Day 2 – Porthleven, Lizard Point, Kynance Cove, The Minack Theatre, The Land’s End & Crowns Engine Houses.
Our first night in Cornwall we spent in St Ives, as usual we stayed in Airbnb. I always find them to be much better value than hotels especially in the UK. Anyway, the first day was pretty long so we had a dinner in a pub on the seafront and had an early night.
On our second day the weather has improved and it was actually sunny. The plan was to drive to Lizard and do a few stops on the way.
Porthleven – Origin Coffee Roasters
First stop was Porthleven which was so charming! Not going to lie, the main reason we stopped there was because of Origin Coffee Roasters – a very hipster cafes that i sometimes visit here in London but this one the very first one…coffee was amazing! So if you like your medium roast (and a good cake) definitely worth a visit, and a girl who worked there was lovely and recommended that we visit Kynance Cove which we did and it was great. After our little coffee break we strolled around for a bit and actually had our very first Cornish pasty from a local bakery – divine. They were roasting hot, just out of the oven. That’s all I’m going to say. Porthleven is actually famous for its restaurants, but me being a vegetarian, fancy fish didn’t really appeal. But we did say, if we come to Cornwall again, this wee harbour town would be a great place to stay.
Lizard Point
After an excellent coffee and pasties, we made it to our main stop for the day – Lizard Point which the most southerly point in Britain. Both actually really enjoyed this stop: it is a lovely walk down to the water and you can visit a cave, really nice gift shop but the highlight was the cafe…We finally had some Cornish tea. A spoiler – we couldn’t finish it. Who knew we would get 4 giant scones between the two of us! Even tried to do ‘the Cornish way’ and put jam on first. Still not sure about it.
We took a walk around lighthouse, decided against going in and made our way back to the car to go to our next stop – Kynance Cove. Oh and I probably should add that Lizard Point and Kynance Cove are both free but you have to pay for car park as both places are looked after by the National Trust.
Kynance Cove
It is a little walk down form the car park and there are few ways to get down to Kynance Cove, and it is pram friendly by the way. As we were there on Friday afternoon it was pretty busy with tourists enjoying the sunny day. Nevertheless we enjoyed the views and it is a truly remarkable bit of coastline. Anyone else sees a dragon? Have I read too many fantasy books?
The Minack Theatre
Another place that I have had starred on my google maps for ages. Located on a steep hill it is a beautiful open-air theatre. I have been to Athens before and it totally gives out the ‘Mediterranean vibe’. Actually hard to believe that this theatre is not even 100 years old and was built by Rowena Cade in 1931-32 just with the help of her gardener. When we were there, there was a practice happening – you can watch bits of it in my video. Originally I wanted to treat Calum to tickets to see a production but timings weren’t great this time. There is a good cafe as well with an excellent view if you get lucky with the weather.
The Land’s End
Now to the biggest disappointment of the day – The Lands End. Basically it is a very mediocre centre of attractions. We did get there after the closing time and I can imagine it is a bit more fun when it is full with people or maybe if you have children. But we took a quick selfie and that was it for the Britain’s most westerly place.
Crowns Engine Houses
This place was incredible! We were at the sunset and pretty much alone. So romantic and mysterious. Cornwall used to be known for its mining, so there are plenty of abandoned mines dotted on the coast. We haven’t visited many others but this place was incredible. There are lots of old buildings around that you can explore and just genuinely a very picturesque and photogenic coast!
And this brings me to the end of our second day. We headed back to London on our third day but still made a few great stops, so one more blog post to come!