‘Gold mist lingers over frozen marshes’: eight great UK winter walks

With its stark beauty and quieter paths, it’s the ideal season for exploring. Our writers tread routes with a theme, from art and architecture to birds and rivers

Arty walk Penzance, Cornwall

It’s tipping towards sunset on a November afternoon and St Michael’s Mount shimmers on the horizon, reflected in the high tide that surrounds this Cornish island. As I set out along the coastal path from Penzance to Marazion, it’s a surreal view. The mount, with its collar of gold-flecked water, looks like it’s levitating. The podcast I’m listening to is telling me that the mount is also surrounded by a submerged forest. This blue space was once green.