Section 1. Falmouth to Portloe - Cornish Coast Path
Distance 14 miles - Grade - 6.5 miles easy and 7.5 miles Strenuous - What these grades mean.
Overnight stops in Falmouth before you start your South West Coast Path Walking Holiday
Your journey begins under the shadow of St Mawes Castle nestling in a subtropical creekside location at the entrance to the mighty Roseland Peninsular. Using the famous St Mawes ferry to cross to St Mawes and then a tiny passenger ferry onto Place. You then walk out onto the timeless St Anthony Peninsular passing its idyllic coastal church and dramatic lighthouse.
A run of stunning beaches, low cliffs and small valleys brings you to the pretty fishing village of Portscatho and an ideal lunch stop.
This afternoon brings you more fine stretches of sand at Carne and Pendower Beaches before you head towards wild Nare Head, Carne Beadon, the largest Bronze Age barrow in Cornwall on one side, and the imposing sea bird sanctuary at Gull Rock off the coast on the other.
Passing, of all things, an underground Cold War bunker you then enter an afternoon of isolated coves and hidden beaches which lead on to your overnight in inspiring Portloe. "One of the least spoiled and most impressive of Cornish fishing villages" according to Sir John Betcheman. Dominated by its jagged black rocks, "The Jacka", which shadow the entrance to its tiny harbour, this settlement really is a gateway to another world and a fitting place to spend your first night on the coast.