We left Kingsbridge and headed west, travelling the roads through Exeter and Plymouth until we got to Port Isaac….or Port Wen if you are a Doc Martin follower. It is a small village of a few hundred people living in stone cottages on a steep slope surrounding a beach/ and large industrial and old boat ramp. This is a professional fishing village, that at some point was discovered for the TV show. It has a rich history of fishing and marine stories of boat wrecks, and rescues that goes back hundreds of years. Apparently there was another very similar village slightly up coast, that disappeared almost overnight and is now a ghost town…the men of the village were all drowned and it was only women and children who remained and eventually left, leaving the village to decay. So we are fortunate to still have Port Isaac.
We parked at the top of the town and walked down steep lanes and roads, at one point walking along the headland and then down into town. It is just as it appears on the television series….but is real life! Apparently 80% of the houses are now second homes / holiday rentals so in one way it has saved the town, and in another it has ruined the community! We enjoyed a cream tea at a small coffee shop and toured their museum learning their history before walking back up the hill to the car…that took a long time!
We then ventured south to Penzance…which as we all know is where the Pirates come from in Gilbert and Sullivan’s musical!
It is obviously a port town, the waterfront was quite industrial looking with large stone warehouses. We both felt a little disappointed so didn’t stay long, opting to travel further west through Newlyn and then to a place called ‘Mousehole’. The name was intriguing and Google Maps took us down some long and windy lanes to a small village on the water that had very large break walls to create a safe harbour and small sandy beach area…it was quite cute.
From Mousehole we kept our west direction and went to Lands End. I had just wanted to get there and imagined a panorama similar to the Great Ocean Road or Wilson’s Promontory….BUT…..Lands End has been bought by a commercial entity and is now a theme park! The famous sign is in the park and you pay for entry….so we just took a picture at their entrance sign before heading to our lodgings at Sennen Cove - just a few minutes north.
Sennen Cove is a long sandy beach and we stayed at the pub across the road, so we enjoyed a gorgeous view, an early dinner and then sleep as it had been a very long day. The next morning after breakfast we walked the beach before getting in the car again.
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| Looking out the headlands Port Isaac |
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| View from the Museum |
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| Looking back at Mousehole |
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| View to the north from Port Isaac top of town |
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| Trying to capture rolling hills |
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| The headland walk down to Port Isaac |
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| Panorama Port Isaac |
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| Port Isaac beach and boat ramp |
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| Streets of Port Isaac |
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| Looking to the south headland, Port Isaac |
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| Lots of Windfarms in the farming areas |
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| A fairly WIDE lane! |
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| Beach at Mousehole |
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| Port Isaac Church sore |
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| Port Isaac southern headland |
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| Views to the Celtic Sea |
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| North of Port Isaac |
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| Lands End…at the end of the day! |
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Pink, White and Red Valerian - growing wild
(also found in most road and lane sides!) |
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| F at Lands End |
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| The two sisters and Lands End! |
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Mousehole harbour
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