From mining to the Med

ST AGNES HEAD TO COVERACK 104 MILES (167KM)

High cliffs stained red herald the mining world. Crumbling engine houses, flanked by tall chimneys, squat among bat-capped, fenced-off mineshafts in thorny heathland. The turquoise sea is riddled with islands and islets, and the hard, flecked, weatherrounded rock rises to the path in pale pillars and stacks of giant boulders. After Hayle’s SSSI marshland and Virginia Woolf’s lighthouse at Godrevy Point, miles of golden sand are backed by extensive marram-grassed dunes. Beyond St Ives, megalithic quoits and stone circles lurk in the bracken among old tinners’ paths crossing granite stiles, and buzzards hunt over tiny patchwork fields whose stone walls are older than the pyramids.

At Land’s End the turbulent romance of the Atlantic turns gently Mediterranean, with pure light and vivid colours that have captivated generations of artists. Boats are drawn up on granite quays and St Michael’s Mount hovers hazy on the horizon, hinting at lost Lyonesse and the anchorites whose wells and chapels are now rubble in the sand. Foghorns, lighthouses and lifeboats, plus a shipwreck memorial in the shingle at Loe Pool, highlight why ancient mariners and missionaries journeyed overland to avoid the perilous currents.

TRY THIS WALK: Cape Cornwall and the luscious Cot Valley: a moderate five-mile loop from St Just, taking in Dinosaur Egg Beach, mining remains and the dramatic Ballowall Barrow, high above where the Atlantic meets the English Channel. Buses are frequent to St

Just and its facilities are excellent. ▶