My first tiktok live

Deadman's Cove to Greenbank Cove

Some mornings on the Cornish coast feel like they were made specifically for you. No wind. No cloud. The sea holding still like it's posing. This was one of those mornings — and I'd decided to make the most of it with a 4.5-mile stretch of the South West Coast Path between Deadman's Cove and Greenbank Cove, a section of the North Cliffs that sits quietly between the more talked-about drama of Hell's Mouth to the west and the bustle of Portreath to the east.

I'd also decided — finally — to go live on TikTok for the first time. More on that shortly.

Setting Out

There's something specific about stepping onto this section of the path in good conditions. The terrain gets your attention immediately — rocky and gravelly underfoot, the kind of surface that asks you to pay attention to where you're placing your feet. The coast path here runs close to the cliff edge, and the cliffs don't mess around. Sheer, dramatic drops straight down to the sea. No gentle slope, no warning — just edge, then air, then water far below.

I had the Mavic 3 on my back, the GoPro running, and I was putting the DJI Osmo Nano through its paces as a dedicated hiking camera for the first time. Compact, light, and capable enough to keep up with whatever this coastline threw at it. On a path this uneven and this exposed, you want a camera that doesn't slow you down or make you precious. The Nano passed the test.

What This Stretch Actually Looks Like

People who walk the South West Coast Path through here are often heading somewhere with a bigger name — Hell's Mouth, Portreath, St Ives eventually. This section gets passed through more than it gets noticed. That's a mistake.

The cliffs along the North Cliffs plateau are the dominant feature — heather-covered ground above, then the land simply ends and drops to the sea. Deadman's Cove has the kind of presence its name suggests: vertical rock faces, the sea contained and churning far below, and on a calm day, a silence that isn't really silence but just the complete absence of other people. No facilities, no café, no easy access down. Just the path, the edge, and whatever's going on in your head.

That solitude is the point of this stretch. It's not a performance. There's nothing here trying to impress you. It just does.

Flying the Mavic 3

No flight restrictions on this section — clean airspace, clear skies, perfect light. I flew the Mavic 3 over the coves and cliffs, and if you've only ever seen this coastline from path level, you genuinely don't have the full picture.

From the air, the geometry of it makes sense in a way it doesn't from the ground. The way the cliffs fold and curve. The relationship between the flat heathland plateau — a former raised beach, ancient and weathered — and the sea hundreds of feet below. Greenbank Cove in particular looks completely different from altitude: a small, tucked-away sandy beach that from the path is easy to miss entirely, but from above sits like something hidden deliberately, carved into the base of the cliffs and almost entirely enclosed.

This is why I fly. The story of a place isn't always visible from where you're standing.

Greenbank Cove — and Going Live

I went live on TikTok for the first time standing above Greenbank Cove.

I'd been putting it off. It's one of those things that sounds straightforward and then feels anything but when you're actually holding the phone. But I was there, the cove was below me, the light was right, and I just did it.

People joined. Said hi. Someone asked where I was — I told them: on a cliff edge above a hidden beach on the Cornish coast, on a morning with no wind and no one else around. A few asked about the cove itself, whether you could get down to it. It broke the solitude, but not in a way that felt wrong. There was something good about sharing that view in real time, about people seeing this place the same moment I was seeing it.

It felt awkward for about the first two minutes. Then it felt fine. Then it felt like something worth doing again.

4.5 Miles That Does Something to You

This isn't a walk for a shopping list in your head. The terrain won't let you drift — too uneven underfoot, too close to the edge to be careless. But that's part of what this stretch gives you. Forced presence. By the time you reach Greenbank Cove you've been alone with the cliffs and the sea and your own thoughts for long enough that something has shifted slightly. Nothing dramatic. Just a recalibration.

That's what I keep coming back for on this Godrevy to Portreath route. Not the destination. Not even the photography, though this stretch delivered — the drone footage from above the North Cliffs is some of the best I've got on this whole series. It's the particular quality of headspace you get on a stretch of coastline that hasn't been polished up for visitors.

Cornwall doesn't always perform. Sometimes it just exists. This is one of those places.

Practical Notes

Start/Finish: North Cliffs — accessible from the B3301 between Portreath and Hayle. Follow coast path signage. Distance: Approx. 4.5 miles Underfoot: Rocky and gravelly in sections — proper footwear essential Facilities: None on this stretch. Go prepared. Drone: No restrictions — excellent flying conditions on a calm day Best for: Solitude, photography, drone work, anyone who wants the coast path without the crowds