Bedruthan Steps, Cornwall

In order to get down to the sandy beach at Bedruthan, between Newquay and Padstow on the north Cornish coast, you have to descend a long zigzag stairway, but these are not the steps in question!

The Bedruthan Steps are a group of sea stacks that stand on the beach at low tide. At one time the coastline was beyond where the stacks are now, but erosion of the slate cliffs created firstly caves and then arches which collapsed, leaving the harder bits of rock behind as isolated stacks.

As one might expect, there is a local myth that explains the stacks in far more interesting terms. This is that Bedruthan was a local giant who used the stacks as stepping stones (hence “steps”), although nobody is all that sure where he was trying to get to!

Visitors can make use of the clifftop National Trust shop and café that used to be the office of the Carnewas iron mine. This visit can be before or after the climb down the wooden steps to the rock ones, at the base of which are rock pools in which all sorts of small marine life can be found.

The problem with climbing down a cliff is that you have to climb back up again at some point. So maybe the Cornish cream tea at the café can be your reward!

(The photos are not by me but have been taken from a copyright-free source)