Cornwall Road Trip Itinerary: One Direction a Day for 5 Days
Pedn Vounder Beach Sand Bar
Why do I keep going back to Cornwall?
Three summers. The same county. Even the same Airbnb. And somehow, I still don’t feel like I’ve seen enough. Turquoise coves that could pass for the Mediterranean, engine houses clinging to cliff edges, harbours that fill and empty twice a day, tiny fishing villages, beautiful towns like St Ives, fresh seafood and a landscape steeped in history, legends and mythical locations. Cornwall has its own character, and it’s ridiculously easy to fall in love with.
I grew up on the North East coast, with Tynemouth and South Shields being regular weekend destinations during my teenage years, and now living in the Midlands, the coast is probably the thing I miss most. Cornwall gives me that fix every single time, but it gives me something else too: the chance to photograph like nowhere else in England.
The strange thing is that every year I come home with a longer list of places I want to see and things I want to photograph than the one I arrived with. So, for this trip, I decided to be more organised than ever. One direction each day, planned around the tides, with the day ending at locations like Botallack mines for sunset.
It was a great plan. The Cornish weather, however, had other ideas.
Typically, after the UK had just experienced its hottest summer on record, with five widespread heatwaves and a record-breaking 40 days above 30°C, Cornwall decided to do its own thing on this trip. There were certainly moments of blue sky and beautiful light, but the clouds rolled in often enough to keep me guessing, and those carefully planned golden-hour shots became a bit of a lottery.
Because, as I’m slowly learning, in the UK you can plan everything down to the last detail, except the weather. And sometimes, that’s exactly what makes the photographs more interesting.
None of that ended up ruining the trip. If anything, the days that went sideways are the ones I keep coming back to, you'll see why by the end.
Top Tip: Don’t trust the iPhone Weather app.
So here’s the full route, what actually happened, and why the gap between the plan and reality is probably the exact reason year four is already firmly booked in my head.
The Short Read
Where I stayed:The Annex, St Newlyn East (15 mins from Newquay) this was my third year with Andrew & Bianca, still the best hosts I've had anywhere.
When I went: Late August for long golden hours. In reality: grey, wet, and one fully rebuilt day due to rain.
The plan: One direction a day. Local, then north, then the far west, then south, then Padstow and home on my last day.
What survived: Newquay and the headland walk, Barras Nose & Tintagel, Boscastle (at the wrong tide), Holywell Bay, St Michael's Mount (just), the Pedn Vounder clifftop view, Watergate Bay, Padstow and the ferry to Rock.
What the weather took: Botallack at sunset, Nanjizal, the Minack Theatre, Kynance Cove, The Hidden Hut, St Anthony Head and St Mawes.
Best thing I ate when out and about: The lobster roll from the Rocket Stores hut in Boscastle, £9.50, caught by the fisherman, made by his wife. Can’t go wrong.
Best meal: The Pheasant, twice, roasted sole with lemon and fennel seed one night, devilled lamb hearts the next.
Don't sleep in your car the night before. Trust me on this one. Full story below.
Tides matter: Boscastle needs high tide, I got there at low tide and it didn’t quite feel the same. Check cornwall-tides.com and the forecast, and be ready to flip your days.
Final thoughts: I feel the one-direction-a-day plan is still the best way to explore Cornwall, but just be ready to change it like all plans. I am debating buying/renting a VW Transporter campervan to do a full loop around Cornwall.
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (the missing star is on the weather, not Cornwall)
Keep Scrolling for the Long Read and Pictures
A Word About Sleeping in the Car
(Just Don't)
Car Mattress Sleeping
Let's start with the mistake I made before I even reached Cornwall.
The clever idea was to drive partway down the night before, sleep in the back of the car, and roll into Newquay fresh and early. The reality was cramped, noisy, stuffy and in general one of the least comfortable nights I've ever had. I got no sleep at all, left late as a result, and arrived in Newquay at exactly the same time as if I'd just left home that morning like a normal person.
So the net gain of sleeping in the car was: zero hours saved, one ruined night, one aching back. If you're weighing this up for your own trip, a Premier Inn off the M5 is a better option.
Where I Stayed (Again)
This was my third stay at the Annex in St Newlyn East with Andrew and Bianca, and at this point it just feels like arriving somewhere familiar. Own entrance, parking and cosy open-plan layout. St Newlyn East is 15 minutes from Newquay and sits roughly in the middle of the county, which is perfect for reaching different parts of the county and helped plan my one-direction-a-day idea.
On a wet week it earned its keep twice over, because when the rain came down I could retreat, dry out, and head back out for an evening window without losing the day. And best of all, I had a proper catch-up with Andrew before the drive home. That's the difference between an Airbnb and a place you go back to three years running.
The Pheasant, the village pub, is walkable from the door. I ate there twice, and the food was really superb. Top recommendation.
Then there is Sweets Dairy down the road, that still does the fresh milkshakes in glass bottles. Perfect.
The Plan: One Direction a Day
Route map graphic (one direction a day)
So here's how each day actually went after some swapping and reshuffling.
Day 1 — (local): Newquay Harbour , Towan Beach, Fistral Beach, Check in and eat at the Pheasant.
Day 2 — The Far North: Tintagel and Boscastle and Holywell Bay on the evening.
Day 3 — The Far West: St Michael's Mount, Porthcurno, the Minack Theatre, Nanjizal beach and then a quick trip to Botallack Engine Houses for a new photo.
Day 4 — South: Kynance Cove early, the Hidden Hut for lunch, an evening cliff walk on the Roseland, dinner in St Mawes.
Day 5 — Padstow: for a Cornish pasty and then home.
Day 1 · Wednesday: Arrival & Newquay
Running on no sleep from the car debacle, I kept it easy, heading down to Newquay Harbour and Towan Beach first. There's always something happening at the harbour, but after three years I still haven't seen that seal!
A quick walk towards the famous white Huer's Hut which can be made out from miles down the coast with its disproportionately large chimney. Then along to Little Fistral (a small and more private spot, which I would love to revisit next year) and then Fistral Beach itself.
A quick stop for a drink and small portion of chips from Fistral Bar & Kitchen (£6) created by Rick Stein hit the spot before heading back to the car to check in.
If you want a more active first afternoon: trade the beach wander for a surf lesson off Fistral (~£53pp for two hours in a small group), , then thaw out in the wood-fired, ocean-view sauna at Olla Hiki sauna.
Then off to The Pheasant Pub in St. Newlyn East. A roasted sole with lemon and fennel seed, plus chard and brown butter new potatoes, with a non-alcoholic cider. This was a seriously good piece of fish, better than the one I had at The Lobster Shed in Harlyn Bay, Cornwall. The sole was beautifully tender and flaky, with a delicate sweetness that worked perfectly with the sharpness of the lemon. Roasting it whole and on the bone kept it moist, while the lemon cut through the richness and kept everything fresh. Simple, beautifully balanced and a great example of letting really good fish speak for itself.
This is ingredient-led village cooking that would hold its own in a city, five minutes' walk from the door. Book ahead; it's small and it's popular.
Roasted sole with lemon and fennel seed at The Pheasant
Day 2 · Thursday: The Far North
The plan: Tintagel and Barras Nose in the morning, Boscastle at afternoon high tide, chip shop fish and chips from the Village fish and Chip shop.
What happened: Flipped it, mistimed it, but had a great lobster roll.
Boscastle village and harbour stream between the hills, north Cornwall
I did Boscastle first after changing my mind in the car. It was the furthest away, but I hadn't checked the tide situation and, of course, the tide was out. Boscastle at high tide is one of the most photogenic harbours in Cornwall, with a serpentine S-curve full of sea due to the design of the harbour to stop the tide coming in too much.
I'd written the tide rule into my own plan and still mistimed it, thanks to a last-minute rethink to fit in Port Isaac further down the road from Tintagel. Let my mistake be your reminder: check cornwall-tides.com and build the day around this if you are chasing photos.
But I did enjoy the walk through Boscastle, I stopped to chat with Trevor who worked for the National Coastwatch Institution and was collecting donations, who told me all about Boscastle and the white lookout hut (Boscastle Coastwatch Station) that could be seen in the distance.
But here's why Boscastle was still one of the best stops of the trip: the Rocket Stores. Not the restaurant, the little hut (which you can see on the second image below), where a local fisherman catches the lobster and his wife makes the rolls. £9.50 for the best lobster roll I have ever eaten, full stop.
Tintagel Castle footbridge and Merlin's Cave at Tintagel Haven
Tintagel Haven
Then Tintagel Haven to see Merlin's Cave and get that image of the footbridge, it is free to get to but if you want to cross the bridge and go into the ruins then you need a ticket from English Heritage, especially if you want to walk through the famous King Arthur's Door that opens up for the coastal view.
When I took the picture of the footbridge, if I'd just gone a bit further up the path, I would have been able to get more of the sea in the image, which would have been nicer. But I was rushing to get back because I wanted to stop at Port Isaac.
I’d 100% advise to park in the village pay-and-display (£5 for four hours it's not National Trust, so membership won't help here), but they do have great toilets and showers for 50p, and motorhomes can stay for £5 a night!
One honest accessibility note I have to add after doing it: the walk back up the hill from the haven is genuinely challenging. If mobility is a concern for you or anyone in your group, factor it in, there's a Land Rover bus service at £2 each way, but expect queues.
The rain arrived mid-afternoon, so I retreated to the Annex, dried out, and made an evening run to Holywell Bay to chase a red sunset. The sunset never came, but the moment I parked, a rainbow dropped over the bay, and honestly it was a lovely evening anyway.
Holywell Bay is the beach of my childhood summers, the dunes, the stream, Gull Rocks and this year I'd found a new reason to go back.
St Cuthbert's Well, hidden in the cliffs, with a legend linking it to Durham Cathedral, a proper full-circle thing for a lad who grew up in Durham.
Legend has it that when the Viking and Danish raids began tearing through the northeast coast, the monks of Lindisfarne fled with his bones rather than let them get stolen. They wandered for years, keeping him safe. And at one point, the story goes, those bones came here, to Holywell Bay, where his well sits cut into the cliffs, and where the nearby village of Cubert still carries his name.
A piece of Durham, all the way down at the tip of Cornwall.
I'd planned a second visit to find it. I never got the chance, and there's since been a landslip in that part of the cliffs so be aware before you go looking as the cliffs are still unstable and there is now little chance of the cave being opened back up.
The day's last twist: I missed The Village Chip Shop because I was enjoying Holywell Bay too much. It had been a planned must-do, and just in case you want to go, they serve great fish and chips, but they close at 8:30pm. I was 15 minutes late. But I did get fish and chips in the end and from The Cod End in Newquay.
Day 3 · Friday: The Far West
The plan: St Michael's Mount, Porthcurno, a pre-booked Minack Theatre slot, the walk in to Nanjizal Bay, then off to Botallack Mines.
What happened: Grey, wet, and an afternoon of change.
St Michael's Mount
A word on the Minack Theatre before we start: when I went to book my Friday slot, there were no tickets left, so I'd already moved it to Saturday. Pre-book earlier than you think you need to.
Friday came up grey with rain in the air, but I went west anyway. St Michael's Mount first, shot from the Marazion shore and I'll be honest, in flat grey light it was difficult, and I'm still not happy with the photograph despite getting a break in the sky with some blue.
I was tempted at one point to cross the causeway and wander around the island but the threat of rain and the dry robe epidemic I could see before my eyes put me off. I did grab a drink at the Godolphin Arms that looks out at the Mount just as the rain started, it’s a nice little spot and has a terrace overlooking the Mount, so a sunnier day would be lovely.
Due to the weather forecast being worse on Saturday, I then headed to the Farm + Fort café to grab a drink and a scone with cream and jam (or jam and cream?) before heading to Pedn Vounder Beach.
I did this rather than going to Porthcurno because I wanted to chance getting an image of the sand bar with the tide slightly out as I knew I could also walk further on the cliff pathway to get an image of Porthcurno beach and Minack Theatre on the cliffside in the distance too.
Pedn Vounder could actually be the best beach I’ve seen, people argue it rivals the Caribbean with its pristine blue waters, velvety golden sands, and breathtaking granite cliffs. I think the sandbar is a great feature of the beach too. (I wrote about Cornwall's beaches in last year’s blog).
With the tide out, the sandbar was starting to be exposed, that impossible turquoise lagoon shape glowing against a blue sea. I didn't climb down partly due to the weather, partly an injured shoulder, and I just don’t like heights.
I do love the clifftop view of the beach and the images you can get from this section of the footpath. I caught the last of the good weather up there, then in a brief break walked the cliff far enough to see Minack Theatre and Porthcurno in the distance which, it turned out, was as close as I'd get to either. You can see the sky starting to turn dark in the image below.
It literally poured down walking back to the car after that image.
Porthcurno Beach and Minack Theatre on the cliffside
So once I was back in the car, I decided to say no to Nanjizal Bay and Botallack.
The two images I’d built the entire day around were gone: sunlight streaming through the Song of the Sea Cave arch (Zawn Pyg) and a golden-hour shot of the Crowns Engine Houses at Botallack.
The plan was to visit Porthgwarra Beach to walk from there to Nanjizal Bay as it is about a 1.4 mile walk, but the weather just put me off. On a good day, you can make the trip for the cave arch and perhaps even swim in the pool beneath it if the tide is right.
But this wasn’t a good day for either.
If you have never seen the Song of the Sea Cave arch (Zawn Pyg), this is an image of it from Instagram.
And there’s simply no version of a wet, flat-grey Botallack sunset that’s worth another hour behind the wheel.
So instead I took the scenic coastal route back and stumbled across Lula Shack, a laid-back beach shack tucked into the dunes at Godrevy Towans, just above Gwithian Beach.
The venue has that relaxed, charming beach shack feel, with a separate takeaway shack if you don’t fancy sitting down. The best bit is the seating out back, looking across the beach, I can imagine it's lively and enjoyable when the live music is playing and you can sit there with a drink and forget you’re supposed to be going anywhere.
I had the Cornish crab claws in lemon parsley butter to start, with a non-alcoholic cider, followed by a Shrimp Po’ Boy — crispy shrimp, pickles, lettuce, house sauce and pickled slaw, with onion rings and sweet potato chips.
The Po’ Boy and crab claws dishes were the standout for me and something I’d happily have again. A great, unplanned meal at the end of a day, before an early night back at The Annex.
Lula Shack address: 1 Godrevy Towans, Gwithian, Hayle, TR27 5ED.
Day 4 · Saturday: Cornwall in the Rain
The original plan: Kynance Cove early, the Hidden Hut for lunch, the rebooked Minack Theatre, St Anthony Head for a golden hour photo and dinner in St Mawes.
What happened: None of it. All cancelled due to the weather. Instead I went to Lusty Glaze Beach, Watergate Bay, The Pheasant and Padstow and Rock.
I looked at the forecast over breakfast and made a decision I didn't want to make and cancelled the plan for the day.
The rebooked Minack Theatre slot, Kynance, the Hidden Hut (and I was genuinely gutted about the Hidden Hut), St Anthony Head, St Mawes. The entire southern day, gone. Driving 65 minutes each way to stand in the rain at arguably one of the most beautiful coves in Cornwall isn't a day out, and I actually did that last year, so really wanted a good weather picture from Kynance Cove this year.
If the weather had been good I was also considering an adventurous swap for one of the locations that day as I really fancied coasteering and cliff jumping at Praa Sands (£65pp, 3.5 hours, wetsuit and guide included).
Lusty Glaze Cove, Newquay, Cornwall
So I rebuilt the day to be more local.
I stopped at Lusty Glaze Cove first, and I'll be honest with you: this just wasn't for me. It was busy and loud, and all I'll say is, be prepared for the steps! There are about 130 steps down to the beach, which you then have to walk back up. Walking down is easy enough, but coming back up absolutely finished me off.
Then onto Watergate Bay, which I missed on the first day, two miles of Atlantic. It’s huge, again, I didn’t get to do much here due to the weather. So I settled for a couple of pictures and a drink and some rice cakes at Zacry's, which was very good and is firmly on the go-back list to sample further, there is a nice terrace to sit on and look out over the beach.
Something I’d really like to do next time is treat myself to a day pass at the Watergate Hotel Spa. I'm always rushing and need to slow down not just to take better photos but just to relax as well.
After Watergate Bay it was back to The Pheasant at 2:30pm, with my heart set on the spider crab offer at £20! However, it turned out the spider crab is pre-order only. I was genuinely wounded, more so than the Hidden Hut.
But every cloud has a silver lining and what I had instead might have been better, devilled lamb hearts with strained yoghurt, mint, onion and almonds, brown butter new potatoes, and a Tresillian House green salad. (Pre-order the spider crab. Learn from my mistake).
Devilled lamb hearts with strained yoghurt, mint, onion and almonds at The Pheasant, Cornwall
The afternoon turned into more of a dash, due to the moody weather, but I’m still glad I went out to explore.
So it was off to Padstow and then onto the ferry across the River Camel to Rock. The water was a little choppy, but nothing to worry about, despite the skies starting to turn grey.
I got a bit lost in Rock among some enormous houses and found my way to Porthilly Cove and the tiny church of St Michael's sitting right on the shore. Then the heavens opened, and I literally ran for the ferry. They were good enough to wait that extra minute to let me get aboard, by this point the skies were black and I was wet so warmed up on the Padstow side with a Cornish steak pasty and an Italian hot chocolate from the Cornish Bakery.
I do really enjoy being in Padstow for a wander, so I'd recommend going if you've never been, as there's quite a bit to do. I would love to visit The National Lobster Hatchery to see the work they’re doing to protect Cornish lobster populations, raising vulnerable baby lobsters through their early stages before releasing them back into the wild once they’re strong enough to survive. It’s a great way of supporting sustainable fishing and helping protect Cornwall’s marine life for the future.
Day 5 · Sunday: Avoid the Rain Home
No plan-versus-reality for Sunday, because there was no plan left, the original itinerary had Padstow but as this got pulled forward into Saturday's rebuild, and the forecast for Sunday was for heavy rain, so it was easier to go home to avoid the rain on the drive home.
Once everything was packed, I had a proper catch-up with our host. Honestly, it's one of the reasons this Airbnb is a base and not just a bed. It really makes a difference when you have a great host who always goes that extra mile to make sure you're not only comfortable but also having a great time.
One last treat on the way home, Sweets Dairy for milkshakes, in the glass bottles, I have a milkshake addiction problem.
Then it was on the road by 10am to get ahead of the weather. It half worked, the rain at Bristol meant it was easier to stop for 30 minutes to let it pass and deal with the fatigue that had been stacking up since the car-sleep fiasco on night one. Home at 4pm.
If you take one practical thing from this whole post, make it this: the drive home from Cornwall is long, and stopping when you're tired is sensible.
Leave earlier than feels necessary, and don't book anything for the evening you get back.
Shooting Cornwall in the Grey with the Leica M11
Here's the packing list I drove down with: the Leica M11 for colour, turquoise waters and golden light; the M6 loaded with HP5 for Cornwall's texture, granite, harbours and weather; and the Osmo Pocket 3 and Osmo Nano for video. The Nano was also packed for the walk down into Kynance, including the possibility of getting it in the water, a bit like I did in Mallorca.
Only the M11 got used as I got lazy again with the ease of just having one camera to ensure I had some images.
The M6 never took a single frame and still has the loaded roll of HP5, which I’m going to use for some street photography back in Birmingham. The Osmos never came out of the bag; neither is built for a week of driving rain, and the footage they were packed for belonged almost entirely to the days that got cancelled. This is because on some days it really felt like I needed my coat to hide my camera, picking the moments worth getting wet for.
Next Year in Cornwall
Every year I come home with a list of new things to do, but the three things I really want to do are:
Go early June before the school holidays
Stay longer, maybe a Friday to Sunday
Travel round in a circle in a camper van maybe?
Some things to revisit and try for the first time would be:
Botallack at sunset
Nanjizal Bay and the Song of the Sea Cave arch (Zawn Pyg)
I’d go to Minack Theatre
Do my best to see Kynance Cove early on a blue morning
100% eat at The Hidden Hut (and a crack at the Eventbrite feast tickets, released the 1st of the month)
Go to the Eden Project and do the zip line
Get a spa day and surf lesson
100% have the spider crab at the Pheasant — pre-ordered
And go back to Boscastle at high tide
There will be more added to this list, maybe some wild swimming and snorkelling too.
Because here's what a wet August had me seriously thinking about, a campervan. I’m considering a custom conversion VW Transporter, and instead of five days from a single base, doing a full circle of Cornwall over a longer stretch, the whole coast, one loop, no doubling back at all.
But £40,000-£60,000 is a big amount of money and investing in this would need to maybe see me travel more in the UK and on the fringes of the European mainline more often and even rent it out a few times in the year.
The timing we keep coming back to is the start of June: before the school summer holidays empty half of England onto the A30, when the light is long, and on paper at least with a better shot at the weather than the August I just had. Nothing's bought yet, but if a Transporter turns up on this blog next year, you'll know exactly which rainy Saturday planted the idea.
Final Thoughts and Would I Go Back?
Here’s what a wet week taught me that three sunny ones didn’t: Cornwall doesn’t need to give you the postcard to be worth the trip.
Some of the moments I’ll remember longest cost £9.50 from a hut in Boscastle, the Rainbow that appeared over Holywell Bay for two minutes, seeing the sandbar at Pedn Vounder for the first time, how good the lamb hearts were because the crab needed pre-ordering..
None of them were planned, and that’s probably the point, if you have to change things up, it's still good fun.
Every year I come back with places I didn’t get to, photographs I didn’t take and another list of things I want to see. This year was no different. In fact, Cornwall managed to leave me with even more reasons to return.
So, rather than feeling like I missed half the county, I’m choosing to see it differently: I’ve now got half a county still waiting for me.
Year four? I’m already ready for it.
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Check the tides. Check the weather. Pre-order the crab.
Follow along on Instagram @deanomooreo and tell me: what's the best location you have been to in Cornwall?