Experience the beauty of the North Cornwall coast with our stunning walk taking in the Seven Bays of Harlyn Sands.
Not only do the Seven Bays that surround our site offer a week of amazing beach days out for the whole family, but they also offer an beautiful dog friendly walk that takes in high cliffs and sheltered coves, reaching from Porthcothan Bay to Trevone Bay.
There are opportunities along the way for rock pooling, surfing, body boarding, sea swimming, sandcastle building and bird watching.
This is a “one-way” walk of 6-7 miles, so we suggest taking the bus to Porthcothan to begin your walk, and finishing at Trevone Bay, or Harlyn Bay, leaving the final stage for another day if the draw of the Harlyn Sands clubhouse is too much to ignore.
It incorporates beautiful sandy beaches, rugged cliffs, smugglers coves and ancient shipwrecks; truly showing off the best of what the North Cornish Coastline has to offer.
Beginning your walk from Porthcothan Bay to Treyarnon Beach (2 miles) takes you through sign posted National Trust land, where you will pass protected areas of nesting seabirds and skylarks (be sure to keep dogs on leads in these areas). At the end of this first stage, you will find Treyarnon Beach which is particularly popular among bodyboarders and paddling families due to its shallow waters but beware of the rip current on the South side.
Treyarnon Beach to Constantine Bay (0.5 miles), Constantine Bay is a lovely sandy beach popular with surfers, particularly those more experienced surfers as there are tricky rocky sections to navigate.
Constantine Bay to Booby’s Bay (0.5 miles), reach Booby’s Bay at low tide for the chance to spot the wreck of German ship SV Carl, up until 2014 only the anchor of the wreck was visible, but a huge storm removed around a meter of sand leaving much of the ships hull visible.
From Booby’s Bay to Mother Ivey’s Bay, you can either take the scenic coastal route via the Trevose Head Lighthouse and the RNLI lifeboat station (2 miles) or take a quicker more direct route inland (0.8 miles).
Mother Ivey’s Bay to Harlyn Bay (0.5 miles), taking its name from a white witch that reportedly cursed a local family, Mother Ivey’s Bay is tucked away and sheltered from the winds by the Merope Rocks, this and the lack of facilities make for a perfectly secluded, rarely busy beach, even in the height of summer.
Harlyn Bay is naturally our favourite of the Seven Bays; its golden sands, calm turquoise waters, rockpools and sand dunes offer something for the whole family, from learning to surf with local surf schools to sea kayaking or exploring the rocky shoreline.
The final stretch of the Seven Bays walk heads North from Harlyn Bay to Trevone Bay (1.6 miles) where you’ll see the sink hole created by collapsed sea caves and find fantastic opportunities for a spot of crabbing. This stretch of coastal path leads on to further walks reaching around to Stepper Point and the Camel Estuary, so if the allure of returning to your caravan is too much, we recommend enjoying this section on another day and heading East along the South West Coastal Path to Padstow (7 miles).
