Church Cove, Lizard Point & Kynance Cove loop from Ruan Minor — South West Coast Path

Fab circular route from the camp Site. Called in at Grade church - very pretty & we think still in use despite it being isolated. Turned left at the first footpath sign & hiked across open heathland towards Kynance Cove. The cove is a beautiful sandy beach (very busy today) with a nice NT cafe. The coastal path heads up to the cliffs from the beach via some steps & hugs the coast. Views are spectacular. There is another black sand cove a little further along but the steps to it have been washed away by the sea so its quite a scramble to get down to it. The path stays high until it reaches Lizard Point - the southerly most point of mainland Britain so we climbed down & stood on the rocks with the sea coming in! From here the path meanders up & down before reaching Church Cove, a tiny hamlet of the same name & a rocky approach to the sea. We followed the path around the headland back to the campsite

Lizard Point is the southernmost point of England. Here the South West Coastpath leads past high cliffs, fine sandy beaches and tiny fishing villages.

Magnificent landscape on a tour with what feels like 2000 steps. Danger! The pictures "lag" behind the tour as my photo was not switched to English time

An absolute premium day of hiking! We drove the 35 miles to the starting point, the car park at Kynance Cove. Queen Victoria and her husband Albert have "bathed" here. A spectacular sight of almost Caribbean proportions, of course even better with the sun that never seemed to stop shining. From there we followed the South West Coast Path. In addition to the lapping sea, the green of the meadows and the many colors of the blooming flowers were particularly striking. After a short while we passed a beach far below. Going down soon turned out to be a climb; someone had kindly left a rope there. And so we started the descent for a short break. I was relatively surprised at how steep some of the paths were, but after a few kilometers we came to the southernmost point of England: Lizard Point. It was busy here and so we didn't linger too long, walked past the Lizard Lighthouse (the signal can be seen up to 50 km away) and headed north again. It became increasingly lonely here, and the landscape changed too. The rocks were not quite as rugged and the green of the meadows stretched further down towards the sea. Other stops were Housel Bay, Church Cove and the Devil's Frying Pan, as a landmark is called. We soon came to Cadgwith, a pretty little fishing village with thatched houses. Far fewer tourists come here than to Lizard Point, but you can no longer call it an insider tip. In Cadgwith we left the South West Coast Path to go back to the starting point. First we went over asphalt, then over a pretty single trail and then 2 km over a raised moor. Finally we came back to Kynance Cove, where we put our feet in the cold sea. Really refreshing. A really beautiful and very varied day that makes you want to explore other parts of the coast.