About St Nectan’s Waterfall
St Nectan’s Waterfall is said to be where the River Trevillet drops 18m (60ft) through what appeared to be a natural bridge half way down its drop.
It kind of reminded me of a smaller version of the Pistyll Rhaeadr in North Wales as this also featured a natural bridge in its drop.
In any case, the waterfall resides in the St Nectan’s Glen, which is a private glen not far from Tintagel Castle.
So because it was private, we had to pay to enter the grounds that allowed us to experience the waterfall, but we also had to pay for parking at a lot that’s not affiliated with the glen (more on this later).
While the glen itself is attractive and peaceful in its own right due to its lushness and heavy dose of greenery, the waterfall is the main attraction here and worth the effort to get to.
Speaking of effort, we did this excursion as a loop hike where we walked about 1.8km to get from the car park to the paid area of the St Nectan’s Glen.
Then, we did the waterfall excursion, which was probably about 200-300m (hard to tell since the GPS goes crazy when we’re in a narrow gorge surrounded by trees) before going back up another 200m to leave.
Finally, we walked the remaining 1.3km on a different path along tractor roads, which was delightfully devoid of people while a little less humid than the lush confines of the interior of the glen itself.
Overall, we spent about 90 minutes away from the car after getting started on the loop, which I’ll describe in detail below.
Walking the St Nectan’s Glen
From the paid car park (see directions below), we walked along the Tintagel Road for a brief moment before crossing it to go onto a signed narrow locals-only access road for St Nectan’s Glen.
Once on the access road, we then approached an intersection next to St Piran’s Church, where we had a choice of going straight or going right (a sign points this way) to go towards the glen.
We took the latter (right) road, and followed it past some homes before descending to the start of the well-vegetated St Nectan’s Glen about 800m from the car park (taking us about 20 minutes).
Then, we followed the trail for another 1km (taking us another 20 minutes) to get to the paid part of St Nectan’s Glen.
Along the way, we experienced a “temperate Atlantic rainforest” full of moss- and ivy-covered trees and ferns flanking the River Trevillet.
Over at the “developed” part of the St Nectan’s Glen, there was a toilet, a cafe, a visitor center, and gift shop guarding the entrance to the paid part of the glen.
Descent to the bottom of the St Nectan’s Waterfall
After paying to get in (we paid 23 pounds; 9 per adult, 5 per child 5-15 years as of July 2024), we then followed another well-developed foot trail that went another 200-300m to the bottom of the glen.
During the descent, there were a couple of viewpoints of the St Nectan’s Waterfall (the first one was nice, the second one was overgrown) before we had to go through a one-way turnstile down by the river.
Once we were past the turnstile, we were then able to scramble in the flat riverbed into the narrow confines of the gorge right to the waterfall’s base.
During our visit, the level of the river was low enough for me to not get my socks wet with Gore-tex boots.
However, most people opted to either just get wet or to change into sandals/water shoes before opting to scramble to the base of the falls.
It was only at the base of the falls were we able to clearly tell that there was a natural bridge about halfway down over the path of the waterfall, which really made it distinctive.
Anyways, after having our fill of the falls, we continued up the ascending trail, where we took a brief detour to a dead-end to get yet another look at the St Nectan’s Waterfall closer to its brink.
Afterwards, we then completed the brief loop walk back to the entrance area (possibly going another 200m in length), where we went out a different exit than where we had started.
A Quieter Exit of the St Nectan’s Glen
Once we were back at the developed part of St Nectan’s Glen, we had a choice of backtracking the way we came within the St Nectan’s Glen or taking an alternate exit path.
The backtracking approach would be about 1.8km, but the higher alternate exit was about 1.3km, and we ultimately chose the latter option mostly because it was shorter but also less busier with people.
So from the restroom area, we basically followed an unpaved local road that ascended between some tracts of farmland before the road veered right then left near the apex of the climb.
From up here, we were able to see the Atlantic in the distance while also feeling a little bit of breeze (something that was absent inside the somewhat muggy glen).
Then, we descended along a straight shot road going right back to the St Piran’s Church before continuing the rest of the way to the paid car park to end our loop hike.
So, overall, we spent about 90 minutes away from the car to do this loop.
We had hiked about 3.1km in total though the hiking distance could be as little as 2.6km or 3.6km depending on how you do the hike as an out-and-back excursion.
Authorities
St Nectan’s Waterfall is in the St Nectan’s Glen near the town of Tintagel in Cornwall County, England. It is privately managed the local owners in the village of Trethevy. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, you can visit the St Nectan’s Glen website.
The St Nectan’s Waterfall resides in the St Nectan’s Glen near Tintagel (that’s “tin-TAH-jul”) in Cornwall (the ceremonial county of this part of South West England).
Although there are several ways of driving to the Tintagel vicinity, we’ll just focus on how would drive here from Ilfracombe, where we were staying.
From Ilfracombe, we’d make our way south to the A361 for about 14 miles through Braunton and towards Barnstaple to hook up with the A39.
Once at the roundabout where the A361 hooks up with the A39, we took the 2nd exit to go west on the A39.
Then, we drove a little over 40 miles on the A39 west and then south before reaching a signed turnoff on the right for the B3263 Road towards Boscastle.
Then, we’d continue another 7.4 miles along the B3263 Road to the St Nectan’s Waterfall car park on the right.
Overall, this drive should take a little over 90 minutes (according to GoogleMaps).
Note that the signed car park for St Nectan’s Glen is private with a pay-and-display scheme, where we paid 3 pounds for the receipt to put on our dash.
Also note that as of our early July 2024 visit, the St Nectan’s Glen paid area has Summer hours (July 1 – September 8) from 9am to 6:30pm while their Winter hours (September 9 to February 28) is from 9am to 5pm.
Driving to St Nectan’s Glen via Tintagel
Finally, if you happen to drive towards Tintagel first before going to St Nectan’s Glen, I’d recommend driving south on the A39 for about 47 miles to the B3314 Road on the right (signed for Tintagel).
This is about 7 miles further south of the B3263 Road turnoff towards Boscastle along the A39.
Then, we’d continue driving west on the B3314 Road for about 1.7 miles before turning right onto the B3263 Road towards Tintagel (about 0.2-mile past a potentially confusing four-way intersection).
Once on the B3263 Road, we’d then drive for a little over 4 miles to the roundabout in the town of Tintagel, where we’d take the 2nd exit for Bossiney Road/B3263.
Then, we’d drive for about 1.4 miles along Bossiney Road until reaching the signed car park for St Nectan’s Glen on the left.
Taking this Tintagel route instead of the Boscastle route from Ilfracombe would add another 15-20 minutes to the drive.
Keep in mind that if taking the Tintagel route, GoogleMaps will try to take you on sketchy single-lane hedge roads to get from the A39 to the B3263 Road.
All I can say is that those routes are non-sensical and will result in more delays and higher likelihood of accidents due to a combination of blind spots and tractor traffic (including those going in the opposite direction).
However, if you just stick to the route described above, you’ll avoid such GPS-navigation-induced headaches.
For context, Tintagel is about 44 miles (under 90 minutes drive) northwest of Plymouth, about 43 miles (over an hour drive) southwest of Bideford, about 42 miles (under 90 minutes drive) northwest of Exeter, about 64 miles (under 2 hours drive) southwest of Ilfracombe, about 60 miles (about 2.5 hours drive) northeast of Penzance, about 120 miles (about 2.5 hours drive) southwest of Glastonbury, about 163 miles (about 3 hours drive) southwest of Bath, and 257 miles (over 4.5 hours drive) west of London.
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Downstream to upstream sweep from an elevated perspective at a switchback on the way down to the base
Downstream to upstream sweep from right at the base of the waterfall revealing its natural bridge
At the base of the falls while also showing the context of the gorge as well as the natural bridge
Short sweep of part of the uppermost tier of the falls as well as the downstream area as seen from a dead-end on the way out
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