St Ives to Zennor on the coast path, then Porthcurno at low water

St Erth, St Ives, Zennor, Porthcurno, Mousehole

1. 8:30 am1

   Leave the car at St Erth, take the branch line inSt Erth

   St Ives in August is a town with three car parks and about four thousand cars looking for them; Trenwith fills by 09:30 and the queue down into the town does not move. The branch line from St Erth is twelve minutes along the Hayle estuary and over Carbis Bay, all-day parking at the station is a few pounds, and it is one of the best short railway rides in Britain. It runs every half hour and is the answer even in February. Cost here covers the day's car and the station parking.

   9 min by train or taxi · 5.3 km
2. 9:30 am2

   The coast path, St Ives to ZennorSt Ives

   Six and a half miles that people budget three hours for and take four and a half. This is the roughest stretch of the entire 630-mile path — boulder fields, chest-high bracken in late summer, granite that turns greasy the moment it rains, and no bail-out point and no water once you are past Pen Enys. Do it westbound so the wind is behind you and the pub is at the end. Marked as a hold because in a real Atlantic blow the exposed sections above Mussel Point are not sensible; the inland Coffin Path between the same two villages is the honest alternative and takes half the time. Tell the pub roughly when you expect to arrive and then ring when you are an hour out.

   13 min by train or taxi · 8.4 km
3. 1:30 pm3

   Lunch at The Gurnard's HeadZennor

   A mustard-yellow pub alone on the B3306 about a mile past Zennor — book, because it is the only kitchen for miles and it fills with people who drove. The bar menu comes out of the same kitchen for half the price of the dining room and is what to order after four hours of walking. They will keep a table if you call. The Tinners Arms in Zennor village itself is the shorter walk and does a decent pint and a plainer plate if you are done in. Verified 2026-09-06: open every day except 25 and 26 December, doors from 10:00 for coffee, lunch served 12:00–14:30 (Sunday lunch to 15:00) and supper 18:00–21:00, with the short bar menu running 12:00–20:00 every day except Sunday. Arriving off the path at 13:30 gets you inside lunch service; on a Sunday there is no bar menu, so it is the full Sunday lunch or nothing.

4. 3:15 pm4

   Across the peninsula to PorthcurnoPorthcurno

   Half an hour by car, or the Land's End Coaster bus, which is an open-top double decker and does the whole coast road as a sightseeing trip that happens to be public transport. The B3306 is narrow with granite hedges either side and there is nowhere to pull in — if you are driving it, go slowly and be ready to reverse.

5. 4 pm5

   Porthcurno beach on the falling tidePorthcurno

   Check the Newlyn tide tables before you fix the time of this stop, and treat everything else in the afternoon as movable around it. At high water on a spring tide there is essentially no beach here — the sand is gone and the cove is a wall of surf against the rocks. On the ebb it opens into the white shell sand that made the place famous, and the walk round to Pedn Vounder appears at the eastern end. That crossing is cut off by the sea and people get stranded there every single summer; do not start it on a rising tide. Window widened to 17:30 in the 2026-09-06 pass, because the afternoon no longer has a Minack daytime slot to be back for.

   15 min by train or taxi · 9.3 km
6. 6 pm6

   Dinner at The Old Coastguard, MouseholeMousehole

   Same owners as the Gurnard's Head, a terrace of palms above the water, and the fish is whatever came into Newlyn that morning. Book. Mousehole's harbour road is one car wide with no turning space and residents' permits on most of it — park in the car park at the top of the village and walk down the hill, which takes five minutes and saves an argument. The village is at its best out of season, and in late December it is lit up for the harbour lights and unbookable. Moved 2026-09-06 to an early sitting, because the Minack stop had to become an evening performance. Check when you book that the kitchen is serving from 18:00 and say you are going on to a show — the sister pub at Zennor starts supper at 18:00, but confirm it rather than assume it.

7. 8 pm7

   The Minack Theatre, evening performancePorthcurno

   CORRECTED 2026-09-06 — the stop as written was impossible. Theatre-and-garden daytime visits run 10:00–17:00 with last entry at 15:30, and last entry moves earlier still on performance days, so a 17:15 sightseeing visit does not exist: you cannot walk in at 17:15 on any day of the year, let alone after six miles of coast path and a long lunch. The honest way to be at the Minack in the evening is a show. The 2026 season runs April to October; pre-booking is essential and tickets are released roughly two months ahead, so this is booked before the trip, not during it. Bring a cushion and a waterproof — the seats are cut into the cliff, performances go ahead in rain, and the wind off the sea at ten at night is far colder than the afternoon suggests. Parking is on site and small. From November to February the site is closed to visitors on Mondays and Tuesdays. If there is no show on your date, do the daytime visit on a different and much shorter day, and be through the gate before 15:30.