Perranporth to St Agnes: Part II

 The cliffs....the mineral-stained cliffs were spectacular! 

This view led to an oil painting that hangs by our front door.

Many different layers of rock protrude into the sea - not easy to distinguish in this light.

Looking down at the copper ...

Zooming in...

You could be in the Mediterranean. 

Looking down again...

More copper.

An eroded landscape.

Spikey!

Perranporth to St Agnes: Part I

A good walk out today along the coastal footpath and back. The cliffs at Cligga really are spectacular and the industrial heritage fascinating - just a shame that there aren't any interpretive boards in such a rich historical area. It really is the ideal place for a few. Looking back at the photos of which there are many, I'm dividing the walk into Part I : The Walk and Part II: The Cliffs....A decent 8 mile plus walk with surprisingly, 2,400 feet of ascent and descent - those dips add up! 

Looking back over Perranporth Beach.

The coastal path ...the light was very bright!

A mining adit at the side of the path - it goes in quite a way but comes to a blank end.

The textbook photo of Greisen bordered veins.

I quote from Cligga Head - Greisen Bordered Veins: SOUTH WEST COAST PATH - a photo tour:

The Coast path passes through these two rocks. Cligga Head shows a fine example of a Sheeted Vein System with dark Greisen borders . The Granite was intruded about 290 million years ago. Cracks developed in the Granite , numerous parallel cracks at this location at Cligga Head. Hot fluid left after the Granite crystallised flowed through the cracks and broke down the feldspar ....., forming quartz and mica ...a process called Greisening. A second mineralisation in the Greisen deposited Crystals of Quartz , Cassiterite (Tin ore) and Wolframite (tungsten ore) .... A final mineralisation occured throughout the granite - the Kaolinisation of the feldspars with the outside of the feldspars that remain having a powdery coating.

A mine capping in the foreground with the remnants of tin and wolfram mining in the background.

Metalliferous rocks with the right hand specimen being probably Wolfram.  

Looking towards St Agnes......

..and back to colourful cliffs...

We then continued along the coast to Trevellas Coombe where the path is rather narrow and scrambly straight up from the beach ...I think most people head along the track up the coombe and then back out to the cliffs!

Rather than dropping down into St Agnes we found a granite sign along the ridge to Peterville where we had a bacon bap and coffee before returning via Wheal Kitty to the coast path.

Looking down onto Blue Hills Tin Mine.

Nice colours ...

And back to Perran for an ice-cream. 

Praa Sands

After West Penwith and Zennor - a late afternoon walk along the beach....and a pint in the beach bar.

Zennor Mermaid

I have always wanted to see the Mermaid of Zennor chair and recently it has been removed from the church for restoration - but it's back! The chair was constructed from two bench or pew ends at some time in the 15th century, whether the carving or the legend came first is debatable. Cornishbirdblog.com click here gives more information.

Zennor Church.

The chair....

The chair ends....

The tapestry for the cushion cover.

Inside...

And from Zennor Head - looking back to Carn Galver.

And along the coast.

After the shower...

Our lad...

Still doing well...

West Penwith's walls

One of our favourite walks in this area is to the walls of West Penwith, then to Men an Tol, on to Ding Dong Mine and then the Nine Maidens stone circle before returning to the walls. As always, I just love those walls. It was really quiet up there today - nice view of a Hen Harrier, the colours were very autumnal. 

Men an Tol - apparently Bronze Age. Traditional beliefs link the holed stone to curing various illnesses and it is thought to be part of a stone circle. 

Ding Dong mine.

Across to Carn Galver.

Distant views of St Michael's Mount.

Part of the Nine Maidens stone circle.