NCN 3 Land's End - Penzance
Longships Lighthouse - the end of the world
Ride overview
Land’s End. Just the name of it brings out the lust for travel. The two words speak of adventure, of beginnings and endings. With the sea at your back, a pleasant south-westerly blowing off the Atlantic waves, you hop aboard your bicycle and set off on your latest adventure. However, the start of the National Route 3 is a 25km ride from the nearest railway station, so to get there, follow the route below of if you wish to save your legs, take a taxi.
The ride back to Penzance on Route 3, is everything that you’ve ever dreamed Cornwall to be; the cobalt-coloured sea, the restless waves entangling themselves in the rocks and cliffs, a Cornish fishing village of white-washed stone cottages overlooking an intimate bay where boats bob in the harbour, and as you ride, you’ll have your first introduction to the Bronze Age stone circles, and to the myths and legends of Cornwall.
Ride Practicalities
START/FINISH: Penzance/Penzance DISTANCE: 46km TOTAL ASCENT: 544m TERRAIN AND SURFACES: Paved throughout other than a short stretch from Cape Cornwall to Sennen, which is on a firm well-maintained path RECOMMENDED CAFÈS/PUBS; Mousehole; The old Coastguard Newlyn: Mackerel Sky Seafood Bar, Argoe , Penzance; The Turk’s Head, Admiral Benbow, CAMPING: St. Just; YHA camping, Mousehole; Mouseholecamping , ACCOMMODATION: Mousehole; The old Coastguard FERRIES; Not needed NEARBY MAINLINE TRAIN SERVICES: Penzance LINKS TO OTHER RIDES: The Cornish Way, Tour of Cornwall
*WMWG only list places for food, drink and beds which have met our strict quality standards. Our recommendations businesses committed to supporting sustainable and local producers, are independent who set high standards. They are not necessarily the cheapest place in town, just the best.
Ride notes
The route from Penzance to the ‘end of the world’ at Land’s End is straightforward in that you follow Route 3 to Merry Maidens Stone Circle, and then head in land to St. Buryan. From there, country lanes take you over the rolling hills through Mayon and Sennen to Cornwall’s capital of commercialism at Land’s End.
Since the arrival of the railway in Penzance in 1859, the owners of Land’s End have sought to exploit the tourist potential of ‘this little rocky promontory’ (W.H. Hudson). First, a tea shop was added to the First and Last Inn, then a kiosk which sold postcards. Since 1982, a succession of property developers have sought to introduce shops and ‘interactive experiences’ and turned a natural wonder into an obscene commercial enterprise. Fortunately, you can still wheel your bike to a view point, take your own start-of-trip photo and leave. No payments required.
The First and Last, Sennen, Land's End
A well-surfaced track leads from Land’s End to Sennen Cove, and thereafter onto the first of many narrow and high-hedged Cornish Lanes. Surfaces are either gravelly and dusty, or gravelly and muddy, depending on what the Atlantic weather systems are up to. The lanes rise and fall, often steeply, which, when combined with gravel and blind corners, mean that you are best advised to ride at a leisurely pace.
After 12km you have the first monument of the trip; The Merry Maidens, a Bronze Age (2500-1500BC) stone circle. Local legend has it that ‘nineteen local maidens from a wedding party were dancing in the field one Sabbath eve. As the night turned into the Sunday they continued dancing to the wild music and were turned to stone for their impiousness.’ (www.cornishancientsites.com).
The Merry Maidens Stone Circle
The road resembles large rollers and you are pitched into valleys and tossed over the crests of hills, sent down into Lamorna Cove before finally arriving in Mousehole (pronounced Mouzle). The first of many historic fishing villages on the route, Mousehole is a poster village for Cornwall - a delectable hemispherical bay with boats neatly arranged within it, steep and very narrow streets, granite houses painted in various bright colours, and any number of independent shops and cafés. A cycle path takes you alongside the sea to Newlyn.
Lamorna Cove
‘There is but one odour and that is the reeking odour of pilchards’, so one nineteenth century visitor described Newlyn, the next fishing port. Today, although the last pilchard processing factory closed in 2005, the town is still one of the south coast’s leading fishing ports. It’s not just fish which have landed upon Newlyn’s shores. In the last years of the nineteenth century, attracted by the fantastic light, cheap living, and the availability of inexpensive models - the fishermen - a colony of artists set up the Newlyn School. Today, it is Londoners who flock to the town. You’ll find them sitting in pubs and on the sea wall enjoying the plentiful supply of fish and chips and beer.
Where you end the day depends on your choice of accommodation, food and drink; Newlyn has the better restaurants and Penzance the better pubs (see Ride Practicalities for recommendations). They are separated by only 3km.
Despite some serious present day hardship and deprivation caused by unemployment, Penzance is another of Cornwall’s eye-catching towns. It is beautifully positioned in the centre of a sweeping bay, with views across to St. Michael’s Mount and the Lizard peninsula. The streets are lined with grand terraces and attractive cottages, there’s another picturesque harbour, a promenade and a lido.
All the details given on this route are given in good faith. However, situations on the ground can change, so if you know of any access issues, closures, or have any thoughts and feedback on the route, please include them in the comments section below.
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