Mousehole - Lamorna Cove - Carn Du - Mousehole

Richard Hardy

You need to log in as a member of Walkingworld to access the details for this walk and have an active subscription. Please join, or log in above if you are already a member.

A walk from the picturesque fishing village of Mousehole to Lamorna, returning along the South West Coast Path.

We start at Mousehole Harbour, where no matter in which direction you point the camera, you will end up with your own personal postcard. What follows is a long, steep climb up the road out of the village. At the top of the hill, there follows a pleasant, level walk across fields, often growing nothing more than a small standing stone in the middle. After a short walk between hedges, we pass through the small hamlet of Kemyel Crease and staying on the same level, cross more fields to Kemyel Wartha before taking a wooded path down to Lamorna, past the now disused quarry which supplied the stone for London Bridge. The cove at Lamorna was once used for shipping the stone, but the difficult task of navigating the harbour rendered it redundant in the last century.

This part of the walk typifies Cornwall's knack of making industrial wasteland a thing of extreme beauty. The sides in the inlet are littered with massive blocks of stone, blasted from the hillside and then stranded by the ebbing of the economic tide of times long past. If the café is open, you can have a quick cup of tea before taking the path along the side of the cove to the headland of Carn Du. On a nice calm day, there is no better place to sit than here and watch the large Newlyn fishing-boats as they slap through the waters below.

We now start to return to Mousehole on the coastal footpath. This takes us through a small wooded nature reserve, then down and up the cliff to Penzer Point, with its old coastguard lookout and welcome bench with a view. It's then easy, level walking back along the road and down the hill to Mousehole, which offers splendid panoramic views of the village.

In Mousehole the walk passes a commemorative plaque to the brave men of RNLB Solomon Browne which was lost with all hands on 19th December 1981, as a former operational member of the RNLI I hope that in part this walk will help to commemorate the memory of these heroes

England - South West England - Cornwall - Coast

Features

Cafe, Food Shop, Gift Shop, Great Views, Pub, Restaurant, Sea, Toilets
10/3/2022 - David Simkins

We went on the walk 1st of October 2022 and found the direction and description largely OK. However the return to Mousehole along the coast path is challenging and a bit strenuous. This is not an easy path and particularly at the Mousehole end it is narrow and runs along the cliff edge. I don't want to put people off using the walk as it is splendid scenery but it does need to be done in dry weather conditions as you don't want to be clambering over wet slippery rocks.

9/22/2013 - Graham North

Completed this walk on 21st September. Whilst it is a lovely walk with some fabulous views I feel it is important to note that the section along the coast path is very rocky and in places close to the edge. It was vey wet and muddy which made it very skippy in places. A number of other walkers on the coast path were turning back as they considered it too challenging to continue.

9/3/2013 - Richard Hardy

The walk passes through farmyards and in proximity to livestock. Plus there are unfenced cliff edges Didn't have mine with me when I updated but suspect a lot of time would have been on lead

8/8/2013 - Richard Hardy

I have just taken over responsibility for this fantastic walk, it's been rewalked in August 2013 and the photographs and text have been updated. As a former operational RNLI volunteer I am very happy and proud to take over a walk with such close links to the RNLI and it's traditions of service and sacrifice

7/3/2011 - Clive Butcher

We did this walk in mid June 2011 and found it best to park on the southern end of the harbour wall.(£3.00 all day) There are toilets there and its just before the Methodist chapel in point 1. There seems to be an advisory one way system out of the village past the alternative parking mentioned in point 3 and this was full of, presumably, residents cars close to the houses. It could be difficult to return down the hill against the flow of traffic. The route through the farm at point 5 was not blocked but was narrow and indeed messy and aromatic. Stout footwear is recommended as the coast path around Carn Du is quite steep and slippy and the section through the wooded nature reserve was very muddy even after a long dry spell. All in all a great walk.