“Views? What views?  All I’m seeing is the tips of my boots and the next two feet of the path ahead of me!”

-Mike 

We got up early so we could eat breakfast and pack our bags for the 9:00 AM luggage deadline.  After a quick breakfast, we went back to our room and finalized our backpacks. Then off to walk again.

We were departing Porthleven on the opposite side of the harbor from where we arrived yesterday.  This picture is looking over at the spot where I’d taken the picture of the harbor from yesterday as we’d arrived:

Looking back toward town:

There weren’t any “hints” as to the actual route out of town, so we turned left at the church (seen in above picture) since it was pretty much the last building before the beach.  We guessed that we needed to be as close to the shore as possible and walking East. We spent the first mile or so on town roads, but eventually the road ended at a parking lot and we picked up the trail from there.  

Mike on his way up to the top:

Looking back toward Porthleven:

Yesterday someone who was speaking to us about our plans for today said that today would be “gentler”. It was true. We still had some ups and downs, but they weren’t as big and daunting as our first day. In many places the path was wide and even, rather than a narrow rut in the hillside.

We came to an area called Loe Bar.  Loe is a Cornish word for “pool”.  To the left (in this picture) is a large fresh water pond. The sand here is actually a sand bar between the pool and the English Channel.

We followed the Path down and onto the beach.  When we got to the other side, we had to take our boots off and get the sand out!

We promised each other we’d stop for a break every two miles or so today. We said if we could find a bench to sit on while we were taking a break -that would be perfect. Yesterday we saw almost no benches along the trail, but today there were actually a lot of them. Just as we were reaching our first two-mile break, there was a bench perfectly placed for us…YAY!…but a couple that was approaching from the other direction were faster than us to grab the bench! We had a nice chat with them anyway. 

You can see the Path ahead in the distance just above the beach:

I never got tired of the views!  (Mike did see this one, in spite of his quote for today):

We arrived at a beach called Gunwalloe Church Cove.  When we’d gotten past it, I turned around to take a picture looking back.  It was only then that I noticed the old buildings tucked into the far edge of the beach.  (You can see roofs beyond the beach, just below the bluff). Our trail hadn’t taken us anywhere near them. It was only later that I found out that one of the buildings is a historical church.  This beach was also used as a location for the Poldark series.  

There is a wealth of history along this coast.  The maps we had would note the places where interesting history happened, but in reality we didn’t often know we were at or passing by a location mentioned on the maps. That’s because while the maps/guide books might mention them -corresponding signage at the location was mostly non-existent, much to my disappointment.

Just shy of the six mile mark, we entered Pohldu Cove where they had a beach area, concession stand and port-a-potties. We stopped for a break and shared a really good ham & cheese sandwich. Then on up the road to rejoin the path.

Mike was quite interested to see a golf course right next to the Path at Pohldu. This golf course was on the same type of hilly terrain we’d been walking through. It was a “walking only” course. No carts. It looked insanely challenging! In this picture -the view in the distance is of the course.

This picture shows a green.  

Occasionally we were gifted with somewhat “normal” walking surfaces. The Path seemed to be a bit more maintained around places with public access.  A bit..

This is a monument to Marconi.  Somewhere nearby was the location of Marconi’s first wireless station -from where the first transatlantic radio message was sent to Newfoundland, Canada in 1901.  

Have I mentioned that I didn’t get tired of the views?

Our hotel for the night was The Mullion Cove Hotel. It is located directly on the Coast Path. We got to a spot on the trail where a side path labeled “To Mullion” split off. This trail stayed high on the cliff-tops. But the way to Mullion Cove was an immediate down -with the “up” waiting ahead. Oh how we wished we could stay on the “To Mullion” path! But we navigated the last down/up and, finally, at mile 7.7, we rounded a bend and there was our hotel. YAY!

Home Sweet Home for one night anyway.

The hotel is overlooking a lovely view of Mullion Cove.

There wasn’t anything else within walking distance, so we had our dinner at the hotel and quickly settled down for the night.  The next day was going to be our biggest mileage yet.

Categories: England -SW Coast Path 2025, Porthleven to Mullion Cove -7.6 Miles