Uney - Walking in Cornwall

Looking back to the lighthouse from Lizard Point (Walk 39)

The county of Cornwall is home to both the British mainlands most southwesterly point at Landss End, and most southerly at Lizard Point. The county stretches into the Atlantic Ocean for almost 130km from its boundary with Devon, which largely follows the River Tamar, rising not far from the north coast then flowing south to reach the sea at Plymouth. Cornwall is thus almost an island, surrounded by the Celtic Sea to the north and west, the English Channel to the south, and the Tamar to the east. The Cornish display a fierce sense of independence; the name Kernow (Cornwall in the Cornish language) is seen regularly, town and village signs appear in English and Cornish, and the black-and-white county flag is very much in evidence. Many will only know Cornwall as a holiday destination, but this is a land steeped in history and tradition with a fascinating industrial heritage.

Walking is the best way to see the county. Many places in Cornwall are only accessible on foot, and the routes described here will take you to the very best places for spectacular scenery, wildlife, prehistory, industrial archaeology, and just for relaxing and getting away from the hustle and bustle of life further east.

Being largely surrounded by water apart from the land border with Devon many of the walks are coastal. There are routes to stunning headlands, to some of the most important industrial sites of a long-ago age, and to some of the top places to see wildlife. Cornwalls coast is remarkably varied: the north and west coasts tend to be more rugged than the south, which is home to the sheltered wooded valleys and broad estuaries of rivers such as the Fowey, Fal and Helford.

But this guide is not all about the coast. Cornwall is also blessed in that at its heart lies one of the most exciting and scenic upland areas in England: Bodmin Moor. Here you will find wild, remote-feeling hills, many of them topped by weirdly shaped granite tors, as well as ancient settlements, burial cairns, and hill forts.

The walking in Cornwall can be surprisingly strenuous, considering that the highest hill in the whole county Brown Willy is only 420m above sea level. Many of the routes on Bodmin Moor lead over wild, boggy, pathless terrain; while as anyone whos ever spent time walking around much of the UK coastline will tell you any route along a cliff top is likely to involve a fair amount of up and down.

The 40 walks described in this book provide options suitable for all tastes and levels of ability. There are lots of short walks for Sunday strolls, and a fair few longer routes for those who want to head out for more than just a couple of hours. There is also the opportunity for the serious walker to combine some routes for a more challenging day out (Walks 5 and 7, and 9 and 10). Note that Walks 17, on Bodmin Moor, are only suitable for those competent in the use of map and compass.

Superb granite tors are a major feature of Bodmin Moor

When most people think about which rocks make up Cornwall they immediately picture the huge granite tors that characterise many of the hilltops on Bodmin Moor. This granite sheet forms the backbone of the whole county and is by far the most important, and most obvious, rock type in Cornwall. It was formed when continental plates collided during the Late Paleozoic era 300 million years ago as part of the Cornubian batholith (the great mass of granite that intrudes throughout the southwest peninsula).

Much of the rest of the county is made up of slates from the Devonian period, but there are also outcroppings of sandstones and shales in the northeast from the Carboniferous age. The obvious exception is the peculiar rock of the Lizard peninsula. This is serpentine a rare section of the oceanic crust which has been thrust to the surface. The only other place in the UK where serpentine is found is as far from the Lizard as it is possible to get the island of Unst, on the northern tip of the Shetland Islands!