"There are few tracts in England more rugged than the northern part of the peninsula that lies between the Land's End and St Ives. It is possible to travel across the moors from Crobben Hill to Chapel Cairn Brea without setting foot on cultivated ground. It is a boulder-strewn waste, void of trees, where the grey of the granite mingles in spring and autumn with the gold of the gorse that, with heather and bracken, clothes the undulating surface. To the lover of nature the wild aspect of these breezy uplands is not without its charms; but the glory of the promontory is the ocean in which it is set. The great rampart of cliffs that holds back the Atlantic is broken here and there by beaches of white sand or minute shells, or by coves into which fall the trout-streams that rise in the granite hills above...In these valleys bird-life is rich. On a spit of sand you may chance on the footprints of an otter, whose harbour by day is some rocky holt along the cliffs; where the blackthorns are densest you may come across a badger's earth, and see the paths he has trodden in going to and fro. This creature is very plentiful—as plentiful indeed as the hare is scarce. Generally he shares the same earth with the fox. On the north coast the seal shows no sign of decrease; thanks to its tireless vigilance, and the inaccessible caves it frequents..." 'Wild Life at the Land's End' is a portrait of the wildlife of the Southern English coast of Cornwall.

Wild Life at the Land's End by J.C. Tregarthen is about an old Earthstopper and his little terrier as they hunt a variety of small creatures. Excerpt: "It was an hour after midnight when the Earthstopper of the Penwith Hunt left his cottage on the outskirts of Madron. He carried a lantern and a rough terrier followed at his heels. His track led, by lanes in the heather, over a cairn to the furze-clad downs overlooking the lake. To the West, somber hills rose against the jeweled vault where the stars in the depths of the frosty sky kept watch over the slumbering earth. Halfway over the downs, beneath the roots of a stunted pine, was a fox-earth. The old man knelt and stopped it with faggots of furze. The light of the lantern-lit up his strong and kindly face, and fell on the heap of sandy soil at the mouth of the earth."

The South West Coastal Path is the longest National Trail in the UK, and its full 630 miles is off-putting to most recreational walkers. This carefully selected section from St Ives to Penzance provides a superb taster experience that readily fits inside one week. Enjoy some of the UK's finest coastal scenery including around Land's End, its wild south-western extreme. This part of Cornwall is surprisingly accessible by mainline railway, and it offers plenty of charming places to stay and eat. The book includes an option to complete the circuit inland by St Michael's Way, and also a side-trip by tidal causeway to St Michael's Mount. The detailed route description is enhanced by background on Cornwall's geology, history and culture.Lavishly illustrated, the book has 80+ colour photos and 15 pages carrying detailed route mapping (1:35,000). It is in a slim pocket-friendly format and, like all Rucksack Reader guidebooks, printed on rainproof paper.

"Cunningham's short book is a haunting, beautiful piece of work. . . . A magnificent work of art." -The Washington Post "Easily read on a plane-and-ferry journey from here to the sandy, tide-washed tip of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Land's End is that most perfect of companions: slender, eloquent, enriching, and fun. . . . A casually lovely ode to Provincetown." -The Minneapolis Star Tribune "Cunningham rambles through Provincetown, gracefully exploring the unusual geography, contrasting seasons, long history, and rich stew of gay and straight, Yankee and Portuguese, old-timer and 'washashore' that flavors Cape Cod's outermost town. . . . Chock-full of luminous descriptions . . . . He's hip to its studied theatricality, ever-encroaching gentrification and physical fragility, and he can joke about its foibles and mourn its losses with equal aplomb." -Chicago Tribune "A homage to the 'city of sand'. . . Filled with finely crafted sentences and poetic images that capture with equal clarity the mundanities of the A&P and Provincetown's magical shadows and light . . . Highly evocative and honest. It takes you there." -The Boston Globe