After breakfast at our loft apartment in Penzance we dash to the bus station. Cornish bus drivers seem to be in no hurry to get anywhere. There are lots of us waiting, mostly heading to Flambards in Helston. Thankfully we are not on the bus long and are soon jumping off at this random crossroads on the main road,

Wander down to Perranuthnoe – a little seaside village with a couple of cafes – one not open on Tuesdays and the other putting the finishing touches for the new season and hopefully opening for the season on Wednesday! It’s a good job we breakfasted first! We wander down to the small beach where a few people are walking their dog and a family are just arriving with their surfboard. Then retrace our steps to find the coast path leading out of the village.

We can see the church, the blue and yellow of a Ukraine flag flying from its spire. The path, leading out of the village, is bordered by Angelica plants with their sweet, sweet scent. Looking back the waves in the cove are small, nothing like Poldu earlier this week. We soon reach a tiny headland where two incongruous seats, straight out of a local park, have been positioned looking in each direction?

The cliff top walk on this stretch is really low with no real climbs up and down, in fact it’s a most pleasant walk. To our right are ploughed fields ready to be planted up. To our left mostly low dry, stone walls planted up many years ago with tamarisk which has outgrown its position, but I’m guessing providing that well needed shelter from the wind. You have the feeling these fields have been farmed for centuries.

We weave in and out of the wall, one minute looking at the fields, the next the sea. There are few people around and I note that this area feels very calm – not the sea just the atmosphere. With St. Michael’s Mount always in our sight, getting closer with every step, although shrouded in today’s low-lying clouds.

At Trenow Cove we stop to observe three surfers trying to catch the waves. It seems a little treacherous on an open strip of beach with visible rocks but the waves are good and they manage to climb onto their boards and SURF.

In the distance, through todays haze, we can make out Penzance, with the smaller towns of Marazion and Long Beach before and Newlyn and Mousehole beyond. Gone are our unspoilt cliffs of the lizard peninsula. We are dismayed when the last stretch of cliffs is denied our footsteps. A very formal sign informs us of a “temporary prohibition of traffic order” on this footpath. We are directed uphill along the side of a field, planted up with young brassicas and covered with netting.

A couple of fields later we turn to admire the view looking across the bottom of a graveyard towards St. Michaels Mount. We get chatting to a family, ending up giving them tourist advice on how to go over to the island. On reflection we realise we had given them misleading timings about the tide, as it wasn’t due to subside till sunset. I’m sure they will work that one out when they get there.

Our journey continues along the main, busy road. Stopping to nearly buy plants from a stall outside someone’s house but realising I couldn’t carry them.

A very welcoming looking deli appears on our left with a convenient pathway alongside to the sea. So, we stop and purchase hot chocolates and cakes, and are tempted with a sourdough loaf and chunk of cheese for later. The lady is serving from a table at the doorway – I wonder how long these covid alterations to life will continue?

Enjoy my pear and sultana Blondie (good combo) on the rocks overlooking the castle. It’s Easter holidays and is buzzing with tourists, queueing for boats over to the island. I’m not tempted today, maybe next time we are down when the gardens are open. The sea is coming in but we decide to clamber around the next corner, with a little castellated folly on the top, there’s soon a convenient concrete walkway which we follow round and up the next little road to the main road – haha I realise we’ve actually double backed on our self and are beside the deli again!!

The gift shops are bustling with tourists, we join them to buy a few postcards before descending the long sandy beach and finding a dune to lie on and read. There are families playing on the beach and dog walkers galore.

When it’s time to wander in to Penzance we follow the sandy beach for a bit, before resorting to the formal path. This area, including the sea defences and landscaping have been very recently completed – in fact they are just putting the finishing touches to a marker across the path for Marazion station.

Sadly I didn’t take a picture, but I seem to think the old station building had been newly converted, but the only reference I can find is photos two years ago all boarded up. Maybe I’ll pop back and check on my way home.

There are intriguing wooden art installations randomly positioned in groups and singularly along the pathway – chunkily carved and erected on steel posts, some with little peepy holes – I rather like them. As well as metal benches and chairs fitted into the concrete pathway and an effort to plant dune grasses around to soften the landscaping.

The long path runs all the way from Marazion to Penzance coach station and slowly squeezes us between the sea and the railway line. There are several large supermarkets and warehouse shops the other side and an enormous railway building for the trains to sleep in overnight? Our daughter is arriving on a train here this evening – it may be over five hours to London but great to have that possibility.

As we near Penzance there is a group of Monterey pine trees on the horizon – they have a lovely umbrella style shape, tight at the top with spokes radiating out to hold them up. They feel quite iconic of the arrival into the town.

The coach station leads into a car park then we walk along the main coast road, with a few restaurants and an entrance to the shopping centre – maybe an Iceland store isn’t the right choice to draw shoppers in?

We cross the bridge between the inner and outer docks – people are swimming in both, I guess no waves to buffet them but I’m not sure this would be my choice of swimming venue. There are a few boat yards then the quay for the Scillonian ferry. We once took this ferry to the Isles of Scilly, the journey on the flat bottomed, locally known as Sick-ollian ferry was worth it to stay on these beautiful islands.

Just round the corner we arrive at the Jubilee Pool. Built in 1935 with a wonderful Art Deco feel these pools were opened the year of King George V’s Silver Jubilee. We are booked to take a plunge tomorrow in the geothermal pool, so stop for a cuppa in the cafe to check it out.

A lady is being led by her partner in a wheelchair to the edge of the pool, a have to admit to wiping a tear away as I see her floating around the pool enjoying the freedom of the water. After taking a photo of the Art Deco entrance sign and the original turn stiles to show my dad who visited these pools more than sixty years ago, we wander back to our holiday loft home.