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Route Treen - Porthcurno - Treen County Cornwall Difficulty Moderate (Climbing Logan Rock is hard and potentially dangerous) Distance 6.5km (4 miles) Typical time 2-3 hours OS grid reference: SW395230, Explorer 102 Starting point Treen village car park

Blister rating: 2/5 View rating: 1/5

Why I love this walk

Rugged is an over-used adjective in the context of the British coastline, but this walk, starting 8km (5 miles) east of Land’s End, really is. On a sunny day, with the coconut-scented gorse and pink thrift dotting the clifftops and the skylarks soaring, it’s easy to forget how violent storms can be around here.

In 1981, the entire crew of the Penlee lifeboat was lost when 18m (60 ft) waves were whipped up by winds of more than 100mph.

If pretending to be Daphne du Maurier doesn’t divert you, the Minack open-air theatre offers productions throughout the summer with the sea as backdrop. I’ve been distracted from a desolate Ophelia by the fin of a basking shark crossing behind her.

Penberth Cove, with its picturebook cottages, offers a glimpse into life before Rick Stein. The beach has a small slipway where fishing boats still put to sea to catch shellfish and fish. All good walks need a pub, and The Logan Rock Inn at Treen offers good food and real ale.

On a perfect day in this part of Cornwall it’s bliss. If it’s warm enough — 30C is a good start — I’ll risk the sea at Treen, where the beach is usually empty. Corsica? Sardinia? Cap-Ferrat? You can keep them.

The route

1 Leaving the car park, turn left up the track; in 10m, bear left on a path (“Logan Rock” signs) across the fields to cross the South West Coast Path National Trail. Keep ahead through granite outcrops to find Logan Rock. The exact route from the South West Coast Path to the Logan Rock is hard to distinguish; there are many paths and no waymarks. Follow your nose, skirting to the right of the first big outcrop of pinnacles.

2 Logan Rock sits atop the second or central outcrop of three, marked with a small plaque. The climb is hazardous (up the right side as you look at it) and at your own risk! If you dislodge the Rock, please put it back at your own expense. Return to the coast path and bear left to walk through Porthcurno and on up the steps past the Minack open-air theatre.

3 Continue along the cliffs to St Levan’s Well, where you bear right off the coast path and follow a footpath up to the road and St Levan Church.

4 From the northeast corner of the churchyard, take a field path to pass the ancient cross and reach Rospletha. Bear left through a kissing-gate here, then immediately right (waymark arrows) down a field track to cross the road in Porthcurno.

5 Go 40m past Rockridge House, bear left up a steep grass path; then follow waymarked field paths to Trendrennen Farm.

6 Walk 50m past the houses here, turn right across the fields (yellow arrows) to Treen.

Things to see: Logan Rock rocking stone, Porthcurno Telegraph Museum, Minack Theatre built into the cliffs

Pub rating: 4/5

Pub: The Logan Rock Inn, run by Peter and Anita, is exactly as you'd hope; a friendly local with good food, great beer and an even better atmosphere

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