Helford Passage to Coverack 
​ miles

Our goal on this trip was to finish this whole corner. Today we will complete the hike from Helford Passage to Coverack. But the 13-mile trek has three major obstacles: the ferry from Helford Passage only runs one hour either side of high tide (or it's an extra 10-mile walk); the inlet of Gillian Creek can only be forded one hour either side of low tide (or it's an extra 45-minute walk), and to boot, there are no buses. It's a quandary.

After taking bus to Helford Passage, we take a ferry across to Helford.

"Helford" comes from the Cornish "Heyl", meaning estuary. Helford Village used to be an important port; trading ships brought French rum, tobacco and lace from the continent and the duty tax was collected at the old custom house.

Once again, a new terrain for us on the coastal path.

Below is Gillian Creek, which we need to cross to continue on the path.

Skinny little path along the creek.

The halfway point, Porthallow, is somewhere up ahead.

This. Hill. Was. A. Bitch.

We reach Porthallow.

As we went over every one of these headlands, starting way back at the top left of this photo, we thought for sure that just around the next one would be Kynance Cove. But the path went on and on.

We reach Kynance Cove!

After a quick tea, we head back up the cliffs on the other side of Kynance Cove. It's taken us 30 minutes per mile so far--much longer than we expected--and we're a bit worried that if it takes that long to get to Lizard Point, we'll miss our bus connections.

If you look closely you can see the wee people on the path. This section has too much damage to the cliff, so the path takes you across the top.

These guys are behind an awfully flimsy-looking wire. I try not to make eye contact but Bob gets up in their face with his camera.

The offshore islets at Lizard Point are 500 million years old, leftover from the massive collision between the super-continents of Gondwanaland and Euramerica. (Who names super-continent?) The area contains a huge outcrop of the colorful serpentine rock--the great steaks of green looking like a lizard's skin, which is where the name comes from.

The last 2 miles are mostly flat and fairly easy, though we are moving at a pretty fast clip because we need to catch the last bus.

That's Lizard Point, the most southerly part of England.

Wish I knew what this was. Did it bring something up from the sea, or send something down? But for having to rush to make the bus, I could find out.

Walking the path up to Lizard Village.

Turns out we have plenty of time for the next bus, because we walked the last two miles so quickly. But still, Susanne ponders the timetable.

We saw this man on the bus coming in. He too is a timetable double-checker. Together they double and triple check both their routes, muttering about how irksome it all is but secretly enjoying the whole complicatedness of timetables.

We drink ciders as we wait.

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