Looe is a great centre for walkers heading along the coast in both easterly and westerly directions.

However, as well as the South West Coast Path, with its ever changing scenery and hidden coves to Polperro, you can head inland into Kilminorth Woods at the entrance to the West Looe valley with its ancient oak woodland, follow the Giants Hedge, an ancient earthwork.

Kilminorth Woods

Distance - 3.8 miles  Difficulty - Moderate

A stroll through one of the largest valley oaklands in Cornwall which is also a nature reserve teeming with wildlife. Look out for herons and Canada geese on the water, and sparrowhawks and peregrines overhead. Songbirds trill from the ancient oaks, and woodpeckers can be heard drilling for insects. If you're lucky you might catch a glimpse of a roe deer, or a kingfisher. Although there is some ascent and descent on this walk, only one short stretch of it is steep.

Talland Bay & the Giant's Hedge

Distance - 7.3 miles  Difficulty - Challenging

A varied walk taking in the beautiful wooded estuary of the West Looe River before crossing the coastal plateau to join the South West Coast Path and follow it from Talland back to Looe station.

An inspirational walk for those who don’t mind a challenge, this route takes in an important ancient boundary wall, thought to be 1200 years old, through an old oak woodland teeming with wildlife. Dropping down into Talland Bay, whose secluded beaches were a haven for smugglers but a hazard for ships in south-westerly gales, the path hugs the shoreline as it returns to Looe.
There is a lot of ascent and descent, some of which is quite steep.

Polperro

Distance - 5.4 miles  Difficulty - Moderate

A coastal walk taking in a holy legend and a sixth century monastery, as well as an eighteenth century eccentric and a nineteenth century engineer. There are rockpools on the beaches, with remnants of shipwrecks and tales of smugglers, and the walk ends with a stroll up through the picturesque fishing village of Polperro to Crumplehorn, where you can catch a bus back to Looe. The first mile is on flat tarmac, while the rest is on paths, with some ascent and descent.