The Saints Way Walk, Cornwall: Padstow to Fowey 1/3

Part One of Three

(part two, Part three)

The Saints Way is a 30-mile walking route across Cornwall, linking Padstow on the north coast to Fowey in the south. This is an account of walking it over three days, with notes from along the route, including the ancient standing stones and churches.

With an interest in pilgrimage, an approaching birthday, and a few days’ holiday, we decided to walk The Saints Way. Summer 2025 had been unusually sunny. Now, at the end of August, the forecast warned of storms. It was just the weather for hiking and camping in Cornwall!

Historical Significance of the Saints Way

The Saints Way is an ancient drover’s path. It links Padstow in the North of Cornwall with Fowey on the South Coast. Drovers from Ireland and Wales once used the route to avoid the treacherous seas around Land’s End. Some believe the route also had a religious purpose, used by Christian monks journeying towards Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Today, the Saints Way is a thirty-mile-long path which winds through Cornish villages. Pilgrim passports can be stamped in churches along the way.

Research showed that Public transport wouldn’t be easy on this route. So, we had to choose between relying on taxis or taking two cars. We chose the latter, which gave me a chance to take my new little VW Caddy Camper van out! We decided to base ourselves at a campsite midway between the start and end of the route. The campsite was Mena Farm, near Lanivet. To my surprise on arrival, I realised I had stayed there before pre-COVID!

The Spiritual Journey

We arrived in Cornwall earlier than expected. So we decided to walk the first stretch that same evening. We left one van at our destination, Trenance. Then, we parked up in Padstow. We started our walk to Trenance, a 5-mile journey. We were briefly distracted by the Twin Fin shop, where we enjoyed some rum tasting. Sadly, we didn’t buy any, as we would have had to carry the bottles! We headed uphill to St Petroc’s Church. Ironically, it shares the same name as the Devon college where we both once worked! There, we collected our pilgrim passports and our first stamp.

We walked out of Padstow heading towards the granite obelisk on the hill. We were rewarded with sweeping views of the Camel Estuary. Although the day had been very rainy, the evening was turning much nicer.

After taking a detour to the obelisk, we followed the path to Little Petherick Creek. This was the prettiest section of the whole walk.

Just after getting lost with a footpath diversion, we met a smartly dressed man: shirt, tie, and hat. He told us that now, in retirement, he had finally fulfilled his dream of working on a farm. He was the smartest farm worker I have ever seen! He kindly put us back on the right track to Trenance. We hopped in the van to return to the campsite.

It was twilight when we pitched our tent alongside the van, and we cooked up our ration packs. My pasta was surprisingly tasty. We felt very glad to have started the walk.