Tregonning Hill is a low, rounded granite dome above Germoe, and on its slopes in the middle of the eighteenth century a Plymouth chemist named William Cookworthy found white clay of a quality that Europe had never produced. He recognised it as kaolin, the secret of Chinese porcelain, and the find began an industry that eventually shifted to the larger deposits around St Austell. The ground around Tregonning and Gwinear is a landscape of old tin and copper workings, engine houses, abandoned stacks and small fields enclosed by stone hedges. The whole Cornish mining landscape was listed by UNESCO in 2006 and these districts are part of it.
An engine house is the characteristic ruin of Cornwall, a tall, narrow building of granite with an arched window and a chimney stack beside it, built to house a beam engine that pumped water from the mine. The engines of Hayle, in particular, were exported across the world, from South Africa to Mexico, and Cornish miners went with them, which is why you can find pasties in Wisconsin and Cornish names in Australian mining towns. Hayle itself lies at the head of a sandy estuary, with dunes, a harbour, an old foundry and a busy beach, and a good place for a coffee. St Michael's Mount, a tidal island with a castle on top, rises from the bay to the south.
The riding in West Cornwall is slow, in the best sense. Lanes are narrow and sunken, with granite hedges and wild flowers on the banks, and they twist in tight bends through hamlets with names like Praze-an-Beeble. Surfaces can be patched and gritty, and meeting a tractor or a delivery van in a narrow stretch means reversing. In summer, the A30 and the coast roads are jammed with holiday traffic, so aim for spring or autumn, or for early mornings. The wind from the Atlantic is strong, and sea fog can roll in without warning.
Hayle has about eight thousand people, with fuel, supermarkets and bakeries, and Penzance is not far. Marazion and Uny Lelant are smaller. A pasty from a bakery, still warm, is the right lunch, and you eat it with your fingers. When the clouds clear, the late sun on the stone ruins makes them glow.