South West Coast Path from Perranporth to Newquay 17.7km walk! Stunning beaches!

Wow, what a walk. 17.7km and 28,756 steps from Perranporth beach all the way to Newquay town! Ben had wanted to do this walk for a while, so we decided to postpone working one morning when we saw blue skies and the sun shining and take the South West Coast Path in Cornwall from Perranporth back to our hometown of Newquay!

This was definitely one to do without the kids as it was a whopping 17.7km across beaches, sand dunes and clifftops. Around 7km is the max with our kids at the moment, so we had to do this one whilst they were at school. It took us around four hours 45 minutes, but with lots of scenery enjoyment, some sand dune scrambling and stopping to check up on work emails along the way! Oh, and we ended up in Newquay town to get a pasty before walking back home and enjoyed watching the waves before heading back. Well deserved after this trek! Don’t worry if you have children and they aren’t up for this walk. There are also plenty of amazing things to do in Newquay with kids.

To navigate the logistics of this, we took my car and left it in a carpark overnight and picked it up the next day! Out of season there are quite a lot of carparks that are free so we were able to park in one of the main Perranporth carparks for free in January.

Perranporth to Newquay coastal path walk photos

perranporth beach shadows on sand
Here we are about to embark on a mega walk from Perranporth beach to Newquay. I was quite up for walking across the path and sand dunes, but Ben fancied a walk along the beach to start. We walked two miles along Perranporth beach to start and then climbed up a sand dune and scrambled through a few sand dunes to find the path!
Perranporth beach January
Looking back towards Newquay town behind us and it’s as if the low winter sun is still rising. Well, I guess it is!
Perran Sands
In front of us it could almost be a summer day! It’s January, but very warm and sunny. We started the walk layered up and ended up with several layers off by the end!
Sand dunes perranporth
Time to come off the beach at Perran Sands and work our way through the sand dunes to get to the coastal path.
man walking up sand dunes perranporth cornwall
Finding our way through the sand dunes until we find the path. The sand dunes are so steep, but very fun to climb! Great exercise!
sand dunes perranporth
Aaaah bliss. Not another soul.
perranporth january
I love the view of the sea through the sand dunes.
Perranporth beach
Perranporth really is a beautiful beach. In the summer everyone clusters at the other end, near the town and facilities and it’s often jampacked. But this is my favourite part of Perranporth beach, always much quieter and so beautiful.
perran sands lone surfer in the sea
The sea colour was incredible, like a blue lagoon at the end of Perranporth, with a lone surfer in the sea.
Gull rocks holywell in the distance
Next stop, Holywell, one of our favourite, if not our favourite beach so far in Cornwall. We can see Gull Rocks sticking out here into the sea which is the next beach.
south west coastal path perranporth to holywell
Amazing rock formation here, like someone has come and sliced the cliff into two and taken out the slice!
lone boat in the atlantic ocean
A lone boat out at sea. So quiet and peaceful everywhere on our walk today.
holywell bay
Ah Holywell, there you are, you beauty! So amazing when you come over the green of the cliffs to a sight like this.
Gull Rocks Holywell Cornwall
Gull Rocks. The iconic rocks of Holywell making for the most dramatic sunsets when evening conditions are right.
Gull Rocks Holywell Bay
Gull Rocks, Holywell Bay. Beautiful.
Sand dunes Holywell Bay Man Climbing
Some more sand dune climbing at Holywell Bay, before we walk around to Porth Joke, aka Polly Joke. I didn’t take many photos there as we already walked from Holywell to Polly Joke for seal spotting on Boxing day and you can read about it and see the photos at Holywell Bay to Porth Joke coastal walk with kids
seal spotting porth joke cornwall
We make it round to Porth Joke and see the seals at this secluded cove before climbing down to Polly Joke beach. Check out my seal spotting post for some amazing seal spotting locations in Cornwall
Porth Joke
Porth Joke, also known as Polly Joke beach. This was Ben’s Gran’s favourite beach. They lived in Cornwall and raised their children here having moved from Bristol and London. Ben’s Dad was born and raised in Cornwall, but moved to the Lake District for work as a young adult. He has fond memories of coming to these beaches after school as a child with a picnic his mum had made ready.
Polly Joke south coast path
So much lovely green by Polly Joke beach.
Polly Joke Beach
Beautiful scenery at Polly Joke. We had walked across the beach at Polly Joke and up the cliff on the other side. Next stop, Crantock!
Crantock beach from Porth Joke south west coast path cornwall
Crantock beach!
I think this path leads up to the Bowgie Inn in Crantock. We haven’t been yet, but I’ve seen amazing pictures of sunsets from their ourdoor seating area, so we’ll visit when the weather is warmer. We took a left here though down towards Crantock beach.
Crantock beach sunny day january low tide
Crantock beach. Sunny day, January.
national trust the rushy green crantock sand dunes
We decided to walk along the sand dunes of Crantock known as The Rushy Green, instead of along the beach. These are managed by National Trust, as is Crantock.

If you are interested in a National Trust membership for free parking and free entry at many amazing locations in the UK, then you can save on an annual membership by getting cash back! 

Use my link to sign up to TopCashback and see the latest saving at National Trust here: https://www.topcashback.co.uk/ref/victoriasully/national-trust
River Gannel low tide
Low tide at the River Gannel so we were able to cross over using a footpath across the river. Many of these are only accessible at low tide, so time your walk with the tide times if you need to get across! From here we headed into Newquay town to get a pasty before walking home.
perranporth to newquay town walk steps kilometres
Phew! What a walk! Amazing views, so many beaches and great weather for January. I can’t wait to do all these walks in the warm weather later this year, stopping for a picnic along the way.

5 thoughts on “South West Coast Path from Perranporth to Newquay 17.7km walk! Stunning beaches!

  1. I haven’t walked this far around the SW Coast path before – might need to after seeing these pics!

  2. Wow, incredible scenery, and I can’t get over those colours! The greens, and the vivid blues of the sea and sky.

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