the Minnack Theatre.

Porthcurno beach

looking down

The day was bright and clear when we woke up at 8.00. Lottie must have been tired from yesterday’s walks to let us sleep so late.

After breakfast Van-Man drove us to Porthcurno. It was a good drive with a few narrow bits but we didn’t meet any large vehicles. The spaces in the car park were a little on the short side but Van-Man backed into the soft bushes to get Sally-Van in.

climbing to the Minnack Theatre from Porthcurno beach

We walked towards the beach then followed the path to the Minnack Theatre.
At first the coast path sloped gently. Then it grew steeper. The second half of the climb was on steep rock steps twisting around the cliff face. As there were no hand rails people coming down were struggling with some of the deep steps.

the  Minnack Theatre

“I don’t want to go back this way,” I admitted as we waited for several people to descend a tricky narrow section.”

“We’ll go back along the road,” Van-Man said. We scaled the final climb and stood before the theatre. “Let’s go in,” Van-Man said.

grass topped stone seats

We walked through the Rowena Cade visitor centre which showed through historical photos how Rowena had built the theatre into the granite cliff face with her own hands so that she and her friends  could put on plays there. She was a truly remarkable lady.

We emerged into the theatre where a dress rehearsal was going on so we found a high stone bench section with grass seating and watched. As we were in the corner Lottie had a wider piece of grass to lie on.

Lottie's view

When the performer left the stage we let the people watching move then looked around the theatre.

It was an amazing piece of work. I spoke to the actor who told me he had performed there several times. I told him about the Shakespeare Company using the gardens of a hotel but thought nothing could beat acting at the Minnack unless it was raining.

“People sit with their umbrellas up and we carry on,” he laughed.

the lowest stone seats

“It does play havoc with the makeup,” I commented. “In a Midsummer Night’s Dream our fairies ere losing their silver blue colour.”

“I had a play where I had to grow old during the performance. As I am grey we did that by using a wash in dye which I rinsed out gradually to gain that effect. We thought it was better and cheaper than using several wigs. Unfortunately it poured down at the beginning of one performance and I ended up with black dye flowing down my face,” he told me.

looking down from the top

“But the show had to go on,” I replied.

“Oh yes. That’s the joy of open air theatre.”

He went off to talk to other visitors so I went back to Van-Man who had finished snapping away. He pointed up at a kiosk above us.

“I can smell pasties,” he said.

We were in luck the stall had two hot locally made pasties left.

Heading towards St Levan's Church

turquoise seas

We returned to our quiet corner to eat.

Van-Man had just finished his pasty when an announcement was made.

“Please can everybody leave the theatre now so that we can prepare for the afternoons performance. I still had half my pasty left but then it was huge. I put it back in its paper bag and prepared to evacuate with everybody else.

They could have warned us,” I said.

Van-Man checked the ticket. This lasts all day. We can come back in after the performance.”

“We won’t be around later.

“True but we’ve seen everything and I don’t think Lottie would hang about in there much longer.

Outside we walked past a long queue of people waiting for the performance.

“Will they all fit in there?” I whispered.

looking across at the rocky ascent to the  Minnack Theatre

We continued along the coast path signposted to St Levan’s church. The views from the coast path were lovely. We followed a path to the road that we thought led back to Porthcurno. The church was nowhere in sight.

“Do we really want to look at the church?” I asked wondering how far it was back to the village.

Van-Man turned right towards the Minnack Theatre.

Logan's Rocks

When we reached the theatre car park queues of cars were trying to get in, while other visitors who like us had just left were queuing to get out. As we walked down the lane we found it was single track in places so cars were having trouble getting out or in.

“I’m glad were walking,” Van-Man said. “I could have driven up there but we’d never squeeze Sally-Van back down.

pristine sand by Logan's Rocks

It was quite satisfying striding past the queuing cars, only a few managed to come down the hill while we walked it.

Back at Sally-Van we had a hot drink. There’s an hour and an half left on the parking ticket,” Van-Man announced. Do you feel like walking to the Marconi Monument?”

The Marconi Monument was a white pyramid which marked the spot where the first wireless hut stood on the cliffs to the east of Porthcurno.

No way down

“I agreed, hoping the climb would not be as hair raising as the morning one. It wasn’t. It climbed up but more gently until it reached to the top of the cliffs. The track was narrow and rough but didn’t make me breathless or experience vertigo. Along the top of the cliff the path wove through vegetation that was over six feet tall. For a while we were following a couple with a spaniel but they turned off down a narrow path that led towards the cliff edge.

is that it?

We passed several narrow paths but didn’t spot the memorial.We came to a cleared area above the beach that has Logan’s Rock at one end. We stopped to chat to another tourist who was sat with his dog enjoying the views when the couple with a spaniel appeared coming up from below us.

We decided to follow that path back to see if it led to the Marconi Monument. 

Lottie checks out the Marconi Monument 

That path gave a quick glance of the Monument and wonderful views of Logan’s Rock and the beach below. The Marconi Monument suddenly appeared beside the narrow trail. After that we had an easy walk back to Porthcurno.

We reached Sally-Van with less than 10minutes on our parking ticket so quickly packed up and drove out.

Back at the camp site it was windy but we watched another nice sunset from the comfort of our motor home.

time to descend