A journey to the Song of the Sea

What is The Song of the Sea?

The spectacular sea cave The Song of the Sea is at the southern end of Nanjizal cove. Its a tall sea cave, with twin pools opening into the Stormy Atlantic that holds turquoise waters and a magical light.
The sea cave has long intrigued me. just for the name alone! It is one of my suggestions for Secret Beaches in West Cornwall along The Penwith Tour.

• Time your visit for low tide and wait until the light creates a slot of reflection in the late afternoon for the full magic of the visit.
  
• Better still take your bathing costume and take a dip in the twin turquoise lagoons under the echoing magic of the sea cave.

Nanjizal beach

Nanjizal beach is as capricious as any star. On a still summer day it sometimes holds beguiling soft shell laden sands, yet these can just as quickly can be scoured away to reveal a boulder beach. We were so lucky to find a sandy beach for our visit but we did have to share the beach with the numerous coastal walkers who had made the mile long trek from Land’s End. Cornwall is still so busy this September!

Also at Nanjizal beach

When visiting Nanjizal look out for the Diamond horse formation in the north cliff. This is said to resemble a horse when the sunlight catches the quartz in the granite. Alas we failed!

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There are two beautiful waterfalls here. The stream would originally driven a water wheel that gives the alternative name for Nanjizel: – “Mill Bay”

Cornish coves always have a history of shipwrecks and at Nanjizal the remains of The City of Cardiff can sometimes be spotted at very low tide below Carn Cravah. She was driven aground in 1906 despite running her engines at full power. The intervention of the rocket brigade saved the crew of 23 men 2 women and a small child. View wreck

The journey to Nanjizal Beach. – A trio of choices

There are three main routes to Nanjizal – each will involve a walk of about one mile

1. Walk eastwards from Land’ End. You will find snaps from this route in my blog “Walking in natures garden – Land’s End”
2. Walk westwards from the pretty cove of Porthgwarra recently made famous again by Ross Poldark’s famous sea dip!
3. Walk from Trevescan – a cross country route following the valley to the sea.

Porthgwarra to Nanjizal – a coastal walk

So this time we parked at the beautiful cove of Porthgwarra and walked along the cliffs to towards Land’s End.

This is a sparse aggressively sculptured landscape, honed by the passage of time, with ancient Cornish names that tell of long human habitation. Look out for traces of Bronze Age Tumuli, Iron Age cliff top castles and the ever present Tin mines. The final piece of magic is the Archipelago of Isles of Scilly shimmering on the horizon that accompanies this walk towards Land’s End.

Pendower cove gives the first glimpse of the spectacular sea caves along the route. We paused here to admire the view before crossing Carn Les Boel   – the site of an Iron Age Cliff Castle.

We didn’t linger here though as the beguiling silver sands of Nanjizal had come into view. A final scramble down a long steep flight of steps and over the millstream brought us to the beach. Here my heart did miss a beat as the final flight of steps on to the beach is, well, steep!

I think I will return to The Song of the Sea again very soon. This time my visit will aim for low tide when the beach is less busy.
I must admit we were tired and took the inland heathland path on the way back and emerged beside the Coastguard cottages above Porthgwarra Cove. The cream teas there looked so welcoming but alas we hadn’t brought any money!