The Salt Path in Cornwall: Walking the South West Coast Path

The South West Coast Path turns 50 in the late 2020s, and Cornwall holds the bulk of its 630 miles, around 300 miles from the wild and rocky north-coast clifftops at Marsland Mouth, around Land's End, along the Lizard and back up the south coast to the Tamar. Raynor Winn's memoir The Salt Path, published in 2018, brought the route to a much bigger audience, and the 2025 film adaptation with Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs has put it on the map again for a new generation of walkers.

This is a guide to walking the Cornish stretches of the path from a Falmouth base: route options, kit, logistics, and where to break the journey. For our editorial picks of the best individual sections, see our favourite South West Coast Path walks in Cornwall.

What and where it is

The full Salt Path / South West Coast Path runs from Minehead in Somerset to Poole in Dorset, 630 miles in total, and Cornwall holds the longest single-county stretch. The Cornish section divides naturally into three parts:

• The north coast from Marsland Mouth to Land's End, including the cliffs of Tintagel, Boscastle, Padstow and St Ives, plus the wild and remote stretch from St Ives to Pendeen that many walkers rate as the most spectacular ten miles in the country.
• The far west and south from Land's End around Lamorna, Mousehole and Penzance, then east via Marazion, Praa Sands, Porthleven, Mullion and Kynance Cove to Lizard Point (the southernmost tip of mainland Britain), then back up to Coverack, Helford and Falmouth.
• The south coast east of Falmouth from St Mawes around the Roseland Peninsula to Mevagissey, Charlestown, Fowey, Polperro, Looe and on to Cremyll near Plymouth.

The path is a National Trail, way-marked throughout with the acorn symbol, and surfaces vary from grass and clifftop trail to short sections of road and steep granite steps.

Walking from a Falmouth base

Falmouth is one of the easier places in Cornwall to use as a fixed walking base, with several distinct sections of path within an easy drive or ferry ride and good public transport links to leave a car at one end of a route and walk back.

Falmouth-area day walks:

• Falmouth to Maenporth (4 miles each way) takes in Castle Beach, Gyllyngvase, Swanpool and Stack Point before dropping into Maenporth, with a long-lunch stop at the Cove restaurant on the front. See our Gylly to Maenporth walk guide for the full route.
• The Roseland Peninsula is a short ferry ride from Falmouth to St Mawes, and the path from there along the peninsula to Portscatho and Nare Head is some of the gentlest and prettiest walking in the south west.
• The Helford river is a 15-minute drive south to Helford Passage, with the riverside path past Frenchman's Creek running through Daphne du Maurier country to Manaccan and beyond.

Within an hour's drive:

• The Lizard Peninsula offers cliff walks at Kynance Cove, Mullion and Cadgwith, with the option of a single long day walk from Mullion to Cadgwith via Lizard Point or two shorter days out of Coverack.
• Penwith in the far west delivers the dramatic St Ives to Pendeen stretch, plus the gentler south-coast section from Lamorna to Penzance.
• The north coast is around an hour by road. Porthtowan, St Agnes, Port Isaac and Crackington Haven are all doable as day walks back to a Falmouth base, with the option of a one-night stay if you want to walk further.

How to walk it

There are three sensible ways to walk the SWCP in Cornwall:

Thru-walk the whole 300-mile Cornish section in three to five weeks, carrying a light pack and using B&Bs, pubs and the occasional campsite as you go. Most thru-walkers cover 12 to 18 miles a day.

Section walks of two to seven days, picking a memorable stretch (Lizard, Penwith, north coast) and walking with a light overnight bag. This is how most visitors experience the path. Two cars or a bus connection at each end of the route makes the logistics manageable.

Day walks from a fixed base, returning each evening to the same accommodation. The least flexible in terms of distance covered, but by far the easiest if you would rather not move every night and want a hot shower and a cooked meal at the end of each day. A fixed base in Falmouth puts the Roseland, Helford, Lizard and Penwith day-walks all within reach and keeps a single bed waiting for you between expeditions.

Kit and logistics

Cornwall is not the Pyrenees, but the path is rarely flat and the weather changes fast. The kit list:

• Sturdy waterproof walking boots or trail shoes, broken in before you start.
• A waterproof jacket and layers. Cornish weather can serve up sun, sea-fret and cold rain in the same day.
• Walking poles for the steeper sections, especially on the north coast.
• Water bottle and snacks. Distances between cafes and pubs vary widely, plan for at least one no-supply day.
• A paper Ordnance Survey map or the OS Maps app for the relevant sheets. Phone signal is patchy on the Lizard and the north coast, so do not rely solely on Google Maps.
• Sun cream and a hat in summer. The path is exposed and the wind hides the sunburn.

For ferry timetables, taxi services and the bus network, the Fal River network (falriver.co.uk) and the First Kernow bus app cover most of the area you will want.

On the book and the film

The Salt Path was published by Raynor Winn in 2018 and tells the story of Raynor and her husband Moth walking the South West Coast Path after losing their home and receiving a difficult diagnosis. It became one of the best-selling memoirs of the decade, was followed by two sequels, and was adapted as a 2025 film starring Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs.

The book has faced significant fact-checking debate since 2024, including a detailed Observer investigation that questioned a number of core claims about the authors' circumstances. Readers can make their own minds up about the memoir; the path itself is unaffected by any of it. The cliffs, the headlands, the slow turn from north coast to south, the Lizard's basking sharks and the Helford's grey-mullet shoals are exactly as compelling as the book and film suggest, and the experience of walking even a single section of coast remains one of the simpler and more rewarding things you can do in Cornwall.

Beyond the path

For more on individual stretches and the wider coast around Falmouth, our cluster of guides covers natural pairings:

• The best South West Coast Path walks in Cornwall, our editorial pick of named sections.
• The Helford Passage walk, riverside and creek walking from the south side of the Helford.
• Walks near Falmouth and Penryn, inland and circular options.
• The Argal Lake walk, a gentle inland reservoir loop and a good rest-day option.
• A one-day Lizard Peninsula road trip, for non-walking days off the path.
• The best beaches near Falmouth, natural break points along the path.

For the full route map, current diversions and trail status, the official South West Coast Path Association site is the canonical reference.