Sennen Cove’s ANCIENT CHARM
With its rugged, remote beauty, crescent-moon beach, and reliable swells, Sennen Cove is regarded as one of the country’s top surf spots. But it’s not just for the seasoned pros. Here we join the local schoolkids in the waves, and learn why the cove’s ancient, weather-beaten charm still delights today.
Sennen Cove’s most striking feature lies the northern end of its crescent moon beach. Here, the hillside curls up from the sand, an ominous brush-covered ‘wave’ that seems set to crest and crash to the sand below. This rugged green face serves as a sculpted tribute to the sea opposite – itself a glass surface of pinks and blues, and fiery swells that set the pulse for life in the cove.
Just a mile or so up the coast from Land’s End, Sennen Cove is tucked away, nestled in, knit tight. This is not a place you pass through. You come here for a reason.
And for many, that’s surfing.
“We become part of the place. This feeling starts with our bare feet touching the tarmac, and grows with our laughter – at our enormous foam boards catching the wind.”
It’s early morning, the tide is low, the huge, curved beach largely empty – aside from couples walking dogs, and a family in matching wetsuits playing keepie-uppies, their game mirrored in the wet sand.
We watch from the slipway above, through the steam of a takeaway coffee. Further up the sand, a large group of children sit within a henge-like surfboard circle, chanting along with their teacher. In the car park behind us, an older man is wriggling into his wetsuit. Peering around the rear door of his Land Rover, he points out that the kids are from a local school, where surfing is part of their curriculum.
To really learn about Sennen, we realise, we have to catch a wave.
A JOYFUL BAPTISM
The beach-side surf school makes it all very easy. The young lad explains that the cove suits beginners as well as those who’ve surfed all their lives. The latter group includes Lola Bleakley, a young female longboard champ who grew up in Sennen, learning the art with her grandfather and father, and sometimes teaches the local kids. She has described long boarding as a “graceful and elegant dance”. Today we’ll be content to play in the white water.
Our relationship to the place instantly shifts. We become part of it. This feeling starts with our bare feet touching the tarmac, and grows with our laughter – at our enormous foam boards catching the wind as we trot to the shore. There’s the childlike glee of getting spray in the face, bobbing out over the small waves, and the shock of being picked up and propelled back. The whole experience is a joyous reset for body and mind nonetheless.
“The environment is an inescapable part of life here, even for those who feel no desire to leave dry land.”
Of course, we’re soon craving an early lunch. It’s a few minutes’ walk to the working end of the cove. Heading towards the distant lifeboat station, we pass cottages with names like Yellow Sands and Crowgee (Cornish for ‘cottage’), as barrels of a different kind are carted into the Old Success Inn.
We walk further, and duck into the Sennen Cove Cafe, where the blackboard tempts with everything from Newlyn Crab to cream teas. We step over a giant white dog lying spread-eagle across the floor, and marvel at the scale of its paws as we order eggs on sourdough and a bacon roll. He’s a gentle giant, says his owner.
“Perched on the edge of the country, it’s the last pub in England, a spot where smugglers and surf champs alike have sought shelter and watched over the waves.”
ON THE BEATEN PATH
The rest of the afternoon we’ll be exploring the coast from the elevated vantage point of the South West Coast Path. To our right, as we face the window, lies Cape Cornwall, marked out in the distance by its 19th century chimney stack. There, we’d find Cot Valley, known as the “Dinosaur Egg Beach” because of its carpet of giant granite boulders; the old mine works of Botallack and Geevor, and Kenidjack Cliff Castle.
We decide to go left today, aiming instead for the isolated beauty of Nanjizal beach. This will take us past Land’s End, and the wreck of RMS Mulheim, a German cargo vessel that ran aground at Gamper Bay in 2003.
We set off up the stone steps that cut across the cliff, keeping our eye out, as instructed, for climbers popping up over the cliff from the sea below. The burn on the quads is real. But so too is the promise of a drink later, back at Sennen’s ancient First & Last Inn. Perched on the edge of the country, it’s the last pub in England, a spot where smugglers and surf champs alike have sought shelter and watched over the waves.
SENNEN COVE’S BEACH COMMUNITY
Whether saving lives or making art, meet the people who have long shaped Sennen Cove’s identity.
Sea moreSennen Cove’s beach champion
Lowenna in our marketing team talks fond memories of childhood holidays in Sennen and having just as much fun there now.
Sea moreYour Beach. Found
Your beach is the one that has just what you’re looking for: sandcastle sand, shoreline strolls, sunset surfs or sunrise swims. Find your beach with the Beach Match Quiz.
Beach Match Quiz
