How to try Cornwall’s new 150-mile cycle route

With many people having taken up cycling during lockdown, the West Kernow Way is bound to prove popular this summer. A new initiative from Cycling UK, it’s one that I’m surprised hasn’t come sooner. This part of the world is awash with bridleways, cycle-able terrain and quiet backcountry roads suited to bikes. It’s also part of the world best explored slowly – drive past this landscape without stopping at the ruins, the pubs and the hamlets and you’re missing a fundamental part of what makes this area of Cornwall special. It’s set to be a popular route, intended to be covered over four days. So what are the highlights and where should you start?

The route begins and ends in Penzance – by far the ‘last stop’ in this part of the country and the largest town in the area. Go west from here, and Penzance begins to look like a metropolis. Head along the south coast and you can easily see gentle, Daphne Du Maurier creek-laden Cornwall morph into something far wilder, and with cliffs a great deal higher than you see in other parts of the county east of the Lizard Peninsula.