Falmouth to Helford Passage
10 miles
Working out bus transportation can be a crazy, complicated process involving multiple bus schedules and maps, decisions about how long to walk, timing of connections, and—surprisingly important—identifying the right bus stop.
This last tip we cleverly picked up that time we were convinced we were at the wrong stop and that the real one was at the top of a lovely cobblestone hill. After hurrying up the hill we reach the bus seconds before the door closes and plonk down thankfully on orange upholstered seats, very pleased with ourselves. And then—after all that—the bus turns and slowly meanders down the hill we had just climbed and stops at the very bus stop where we'd been standing.
The map above shows the bus routes in the Falmouth/Lizard area. Our big goal this year is to walk the entire corner of coastline called the Lizard, witnessing—and hopefully touching or standing on—a super rare geological phenomenon called Mohorovicic Discontinuity, which I explain here using all the geology words I know.
You can see that there are no buses directly from Falmouth, where we're staying this week, to Mullion Cove, which is where we ended the 2015 hike. There are frequent buses from Falmouth to Helston, however, where we can change to another bus that will pass relatively close to the trail. After an hour or so of intense back-and-forth timetable and map work, it looks like we can take the 9:45 #2 from Falmouth to Helston, arrive at 10:30, take the 11:30 #37 from Helston to Mullion and arrive around noon, depending on where the bus drops us. From Mullion we walk to Lizard Point, then up to the village of Lizard, where we take a bus back to Helston and another back to Falmouth. It works on paper.
The hike on the other side of the Lizard is a bit trickier to plan, as there are few bus stops in the area, and buses run only a few times a day. In fact, there's really only one reasonable plan: Leave Falmouth again at 9:45 on the #2 to Helston, arriving at 10:33, catch the 11:15 #36 to Coverack, arriving at 11:56. This time we'll walk to the Lizard from the other direction. Then a bus to Helston and another back to Falmouth. So that's the plan. If all goes well, it will work.
The map above shows the bus routes in the Falmouth/Lizard area. Our big goal this year is to walk the entire corner of coastline called the Lizard, witnessing—and hopefully touching or standing on—a super rare geological phenomenon called Mohorovicic Discontinuity, which I explain here using all the geology words I know.
You can see that there are no buses directly from Falmouth, where we're staying this week, to Mullion Cove, which is where we ended the 2015 hike. There are frequent buses from Falmouth to Helston, however, where we can change to another bus that will pass relatively close to the trail. After an hour or so of intense back-and-forth timetable and map work, it looks like we can take the 9:45 #2 from Falmouth to Helston, arrive at 10:30, take the 11:30 #37 from Helston to Mullion and arrive around noon, depending on where the bus drops us. From Mullion we walk to Lizard Point, then up to the village of Lizard, where we take a bus back to Helston and another back to Falmouth. It works on paper.
The hike on the other side of the Lizard is a bit trickier to plan, as there are few bus stops in the area, and buses run only a few times a day. In fact, there's really only one reasonable plan: Leave Falmouth again at 9:45 on the #2 to Helston, arriving at 10:33, catch the 11:15 #36 to Coverack, arriving at 11:56. This time we'll walk to the Lizard from the other direction. Then a bus to Helston and another back to Falmouth. So that's the plan. If all goes well, it will work.
