Cornwall and the coast
Coves, coast paths and a campervan that smells of sun cream. The long drive down is worth it for the light alone.
Cornwall rewards the drive. Once you are past Bodmin the roads narrow, the hedges close in, and every gap opens onto another cove. The light down here does something to a week.
Enola is in her element by the sea: doors open, awning out, the kettle on. Swim before breakfast, walk a stretch of the coast path, and let the afternoons go slow.
Five nights gives you time to find a favourite beach and go back to it twice.
A shape for the days.
Bodmin Moor, breaking the journey
Break the journey on the wild bit in the middle. Bodmin Moor is granite tors and big sky, and an hour on it shakes the motorway out of your shoulders before the lanes begin.
- Rough Tor and Brown Willy, the county's roof
- The Cheesewring balanced stones
- Jamaica Inn for the du Maurier of it
OvernightOn the moor's edge near Blisland
Down to St Ives
Galleries, pasties and that famous light. Park above the town and walk down, the streets were built for donkeys rather than campervans, and give the Tate and the Hepworth garden an unhurried afternoon.
- Tate St Ives and the Barbara Hepworth garden
- Porthmeor beach at golden hour
- A proper pasty eaten on the harbour wall
OvernightAbove Carbis Bay
Penwith and the very end
The far west is the best west. The coast road through Zennor to St Just is the finest short drive in the county, and Land's End is better a mile either side of the visitor centre, out on the cliffs where it stays wild.
- The B3306 coast road, slow and spectacular
- Sennen Cove for surf and sand
- The Minack Theatre carved into the cliff
OvernightNear Sennen
01Intended shot · Enola parked up, paddle board next to it overlooking sun set The Lizard
The most southerly point, with coves to swim from. Kynance's white sand and serpentine rock look borrowed from somewhere far sunnier, and the walking between coves is as good as the swimming.
- Kynance Cove at low tide
- Lizard Point lighthouse and the seals below
- Cadgwith, a working cove with fresh crab
OvernightNear Lizard village
Padstow and the path home
Harbour, ice cream and the coast path home. Cross to the north shore for a last easy day, walk a stretch of the Camel Trail or the path towards Stepper Point, and let the drive home wait until the pasties run out.
- The Camel Trail by bike or on foot
- Harbour ice cream, guarded from gulls
- Stepper Point for one last sea view
OvernightThe Camel estuary, then home
Before you go
- Mileage
- Roughly 300 miles down from the Midlands, then short hops between coves
- Fuel
- Plenty along the A30; the lanes west of Hayle are pump-free
- Ferries and tolls
- The King Harry Ferry across the Fal takes campervans and saves a long loop round Truro
- Best months
- May, June and late September; high summer packs the lanes
Brilliant week down in Cornwall, the van was spotless and so easy to live in. The only reason it is not five stars is the weather doing its best to stop us, and that is hardly their fault. We would go again tomorrow.
Ready for Cornwall and the coast?
Enola is in her element by the sea, doors open, awning out and the kettle on while the light does its evening thing.