Walk - Portreath to Hayle

Highlights

• The views from the top of Western Hill down to the harbour of Portreath and to Western Cove and the cliff paths ahead.
• The contorted rock strata of Greenbank Cove.
• Crane Castle: standing on the site of an Iron Age cliff castle, almost entirely lost to erosion, you look out to Crane Islands and to the Path ahead along the Reskajaege Downs, which are covered in swathes of wildflowers and heather in spring and summer.
• The overwhelming mass of cliff and sheer drop to the sea at Hell’s Mouth.
• Seal spotting from Navax Point, which is covered in wild flowers, pink heather and gorse in the summer months.
• The National Trust have brought in a small herd of Shetland ponies to graze at the Knavocks and help maintain the habitat favoured by small birds and butterflies.
• Godrevy Island and octagonal lighthouse (now solar-powered) is three and a half miles across St Ives Bay, and is thought to have been the inspiration for Virginia Woolf’s novel `To The Lighthouse'. The island is covered in bright flowers in springtime.
• Spotting the guillemots, razorbills, fulmars and cormorants from the North Cliffs.
• The Red River which once carried the red iron oxide residue from the tin mines up the valley out to the sea at Gwithian.
• Gwithian and Hayle Towans: the second largest dune system in Cornwall is home to hundreds of different species of plants, butterflies, moths and glow-worms. Apparently, St Gothian's Chapel has been buried three times under the shifting sands.
• The 100 year-old swing bridge at the entrance to Hayle harbour.
• The birds of Hayle Estuary.

Shorter option

Walk to Gwithian (7.6 miles, 12.2 km).

Longer option

Continue to Carbis Bay (an additional 4.5 miles, 7 km) or St Ives (an additional 6.1 miles, 9.8 km).

Public transport

The nearest train stations are Hayle and Redruth, and from both you can catch buses to Portreath. For timetable information, zoom in on the interactive map and click on the train station and bus stop symbols, visit Traveline or phone 0871 200 22 33.

Parking

Portreath (Postcode for Sat Navs: TR16 4LN), Crane Castle, North Cliffs, Godrevy Point, Gwithian, The Towans and Hayle.