The Lizard

Britain's Most Southerly Point was just a few miles away.   I slept very well in my hilltop field, woken only by a bit of rain in the night, and the dawn chorus at 5.30.  When I eventually got up I dried off the tent and immediately there was a short shower.  However it was "good drying weather", very windy, so I managed to pack up without anything blowing away, and set off into the teeth of the half gale.

Kynance Cove 

Kynance Cove was my first stop.  Possibly the most beautiful beaches in Britain, in my humble but well-researched opinion.  At low tide it's a gorgeous sandy cove, and today, at high tide, it was a boiling maelstrom of waves smashing into the rocks.

At The Lizard there are a variety of attractions vying to help tourists spend their time and money there, but it's much nicer than Lands End.  There's a lighthouse, a sad youth hostel, (shut unless you want to hire the whole place), several cafes and gift shops.  I settled for Britain's Second Most Southerly Cafe, because there was somewhere level to park my bike, for a late breakfast.  Very windy and wild at Lands End - lovely!

The Lizard

Most Southerly Cafe 

Returning up the east side of the Lizard peninsula  bought a whole new selection of brake-testing descents, rapidly followed by leg-testing climbs.  Cadgwith Cove was an impossibly beautiful tiny working fishing village, with 25% single-track hills in and out and zero car parking as far as I could see.  Kennack Sands, a wild unspoiled sandy beach with a solitary cafe and a view to die for.  I had to stop and take it all in over a little something.

Cadgwith Cove 

Ruan Minor 

Poltesco

Elevenses with a view

Coverack, a more normal and less interesting small seaside town, and then Porthoustock, which was rubbish.  Nothing there except a quarry, a stony beach, and the mandatory hill.  Porthallow was nice but everything was closed, so I carried on in search of tea at Helford, on the beautiful Helford River.  I passed the first cafe in search of another cafe in the village, overlooking the Helford ferry crossing - bur never found it.  The ferry is pedestrian only and reached by a narrow footpath, so I gave up and returned to the shop (closed at 3pm) and the first cafe (closed at 3.30).  It was 3.31 

Coverack

Helford

I was now in the "death zone" - that dangerous time between the cafes shutting and the pubs opening for food.  The only was was forward.   And up and down.  I hade to go round the Helford River with its many tributaries, each with its own little steep-sided vslley.  The roads were lined with oak trees and the sunlight through the trees, and occasional views of the mudflats of the river, made for a beautiful ride, perhaps even more enjoyable on motorised transport.

You cross the main river at Gweek, where there's also the Cornish seal sanctuary which occasionally appears on the news.  I didn't see any seals but I did find a shop which also had an open cafe.  Lovely.  A audacious robin shared my pasty while I momentarily went back to the bike.

Crossing the river near Gweek

View across to Helford, from Helford Crossing

I was hoping to stay in a hostel in Falmouth, but it had closed down, so camped in a lovely farm campsite just before Falmouth.  They have a backpackers' area with level camping pitches and a little hut for shelter and phone charging.  I met three coast path walkers there and we swapped stories.   I was joined in the shower by a swallow, checking me out for danger before feeding some noisy chicks.