TThis is a medium length, easy walk (around 4½ miles) in the Bodmin Moor section of the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) writes Peter Maxted.
1 Park in the car park and walk down to the lake path by the jetty. From here disabled visitors can take a ‘wheelyboat’ out onto the lake. Walkers turn right along the lake path and follow it past Craddock moor (the moorland falls, unusually, right to the lakeside. There is a bird hide in the trees just past the open stretch.
2 Go over a cattle grid and around the north of the lake, then the path passes through a small stretch of coniferous woodland. The lake-side here is popular with fishermen and small boats are also out on the water after the trout.
3Continue on to the dam and cross the top (don’t look down if you have vertigo, it’s pretty high!) and head on straight uphill (not around the lake) on an unsigned but fairly obvious path. This turns into a track which reaches the road to the lake park entrance that you will have come in on. Turn right and then around the bend there is a footpath on your left following a stream. Turn right onto a little road then left onto another path. This soon forks; take the left fork and walk downhill for about three quarters of a mile until you reach the lake again and your starting point.
4 If you are not too tired, Siblyback lake has o pportunities for windsurfing, sailing, kayaking, wakeboarding and climbing and there is a daunting ‘assault course’ for groups (under supervision). There is also a nice café. On the way home, check out the ancient King Doniert’s Stone and take a detour to the beautiful Golitha falls nearby.
See www.cornwallaonb.org.uk for further walks and details of the 12 sections of the AONB.
