About half of section 32 in the SWCPA handbook
7.84 km along the coast and 8.14 km inland
As we were staying in Porthleven it was an easy walk from the campsite back to the harbour in Porthleven. Then we continued around the harbour, where families were already swimming in the middle part. Then past the Ship Inn, right on the harbourside.
The road soon changes to the Coastal path, which closely follows the coast here, and the wildflowers clearly enjoy the mild Cornish climate. The path was generally good, though narrow in places and with some quite steep up and downs, sometimes to avoid landslips.
After about an hour we came to a collection of Engine Houses that dominate the coastal view. These seem to be right on the cliff edge and were solidly built, I think out of a mixture of granite and local stone and so the structure remains with tall chimneys for the furnaces which once provided steam for the pumping engines. I noticed that one was named “Wheal Prosper” hopefully they did for a while.
A short distance later we came to a small carpark at Rinsey and noticed a sign reminding us that the public were allowed to “pass and re-pass” along this section of the path, in this case in private ownership, rather than most of this length being National Trust.
Not much further we could see the long sandy beach of Pra Sands, so it was a nice change to walk bare-fut along the sand before stopping for a swim and lunch at the far end of the sand.
We returned inland by a series of footpaths and minor road which eventually led us back to the campsite.
