Three Days In Cornwall – Part 1

Cornwall is the most southern and western county in England, right down at the bottom left of the map of the UK. The county is defined by the River Tamar on the east, the English Channel on the south and the Atlantic Ocean on the north and west. It is a beautiful region with lots of wonderful places to visit.

Probably the most famous location in Cornwall is Land’s End, the very end of the peninsula named Penwith. Land’s End is the most westerly point of England, although not of the island of Great Britain. That honor goes to Corrachadh Mòr in Scotland. Offshore there are several rocky islets, and the actual furthest west point is on the Isles of Scilly, 28 miles to the southwest of Land’s End.

The actual geography notwithstanding, Land’s End is generally viewed as being the closest point of England to the US, so it is a tourist location. When we first visited, Land’s End was a small location with a rocky coast. The most recent visit showed it to have grown into a more touristy center, with additional buildings. At the end is a signpost that appeals to photo takers. To have your picture taken with your home city added to the post does requires payment. As it is generally a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, you may well want to pay, otherwise you can just snap away from outside the fence with whatever city is on the signpost at the time!

Penzance with the tide out. image Copyright 2023 EnglandForAllReasons.com

Just a few miles east of Land’s End is another location you may have heard of, Penzance. Penzance is the most westerly town in Cornwall and was the subject of the famous Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera, The Pirates of Penzance. When the opera was written, Penzance had become very popular as a resort town, with a convenient railway from London to the town making it relatively easy to visit, so the idea of pirates overrunning the resort was amusing to the population at the time. Today, modern Penzance has a charm of its own. Curiously, every time we have visited Penzance, the tides have been out, and the harbor boats resting on the sandy bottom of the harbor looked forlorn, as if they missed the water!

About 2.5 miles west of Penzance is the village of Mousehole. It is not pronounced “mouse hole” but “mau-zel.” We have not yet visited Mousehole, so this is just a mention of it for now. It is a very picturesque village by all appearances, and well worth a stop.

St.Michael’s Mount showing the causeway at low tide. Image Copyright 2023 EnglandForAllReasons.com

Around the bay to the east of Penzance is a tidal island called St. Michael’s Mount. A tidal island is surrounded by water at high tide, but with a dry path to it at low tide. St. Michael’s Mount is the Cornish counterpart to the iconic Mont-Saint-Michel in Normandy, France. The French version is much higher but the two are both conical-shaped, tidal islands with causeways for access and a chapel on the summit. At low tide one can walk across the causeway to the island quite comfortably. If you visit at high tide, there are boats to ferry from the beach to the island and back. Admission to the island will gain you access either to a garden tour, or a tour of the chapel at the top, or both. The climb to the top is quite arduous, although the interior of the chapel and the outstanding views from the top are well worth the effort. The top image on this post looks back to the mainland from the top. Although the public access to the island and chapel are managed by the National Trust, the owners since 1659, the St. Aubyn family, have a 999-year lease to inhabit the castle and a license to manage the public viewing of the historic rooms of the castle. The family quarters of the castle are off-limits to tourists.