Porthkidney

Another local secret, Porthkidney is not on all the maps and there are no signposts to it. You negotiate your way through a golf course and train track to reach it. This cold and dark afternoon, it is just a sliver of sand edging into sand dunes and the sea feels unsettled. A pair of looney dogs adopt me for a few minutes, and we gallop crazily along the shore while we can...

St Ives Harbour

A brief interlude back in Cornwall - and St Ives here gets perhaps the only sunshine in Cornwall, as if to reward me for my long journey to get here from England's other side. This is an easily overlooked beach, except by the sunbathing gulls; what few holidaymakeers there are linger inside the harbour by the shops and cafes, and the only other access is by clambering over some boulders on this side of the harbour when the tide is out.

Polgwidden

Polgwidden sits on the Helford river estuary, at the bottom of Trebah gardens. The cove itself is a break in a coast that is otherwise short of beaches. This is a lush, green part of Cornwall, with a subtropical feel to it. Rhododendrons and magnolias grow to be large trees here, and all the plantings seem exotic, so you emerge onto the beach almost as if on a tropic isle. Except for the crowds enjoying a soft autumnal afternoon...

St Just Pool

There is a gentle footpath from St Just-in-Roseland to St Mawes with access to several (mostly pebbly) beaches along the lovely stretch of water called the Carrick Roads. This is the first one you come to, just past Churchtown Farm. Far far in the distance to the right, Pendennis Castle is sillhouetted on the skyline. The only other beachcomber meanders slowly in the sunshine, engrossed in clumps of seaweed with interesting bits of sealife. Impossible not to exchange smiles as you pass, kindred spirits enjoying today's return of late summer in the best possible way.

Palace Cove

Palace Cove is mostly a low-water beach strewn with boulders, and signs warn you of the dangers from rockfalls. But it's good for idle messing around, sheltered as it is from the full force of the sea; and there are fine grassy knolls just above it with splendid views of the sea and coast, private and friendly - perfect for a picnic stop.

Great Lantic Beach

A blue skies day, today. After a million miles of single-track lanes and a short walk, you hit the coastal path, and breathtaking views of a magnificent coastline bathed in sunshine. Far below, the larger of the two Lantic beaches glistens invitingly, pristine sand against the greens and blues of the surrounding landscape. There are lots of steps down, but here you find a beach worth staying on all day. The rising tide cuts off the smaller coves at one end, but leaves other terraced sections to sunbathe on...

Lansallos Cove

Lansallos is another of those small secret beaches that you might live a lifetime and not find. The sea has sculpted an almost perfect scallop-shell beach out of the surrounding slate rock, and filled it with soft grey sand. All day, clouds hurtle fast across the sky bringing intermittent downpours sprinkled with patchy sunshine; but sitting here it just feels calm and sheltered, and it doesn't seem to matter so much what's happening anywhere else...