exploring & escapades

Lizard, like a picture of Southeast Asia. Maybe Italy. Green and blue and black sand. Soft grey light. Not England, in England. Flowers, everywhere. Purple, yellow, white. Butterflies, cows, the most violent foam waves crashing into the cliffs. It’s all wild and wonderful. Beautiful. 

Free.

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Day 2, Cornwall Trip

A day exploring the The Lizard and Lizard Point, the southernmost point of the island of Great Britain. For us, it was about a 50 minute drive from Penzance to the point, a National Trust site with small craft shops and cafes, where we paid to park. Immediately, all I could notice was the landscape. It was breathtaking. Like nothing I had ever seen in the UK. 

We sat at a place just at the start of the trailhead for gorgeous views of the cliffs – and lunch; the crab sandwich that I had was exactly the kind of fresh, plain, real seafood that I miss so much in Cambridge away from the coast. Everything was lovely. 

Seaside. Cliff’s edge. We walked two miles for forty minutes up and down the tracks, across the green. It was peak season and a gorgeous day; still, we had the path nearly entirely to ourselves. Rainbow people sprinkles dotted distant hills, silence suddenly broke by an abrupt oasis of children screaming and playing, waves crashing. Kynance Cove appeared out of nowhere, a whole different world.

The tide was on its way out, the beach clear to pass. New passages, hidden nooks continuously appeared. We sat, perched on a rock for time of which I lost track before climbing to the nearby beach shack for Cornish ice cream, which we ate on the grassy cliff overlook. I laid out my blanket, we napped. I read poetry. A fifteen minute pause warped into nearly two hours of just being, listening to seagulls, feeling the sun. I didn’t want to leave. 

Walking back, we stopped to climb down stone steps carved into part of the cliff. Down to a cleared black-white sand beach that we had nearly all to ourselves. We touched the water; it was cool. Not cold. I could have stayed here for hours too, but we moved this time before we could settle. There were cows. Butterflies. It was all so beautiful, natural. Free. 

We took turns being the southernmost person on Great Britain at Lizard Point, bought a small ceramic ornament from the craft store, some clotted cream fudge. Then, finally, sadly, we drove away.

Rather than go all the way back to Penzance for dinner, we stopped in in-between Porthleven, a tiny seaside village. The tide was out when we arrived. We ate at a place on the harbor with a terrace. A band played across the water; the atmosphere was perfect. It took nearly three hours after we arrived before we had ordered and ate our food. But because of that, by the time we left, the colored lights strung up along the harbor were lit, the tide had begun to return. Boats before stuck in sand now bobbled in water. It was deep blues and soft light. Silent chatter. We left this pretty little corner of the world and drove home.

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Cornwall, UK

When: July 2019

How long: 4 days (including 2 days of driving), 3 nights

Via: Drove our car 6 hours from Cambridge. We stopped in Portishead for lunch along the way. 

Stayed: Bright Flat nr Sea Front, Penzance 

Ate – Day 2: Wavecrest, Lizard (lunch), Kynance Cove Cafe, Kynance Cove (icecream), Amelie’s, Porthleven (dinner)

Did – Day 2: Lizard Point, Kynance Cove

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You can read more about our first day in Cornwall, here.