micbinks - UK holiday, leisure & tourist attraction images

UK Tourist & Leisure Attractions - Cornwall

Belinda and Mike - follow our tourist travels in the UK

West Cornwall Holiday June 2010 - page 3

No tour of this part of Cornwall is complete without a visit to Land's End (even if it does resemble a theme park nowadays).  And how can we not partake in Cornwall's mining heritage, so a visit to the glorious Geevor Tin Mine near St Just was next on our holiday itinerary.  Finally, we enjoyed another scenic Cornish coastal walk, this time from Rinsey Head to Porthleven along the South West Coast Path.
This is page three of three.
West Cornwall 1 | West Cornwall 2 | West Cornwall 3
 

Land's End, Cornwall visit
Land's End's a must when touring this part of Cornwall, so off we went on another hot and sunny day to visit this iconic location.  The car park cost a whopping £4 (which Mike had a winge about).

Land's End visitor centre in Cornwall
Our prior internet research had prepared us for Land's End's commercialism, but even so it was shocking to see just how much this significant landmark has been transformed into a mini theme park now!

Visitor attractions at Land's End, Cornwall
Seen here are two of the five Land's End attractions, Air Sea Rescue and The Curse of Skull Rock, a 4D film experience.  Of course Land's End also had a café/restaurant and, OMG, a very large gift shop!

Doctor Who - Up Close exhibition at Land's End
Erm, well, we succumbed and bought a £10 (each) ticket for all five Land's End attractions!  Actually, the Doctor Who one was rather good and included a visual projection of us in alien lands.

Visitors at Land's End, Cornwall
Other visitor attractions (at the time of our visit) in the Land's End theme park were the End to End story and Coast by the BBC (an interactive exhibition).  We headed across to the real coast and...

The famous Land's End Signpost in Cornwall
...to the famous Land's End Signpost where, for shelling out yet more money, visitors could have their photo taken against the signpost with their hometown displayed.  Can you spot where this family's from?

The track down to Greeb Farm at Land's End
Greeb Farm, a restored 200 year old farmstead, was a short walk down from the visitor centre and we next headed there to meet the animals.  Tip: if visiting Land's End on a hot 30 degree day like us, don't forget sunscreen and plenty of water.  Here...

Land's End: Greeb Farm farmstead
...at Greeb Farm Mike managed to upset the sheep and Belinda went overtime with the 'ooohs' and 'aaars'.  And no, we can't take one home!  There were also craft workshops here, all designed to extract yet more money from visitors!

Cornwall: on the coast path at Land's End with Longships Lighthouse
Now this is the real Land's End!  We took time out to find a geocache near the coast path; that's the Longships Lighthouse in the background.

Cornwall: Geevor Tin Mine, Victory Shaft and mine buildings
And so onto our next destination, Geevor Tin Mine, in Pendeen near St Just in the far west of Cornwall.  Geevor is a World Heritage Site for Cornish Mining.

Cornwall's Geevor Tin Mine - Winder House
Mike was in his element looking at all the Geevor mine working machinery, this is in the control room in the Winder House.  We saw more heavy mine machinery in the Compressor House.

The Mill at Geevor Tin Mine, Cornwall
In the Mill the conveyors were used to transport and process the rocks but unfortunately weren't operating on our visit.  We can well imagine how noisy it would be in here though!

Kitted up for the underground tour at Geevor Tin Mine in Cornwall
Now for our underground tour of the mine!  We had to get kitted up in these hard hats and fetching coats; Belinda's the supervisor in red while Mike's the, er, other one in blue!  Geevor Tin Mine was in operation until 1990 and as you can see is dramatically situated on Cornwall's Atlantic coast.  Cornwall has a rich mining heritage, see our UK tourist resources for websites to the places we visit.

Underground in Wheal Mexico at Geevor Tin Mine in Cornwall
Deep underground in Wheal Mexico at Geevor.

Waterwheel and mine bulidings, Geevor Tin Mine in Cornwall
We also visited the Dry and the Hard Rock Museum at Geevor Tin Mine, as well as this water wheel.  So then, an interesting and fascinating visit to this wonderful industrial heritage site at Geevor.

Taking a scenic shot along the SWCP nr Rinsey Head, Cornwall
Another hot day in Cornwall, and our second car free one of the holiday with a walk along the South West Coast Path to Porthleven, starting by following the route from the cottage to Rinsey as on our first day.

Supergirl! Lifting a huge rock at Rinsey Head, Cornwall
Dunno what's in those Cornish Pasties, but just look at Belinda effortlessly lifting up that huge rock with one arm to retrieve a geocache!  Or maybe she was just trying to shelter from that fierce Cornish sun.

Pointing out Camel Rock at Trewavas Head, SWCP, Cornwall
Further along the South West Coast Path towards Porthleven we booked (yes!) our very first Earthcache by estimating the height of Camel Rock here at Trewavas Head.

Old mine steam pumping engine buildings along the Cornish coast nr Porthleven
The Cornish coast is littered with these derelict mine working buildings perched on the cliffs.  They housed steam pumping engines for draining the mine tunnels that ran out under the sea.  After our hot walk...

Porthleven harbour, Cornwall
...Porthleven sure was a welcome sight, we headed straight to the pub for a cooling drink and a meal, before catching the bus back to the holiday cottage... and packing... and homeward bound the next day.

There's more past-times industrial landmarks along our Pembrokeshire Coast Path walks.  We've also visited The Needles Park, Isle of Wight and other industrial heritage sites: slate mines in Blaenau Ffestiniog, Snowdonia, Clearwell Caves in Forest of Dean, Ironbridge in Shropshire.