only loose, not loose, slimy and muddy.
But there was some flowers.
And another warning.
And then more path, but nicer at last.
Then more wasteland.
And eventually a view of Perranpoth, just spoilt by the foreground.
I had noticed a few cones made from rebar and wondered what they were. Some were just cages, others cages full of rubble.
Then I realised, they were monuments to wild camping.
What happens is, we go out looking for wild campers, throw them down old mineshafts, backfill with rubble, then pop the cage on top.
To the authorities, they are just capped mineshafts, but we all know differently.
Don’t come camping until we are all better, just not worth it.
After some more dreary wasteland, and dog egg dodging, the journey is getting close to the end.
At last, a view of one of the world’s best beaches.
It may not have coral reefs, sunny weather and topless bathers (not quite true as in those distant dunes is the naturists place), but it does not have Bull Sharks or Stone Fish, and the Life Guards were on duty today, so it is relatively safe.
So that is it. A sweaty walk across the horribly scared, historic mining trail. It really was not very satisfying, but it is part of the coast path I had not done, and will probably not do again.
The main reason I disliked it was the amount of dog eggs, worse at the St. Agnes end, but that is to be expected as the people there think they are very important, but overall, it is a dirty part of the coast path.
Just one memorable mention, I spotted this.
Not a proper Teardrop Trailer, way too large, but quite cute.
Once i had finished the walk, I got a bottle of Fanta from the Coop and sat looking at the incoming tide, just cracked the cap and heard a voice behind me saying my name. Looked around and did not recognise the shaven headed thug.
Then I did recognise him. Was the workmate I had lent my hair clippers to. He started off with the Number 3, but the ‘Edward Scissorhand’ fingers had fallen off, so he shaved the lot off.
Still, I got a lift back to my car, rather than a miserable walk back.