A church between two coasts leads Cornwall’s most popular walks

Climb high enough in the fields above Hayle and the land does something it rarely manages anywhere else in Cornwall. You can pick out St Ives Bay to the north and Mount’s Bay to the south from the same spot, a granite church tucked in among the trees behind you. That view has just helped push a quiet parish walk to the top of Cornwall’s most-walked list for the week.

iWalk Cornwall has shared its most popular walking routes for the week, and the list runs the length of the county, from a West Cornwall valley to Cornwall’s highest ground on Bodmin Moor, a pub only reachable by a creekside path near Falmouth, and the wooded creek that gave Daphne du Maurier a novel.

Every route below comes from the iWalk Cornwall app, which we rate highly. It is not a paid partnership. We just think it is the best way to follow a Cornish route, with hand-written directions, GPS guidance and a wealth of local history packed into each walk. Distances and grades are a guide rather than a promise, and the practical notes come from iWalk Cornwall’s own route pages.

1. St Hilary and Hayle Valley

• Location: St Hilary parish, near Relubbus and Tregembo, West Cornwall
• Dog-Friendly: No traditional stiles, just cattle-grid-style coffin stiles, and only three fields on the whole route
• Café: None on the route, though Guy’s Butterfly House (pre-booking recommended) can be visited along the way
• iWalk Cornwall Route: St Hilary and Hayle Valley
• Distance: 5.4 miles / 8.7 km
• Difficulty: Easy-moderate
• Highlights: St Hilary church, wildlife along the Hayle river and its ponds, the lake near Tregembo, Guy’s Butterfly House

This one is a good example of nature reclaiming a hard-worked landscape. The route circles out to St Hilary church along the Hayle river valley, through what was once barren industrial ground and is now woodland, heath, lakes and streams, home to damselflies and plenty of birdlife around the water at Tregembo. Along the way there is the option to detour into Guy’s Butterfly House, home to Blue Morpho butterflies among others, before the path loops back past the church. iWalk Cornwall recommends waterproof boots even in summer, since the bridleway on the approach can get waterlogged through the winter months.

2. Luxulyan Valley circular

• Location: Luxulyan Valley, near Luxulyan and Bugle, mid Cornwall
• Parking: Black Hill car park, Luxulyan Valley 
• iWalk Cornwall Route: Luxulyan Valley circular walk
• Distance: 3.4 miles / 5.5 km
• Difficulty: Easy-moderate
• Highlights: Treffry Viaduct, the Carmears wheelpit, the old horse-drawn tramway trackbed, the leats of a World Heritage mining landscape

The Luxulyan Valley has been drawing walkers since long before iWalk Cornwall existed. Guidebooks were calling it one of the most glorious walks in Cornwall back in the 1920s. The route follows the leats and the trackbed of a horse-drawn tramway through the valley’s World Heritage mining landscape, climbing to the massive Treffry Viaduct and passing the wheelpit where a 30ft waterwheel once hauled wagons up the incline from the Fowey Consols mine.

3. Rough Tor and Brown Willy

• Location: Bodmin Moor, near Camelford
• Parking: Rough Tor car park, Roughtor Road 
• Dog-Friendly: Yes, though keep dogs on a lead around livestock and on the open moor near Brown Willy
• iWalk Cornwall Route: Circular walk around Rough Tor and Brown Willy
• Distance: 5.2 miles / 8.4 km
• Difficulty: Moderate-strenuous
• Highlights: Cornwall’s two highest points, Showery Tor’s ring cairn, Bronze Age summit cairns and hut circles, a holy well

This is the only walk on the list that takes in both of Cornwall’s highest points in one go. From the car park at the end of Roughtor Road the route climbs onto Rough Tor itself, past a holy well and the remains of Bronze Age hut circles, before Showery Tor’s unusual ring cairn comes into view. From there it presses on to the summit of Brown Willy, the highest ground in the county, where more prehistoric cairns sit among the rocks before the path drops back across the moor.

4. Mylor and Restronguet Creeks

• Location: Mylor Bridge, near Falmouth
• Parking: Mylor Bridge
• Café: The Pandora Inn, on the route beside Restronguet Creek
• iWalk Cornwall Route: Mylor and Restronguet Creeks circular walk
• Distance: 4 miles / 6.5 km
• Difficulty: Easy-moderate
• Highlights: The Pandora Inn, Restronguet Barton, Weir Point, Greatwood quay

This one has a genuine pub stop built in. The route climbs from Mylor Bridge through fields to Restronguet Barton before dropping down to the Pandora Inn, said to have been renamed by the captain of HMS Pandora, the ship sent to hunt down the Bounty mutineers. From there the path follows the water’s edge down Restronguet Creek to Weir Point, then back up Mylor Creek via Greatwood quay, a route that was once served by a passing-boat summoned by a bell on the opposite bank.

5. Helford and Frenchman’s Creek

• Location: Helford village, the Lizard peninsula, near Helston
• Parking: Helford village car park
• iWalk Cornwall Route: Helford and Frenchman’s Creek circular walk
• Distance: 3.8 miles / 6.1 km
• Difficulty: Moderate
• Highlights: Frenchman’s Creek, the wooded valleys of the Helford River, thatched Helford village

The shortest walk on the list packs in one of Cornwall’s most romantic stretches of water. The route threads through the wooded valleys around the Helford River to Frenchman’s Creek, still as pristine and overgrown as it was when it inspired Daphne du Maurier’s novel of the same name. Helford itself, with its thatched cottages and boathouses, sits at the start and finish of the loop.

Plan your walk

Every one of these routes comes with hand-written directions, GPS guidance that warns you if you stray off the path, and local history built into every stop along the way. It all works offline too, with no signal needed once you are out on the moor or down in the dunes, which matters more than it sounds out at Rough Tor and Brown Willy. It is still not a paid partnership. We just rate the app.

The iWalk Cornwall app is free to download from the App Store and Google Play, and you only pay for the individual walks you want to do. The full set runs to more than 300 routes across the county, so this week’s five are only the start.