From Brown Willy to Hayle’s dunes: Cornwall’s top walks this week

The highest ground in Cornwall. A church tucked at the end of a wooded river valley. Mining ruins clinging to the cliffs above a turquoise cove. And a Victorian tramway that guidebooks were raving about a hundred years ago. This week’s most popular walks in the county take in a bit of everything, and with autumn half term a week away, there is something here for every pair of boots.

iWalk Cornwall has shared its most-walked routes for the week. The list stretches from the Hayle Valley and the Towans in the west, over the coast at St Agnes, through the Luxulyan Valley in mid Cornwall and up onto the tors of Bodmin Moor. If you are after more Cornwall walks, it is a good place to start.

Every route here comes from the iWalk Cornwall app, which we rate highly. This is not a paid partnership. We simply like it, because each walk comes with hand-written directions, GPS guidance and a dose of local history along the way. Distances and grades are a guide rather than a promise, and the practical notes below come from iWalk Cornwall’s own route pages.

1. St Hilary and Hayle Valley

📷St Hilary and Hayle Valley

• Location: St Hilary and the Hayle River valley, between Hayle and Penzance, West Cornwall
• Parking: Start point not listed on the route page (confirm postcode)
• Dog-Friendly: Yes. The only stiles are cattle-grid style coffin stiles. There are three fields, two on the way to the church and one small field after the butterfly house.
• Café: None listed on the route. Guy’s Butterfly House is an optional stop (pre-booking recommended).
• iWalk Cornwall Route: St Hilary and Hayle Valley
• Distance: 5.4 miles / 8.7 km, circular
• Difficulty: Easy-moderate
• Highlights: St Hilary Church, wildlife along the Hayle River and its ponds, Tregembo lake, heather at Penberthy Crofts, the river near Relubbus

Walk Description: This circular route follows the Hayle River valley to St Hilary Church, through a landscape that was once barren industrial ground and has since been taken back by nature as woodland, heath, lakes and streams. It is the week’s top walk and a quietly lovely one. Pack waterproof boots, even on a dry day, and note that the bridleway between directions 9 and 10 can be waterlogged in winter. iWalk suggests a way round it: follow the lane from the start to where it ends, then take the bridleway to rejoin the route at direction 10.

2. Hayle and The Towans

📷Hayle and The Towans

• Location: Hayle, West Cornwall
• Parking: Start point not listed on the route page (confirm postcode)
• Dog-Friendly: Yes, with care. No stiles and livestock is unlikely. Hayle Towans and Gwithian beaches have seasonal dog restrictions. Dogs are not allowed on the shore within Copperhouse Pool, which is a wildlife reserve, but are fine on the Memorial Walk alongside it. No natural freshwater for dogs on the way, so bring some.
• Café: Yes, on the route. The Bucket of Blood pub is also on or near the walk.
• iWalk Cornwall Route: Hayle and The Towans
• Distance: 2.7 miles / 4.3 km, circular
• Difficulty: Easy
• Highlights: Views over the Hayle Estuary and St Ives Bay, a long sandy beach running to Godrevy, estuary birdlife, the Memorial Gardens on Copperhouse Pool, Phillack Church, the Scoria Blocks

Walk Description: The shortest walk on this week’s list loops over the Towans, Hayle’s sand dunes, and back along Copperhouse Pool and the Memorial Walk. It passes Phillack Church, with its 15th-century tower in a Celtic churchyard, and there is industrial heritage too, including an old chimney near the Wave Hub. One detail worth knowing: the sand used to cast Cornwall’s beam engines came from a prehistoric lagoon, from a time when West Penwith was an island. Paths here run close to unfenced edges in places, so keep an eye on little ones.

3. Rough Tor and Brown Willy

📷Rough Tor and Brown Willy

• Location: Bodmin Moor, near Camelford, North Cornwall
• Parking: Start point not listed on the route page (confirm postcode)
• Dog-Friendly: Yes, but there is some lifting involved. There are two stiles on the climb to Brown Willy. The first, beside a gate, is easier for dogs. The higher one is wired over, so dogs need lifting to reach the summit. Sheep, cattle and ponies graze the open moor, and dogs must be on leads no longer than 2m from 1 March to 31 July for ground-nesting birds.
• Café: None listed on the route
• iWalk Cornwall Route: Rough Tor and Brown Willy
• Distance: 5.2 miles / 8.4 km, mostly circular
• Difficulty: Moderate-strenuous
• Highlights: Roughtor and its holy well, weather-sculpted granite on Showery Tor, Brown Willy (the highest point in Cornwall), Fernacre Stone Circle, Stannon Lake, Bronze Age hut circles, summit cairns

Walk Description: The toughest walk this week takes in Cornwall’s two highest tors. It starts at Roughtor, the moor’s most rugged and recognisable outcrop, and crosses to Brown Willy, passing cairns, stone circles, hut circles and old field systems on the way. The views from both summits are huge. Wear proper walking boots, because the moor is marshy even in summer, and expect granite boulders to clamber over near the top of Roughtor and on the way down into the valley between the tors.

4. Luxulyan Valley circular

📷Luxulyan Valley circular

• Location: Luxulyan Valley, near St Austell, Mid Cornwall
• Parking: Start point not listed on the route page (confirm postcode)
• Dog-Friendly: Yes. No stiles and no fields with livestock.
• Café: None listed on the route
• iWalk Cornwall Route: Luxulyan Valley circular
• Distance: 3.4 miles / 5.5 km, circular
• Difficulty: Easy-moderate
• Highlights: Treffry Viaduct, broadleaf woodland, the Carmears incline, the wheelpit, the River Par, dragonflies and damselflies

Walk Description: This one runs through a World Heritage site, following old leats and horse-drawn tramways under the trees. It leads to the Treffry Viaduct, which carried tramways towards Newquay, and past the remains of the giant waterwheel that once winched trams up the valley. None of it is new to walkers. Guidebooks were recommending the route back in the 1920s, and with the woods starting to turn, it is easy to see why it is on the list.

5. St Agnes Beacon and Wheal Coates

📷St Agnes Beacon and Wheal Coates

• Location: St Agnes, West Cornwall
• Parking: Start point not listed on the route page (confirm postcode)
• Dog-Friendly: Yes. Only one stile, beside a gate. One field is used for cattle, and the path runs close to unfenced cliff edges.
• Café: Yes, on the route
• iWalk Cornwall Route: St Agnes Beacon and Wheal Coates
• Distance: 3.0 miles / 4.9 km, circular
• Difficulty: Easy-moderate
• Highlights: Wheal Coates and Towanroath Engine House, a 360-degree view from St Agnes Beacon, Vugga Cave, the St Agnes Head Coastguard lookout, coastal views to Porthtowan and Portreath

Walk Description: Short, but with one of the best payoffs in the county. The route links St Agnes Head and the engine houses of Wheal Coates by way of St Agnes Beacon, where the view goes all the way round. Towanroath Engine House, perched above the sea, is the shot everyone wants. Walking boots are best, though trainers will do in summer, and if you fancy going further, iWalk’s Chapel Porth to Trevaunance Cove walk is the longer alternative.

Plan your walk

The iWalk Cornwall app gives you hand-written directions and GPS guidance that warns you if you stray off the route. It also works offline with no signal, which matters on Bodmin Moor and along the more remote stretches of coast. Again, this is not a paid partnership. We just think it is the best way to explore on foot.

The app is free to download from the App Store and Google Play, and you buy the individual walks you want. The full collection runs to more than 300 routes across Cornwall.