Cornwall September 2013 - The Lizard, Cadgwith

On Monday morning we awoke to sunshine so decided to get the walking boots out again for a walk along the South West Coastal Path along to the pretty fishing village of Cadgwith.

From the site we took the tiny lanes (proper Cornish lanes with grass growing in the middle!) down to a small cove called Poltesco where we found a dis-used tin mine and a pebbly beach all to ourselves!

From there we headed back up onto the coastal path towards Cadgwith.  The Lizard really is a stunning and much undiscovered part of Cornwall.

On arrival in Cadgwith we wandered around the small, but pretty fishing village and sat up on the headland overlooking the boats on the beach.   We then had a short shower so went for a coffee and then had lunch in the Cadgwith Cove Inn, before heading back uphill to the campsite, via Ruan Minor.

Cornwall - September 2013 - The Lizard, Kennack Sands

Having only booked 2 nights at Gwithian Farm we were soon packing up on the Sunday morning and heading further south down onto the Lizard peninsular, an area of stunning scenery.

We had booked a campsite new to us for 3 nights.  Having originally booked a grass pitch with a sea view we somewhat panicked after seeing the weather forecast, and after having had a very bad experience on grass back in 2012, we decided to change the pitch to a hardstanding (but no sea view sadly).  The owner had told us that he wouldn't be there on our arrival but to just pitch up.  When we arrived someone was on the hardstanding pitch that we had reserved (apparently they had turned up in the middle of the night!).  Our original sea view grass pitch had also been taken.  One of the owners (who was still on site) said she'd move someone on but we decided to tuck ourselves away in the corner, out of the way.  I have to say, the site was not the best we've ever stayed on and certainly not the cleanest.  It's not somewhere I would be happy to recommend to anyone, yet it had great reviews on the campsite forum we use.  Just goes to show that we all have very different standards!!!  Early on I had decided not to stay the full 3 nights we had booked!

The views from the site were stunning, it has to be said, sadly we couldn't see them from our camper so we had a walk that afternoon down to the bay that the site overlooked......Kennack Sands.   We did a bit of rock pooling and found them teeming with life.

Cornwall - September 2013 - Gwithian and Godrevy

Day 2 and the sun was shining so we thought that we had better take advantage of it and have a walk, so after breakfast the walking boots went on and off we went.  From the campsite we walked up to the dunes overlooking Gwithian Sands and then down onto the beach towards Godrevy lighthouse.  Other than hardy surfers there weren't too many people about until we got up onto the headland and around to the bay where the local seal colony live!  We spent ages just watching them on the beach and in the sea - wonderful animals.  Whilst up there, in flew a young peregrine falcon and I was lucky enough to sit still long enough to photograph him.

After watching the seals we wandered back along the beach to the Sunset Surf Cafe where we had a coffee sat outside in the sunshine. 

We nipped back to the camper from there to change and then spent the afternoon in the pub (this time they were cooking!) having a long lazy lunch.  The rest of the day and evening was spent on site relaxing.

Cornwall - September 2013 - Gwithian

How did September come around so quickly????? 

We always look forward to our September holiday, for many reasons, but mainly because we tend to stick a bit closer to home, so no long and boring hours stuck on the UK's motorways and the weather is normally pretty good.

After obsessively watching the weather forecast the week before we thought that our luck had run out but it turned out to be much better than we had expected.

We travelled south on Friday lunchtime down to one of our regular and favourite Cornish sites, Gwithian Farm, near Hayle.  We had a lovely hardstanding pitch tucked away in the corner but just a short walk away from the pub!  Perfect.  On arrival the heavens opened so we parked up and had lunch before pitching up properly.  Other than nipping over to the pub to book a table for that evening we did nothing but people and rain watch!  At around 5pm the skies became very dark, we heard a clap of thunder and then it started............hail for a solid 20 minutes and the noise was amazing.  I half expected the camper to be dented!!!  Paddy wasn't too impressed with it all.

Later that evening we walked over to the pub and found some locals clearing out drains and trying to divert a lot of excess water.  Inside the pub it was chaos!  They'd had a power cut during the storm and were unable to serve food that evening so back to the camper it was for a microwave meal.  Not what we'd planned for our first night but I guess it's all part of the fun?!