Walks And Walking – Cornwall Walks Bodmin Moor The Hurlers Walking Route

Walks And Walking – Cornwall Walks Bodmin Moor The Hurlers Walking Route

Bodmin Moor is one of the recommended Cornwall walks as it is steeped in history and mystery.

The history being one of smallest, mildest and most accessible of Cornwall’s great moors and The Hurlers which is one of the regions finest prehistoric sites. Not to mention the various tors, disused quarries, cairns, hut circles, field sytems, settlements and, of course, the Cheesewring.

The mystery being the Beast of Bodmin Moor whom farmers claim has been mauling their livestock since 1980 but to this day there has never been any conclusive evidence that such a beast exists.

All the photographs from this walking route can be seen here: Bodmin Moor Images

There is a short video to watch here: Bodmin Moor Video

Disused Quarry 3 The Hurlers Walking Route Bodmin Moor Cornwall Walks - Walks And Walking

So, we had our walking poles at the ready just in case we did meet the Beast of Bodmin Moor as we set out on our walking route that started at the Minions car park. At the bottom of the car park we walked up the steps by the left of The Hurlers information board to then walk right on to the main track to The Hurlers and a Disused Quarry that we had heard about.

At this stage I wasn’t wildly excited about a Disused Quarry but I was assured it was quite spectacular. It was very muddy and extremely windy so I had my windproof jacket on and was a little annoyed I had forgotten my gaiters. My walking boots still hadn’t recovered from previous walks that week and were still a bit damp.

The Hurlers were just ahead of us to the right as we walked up passed The Pipers Staning Stones on our left hand side. After a few quick photos we continued our walking route up to the Disused Quarry where we took the left hand fork when the path had split three ways. Looking to our right hand side we could see the Cheesewring at the top of Stowe’s Hill but that treat was for later.

We then walked up to the Disused Quarry where my jaw dropped at such a find. I’ve been to Bodmin Moor about three times before and have never ventured over to this area before and the map did nothing to highlight such a beauty spot. The water was crystal clear and walking in to the Quarry there was such a peaceful silence and aura of utter calmness. I took plenty of photos and took a quick video of the Disused Quarry before we then set off again for the rest of our walking route.

From the Disused Quarry we then headed North West to walk between two trees in the middle of Bodmin Moor and on to the remains of Settlements and field systems. There were no distinct pathways on this part of the moor so we then headed diagonally down to our right hand side to the edge of farmalnd and down to Witheybrook Marsh. We took the time to look back to our left to see the outskirts of Siblyback Lake Reservoir. As we reached the stone wall we turned right to follow it down to the marsh but due to the very heavy rain and damp conditions we skirted around the top of the marsh and crossed over the metal gate on our left. Walking carefully along what we thought might be private farmland we continued to walk all the way along the tracks following Withey Brook.

The final stages of this section took a bit of careful navigation through the gorse and long grass until we reached the end of the farmland where we turned right to cross the river and walked up to the embankment. We then climbed the embankment and walked up to Trewortha and the adjacent farmland perimeter to cross over the lane and up towards Trewortha Tor where we then started to walk to our right hand side and up to Hawk’s Tor.

From Hawk’s Tor we headed back down to recross the lane and head towards Twelve Mens Moor and Kilmar Tor. Although at a good height the mist had descended so we couldn’t really see much. We then walked around the base of Bearah Tor as our legs were getting a little weary and we need tro save then for the ascent to the Cheesewring. We then walked around to the left of Sharp Tor to encounter a heard of furry cattle before we descended down to Wardbrook Farm at Sharptor. We continued straight down through the open gates until we reached the farm and a very friendly farmer who allowed us to walk staright through to begin our walk up Stowe’s Hill and the Cheesewring which we tackloed straight on.

The Disused Quarry on Stowe’s Hill is fenced off with barbed wire but we still managed a quick peak over the top to see quite a sharp drop below. After catching our breath and mooching round the Cheesewring for photos we then took the distinct narrow pathway down to join a junction of paths. We then took the second path on our right hand side to walk back towards The Hurlers. Just after the small pocket of water at the Disused Mine Shafts we took the left hand path that we had walked up earlier to walk down to The Hurlers and back to the car park.

We filled up with energy at the beginning of the day with a large pasty each and that had seemed to keep us going. As we took our muddy boots off at the picnic bench we went halves on the extra one we bought reflecting on a good 8 miles of hard walking which took us just over 4 hours.