Free Walks
The best things in life aren’t things... they're experiences!
Discover one of the most beautiful corners of the world on a free walk with someone who knows it well.
Polzeath's Free walking tour
Please reserve your place at least 24 hours in advance using the Booking Form or send me a message
Please don't just turn up without booking as walks can be full or not running.
Bill's Free Polzeath Walking tours usually start and finish at the Tubestation in Polzeath, just above the beach carpark with steps by the bus stop.
Depending on the group and weather we will either head up to the rugged beauty of Pentire and The Rumps OR a less exposed walk to Brea Hill and Rock
The Pentire walk is set along one of Cornwall's most beautiful paths so bring your camera. We'll explore the path up to panoramic Pentire Point and the ancient cliff castle at The Rumps with its view across Port Isaac Bay to Tintagel of Merlin fame.
It's a particularly interesting bit of coast and I'll show you the best places to explore it's geology. You'll see this part of the coast from a local's perspective and I'll give you the lowdown on films currently scheduled and or already filmed. If you are a Doc Martin series fan or want to see the film locations for Fisherman's Friends, Swept from the Sea, The Three Musketeers and Poldark, then I can show you where!
There are many literary connections that I can tell you about; from Charles Dickens to Thomas Hardy to Rosamunde Pilcher to even Enid Blyton. For those interested in psychology I'll tell you about Carl Jung and why he visited Polzeath in 1923, where he stayed and whose dreams he analysed.
On the walk we'll try to visit the site of an old silver mine, see where there was a forced landing by a Flying Fortress, how I discovered a Cold War bunker, found out about a submarine graveyard and where the pirate Cruel Coppinger hid his treasure.
If you've ever wondered how they transmitted power before electricity I'll show you where flat rods crossed the valley to provide power to a mine that ran under New Polzeath in the 1850's.
I'll also point out places you may like to visit on your own later and help you make the very most of your visit to this amazing piece of coast!
The gentler walk to Brea Hill and Rock is set along the entrance to the notorious Camel Estuary. If you are up for a small climb up Brea Hill you'll see for miles along the estuary to Padstow, Rock and across the Doom Bar.
I'll give you the shipping news and where there are wrecks, how the green in the slate gave Greenaway its name, why Big Cave Bay is now called Big Cake Bay and how Daymer Bay got petrified in the last Ice Age with changing sea levels sinking a forest. Time shifts in the rapidly eroding sand dune systems are now revealing WW2 defenses and you'll get to understand how the sand bars in the channel have switched sides over the years.
You'll see where a Channel 4 Time Team explored Cornish connections with Constantinople and we'll stroll the world famous golf links to the once buried church of St Enodoc. There we'll listen to poems by Sir John Betjeman before heading back via magical woods with secret mine shafts to Polzeath.
If you are staying at the St Moritz Hotel or The Point, then there are options for pick-ups or drop offs en route.
Both tours take around three hours and are circular, ending at their beginning! Both are free for anyone to join but a tip, if you found the walk interesting, is appreciated.
Free tours may not run if there are not enough people signed-up at least a day in advance.
You will be notified before your free tour if it will not run for this reason.
Pay-what-you-can Deal
If no free tour is available when you are here, and you are in financial hardship, or walking solo, please request a Pay-what-you-can Deal on the booking form for a private tour.
