Ride, stride or sail: Cornwall’s church event returns in September

You can walk it. You can cycle it. You can ride a horse along it. Or you can sail it, and that last part is something only Cornwall offers.

Cornwall Historic Churches Trust is bringing back Ride • Stride • Sail after a gap of many years, inviting people across the county to get outdoors, visit historic churches and raise money to keep them in good repair. It runs across the weekend of Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 September 2026.

How it works

Ride • Stride • Sail is a sponsored walk, bike ride, horse ride or sail between Cornwall’s churches. Participants pick which churches to travel between and build a route around their own interests, time and fitness. There are no fixed start or finish points and no minimum distance. People can take part between 10am and 6pm on either day, or both. It is meant to be flexible, inclusive and open to anyone.

Where the money goes

Half of the sponsorship a participant raises goes straight back to their chosen church. The other half supports the Trust’s county-wide grants programme, which funds repairs and maintenance at churches across Cornwall.

What the grants have paid for

Those grants have gone toward practical work at churches and chapels the length of Cornwall. Recent awards include:

• £13,900 to Come to Good Meeting House in 2024, toward renewing its thatch roof, a heating upgrade and building repairs
• £10,000 to St Gerrans in 2025, for repointing the spire and tower
• £10,000 to St Mawgan in Pydar in 2025, for roof repairs and replastering
• £10,000 to Camborne Methodist Church in 2024, for major repairs to its windows
• £9,500 to Probus, St Probus and St Grace in 2025, toward roof repairs
• £9,300 to Cawsand Congregational Church in 2025, for repairs to a sea-facing wall

Only Cornwall can do the sailing

Ride • Stride • Sail runs as part of a national initiative delivered locally by county Historic Churches Trusts. In Dorset the annual event raises more than £100,000. Cornwall is the only county to add a sailing option, a nod to its coastline, harbours and maritime heritage.

“It is not about religion”

Cecilia Bisson, Chair of Cornwall Historic Churches Trust, said the relaunch had been a long time coming.

“It has been many years since we held Ride, Stride & Sail in Cornwall, and I am delighted to relaunch it. Cornwall has an extraordinary wealth of historic churches, and many have been the centre of their communities for centuries, including some with foundations as early as the 6th century that are still in use today, such as St Petroc’s in Bodmin or St Senara’s Church in Zennor.”

She added: “Churches continue to sit at the heart of community life, bringing people together for all kinds of local activity, regardless of faith. Ride, Stride & Sail is not about religion. It is about preserving the fabric of our communities and the buildings that tell Cornwall’s story, regardless of faith, and raising much-needed funds for urgent repairs.”

How to take part

Full details, including how to register and start fundraising, are on the Ride • Stride • Sail page on the Cornwall Historic Churches Trust website.