We've been trying to do some different things this holiday from what we usuallly do so today, driven partly by the fact that there is still a very strong prevailing East South Easterly, we decided to head over to the Lizard peninsula and explore Kynance Cove, a place a must confess that I've yet to visit despite having been coming down to Cornwall for a number of years now. The idea behind this was partly that being on the west side of the peninsula it would be sheltered from the wind. After a fairly leisurely start, late morning we set off on the hour long journey over to the Lizard peninsula. It seemed that we weren't the only ones to conclude that Kynance Cove would be a sheltered spot as there was a long queue down the entrance road and a choice of either a queue for the NT car park or parking in a farmer's field, the latter being cheaper but further to walk. As we don't mind a walk we chose the latter and were soon heading along the path over the moorland towards the cove along with hoards of other people.
 |
| Kynance Cove - lovely location, shame about the hoards of other people! |
Kynance Cove turned out to be as beautiful as I'd been lead to believe though the vast numbers of people all crammed onto such a tiny stretch of sand meant that it was anything but a relaxing experience. In the end we found a small rocky spot in the shade which no one else seemed to want and had our sandwiches before electing to head up onto the cliff tops behind the Cove in order to escape the crowds. Up on top there were hardly any people though there was no shelter from the winds. I spotted an elderly couple wandering about peering closely at the ground. They had to be botanising so I wandered over for a chat. They were very happy to help a bumbling beginner such as myself and pointed out all the plants that were worth looking at in the area whilst I busily took snaps.
 |
| Cornish Heath - a speciality heather of the Lizard |
 |
| Saw-wort |
 |
| The Bloody Crane's-bill had all gone over apart from this one flower that I managed to find |
In the wind none of us wanted to linger too much though fortunately it was very warm so it was more the constant buffeting rather than the temperature that put us off. As we were heading back down I spotted my botanising couple again and they beckoned me over. It turned out that they'd found some Autumn Ladies Tresses which they kindly showed to me.
 |
| Autumn Lady's Tresses |
 |
| Chamomile |
We headed back to the car and then headed the relatively short distance down to the Point where we parked up again (paying yet another chunk of money for the privilege) before strolling over to the lighthouse. Last year my VLW and here family had visited and had gone on a tour there which they had all thoroughly enjoyed so we thought that we'd do this today so that the children could get the benefit. Whilst the tour this time wasn't as thorough as the one my VLW had been on (it was after all now the height of the tourist season so they couldn't afford to go into the same level of detail apparently), nevertheless it was still very enjoyable. Afterwards, we strolled down to the the Point itself for a cup of tea and some sustenance before going down to the lifeboat launch where I admired the amazing plant life growing on the cliff. It seemed to be covered in succulents from top to bottom with Hebe, Purple Dewplant, Hottentot Fig and Rock Samphire covering almost the entire cliff face.
 |
| Purple Dewplant |
We sat for a while enjoying the sun and the fact that it was sheltered from the wind before reluctantly heading back to the car and back to the Penwith peninsula. On the way back someone suggested fish and chips for dinner so we ended up going to 190o West in Sennen which was supposed to be very good. We took our food back home to Pendeen with us and ate it hungrily. Then it was time to veg out watching a movie for the evening.
 |
| Sea Spurrey |
No comments:
Post a Comment