1. Cornwall Coast Path: *Hell’s Mouth to Hayle -7 miles one way - OS Explorer 102
Link this hike to Polzeath to Hell's Mouth trail (no.31)to makes a 12 mile one way walk. (Taxis available at Hayle railway station unless you're up for the walk back). Parking for Hell's mouth in lay-by on B3301 just west of Hell’s Mouth café.
Along the B3301 from Hayle with Hell’s Mouth café coming into view, the taxi driver nodded toward it and said, ‘Recently, a man wandered in there with a dog, handed the waitress the lead and asked her to look after the little fella while he went back to his car for his wallet. The dog whining, she watched him pass the car park, cross the road to the coast path and cliff edge, step over the two-foot barrier, and leap.’ It's a long way down and certain death. When I suggested it must have been a shock for the waitress, she shook her head: ‘Happens all the time.’ Now there's a clue in that story that I didn't walk to Hayle and back. This is a glorious walk with fabulous beaches. I took my time.
Hell’s Mouth is steep sided and high, which is more than can be said for the wooden barrier. Sat above it on a grassy bank enjoying an ice cream, watching crows and gulls circling below, I wondered what came first—the name or the jumpers.
The road is only yards from the coast path at this point but soon left behind as the heather and gorse edged path heads west then north to Navax Point. There you turn west again toward Godrevy Island and the lighthouse that stands on it. Built in 1859 after yet another ship, this time the steamer Nile, was wrecked on the shallow reefs close by, it’s one of the prettiest lighthouses in Cornwall.
Just before you get to Godrevy Point there’s an impressive cove, too steep to access but with
easy viewing down to the seals that play and feed there. They entertained me for ten minutes before I dragged myself away. (Why do gulls make me think of WW11 fighter planes? Why are crows creepy? Why are seals not?)
Once past the point, the cliffs’ fall away.
In their place a succession of small and rocky sandy beaches leading to a larger and long one backed by dunes. Three miles of fabulous golden sand.
This is surfing coast, though, being so exposed, the winds can be a problem. Saw one 'dude', if that's the right word for people cooler than me, on local telly riding a giant wave here. They happen!
When not riding the swell, there are fine views across to the more popular and populated beaches of St. Ives and Carbis Bay. This side is where the quieter beaches are. Won't be empty at the height of the holiday season, but there's plenty of room and plenty of cafes to keep you fueled.
Dressed for a walk not beach lazing, I felt as out of place as Robert Mitchum in Ryan’s Daughter., so took to the dunes. Miles of them and a maze of twists and turns in soft sand. This sort of dune walking is longer than a country mile.
Hayle - Cornish for for estuary I read somewhere - is an ugly end to the walk but the quay had some interesting hulks rotting away, and its ugliness is blunted by a down-at-heel charm that reflects its industrial past. Big foundries here produced the beam engines that kept the tin and copper mines round about reasonably dry.
Making your way to the railway station for that taxi back to Hells Bay, you'll may spot a queue at a dull utilitarian building. That'll be Philps. Pop in for one of Cornwall's premium pasties. You'd be nuts not to.
I've a soft spot for this stretch of coast. Stunningly beautiful in parts, lived-in in others, and open to the elements. Bracing they'd call it in Skegness, but Skegness lacks cool dudes and perfect pasties
.