Lizard Peninsula Walk (Lizard Village, Kynance Cove and Cadgewith Cove)

We’ve done this walk twice, the first time was last year on honeymoon when it was baking hot all day long, the second was this year where we experienced just about every weather possible.

It’s probably my favourite walk that we’ve done in Cornwall It’s got great views, plenty of climbs and ascents, beautiful beaches, stunning cliffs, a fantastic cream tea and brilliant pub during the walk plus pubs and cafe’s at the end of the walk…what more could you want.

Length: 11 miles

Start/Finish: Car park on the green in Lizard Village (Approx SW703125)

Refreshments: there’s some great Cafe’s and Pubs in Lizard village along with a couple of pasty shops, a cafe at Kynance cove (excellent cream tea). The Cadgewith Inn at Cadgewith Cove is great too, cracking meals and snacks, the bar taps is especially good value.

Things to look out for: The view of the Lizard, Kynance cove, Cadgewith cove fishing boats and thatched cottages, Devil’s Cauldron, The new lifeboat house, the signal station and lighthouse on the Lizard.

Kit Taken: Montane Medusa 32, Salomon Speedcross 3 CS ,X-socks trekking light, X-bionic baselayer pants, Montane Terra Convert Pant, Berghaus Smoulder Hoodie, Haglofs Spirit II Jacket, First Aid Kit, Leatherman, Timex Expedition watch, Buff, Berghaus Tech T, 2 bottles of water, Iphone, Petzl Tikka Plus 2, Garmin GPS 60 and paper maps.

GPX File: Click here to download (you’ll need to unzip it)

Instructions

From the Carpark follow the signs for Lizard Point, the path winds down the side of the road to the main car park, keep following the path until you reach the cafe at Lizard point.
From here follow the coastal path keeping the sea on your left. Simply follow the way marked path, it seems to change a lot depending on the land slips but it’s clearly marked and signposted.
You will soon reach a carpark at the top of Kynance Cove, depending on the tide you have two options, if the tide is out and the sea calm you walk down the path to the beach, It’s worth having a look around the beach as it’s really sandy and there’s some huge rock formations. If the sea is rough or tide in you can follow the easy access path down to the cafe for a cream tea.
From the cafe head up the bank along the road, when the road levels out there is a sign posted wide mud track, follow this across the Lizard downs.
The downs can be quite tricky to navigate in the mist but on a clear day it’s easy to spot the path, simply stay on the track and head for where it meets the road at SW700145.
Cross over the road and follow the public footpath until it joins another road
Turn right here and follow the road until you reach a footpath on the left signposted for the church, follow this footpath past the church and across the fields to join the road into Cadgewith, where the path joins the road you can also choose to visit St Ruans well by hopping over the fence, it’s just on the other side.
Simply follow the road down into Cadgewith to go to the pub and have a look around the lovely fishing village with thatched cottages. It was also on the series where Monty Halls spent time learning to be a Cornish fisherman.
Once you are done looking around the village,keeping the sea on your left, follow the coastal path up to Devil’s Fryingpan.
From here the rest of the walk is straight forward, it’s just a case of following the costal path, keeping the sea on your left, firstly to Church Cove and then onto Bass point with it’s lookout station, then round Housel Cove, past the hotel before heading past the Lizard lighthouse to where you originally joined the coastal path. Turn right and follow the road back up to the village and your car. Celebrate with an ice cream followed by a few pints in the pub.

Gallery

Here’s a few photos from our two goes at this walk, almost exactly a year apart.