Sam
11 Sept 2025
In September I ran a Geowalk to Godrevy with volunteers and employees of the South West Coast Path Association.
As part of my collaborations with the South West Coast Path Association (SWCPA), I ran a Geowalk in September for their volunteers and employees.
The SW Coast Path is the longest National Trail in England, stretching from Minehead in Somerset to Poole in Dorset. Along this 630-mile route you can experience an extraordinary variety of truly world-class geology.
For this walk we visited a Cornish geological gem - Godrevy.
September 2025 has seen a dramatic transition from a very summery summer here in Cornwall to a very traditional autumn! Heavy squalls have been rolling in from the Atlantic, so every so often St Ives would disappear, and waterproofs would be donned. This didn’t dampen spirits though, amongst folk who were very used to being out on the SW coast path in all conditions!
Following a geological intro at the lifeguard hut overlooking St Ives Bay, we wandered along the coast up to Godrevy Cove to get up close and personal with the wide range of rocks and geological features exposed along the beach.
The geology here tells a story of when Cornwall was at the bottom of an ancient ocean hundreds of millions of years ago, before being buried and deformed between two colliding tectonic plates.
Fast forward to the relatively recent geological record of the last hundred thousand years, and see how climate has changed the landscape as it dipped in and out of ice ages.
Godrevy is also a great place to see how ongoing geological processes impact the landscape at the present day. Shifting sand dunes, coastal erosion, and human impacts are all part of this dynamic landscape. These all influence the wildlife and landscape we see.
Thank you to the SWCPA for inviting me to run the Geowalk for them. I look forward to running more in the future alongside any other collaborations.
You can find out more about the SWCPA, what they do, and how to get involved yourself at their website - https://www.southwestcoastpath.org.uk/.
Thank you to Aletha Mays from the SWCPA for the fab photos!
