Dogging in Cornwall: area guide

The lie of the land in Cornwall

Cornwall is a peninsula with coast on three sides and the River Tamar as its only land border. Truro is the only city. Falmouth, Penzance, St Austell, Newquay, Bodmin, Camborne, Redruth, Launceston and St Ives are the other main centres, and the population is spread thin between them.

Most of the county is protected. The Cornwall National Landscape covers much of the coast, from the Rame Peninsula to Bude, and Bodmin Moor rises in the east. West Penwith and the Lizard are wild, exposed and full of old mine workings. Inland, the china clay country near St Austell looks like another world.

The Isles of Scilly lie about 28 miles off Land's End. You reach them by the Scillonian ferry from Penzance, or by Skybus flights from Land's End and Newquay. Many people who visit Cornwall are on holiday, so towns and lanes swell in summer and empty in winter.

Getting about safely

The A30 is the spine. It runs from Launceston past Bodmin, Indian Queens and Redruth to Penzance. In summer, and especially at weekend changeovers, it queues near Bodmin and Carland Cross and around the Hayle and Camborne stretch. The A38 crosses the Tamar by bridge at Saltash, and the A39 and A390 serve the north coast and St Austell.

The main line from Plymouth reaches Truro and Penzance, with branches to Falmouth, Newquay, St Ives, Looe and Gunnislake. Trains are slow, and the last ones leave early. Many stations are unstaffed and badly lit, so check your return before you travel.

Cornish lanes have tall stone hedges, few passing places and no lights. Sea fog rolls in fast. Phone signal fails along the coast and in deep valleys. Cliffs are high, unfenced and prone to fall, and there are old mine shafts on the western moors, so never walk in the dark. Tides come in quickly across flat sands and coves, and some causeways flood twice a day. Keep your phone charged, tell someone where you are and leave plenty of time for the drive home.