Cardinham Woods Loop

30 min – 50 min · Cardinham Woods car park → Cardinham Woods car park

Desk-researched

Desk-researched — not yet run on the ground

Elevation profile

244 m gain · high 179 m

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55 m – 179 m

Line mapped on a filtered walking graph that keeps to paths and quiet lanes and treats fast or classified roads as cross-only (scripts/walk-graph.mjs); elevation from EU-DEM 25 m. Not from a recorded run.

Mapped from OpenStreetMap footpaths on the OpenTopoMap contour map — a planning line, not a recorded run.

Distance: 9.5 km
Climb: 244 m
Per km: 26 m
On foot: 30 min – 50 min
Line: Mapped

A valley loop through Cardinham's working forest near Bodmin, following the Lady Vale trail line along the stream and back on forestry road. Nothing here is dramatic, which on the right day is exactly the appeal.

Getting there and back

Bodmin's buses get within a couple of road kilometres; realistically this is a drive-to run.

Parking

The Forestry England car park is pay-and-display and comfortably large outside school-holiday weekends.

Conditions

Compacted forestry road and firmer single-track, with the streamside line the muddiest stretch in winter.

Navigation

Waymarked trails leave little to solve; this route follows the valley out and the forest road home.

Season

The wet-weather banker. Autumn colour is the bonus round; February mud on the streamside stretch is the toll.

Dogs

One of the easiest dog runs in Cornwall — good surfaces, water on tap in the stream, leads near the cafe and bike lines.

Good for

Gale-day running under real shelter
Buggy-adjacent family miles
An honest easy day between hard coast efforts

Watch for

Mountain bikes on the shared and crossing trails
Storm debris on the paths after big blows
The valley floor holds standing water after sustained rain

On the ground

Pay car park with toilets
Woods cafe by the trailhead, seasonal hours

GPX download

The line on this page is mapped from OpenStreetMap paths, not a recorded run. Treat the file as a planning aid and check it against conditions on the ground.

Download GPX