Today, in view of the ‘heatwave’ I abandoned my school work and drove to Maenporth, a quaint little beach just down the line from Falmouth.
This is a really stunning stretch of Cornwall’s south coast, complete with views across to Falmouth and The Roseland, down the Helford and of tiny beaches. The coast path towards the Helford river is on the right side of the beach, just above the Life Guard building, crossing the bottom of some private fields.
All around the path was littered with spring flowers, with whole sways of snowdrops under the trees.
Path down to Bream Cove. This is a small sheltered beach just off the footpath; while privately owned there are no visiting restrictions and the waters are typically flat and calm.
Soon the path reached Rosemullion Head which gives fabulous views of the whole coastline and across Falmouth Bay.
Eventually the path winds its way to the mouth of the Helford river. This has over 47kms of coastline, seven creeks and several houses/estates along its edges, Trevose house being the closest at this point.
Across the river are the beaches at the bottom of Trebah and Glendurgan gardens, with the hamlet of Durgan hidden amongst the trees.
At the first beach you’ll reach a boathouse, take the path right just before this and follow the path across the field towards St Mawnan church.
St Mawnan and St Stephen’s church was built in 1231 and has undergone several renovations since then.
From here, take the path running alongside the graveyard which joins back up with the main coastpath back towards Maenporth.
The whole walk follows public footpaths.
There is a very small carpark at Maenporth, charging only £2 for the day.