This one’s a genuine leg-stretcher rather than an easy stroll, but the views are sensational. The Port Isaac to Port Quin circular follows the coast path both ways, comes in at somewhere between three and a half and five miles depending which route back you take, and it’s known locally as the Rollercoaster Path for a reason.
Starting the walk at Port Isaac
Parking in Port Isaac itself can be tricky in the main holiday periods, so plan to arrive early or check ahead. The village’s own name has nothing to do with anyone called Isaac, it comes from the Cornish Porthysek, meaning corn port, and fishing boats still unload crab, fish and lobster at The Platt, the cobbled slope down to the harbour, much as they always have. The Platt gets busy with people in summer, so keep your dog close on the lead through the harbour itself before you head out onto the coast path.
The Rollercoaster Path to Port Quin
Heading north out of the village, the coast path climbs and drops repeatedly along the headlands toward Port Quin, past coves called Pine Haven, Greengarden Cove and Downgate Cove among others. Puffins, gannets and kittiwakes nest on these cliffs in spring, and the path stays close to the edge in places, so keep your dog on the lead here rather than trusting an off-lead recall on unfenced ground.
Port Quin
Port Quin itself has a quietly sad history behind its pretty setting. The village was abandoned not once but twice, once when the pilchard fishing that supported it failed, and once after the men of the village were lost at sea and the remaining women couldn’t keep it going alone. A handful of tumbledown cottages, built right into the rock, are what’s left of a village that once held ninety-four people across twenty-three houses. The National Trust has brought parts of it back to life. There’s more open ground here than at Port Isaac itself, so it’s a good spot to let your dog off the lead for a stretch before the climbs start again.
Doyden Castle
Just up from Port Quin stands Doyden Castle, a crenellated folly built in the 1820s by a wealthy local named Samuel Symons, purely so he’d have somewhere to gamble and drink away from his own marriage. It’s now let out by the National Trust as a holiday rental, and it featured in the TV series Poldark as a doctor’s house, which is probably why it looks familiar.
The way back
For the return leg, you can either retrace the coast path, which means tackling the same climbs in reverse, or take the inland route back, which most people find considerably easier on tired legs, your dog included. Either way brings you back into Port Isaac past Roscarrock Hill, where the old fishermen’s cottages include one with its roof timbers tied down by an actual anchor chain, and a former Sunday School that still has a bell salvaged from a shipwreck.
Back in Port Isaac
Port Isaac itself has been the filming location for the Doc Martin TV series from 2004 onward, and the fictional GP’s house is one of the cottages on Roscarrock Hill you’ll have just walked past. The real Fisherman’s Friends sea shanty group, made up of local fishermen, lifeboatmen and coastguards, still perform in the village too, so check if anything’s on while you’re there.
Where to base yourself
Port Isaac sits within reach of the wider Cornwall collection we curate, close enough to Padstow that either could work as a base for the day, though Port Isaac itself has plenty of pubs and cafés happy to have your dog under the table once you’re back off the cliffs.
