Kynance Cove, the Cheesewring and Cornwall’s most popular walks this week

A cloistered convent where a lamp has burned for centuries, and a tor of balanced granite on Bodmin Moor, both feature in this week’s most-walked list.

iWalk Cornwall has shared its most popular routes for the week. The list spans the county, from the serpentine cliffs of the Lizard in the far south to the highest ground in Cornwall on Bodmin Moor, taking in two riverside loops at St Erth and a wooded valley walk near Newquay along the way.

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. The Lizard and Kynance Cove

• Location: Lizard village, near Helston, West Cornwall, the most southerly point of mainland Britain
• Parking: Lizard village green car park (confirm postcode), or the National Trust car park above Kynance Cove
• Dog-Friendly: Yes, with stiles reported as OK for large dogs. Dogs are allowed all year at Polpeor Cove, while Kynance Cove has seasonal restrictions
• Café: Café at Kynance Cove, plus pubs and cafés in Lizard village
• iWalk Cornwall Route: The Lizard and Kynance Cove
• Distance: 4.4 miles / 7.1 km
• Difficulty: Moderate
• Highlights: Lizard Point, Kynance Cove, serpentine cliffs, Cornish heath, wildflowers and Cornish choughs

Walk Description: A circular walk following the old Victorian excursion route from Lizard village down to the most southerly point of mainland Britain, then along the coast path to Kynance Cove. The cove is one of the most photographed spots in Cornwall, its red and green serpentine rocks polished smooth by the sea. The route runs through rare Cornish heath with spectacular views and wildlife, including the Cornish chough, the bird that appears on the county’s coat of arms. Note that the walk down to Kynance Cove itself is steep.

2. St Erth, River and Pits

• Location: St Erth, near Hayle, West Cornwall
• Parking: Car park opposite St Erth parish church (confirm postcode)
• Dog-Friendly: Yes, but with a good number of stiles. Most dogs can squeeze through the first wooden stile, the second can often be bypassed via a gate, and most will need help with the third. One stone stile is a 4ft wall with a foothold, which athletic dogs may manage but others will need a lift over
• Café: Options in St Erth and nearby Hayle
• iWalk Cornwall Route: St Erth, River and Pits
• Distance: 3.2 miles / 5.2 km
• Difficulty: Easy
• Highlights: River Hayle, St Erth Pits nature reserve, Porthcollum, woods and fields, views over the Hayle valley

Walk Description: A circular walk from St Erth along the River Hayle, through woods and fields to Porthcollum, then returning past the St Erth Pits nature reserve. The Pits are geologically important, and the walk gives views over the Hayle valley that was once a lagoon, back when West Penwith was an island. It is the easiest walk on this week’s list, though there are a fair few stiles to negotiate.

3. Minions and the Cheesewring

• Location: Minions, Bodmin Moor, Southeast Cornwall, the highest village in the county
• Parking: Minions free car park (PL14 5LE)
• Dog-Friendly: Yes, no stiles. On the open moor, dogs go on a lead no more than 2m long between 1 March and 31 July for ground-nesting birds, and sheep and ponies graze freely
• Café: The Cheesewring pub and a tearoom in Minions
• iWalk Cornwall Route: Minions and the Cheesewring
• Distance: 3.8 miles / 6.8 km
• Difficulty: Moderate
• Highlights: The Hurlers stone circles, Rillaton barrow, Daniel Gumb’s hut, the Cheesewring on Stowe’s Hill, Phoenix mine engine houses

Walk Description: Up on Bodmin Moor, this one takes in the Hurlers stone circles and cairns, the Bronze Age Rillaton barrow where a gold goblet was found, and the stone hut of the eccentric mason and mathematician Daniel Gumb. It climbs Stowe’s Hill to the balanced granite of the Cheesewring, crosses a Neolithic walled enclosure, then drops past the engine houses of the South Phoenix and Phoenix United mines. The main climb is to the Cheesewring, and there is an embankment of loose rock to cross on top of Stowe’s Hill. The paths fade in places on the open moor, so the app’s map screen is the sensible way to keep your line.

4. Mawgan Porth to St Mawgan

• Location: Mawgan Porth, near Newquay, North Cornwall
• Parking: Mawgan Porth beach car park (confirm postcode)
• Dog-Friendly: Yes, and dogs are allowed all year at Mawgan Porth beach. Only one stile, which most large dogs can get over and small ones under, with accessible streams for a drink at roughly one-mile intervals. Some stretches ask for dogs on leads, and three fields sometimes contain cows
• Café: The Falcon Inn and café options in St Mawgan
• iWalk Cornwall Route: Mawgan Porth to St Mawgan
• Distance: 4.3 miles / 6.9 km
• Difficulty: Easy
• Highlights: Vale of Lanherne, River Menalhyl, St Mawgan village, the 800-year-old cloistered convent at Lanherne

Walk Description: A mostly circular walk from Mawgan Porth along the Vale of Lanherne, following the River Menalhyl inland to the village of St Mawgan and returning past the 800-year-old cloistered convent at Lanherne, where the sanctuary light has been burning for hundreds of years. It is a gentle, varied route of woods, fields, rivers and country lanes, well away from the crowds on the coast just down the road.

5. Rough Tor and Brown Willy

• Location: Bodmin Moor, near Camelford, North Cornwall
• Parking: Rough Tor car park, at the end of Roughtor Road near Camelford, free (confirm postcode)
• Dog-Friendly: Yes, but with two stiles on the climb to Brown Willy. The first is easier and beside a gate, the higher one is wired-over and dogs will need lifting over. Sheep, cattle and ponies graze the open moor, so dogs go on a lead no more than 2m long between 1 March and 31 July
• Café: None on the moor, nearest in Camelford. Wear waterproof boots, as the ground is marshy even in summer
• iWalk Cornwall Route: Rough Tor and Brown Willy
• Distance: 5.2 miles / 8.4 km
• Difficulty: Moderate-strenuous
• Highlights: Rough Tor, Showery Tor, Brown Willy summit, holy well, summit cairns, prehistoric settlements

Walk Description: A mostly circular walk to Cornwall’s two highest tors, passing prehistoric remains along the way including a holy well, summit cairns and old settlements. Brown Willy is the highest point in the county at 420 metres, just 20 metres taller than Rough Tor, and its name is a distortion of the Cornish Bronn Wennili, meaning “hill of swallows”. There are granite boulders to clamber over near the summit of Rough Tor and in the dip between the tors, and the moor is exposed and often boggy underfoot, so waterproof boots and the app’s map are both worth having.

Plan your walk

By following the routes on the iWalk Cornwall app you get hand-written directions, GPS guidance that warns you if you wander off-route, and a wealth of local history along the way. Once a walk is downloaded it keeps working with no phone or wifi signal, which matters on the parts of the moor and coast where the bars on your phone vanish.

As we said, this is not a paid partnership. We just rate it. The app is free to download from the App Store and Google Play, and you buy the individual walks you want.

The full set runs to more than 300 routes across the county, so wherever you are, there is almost certainly one within reach.