Port Isaac Village Circular Walk

One of the best ways to enjoy Port Isaac is to take a stroll around the historic centre of the village, exploring the lanes and alleys around the harbour that give this place so much of its character and which haven’t changed much in over the last 200 years.

Here’s one of our favourite walking routes around the village that takes in a lot of the key sites and best views, starting and finishing from our booking office at the old Trelawney Garage at number 14, New Road.

We estimate this walk to be approximately 1.5 miles and will take around an hour and a half, subject to pauses for pasties, coffees, and taking photographs!

From our office, walk along past The Black, Fresh From The Sea, and The Peapod to the junction on the corner of New Road with the top of Fore Street and Back Hill. Walk down Back Hill (you’ll be heading in the same direction as any cars as Back Hill is a one way street) as far as St Peter’s Church and the old water pump (one of several where villagers used to collect drinking water) on the corner of Trewetha Lane, known as ‘Mine Pit Corner’.

Walking down Back Hill

Turn left and walk up Trewetha Lane towards the Village Hall. There are two footpaths that lead off downhill towards the harbour, but we’d recommend the flatter walk along the lane until you reach the top of Rose Hill. Turn right and back on yourself down Rose Hill.

Rose Hill

The first path on the left is called Back Lane. Follow this along the back of the properties on Dolphin Street, and around the dog-leg corners to meet the end of Middle Street at Wesley House. Walk past The Pump (the site of another of the village’s old water pumps) and the back of Trevan House that was the original Doctor’s residence.

Looking down onto Dolphin Street from Back Lane

As you turn the corner on Middle Street there are two streets that cross the stream to meet Church Hill. The second goes along the back of the Slipway Hotel, a Grade II listed building dating from the early 1800s but with a weathered old date stone that suggest that the original building on this site could be several hundred years older. Church Hill is one of the oldest roads in the village, and one of the steepest! It leads up the hill towards the Church at St Endellion a mile and a half away. Rather than tackling Church Hill, turn right and walk down the side of the Slipway Hotel and Courtenay House to the Fish Cellars and the back of The Platt.

The view from halfway up Church Hill

We’d suggest turning left and walking part way up Roscarrock Hill, past the old Methodist Chapel (now Port Isaac Pottery and a café), White House and White House Cottage to Folly and Northcliffe, enjoying the views over the harbour and the village to the right and then the view out to sea over the harbour walls from the corner. Fern Cottage, which was Doc Martin’s home and surgery in the popular TV series, is on the left part way up Roscarrock Hill – usually obvious from the people having their photo taken outside.

Folly 2, Roscarrock Hill

Return back down Roscarrock Hill (there are public toilets at the bottom of the hill) and turn left past the Fish Cellars (or pop in to buy something to cook for dinner!) and the RNLI lifeboat station onto The Platt, which is essentially the village square at the back of the beach and the harbour, and the heart of the village.

The Fish Cellars

Walk down onto the top of the beach past Market House and keep right against the wall to pick up the sloped path up to the Pentus Wall studios and the back of The Golden Lion pub. Walk up the alley between the pub and it’s courtyard, known as the Bloody Bones Yard (identifiable by the large WWII gun salvaged from a sunken wreck of armed merchant ship Milly) and turn left to bring you out on Fore Street.

Turn right but instead of following the road around past Port Isaac Trading Co, carry on straight along the path. This is Temple Bar, and the alley that passes through beneath Temple Cottage is 18 inches wide. It appeared in the 1978 Guinness Book of Records as the world’s narrowest thoroughfare and is known by many as “Squeeze-ee-belly-alley” (a name popularized since the 1950s).

Temple Bar, AKA “Squeeze-ee-Belly-Alley”

You will emerge from Temple Bar onto Dolphin Street. Turn left and walk uphill to where Dolphin Street meets Rose Hill, and turn left to walk back down to Fore Street (coming out just above The Golden Lion).

Walk up Fore Street, passing Rosemary Cottage and pausing at the Old Lifeboat House (Boathouse Stores) and the Old School House to enjoy the view over the harbour. Then carry on up, past the bottom of Back Hill, along Canadian Terrace until you reach Waypast at the end, opposite Cliff Cottage, where Fore Street turns right up hill and the coast path (known as ‘Overcliff’) carries on to the left.

Port Isaac Harbour from Fore Street

Walk around the coast path taking in expansive views of Lobber Point and out across Port Isaac Bay as far as Tintagel Head (on a clear day you may even be able to see Lundy Island, 40 miles up the coast). When you get to the Pay-and-Display car park you can either take the steps up to New Road or the flatter route with no steps to the car park entrance. There are public toilets here. Turn right on to New Road, past Nathan Outlaw’s flagship restaurant Outlaw’s New Road, and within a few meters you will be back at the Port Isaac Bay Holidays office.

Looking out across Port Isaac Bay

This route around Port Isaac village takes in so much of what is special about our village, from the fishing harbour and character cottages and laneways of the historic center, to the expansive sea views up the coast.

If you want to wake up and enjoy this walk straight out of the front door of your holiday accommodation, then get in touch, hit some of the links in this article, or browse all of the listings on our website. As a holiday company based in and specializing in Port Isaac, most all of our properties are either on this route or within a very short walk of it.