Breakfast at Doolittle before starting todays walk straight from here, leaving todays bus adventure for the end of the day.

Starting up at the harbour, they are just setting up the market stalls for the Sunday traders and the bikers are arriving for their morning meet-up as we amble out of the village towards the cliff path. We pass the old lifeboat house, now an artists gallery, the really high set post box in the blue wall and the large newly converted dwelling that we observed yesterday. On closer inspection, although sympathetically constructed from local stone in the local style it has signs of being of modern architecture style – the long vertical feature windows give it away. The swimming pool is carefully hidden behind the blue pool house and you can just see the iron railing round the terrace overlooking the sea – nice.

The path for much of today’s walk is single file, occasionally muddy puddles, lots of rocky trip hazards and either side dry stone walls with a stunning array of wild flowers. I particularly love the tall mallow, just starting to form buds for this year’s flowers. There are bluebells and what look like white bells but in fact I think are snowbell Allium triquetrium – in fact a non-native invasive species introduced in the 1700s.

We pass a field of lambs – there is evidently something very tasty just the other side of the fence as they all have their little heads pushed through the wire munching away. There seem to be a lot of very cute, black sheep in this neighbourhood. The cows that put us off from yesterday’s walk, across the field, seem to have moved to another field now.

Looking back towards Tremearne cliff there is this incredible striped humbug-like rock formation – massive wide black and white stripes running through the cliffs.

A National Trust sign says we are at Trewavas cliff, we take a short detour on to the granite outcrop for a photo opportunity, before continuing on to the chimney and mines we have been heading towards for a while.

The tall chimney, clinging to the side of the cliff, is a light-coloured stone construction and looks almost as good as the day it was built, ivy is clinging to the lower walls, and there are a few stones missing from the top. The engine house on top of the shaft is not so complete but still beautiful. There are few people out today braving the cold winds below the grey skies.

Although the numbers increase as we we near the car park at Rinsey and further chimneys. The Wheal Prosper engine house and chimney has a sign saying 1860. Looking it up now, the mine was working for just six years until 1866, but its heritage remains 150 years later.

There is one lonely house clinging to the cliff surrounded by grassland and gorse, with its own long private road winding down to it, the footpath crossing over. I have to admit to be missing trees in this area – if I lived her I would plant Monterey Pine, Monterey Cypress and Holm Oak around my boundary like you see around many other coastal dwellings. Maybe they have tried and it is just too windy for them to establish?

The narrow coast path weaves it way down and up through the yellow gorse with its faint almost coconut-like scent. Over the top of the next hill, we can see the stretch of Praa Sands with the waves rolling in. I can see an art-deco style dwelling, my favourite kind of building nestling under a cypress tree at the beginning of the village. The path goes right up to it then skirts round – from below it looks quite modest but as we walk round and peep in, it is nothing but modest. In fact I look up the details for Little Cottage, Praa Sands – wow.

Further on residents have worked hard to create gardens with cypress trees, huge agave, palms and spring bulbs – it really does look like it a windy challenge. We meander along the paths through the dunes and on to the beach. My it’s windy here, we brave sitting out to eat our sandwiches before looking for somewhere warm for a hot drink. We end up having to walk up the road to cross the little stream and eventually find the perfect café which had been newly converted. From the china cups, trendy wooden bar, cushioned seats in little booths, friendly staff, views of the waves framed through the windows and Jack Johnson playing through the speakers, I could of stayed at the Stones Reef café all day.

It is 1 o clock on this Sunday afternoon as we leave Praa, the path huggins the edge of the houses, with echiums poking out of the end of their gardens. We stop to admire the view back over windy Praa and notice, for the first time in ages a caravan park just inland. The National Trust have done a fabulous job of preserving this remote part of Cornwall from turning into a great big holiday park like some places we have walked through.

More narrow muddy paths surrounded by gorse take us round to Kennegy Sand, a wooden bridge over an area of reeds then we start to spot wild cabbages growing in the hedgerow. We’ve read that conservationists inspect the cabbages in this area – how peculiar, not sure if they are native or non-native, but they seem happy growing here. We are very intrigued by the next dwelling between Bessy’s Cove and King’s Cove.

As we get closer, we can see a grand piano within the first window of the main dwelling on the seaward side. Carrying on the coast path takes you through their courtyard with a raised building to our left above a perfectly rounded stone wall, mirrored on the other side with an understated yet grand wooden door in a small courtyard. A poster pinned to a side door advertises spring concerts in Cornwall by the International Musicians Seminar IMS Prussia Cove. What a delightful spot for a music school.

As we round the corner we wander through a tunnel of relatively young holm oak trees, passed a gorgeous thatched cottage and around Bessy’s Cove to a conglomeration of deserted but still mostly in tact buildings, and the remains of boat winches and other boating paraphernalia. It’s a whole lot warmer and less windy on this side of Praa Sands.

Our next find is a tall wooden post with a metal rachet to one side, then a couple of shorter wooden posts that over the years have had pennies wedged into the gaps that have since rusted away leaving a gorgeous orange staining running down the sides. We are now at Cudden Point, another National Trust sign reveals – a small beautiful looking granite peninsula, which we observe is how Lands End should look! As we round the corner we can see the wide sweep of St. Mounts Bay, st. Michaels Mount is close by and we can make out the village of Mousehole, Newlyn and of course, Penzance, where we will be staying from tomorrow night.

I get a text from a friend who works on St. Michaels Mount to say the island will be closed tomorrow, I’m guessing the weather is turning. At least we have made the most of today. As we cross the next field and down over the stile we both remember a moment a few years back on a similar walk when my sister was chased by a horse! Funny how different scenes can bring back similar memories.

The path closes in on us as we weave our way through gorse and angelica towards Perran Sands, further on the strimmers have been out cutting back the hedgerow. Which I’ve noticed on todays walk is blackthorn and is just coming in to flower. We pass The Beach House with their very own red pillar box set in stones and a dog bowl for thirsty dogs. After a few more houses we arrive at Perranuthnoe – that really is quite a mouthful. Note the car park for tomorrows walk and wander up the road to the crossing where we have just a few minutes to wait for our bus back to Porthleven. It is so nice to see the local busses being so well used – it’s 4 o clock on a Sunday afternoon and there are more than a handful on the bus which stops and starts throughout the journey letting people on and off. Drops me almost outside Doolittle, which is a relief, as after 10 miles or so my feet are very weary.