St. Ives to Zennor

August 20, 2025 From the Itinerary: difficulty rating: challenging/severe. This is normally a 14 mile journey all the way to Pendeen, but I am breaking it into 2 days because of the difficulty. The below description is for the entire distance to Pendeen.

This is one of the toughest sections of the entire Path, due to the rocky and sometimes boggy ground, and so progress is slower than you may anticipate - but the views make up for it.

A fairly gentle walk out of St Ives to Clodgy Point soon becomes a strenuous journey of roller coaster climbs as the Coast Path plunges down towering cliffs into beautiful coves and back up again. This is a particularly difficult section and there is a real feeling of remoteness here, unlike any other part of the Coast Path.

The landscape is beautifully wild and rugged and the area around the parish of Zennor is designated both an Environmentally Sensitive Area and an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The path can be narrow and rough in places and all amenities require inland detours, so it is advisable to allow plenty of time and stock up on provisions at the beginning of the day.

Distance: 7 miles Weather: some breeze, mid-70s and sunny

Highlights:

• Seal spotting from Mussel Point and watching the Atlantic crashing against the offshore Carrack Rocks.

I did see a seal - the same one several times! am thrilled!

• Crossing the stream and looking at the rugged cliffs and giant fingers of granite above Wicca Pool.

Not sure exactly where this was, but there were many rugged cliffs and many streams that I crossed. If there was a Wicca Pool, I missed it. That said, I did have my break in a neolithic stone circle, so maybe that counts towards something.

What a wonderful day. It was probably one of the best of my entire experience on the SW Coast Path

This section was strenuous, but NOTHING like the earlier ones on this trip. The difference was maybe that outside of St. Ives the path became quite rocky. I was dressed for it, with heavy duty leather boots and poles, so it was a moderate day for me. If I was in lighter boots/tennis shoes and without poles I would have been SOL.

I forgot to give a bit of history of Primrose House. It's a 9 bedroom Edwardian house that was built in 1908 and was always used as a guesthouse. Originally it was combined with the house next door. Breakfast was yogurt and egg benedict (1 egg) with spinach. I told the same sleep deprived guy as yesterday that I wanted the full benedict, but with only one egg. I got 2 english muffins, with spinach on both halves, and only one egg, but hollandaise only on the one with the egg...I was hoping for hollandaise on both. I also asked for a sausage that was quite good. The english muffin didn't taste too fresh.

I was certainly glad to get out of St. Ives. I walked by the harbour again, this time the tide was out. I got to experience walking through several of the alleys which kept me away from the majority of the tourists.

and the first area outside of town is known as Man's Head. I assume the rock formation there was supposed to look like a man's head, but it never really looked like that to me....

Just on the other side a Kestrel posed for me on a rock.

There were some nice views as I left the area and got on to Clodgy Point where the path became more rocky.

Eventually I came upon tin mine ruins and the map said this was a "tricky path", as the rocks got bigger.

At this point I was about half way to Zennor and I came upon a stone circle which looked like a nice place for a break.

On the hill were more mine ruins and more beautiful views

Then I came upon a peacock butterfly which decided to pose for me

and finally up to the trig point (see the movie below)

on the other side of the trig point I came upon a fishing boat near seal island which followed me for about a mile before disappearing - not sure I would have wanted to be on that boat because it was pretty choppy.

A butterfly called lycaena (small copper) posed for me

I passed over several streams and the rocks progressed to boulders, which progressed to no path and boulder scrambling.

Eventually I got past the big boulders/no path, to smaller boulders/path in a stream bed.

Finally got past that to the "Danger, Mine Shaft" area:)

before turning in towards Zennor.

Tonight I am staying in The White House which is part of the Tinner's Arms Pub. It is believed to have been built in 1271 to accommodate the masons working on St Senara's Church next door. As much as St. Ives tried to pry money from my pocket, Zennor feels the opposite. I was shown to a lovely room with a shared bath and I was given access to a washer/dryer for free and free sparkling water. The final photo is the view from my window.

I immediately took a shower and then raced down to wash my sweaty clothing. That said, I had to empty the washer of the (hopefully clean) bar rags and I just about fell over when I opened the dryer lint trap (which I cleaned - the bar manager was very thankful).

St Senara's Church was re-built in the 12th century, with the site potentially holding significance as an earlier Celtic cell. It is at least 1400 years old. The inside wasn't too exciting, but there were hand embroidered cushions on the pews.

Dinner was a delightful change from the last few nights: spicy parsnip soup and crawfish/avocado salad. Dessert was ice cream from the local Moomaid creamery.

I will be rather sorry to leave!

Here are some video moments from the day