For my birthday this year my wife bought me ‘AA 50 Walks in Cornwall.’ Granted this was back in July and I haven’t touched it since, but Wednesday this week the kids returned to school. Suddenly I find myself with the opportunity to do some exploring. My passion for photography was ignited by my move to Cornwall and always wondering ‘what’s around the next corner’ on the coast path. Of course I have explored much of Cornwall already but there are many areas I haven’t.
I am going to make a effort to complete as many of these walks as possible, albeit they need to be squeezed in-between school runs, so some of the further afield walks may have to wait. I have visited Helford before but always ventured straight into the village itself. So this walk was an opportunity to go somewhere familiar but walk the opposite direction and discover something new.
I wasn’t disappointed by the walk. It was graded as ‘easy’, yet there were still some inclines to cover and twisting woodland paths, so I might need to find some fitness before tackling the harder walks! The instructions were good, with just a couple of miss steps by myself but I soon got back on track. I opted for the longer version of the walk and once in Helford itself, having known the location I wandered off course a little. All in all I covered 8 miles in about 3 hours.
The first part of the walk went through woodland following the Helford estuary back to the sea with good views over to Durgan and Mawnan, and eventually as far as Falmouth and the Roseland peninsula. Along the way there were a couple of great little coves. I could have spent longer exploring but I was conscious of the distance I needed to cover and picking the kids up! It did pour down at one stage but fortunately I was in the woodland and managed to shelter. Eventually I cleared woodland and made the headland before heading back in land to Gillian creek, and new area for me which made the walk interesting. I extended the walk by heading for Frenchman’s Creek before returning in Helford.
It is definitely a walk I would do again, a different time of year and it will take a completely new look. I travelled relatively light with just the one camera and a 50mm lens but got some images I was happy with along the way. Here are a few images from the walk…
