Day One: Penzance | West Cornwall Fully Loaded Cycle Tour 2020
This was my second cycle touring trip of 2020 after my ‘warm-up’ trip to Telford the month before (I say warm-up because it was my first trip out of town whilst we were dealing with the Covid crisis and was a good insight into seeing how cycle/camping worked under these conditions). I had planned to cycle around the South West Peninsula of Cornwall from Penzance to St Ives and along the coastline camping as I go.
Along the way I visited some of Cornwall’s most fascinating historic spots including the Porthcurno Museum of Global Communications formally the Porthcurno Telegraph Station, or PK, where the first international telegraph cable was brought ashore and was the World’s most important station during the late Victorian era and also Geevor Tin Mine, formerly North Levant Mine, which was operational between 1911 and 1990 and is now museum and heritage centre left as a living history of a working tin mine.
There was so much to say about this trip but as usual I’m going to let the photos tell the story and also the captions for each one and I can throughly recommend cycling/hiking around this area as there is so much history left in place to see!
Enjoy! 😀
Halfway through my journey to Cornwall and waiting for my next train at Exeter St DavidsThe end of the line and arrival in Penzance! London > Woking > Exeter St Davids > Plymouth > Penzance - a 7 hour train journey to be exactWelcome to Penzance, CornwallArrival at my Penzance campsite, Stream ValleyMy first campsite stop which was situated not far out of Penzance town centre - there was a small river stream next to my tent that made a serene sound at nightPenzance Heliport first appeared in 1964 but was demolished in 2014 and this new one was built in 2017, once again passengers can fly to the Isles of ScillyPenzance Heliport's AgustaWestland AW139 helicopter built in Italy in 2001 and can carry up to 12 passengersI literary just jumped off those pile of rocks in the left of the photo in time before the sea came in and covered up the walkway to St Michael's Mount, Mounts BaySt Michael's Mount, the Cornish counterpart of Mont-Saint-Michel in Normandy, dates back as early as the 12th century and still has a castle and chapel on it todayHuge buoy I spotted in Penzance Harbour that was begging for a bike photo opportunityThe perfect angle for a coin operated telescope to see St Michael's Mount across the Penzance HarbourThe iconic art deco Jubilee Pool c.1935 in Penzance is now heated by geothermal energy after a £1.8m upgrade in 2020The picturesque Mousehole Harbour, PenzanceThe Newlyn Meadery, a medieval themed restaurant, was once the ‘Gaiety’ cinema built in 1905 and run by a projectionist and his wifeThis seaside house in Newlyn, Penzance had a impressive tropical gardenA stone cross or road marker from the Celtic timesThe Lamorna Wink is a traditional village pub that dates back some 400 yearsThe really cool pub sign for the Lamorna Wink in Lamorna CoveLamorna Cove - a village, valley and cove al in one!This classic street sign describes my whole journey around Penzance by bicycle!En route to a sunny Porthcurno
