Walk - Marazion to Porthleven

Highlights

• The ancient market town of Marazion, with its very active community of painters and potters. There has been a settlement here since 308BC and the town claims to be the oldest in Britain, and could be the settlement known to the Romans as Ictis.
• Views of St Michael’s Mount. Once a Benedictine Priory, a fortress and tin mining port, it can be accessed by a causeway at low tide or a ferry.
• The fantastic names of offshore rocks, including The Frenchman, The Bears and Little London.
• Perranuthnoe: this fairly undeveloped village, which may actually date back to Roman times, has an interesting church dedicated to St. Piran, the patron saint of Cornwall. Look out for the Norman font and Norman stone heads surrounding the doorway. After a rest on the sandy beach, you may also want to pay a visit to the Victoria Inn which is reputed to be the oldest recorded inn in Cornwall, dating back to the 12th century.
• Cudden Point: an isolated and narrow headland with sweeping views of Mounts Bay.
• The memorial to HMS Warspite on Little Cudden. The Royal Navy battleship was known as ‘the ship that refused to die’ and on her way to the breakers yard at the end of an extraordinary career, having served in both World Wars, she broke free of her tugs and ran aground at Prussia Cove.
• Prussia Cove: the headquarters of the famous smuggler John Carter and now the base for the masterclasses of the International Musician’s Seminar. John Carter was one of Cornwall’s most successful smugglers and he named himself the King of Prussia. One story tells of how he broke into the Penzance Custom House and took nothing but the goods that had been seized from his house in his absence.
• Wildflowers: especially in June when there are swathes of purple heather and banks of foxgloves edging the cliffs.
• The ruins of Wheal Prosper tin mining engine house and chimney above Porthcew: sited here due to the change from granite to slate, the mine was never particularly prosperous. It is now owned by the National Trust.
• The rock formation known as the Camel at Rinsey.
• Wonderful views from Rinsey Head and Trewavas Head towards The Lizard and Mounts Bay behind.
• The monument just beyond Tregear Point. This monument is to the many seamen who died in wrecks along this stretch of coast. They were buried on the cliffs until the passing of the Grylls Act in 1808, which meant that burials took place in nearby consecrated ground.
• The Glacial Erratic known as The Giant's Rock, Porthleven, seen at low tide. Also known as the Moonstone, this rock is garnetiferous gneiss and of a type that cannot be found anywhere else in the United Kingdom. One theory of how it got here is that it floated on an iceberg from Northern Europe during the last Ice Age.

Shorter option

Perranuthnoe (2.3 miles, 3.8 km) or Praa Sands (6.3 miles, 10.2 km).

Longer option

Mullion Cove (an additional 7.1 miles, 11.5 km).

Public transport

From Penzance, which has a mainline train station, there are regular buses to Marazion. These services also continue on to Porthleven, stopping at Perranuthnoe, Rosudgeon and Kennegy. For timetable information, zoom in on the interactive map and click on the train station and bus stop symbols, visit Traveline or phone 0871 200 22 33.

Parking

Marazion (Postcode for Sat Navs: TR17 0AR), Perranuthnoe, above Prussia Cove, Praa Sands, above Rinsey Head and Porthleven.