In early April, I took my caravan down west to stay on a site near Marazion to take advantage of the lovely weather and a quiet time before visitors start to flock down here. One of the days I drove over to Zennor and, parking below the pub and the church, followed the path out towards the coast. After a short distance Eddie decided that he hadn’t finished his early morning business properly, which caused me to retrace my tracks and take the little plastic bag back to my van!
Back on course again we followed the path round right-handed above Pendour Cove and along to Zennor Head. The water below was the most gorgeous blue and the sand in the cove brilliant white – it was stunning. Two walkers were having a break on the headland so we went on a bit further to find a spot to sit and have a bun and a drink while soaking up the scenery of the coast line up towards St Ives in the east and down to Pendeen Watch with the lighthouse in the west. There was a strong northeasterly wind blowing so before starting to feel chilly we set off again. Near Wicca Pool I paused to let a walker come past, he had long dreadlocks and facial piercings and was generally untidy but when we started to chat I found that he was an interesting man just living his own life. He told me he had seen a strange bird on the path that he had never seen before and when he showed me a picture on his phone it was of the elusive Hoopoe, a bird native to North Africa and Asia though now seen frequently in Spain and Portugal. It had been spotted in a few places around west Cornwall but by the time I reached the place the man had seen it it had gone so it’s now one of the things I must see before I die.
At a group of rocks known as The Carracks, quite close to the shore, there were a couple of pleasure boats from St Ives taking people to see the seals. They weren’t disappointed as there were several around with six right in close to the edge of the rocks at Economy Cove. A little further along we turned away from the sea at Trevail Mill and followed the Coffin Path back to Zennor, across small enclosed fields. The path follows a straight line and comes out at Zennor church. The stiles are only really granite beams laid on ground in the hedges, placed to be awkward for cattle to cross and easy enough for bearers to carry coffins over, and I assume they were built like that to make it easier to transport the dead to the church from outlying farms in the district.
Before getting back to the village Eddie went in search of water and shade to cool down and emerged from the undergrowth in what is becoming his regular state of filth and dishevelment: he was filthy again and it was thick mud, not the sort that drips off. Once back in the village, I marched him straight to the bottom of the hill and washed him thoroughly in the river before he was going anywhere near my van. Fortunately there is always a dog towel in there, so after a good rub down and a circuit of the car park in the sunshine he was clean and dry enough to jump in for the ride back to the site.
Erica
