7 Night South East Cornwall Guided Walking

Distance: 10 miles (16 km) 

Ascent: 1,960ft (600m) 

Enjoy all the highlights of the option one walk combined with a little leg stretcher, out and back from Talland Bay to the pretty Cornish fishing village of Polperro. Whitewashed cottages, narrow cobbled streets, and a perfectly framed harbour – have your camera at the ready, this is picture-postcard Cornwall.  

Distance: 9 miles (14km) 

Ascent: 1,630ft (500m)  

Take the South West Coast Path to Rame Head where a pretty chapel frames the scene for this wild, craggy, and incredibly photogenic peninsula. Keep one eye on the landscape too, with wild Dartmoor ponies grazing on the land.  

The coast path then takes us round Penlee point and down to the twin villages of Kingsand and Cawsand – at one time the stream that separated the villages was the border between Devon and Cornwall. Our walk then joins the option one walk, taking us along the coast to the impressive grounds of Mount Edgecumbe Country Park. 

Distance: 9 miles (15km) 

Ascent: 1,800ft (550m) 

We’ll take the passenger ferry from Polruan over to Fowey, before heading off on the South West Coast Path, past St Catherine’s Castle (one of a chain of forts built by Henry VIII), around Gribben Head to reach the little harbour village of Polkerris. Our return to Fowey encircles Menabilly, the lovely estate where Daphne du Maurier lived and worked, and the fictional setting for her novel, Rebecca. The ferry takes us back to Polruan. 

Distance: 9 miles (14.5km) 

Ascent: 1,340ft (410m) 

We’ll initially follow the option one route to The Hurlers standing stones and Cheesewring, part of a hilltop Neolithic fortification. We’ll continue northwards across open moorland, passing ancient field systems and quarries, to an eye-opening ridge of granite tors.  

Once we’ve ascended Kilmar Tor*, the third highest summit in Cornwall (396m), we’ll be able to soak up the views in all directions, even as far as Lundy Island on a clear day. Completing the figure-of-eight walk is an old tramway that takes us to rejoin the option one walk past an old working mine back to our starting point in Minions village.  

* Kilmar Tor and to a lesser extent the Cheesewring is surrounded by ‘clitter’ (boulder-like stones) which could be a challenge for some. It’s less of an issue for option one where there are more gaps between stones, which can be negotiated relatively easily with time and care. The option two walk involves clambering over more rocks. 

Distance: 11 miles (18km) 

Ascent: 2,360ft (730m) 

We’ll begin at Lansallos, with its fine church overlooking the wildflower-topped bay. Our route takes us on inland paths and fields to join the Hall Walk at the head of Pont Pill and then to the Fowey estuary. From here, we pass through Polruan to join the South West Coast Path, heading east on remote, windswept coastal paths to finish the day at picturesque Polperro.