What Goes in the Backpack

Your guide has the route. The hotel has your luggage. Lunch is sorted. All you need is a daypack and the right things in it — and the list is shorter than you think.

A 20-litre backpack is plenty. Anything bigger and you’re carrying weight you don’t need along cliff paths that reward a light step. Here’s what goes in, and why.

The boots

Good boots make everything better. A pair of waterproof walking boots with ankle support, broken in over a few weeks before you travel — that’s the foundation of every great day on the coast path. The terrain in Cornwall is varied — soft moorland, rocky headlands, cobbled harbour lanes, sandy descents to hidden coves — and a proper boot handles all of it without complaint.

Break them in before you come. A blister on day two will colour the whole week. And if you’d rather not travel with boots, or yours have seen better days, we can arrange a quality pair to be waiting at your first hotel. Just let us know your size.

Comfortable walking clothes

April to October in Cornwall means warm days, sea breezes and long golden evenings. Most of our guests walk in lightweight trousers or walking shorts — something comfortable, quick-drying and easy to move in. A breathable t-shirt or base layer on top. The coast path is not a fashion show, but the scenery deserves to be enjoyed without fussing over what you’re wearing.

Pack a light fleece or mid-layer for the odd cooler morning — headlands catch the breeze and early starts in April can have a nip to them — but from May onwards, most days you’ll be walking in a t-shirt and reaching for the suncream long before you reach for a jacket.

Suncream and sun protection

This is the one that catches people out. Cornwall sits further south than most visitors expect, the coastal air is clear, and from April through to October the sun has real force along the cliff paths — no shade, no trees, just open sky and the Atlantic glittering below. Factor 30 minimum. A hat with a brim. Sunglasses. Your nose and the backs of your hands will remind you on day two if you forgot.

Water

A refillable water bottle. Your guide will know where to top up along the way, and there are always refreshment stops built into the day, but having water to hand on a warm cliff walk is a simple pleasure.

The extras

A camera or phone — though most people find their phone does the job and their hands stay free. A small dry bag or zip-lock pouch for your phone and wallet, just in case the weather turns. And blister plasters, though if your boots are broken in properly you shouldn’t need them.

What you don’t need to carry

Walking poles — we provide them. Maps and navigation — that’s your guide’s department. Snacks and water stops — taken care of at every stage. You don’t need a first aid kit, a whistle, or a backup plan. Your guide has all of it.

The goal is a pack light enough that you forget it’s there. Light enough that when your guide stops on a headland and points to something — a seal colony below, an engine house on the cliff edge, the particular way the afternoon light is turning the water turquoise — you’re not thinking about your shoulders. You’re looking.