Thankfully a slightly easier walk than yesterday, but equally as long. Today we are reaching a massive milestone, hence I am carrying a special bottle in my back pack to celebrate.

We start with a wander down the road from our holiday cottage to the Sennon Cove Camping and Caravanning site. The bus is running at Cornish time, but nevertheless arrives. Once again, we ride on the top deck, with the wind blowing my hair all over the place, Bridget Jones style, well almost! The bus weaves round the coast, stopping at Land’s End enroute to Porthcurno.

Having popped by here yesterday, our interest has been piqued by the Museum of Global Communication and especially Morgy the red tentacled giant squid. I peruse the pretty gardens full of tall red crocosmia, day lilies and red-hot pokers creating a vivid splash of colour in front of the colonial looking Eastern House.

If you want to find out how Britain was first connected to India with underground telegraph cable, 150 years ago, and wander round amazing tunnels built in the cliff for war time use, don’t miss this museum. We rest a while on the terrace outside the museum, overlooking the gardens, whilst checking out their Cornish cream tea and a hot chocolate. Maybe that’s not a cream tea after all?

The beach car park is bustling with holiday makers unpacking their cars. We briefly join the stream of mums, dads and kids dragging beach-towels, buckets and spades before branching off to the right. Steep steps lead up towards the Minack theatre. Looking back the beach is full – family groups, couples and groups of young adults under parasols, hiding in little tents, laid out on beach-towels and swimming in the sea. The sea is turquoise blue, set against the dark angular, craggy rocks under the bright blue sky – a perfect summer’s picture.

It’s a proper hands and knees scramble up the steps, well for me anyway. A little girl is wandering back down in flipflops holding a packet of crisps in one hand and her daddy’s hand with the other. At the top we glimpse into the Minack theatre’s gardens – blue agapanthus flowers, spiring echiums and the vivid yellow of euphorbia. There’s a queue of people waiting alongside the box office for a peek inside. No need for us to stop, as we are booked to see Don Giovanni tomorrow evening.

That is the tough part of today’s walk done. The path squeezes us through a narrow hedgerow and we are out in the open. A short wander round the cliff path and we come to St. Levan. A sign says of an archaeological dig for St. Levan chapel, which was recently disrupted by flash floods. Sounds like they don’t have much time on their hands to save this chapel.

We continue along for another half an hour around the occasional boulder, but nothing like the scramble we did for much of yesterday. The wildflowers and windswept blackthorn turn to garden plants – hebe, hydrangea and a cute shaped yellow tinged cypress tree. The path edged with a dry-stone wall, surrounds a pretty seaside dwelling and leads us into Porthgwarra. It’s another typical Cornish hamlet focused around the sweeping stone pathway to the sea. But this one has huge tunnels cut through the rock in several directions. We wander through the first tunnel popping out at a beach where people are swimming. Then back up the other side to a bench. Despite the cream tea, and this morning’s cooked breakfast, a local ice cream is very tempting.

Moomaid ice cream from nearby Zennor, what can I say, according to their legend “… a young Cornishman was lured into the sea by the beauty of the Mermaid of Zennor. Today you’re more likely to be seduced by Daisy, Primrose and Sid Vicious – just three of the cows that help make Tremedda Farm’s ice cream. They are the legendary Moomaids of Zennor.”

What I can say is the Shipwreck flavour – sea salt and honeycomb, is one of the best ice creams I have ever eaten. Can’t wait to try Orange and Mascarpone and Moomaid Mess.

A canoeist, with his boat pulled up onto the rocks, is enjoying his chosen flavour. He’d made an extra special effort to get his Moomaid. We spot him later on rowing around the coast towards Land’s End, wonder where he’s heading?

The next section of path, towards Gwennap Head, is managed by the RSPB. A sign informs us that this, the most south-westerly valley in the British Isles has SSSI status. Since 2007 they have managed the land for Cornish choughs. A sign encourages us to stay on the main footpath and “listen and look out”. We are rewarded by a glimpse of a pair of choughs, with their distinctive red bills and red legs, flying into a narrow valley.

Just before the Gwennap lookout post there are a pair of navigational aids. I expect sailors use the red and the black and white checkerboard style cones for reference but we just lark around! Trying to take photos of them as novelty hats doesn’t really work but it’s fun.

We’ve been pondering which way to look to spot the Isles of Scilly, and are therefore pleased to find a round metal guide pointing out to sea. But, no matter how hard we squint and peer we cannot see these little islands or the Bishop Rock lighthouse.

We continue along the open clifftops, covered in very low gorse and heather. Our eyes are constantly drawn to the turquoise seas looking for sea creatures. We are not disappointed – in the next cove we spot two little seals bobbing their heads out of the water to say hello.

It’s a steep walk down through the bracken to Nanjizal beach where folk are enjoying the cool seas. As we look back from the far side there is a magnificent tall slit in the granite rocks.

We are nearing Land’s End and are joking about the Tardis and Dr Who flying overhead! Having completely slated the “entertainment venue” in my university dissertation back in 2010 I am not the biggest fan of the way this iconic site has been marketed. Thankfully, from this distance the “entertainment and shopping venue” are hidden inside the buildings and the surrounding countryside is unharmed.

The paths are easy-going, edged by short grass, dotted with wild carrot and rocky outcrops which we occasionally have to navigate. There are gradually more and more people. We stop to chat to one guy, with his Land’s End sticker on his t-shirt, he is curious how far he has to walk to see the next bay. He thinks it a marvellous idea to take a bus one way and walk back. Some people are easily pleased.

Nearing the cluster of buildings on the Land’s End hilltop, a lady in a red dress is trying to get as close to the end of Dr. Johnsons Head for a photograph. We won’t tell her that Dr. Syntax Head, further on, is the westernmost promontory of England!

It feels a momentous moment arriving at Land’s End. Having started the coast walk six years ago in Dungeness, we have now walked the whole of the south coast.

There’s a young couple arguing, very loudly, with not a care in the world as to who can hear them. A group of runners and their supporters in hi-vis are gathered with music blaring. A long queue of people waiting for an official photo by that famous signpost– the photographer with a dapper parrot puppet. Saving our £10.95 for a 7 x 5 print, we take a selfie standing by the plastic chain barrier and swiftly head away from the hubbub.

A low dry-stone wall, just beyond Dr. Syntax head, turns out to be the perfect comfy spot to pop open the bottle of Piper Heidsieck I have hidden in my back pack. This special insulated carry case with glasses given to us by Olga and Slava has been waiting for a special occasion like this. The champers soon disappears accompanied by home-made cheese sandwiches and chilli flavoured crisps

It’s probably no surprise I am singing loudly as we continue our stroll over the cliffs towards Sennon Cove. You never know what song will come to mind, but I think it’s the Jolly Roger experience in 4D currently showing at Land’s End that prompts “Hi Ho Silver Lining”. But that has nothing to do with pirates? However, the lyrics seem rather apt –

Going down a bumpy hillside,

In your hippy hat.

Flying across the country

And getting fat . . .

A young couple ask us to take their photo and later on re-pay the favour. I think he rather enjoyed using my camera asking us to angle ourselves to get the sun in the right place.

It’s only a 40-minute stroll from Land’s End to the beach at Sennon Cove but I bet very few people make the effort – their loss! The going is pretty easy, the grass underfoot a mix of long wavy and short with occasional granite boulders, mostly on a level, until we reach the path down the cliff into Sennon Cove. It’s gone five now, the sun is low in the sky and shimmering on the sea.

We learn from reading a plaque that Army and Royal Marine commandoes, prior to heading off to German occupied mainland Europe in World War II, trained on these cliffs. I certainly wouldn’t want to clamber over these craggy, uneven, rocks right above the crashing sea.

Sennon Cove is not a large resort, but unlike many others we’ve seen recently, has a long stretch of road along the seafront. This is punctuated at the end with a few dwellings, the lifeboat station and a little jetty. We walk along the straight promenade, past a couple of bars and surfing shops then onto the sandy beach. Despite the time of day, the beach is busy with brave individuals dashing in and out of the sea.

I’ve been carrying my swimming gear with me (as well as the bottle and two champagne glasses!), and this is the moment. The turquoise sea, lapping the fine sand, looks so inviting, that I have to go in. It certainly isn’t as warm as the seas near home in East Sussex but as they say, once you are in, it’s lovely! Well, it was freeeeezing! I now understand why so many swimmers and surfers are wearing wet suits.

Once dried off in the evening sunshine we head over the sand dunes of Escalls and Trevedra cliff toward Gwynver Beach. The couple from earlier are hurrying to catch the last bus back to Penzance – hope they make it.

This is the end of a very momentous walk for us and we are exhausted. It doesn’t look far to follow the footpath up towards the Sennon Cove campsite and along the road to our holiday cottage but it takes some while. The steep steps, alongside the adder breeding ground, are tough. We are somewhat concerned about the cows, typically standing right against the stile, but they move aside.

As we reach our holiday cottage the sun setting over the sea in the distance really does seem to have a silver lining this evening.