Martin is earning his cream tea, scones, and a well-deserved rest along the South West Coast Path.
Every so often, a note lands in our inbox that we want to read twice. This one came from a hiker just home from a multi-day stretch of the South West Coast Path with Hillwalk Tours. It was written with the kind of detail you only get from someone who slowed down enough to really see a place. It captures exactly why this corner of Cornwall gets under your skin and stays with you. Whether you’d rather take it slowly on one of our South West Coast Path Gentle itineraries or cover a little more ground each day on a South West Coast Path Moderate itinerary, the magic Martin describes is waiting on every step of the trail. Read on for a flavour of what a hike on the South West Coast Path has to offer.
Martin travelled on our 8 Day Gentle South West Coast Path walking holiday in Cornwall, a self-guided itinerary designed for walkers who prefer shorter daily distances and more time to enjoy the scenery.
Martin’s comments have been translated from German and lightly edited for clarity.
A coast that changes by the hour
The scenery, Martin wrote, was the “star of the show”, and it’s easy to see why. Up on the cliff-tops, he found a landscape blooming in shades of yellow, blue, and pink with gorse, foxgloves, and primroses. He was struck that plants that in Germany are found only as small summer or houseplants grow wild here, some reaching several metres in height.
Then the ground falls away. He described “rugged cliffs, sometimes black and sometimes red, alternating with kilometre-long sandy beaches, some hundreds of metres wide, and dunes many metres high covered in the finest sand. On a good day, you’ll share those beaches with a host of surfers, kiteboarders, and yes, even the occasional hardy swimmer who jumps into the ‘warm’ 14°C water”.
The sea does its own thing entirely. Martin watched the water shimmer from dark blue to turquoise, with waves that “rise as high as a house” against the rock before flowing back, foaming white, all under a white-and-blue sky. And the weather? He wouldn’t have it any other way. “You should enjoy the wind,” he wrote, “and you shouldn’t shy away from the occasional short but intense rain shower, followed by sunshine. But that only enhances your immersion in nature!”
Two surfers riding breaking waves in the sea off the South West Coast Path in Cornwall.
The locals: seals, soaring crows, and sandwich-stealing gulls
You quickly realise you’re not the only one who loves it out here. Sheep stand in the gusts getting windswept new hairstyles, seals lounge on the rocks, and gulls ride the updraughts along the cliffs, sometimes hanging motionless in the air just a few metres from your shoulder. Which brings us to one of the most memorable lines in the whole note:
“If you’re leisurely munching on your sandwich, you can often get a much closer look at the birds for a moment before they take off again with the sandwich in their beaks.”
Consider yourself warned. Elsewhere along the path, the crows put on a show, soaring and diving down the cliff faces while one older bird watches the whole thing like a flight instructor. Rabbits duck into the gorse, and now and then a horse or a cow leans over a stone wall to see who’s coming along.
Sea thrift flowering beside the South West Coast Path.
A coastline that remembers
There’s history woven through every mile here too. For centuries, Cornwall was shaped by the mining of tin, copper and tungsten, and the coast, Martin noted, is “dotted with mines that are often only faintly recognisable but mostly well-secured, alongside the remains of former mine buildings with their narrow, towering architecture and ornate, decorated chimneys. Those chimneys once housed the steam engines needed to pump water out of the tunnels, some of which extended far beneath the sea.”
More sobering are the remnants of World War II defences, which Martin described as standing “like a raised index finger” as a quiet warning against repeating such mistakes. It’s the kind of layering that turns a walk into something closer to a conversation with the landscape.
The remains of a Cornish mine engine house standing sentinel above the sea.
Why did it all feel so effortless?
Here’s the thing about a walk like this: the scenery is only restful if nothing else is nagging at you. That’s the part we take to heart. Martin described the trip as “perfectly organised”, praising the wonderful little lodgings, a warm welcome, and breakfasts that provided plenty of energy for each day’s hike.
Then there’s the bag you never have to carry: Martin described the luggage transfers as “completely reliable”, allowing him to walk with only a light daypack while his main bag travelled ahead. And the route notes, which he singled out as extremely comprehensive tour materials, including detailed descriptions of the route, possible alternatives, points of interest, and recommendations for restaurants and pubs. It’s the difference between simply following a path and actually understanding the place you’re walking through.
The part we can’t put in a brochure
We can plan the beds, move the bags, and write the notes. What happens out on the path is yours, and Martin captured it better than any marketing line we could write.
“Anyone who walks this trail will forget the world and immerse themselves in nature. Worries, stress, and the hustle and bustle fall away. You hike feeling relaxed and content, and are surprised to find yourself ‘already’ at your destination even though, looking back, the starting point seems so far away”.
That is the feeling Hillwalk Tours is really in the business of creating: experiences that make people happy, and allow you to leave everyday life far behind for a while. The closing line told us everything we needed to know about how the trip had landed. It was not a complaint, but a request for more.
“Please offer a few more sections of the Coastal Trail. Who else am I supposed to turn to? ;-)”
For walkers inspired by Martin’s experience, Hillwalk Tours offers a range of self-guided walking holidays across England. Along the South West Coast Path in Cornwall, guests can choose from Gentle and Moderate itineraries, with different holiday lengths and daily walking distances.
Elsewhere in England, Hillwalk Tours offers routes along Hadrian’s Wall Path, through the rolling countryside and historic villages of the Cotswold Way, and across the open chalk hills of the South Downs Way. Each holiday includes carefully selected accommodation, detailed route information, and daily luggage transfers.
Whether you are drawn to Cornwall’s dramatic coastline, Roman history, traditional English villages or sweeping downland views, the Hillwalk Tours team can help you choose an itinerary that suits your available time, fitness level and preferred pace.
Fishing boats hauled up on the slipway in a quiet Cornish cove.
Come walk it
Ready to slow down? The South West Coast Path awaits with wildflowers, sea views, fresh coastal air, and memories waiting to be made. We’ll handle the planning so you can do the only part that matters out there: look up, breathe out, and keep walking.
Explore our South West Coast Path walking holidays→
