New guide to Luxulyan by Tom Last

EDIT May 2017: Due to an access issue at one of the venues featured in this PDF guide, the file has been temporarily removed from the Cheesewring Climbing webpages. Please visit the New Routes and Updates section to find out more.

Is Luxulyan Cornwall’s answer to Bovey Woods? Or is it, as Andy Grieve says: “...like Fontainbleu, with a wellington boot walk in!”? Well if you live nearby you have no excuses not to find out, as local photographer and Luxulyan jungle-lover Tom Last has produced a fine PDF guide for you to follow.

Luxulyan Woods Bouldering and New Routes 2014 by Tom Last describes over 120 boulder problems and 16 routes that didn’t quite make it into the main body of the 2012 definitive guidebook. Illustrated with colour photo-topos throughout, it’s certainly an ideal supplement to Cheesewring & South East Cornwall: A Climbers’ Guide and Tom has generously allowed us to host his PDF on our Cheesewring Climbing site.

Due to its 56 pages the file is a hefty 13 MB, but I’m told it looks good on a smart phone. If printing it out ideally it would be best as A4 landscape in colour; however, I suspect that would be a very expensive option.

Luxulyan has seen a burst of development over the last few years but it has huge potential for those with the willingness to explore. Tom deserves full credit for his recent routes and problems, as well as for all the hard work put in to documenting this often overlooked area. Well done Tom and thanks for letting us upload it.

Landslip Cove soon to be accessible once again

Work is taking place this month to repair the coastal path at Talland Bay. As reported in this news post, storm damage forced the closure, in February, of the Coast Path running past Landslip Cove, making access to the routes here impossible without ignoring the diversion. Hopefully once the work is completed this stretch of path will be reopened allowing safe and unhindered access to the climbing once again.

CORMAC’s countryside team is now organising a new diversion around the works, which are due to be completed within four weeks. The diversion is about a mile long and goes away from the coast following roads rather than footpaths; its route can be seen here on the South West Coast Path website.

This section of the South West Coast Path within Talland Bay was affected by last winter’s storms. The storms destroyed the existing coastal defences, which now need to be replaced to ensure the future of this section of the National Trail.

Repair work is taking place at 67 sites around the coast of Cornwall, funded by DEFRA and Cornwall Council. BAM Nuttall & Mott MacDonald will undertake the work at Talland Bay. To protect and improve the resilience of the cliff supporting the road they will be making placements of rock armour, gabion baskets and sprayed concrete.

CORMAC Countryside Officer Dave Wood said “It is great to see the investment in our coastline by DEFRA and Cornwall Council. We hope to keep inconvenience to a minimum during the works and ask that people follow the diversion we have put in place. Although we appreciate that the diversion will be in place for four weeks, it is hoped that this will preserve the route of the SWCP for many years to come.”

Although there are only four mediocre routes of historical interest at Landslip Cove, there are so few crags in this part of Cornwall that loss of access to any of them greatly limits what little climbing is available. Thankfully the temporary closure of this stretch of Coast Path will soon be at an end so climbers in the area can feel free to book a trip to experience the joys of The Circular Climb!

Updates on path closures and route changes can be found here on the South West Coast Path website.