THIS year's South East Cornwall Walking Festival is being run alongside the Mapping the Sun project at Minions.

Archaeological work plus guided walks and astronomy will be taking place during the festival.

A walk to the Duloe Beer and Cider Festival on Saturday, September 14, is the first of the festival.

This will be a two-mile walk from Sandplace railway station up through the East Looe Valley taking in the orchards of Cornish Orchards before arriving in Duloe.

The next day covers sand and smugglers, starting in the Lansallos National Trust car park at 2.30pm. The two-mile walk should take around three hours. 

Monday, September 16, is all about mapping the sun. Ramblers can join archaeologist Jacky Nowakowski for a walk around the ancient monuments in the Minions area of Bodmin Moor.

The walk ties in with the first archaeological dig to be carried out on the Hurlers stone circle since the 1930s.

Polruan quayside is the start point for Tuesday's coast and creek four-mile walk starting at 10.40am.

Wednesday features a historical pub crawl, beginning outside St Nicholas Church, West Looe, at 7pm.

To launch a new book of walks from the Looe Valley Railway Line, there's a walk on Thursday from Sandplace station at 10.40am to Polperro with lunch taken at Pelynt's Jubilee Inn.

This walk includes lovely countryside in the West Looe River Valley and follows some ancient trackways.

The final two days of the festival will see more walks being held at Minions,

On the Friday there will be a repeat of Monday's mapping the sun walk, while on Saturday, September 21, there will be a sunrise equinox walk in the company of members of the Caradon Archaeology Group to hopefully see the sunrise at the Hurlers stone circle.

Friday also sees a foraging walk at Hannafore, West Looe, from 2pm to 4pm to learn about edible plants on the coast and shore.

And there is a wildlife walk to Port Nadler on Saturday (September 21), meeting at Looe Tourist Information Centre at 11am.

All the walk leaders put on the walks for free but do ask for donations, which will go towards charities or the project running the walk.