Walk - Padstow to Porthcothan

Highlights

• Gun Point: featuring on maps dating from 1801, here you will find the remains of fortifications thought to date back to the time of the Spanish Armada.
• Orchids and reed buntings in the marshes of Harbour Cove.
• Views from Stepper Point with its navigation station. Much of this area is farmed under the Countryside Stewardship scheme, which means that the land is farmed in an environmentally sensitive way, banishing chemical fertilisers and encouraging wildlife and flowers.
• Nesting birds on limestone layers of Marble Cliffs, Porthmissen.
• Round Hole near Trevone: a collapsed sea cave.
• Harlyn: an Iron Age cemetery was discovered buried beneath the Harlyn Inn. It contained over 100 coffins with human remains and bronze and iron ornaments. These are now in the museum in Truro. Keep a look out for seals around Harlyn Bay.
• The Old Fish Cellars above Harlyn Bay which were once used for processing pilchards. Carved into the lintel are the ironic words “Lucri Dulcis Odor” or “Profit Smells Sweet”. No doubt the smells were far from sweet when the building was a working fish cellar and the profit itself far from sweet due to the 16th-century Curse of Mother Ivey! 
• Padstow's Lifeboat Station in Mother Ivey’s Bay, open to visitors Mon-Fri 10.00-16.00 (including weekends during the summer).
• Trevose Head Lighthouse opened in 1847, and is available for holiday hire.
• Enjoying the wonderful names, such as Big Guns Cove, Cat’s Cove and Stinking Cove.
• Watching the surfers and having a picnic at Constantine Bay: a beautiful beach of golden sands backed by dunes.
• The marine life of Treyarnon Bay exposed at low tide.
• Resting on the beach in Porthcothan Bay.

Shorter option

Stop at Treyarnon Bay (11.4 miles, 18.3 km).

Longer option

Continue to Mawgan Porth (an additional 4.4 miles, 7.2 km).

Public transport

The nearest train station is Bodmin Parkway, from where you can get a bus direct to Padstow (about 1hr journey), from where you can change buses for Porthcothan. For timetable information, zoom in on the interactive map and click on the bus stops, visit Traveline or phone 0871 200 22 33.

Parking

Padstow (Post Code for Sat Navs: PL28 8DT), Trevone, Harlyn, Trevose Head, Treyarnon Bay and Porthcothan.