Why this ride
From Penzance it runs 211 km to Penzance; allow about 3 h 57 of riding. On the way it passes St Agnes Mining District, Devoran and Perran, Charlestown and The Luxulyan Valley.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Penzance day out · The Luxulyan Valley
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 211 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 57
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Penzance
Penzance sits at the end of the line, at the far western tip of Cornwall, in Mount's Bay, and it feels like it. The railway ends here, the ferry to the Isles of Scilly leaves from the harbour, and the climate is so mild that palms and exotic gardens grow outdoors. Looking east across the bay you can see St Michael's Mount, a tidal island topped with a castle and linked to Marazion by a cobbled causeway that is covered at high tide. The Jubilee Pool, a triangular sea-water lido from the 1930s, is a delight on a warm day.
Read the complete Penzance write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Penzance is where the day begins. Next is St Agnes Mining District.
2. St Agnes Mining District
St Agnes is a village of fewer than three thousand people on the north coast of Cornwall, and its coastline is one of the most photographed in the county. The reason is Wheal Coates, a pair of engine houses perched on a cliff above the sea at Chapel Porth, the sort of view that appears on tea towels. The engine houses once pumped water from tin and copper mines that ran under the cliff, and miners worked in tunnels that went out beneath the waves. Today they stand roofless, with ferns in the windows, against a sky that seems to change every few minutes.
Read the complete St Agnes Mining District write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
St Agnes Mining District comes up about 40 km into the recorded legs. Next is Devoran and Perran.
3. Devoran and Perran
Devoran is a quiet village at the head of Restronguet Creek, a tidal arm of the Fal estuary south of Truro, and it takes a little imagination to see it as the busy industrial port it once was. In the nineteenth century, the Redruth and Chasewater Railway brought copper ore down from the mines to quays here, where ships loaded it for smelters in South Wales and returned with coal. The remains of the quays, ore hoppers and old warehouses are still visible along the shore, and the village is part of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape, listed by UNESCO in 2006.
Read the complete Devoran and Perran write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 60 km into the recorded legs you reach Devoran and Perran. Next is Charlestown.
4. Charlestown
Charlestown is a harbour carved out of a beach. In the 1790s, a local landowner called Charles Rashleigh built a port here, cutting a dock into the rock to ship copper ore and, above all, china clay from the pits around St Austell, and the village took his name. Little has changed since: the stone harbour walls, the lock gates, the Georgian cottages and the old warehouses survive almost intact, which is why the harbour is part of the UNESCO Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape and why film and TV crews love it. Tall ships often moor in the dock, and you may have seen it as a backdrop in more than one period drama.
Read the complete Charlestown write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Charlestown, about halfway. Next is The Luxulyan Valley.
5. The Luxulyan Valley
Granite boulders furred with moss, beech and oak closing overhead, and somewhere below you the sound of water running in a stone channel built by people who wanted it to work, not to look pretty. The Luxulyan Valley, tucked between Par, Lostwithiel and St Austell in mid Cornwall, is one of those places where industrial history and woodland have grown into each other so completely that it is hard to tell where one ends.
Read the complete The Luxulyan Valley write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Luxulyan Valley sits at 107 km, about halfway. Next is back through Charlestown.
6. back through Charlestown
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Charlestown write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Charlestown comes up about 112 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Devoran and Perran.
7. back through Devoran and Perran
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Devoran and Perran write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 150 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Devoran and Perran. Next is back through St Agnes Mining District.
8. back through St Agnes Mining District
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete St Agnes Mining District write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through St Agnes Mining District, late in the day. Next is Penzance.
9. Penzance
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Penzance write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 211 km.
Leg by leg
Penzance to St Agnes Mining District
Penzance → St Agnes Mining District is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
St Agnes Mining District to Devoran and Perran
St Agnes Mining District → Devoran and Perran is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Devoran and Perran to Charlestown
Devoran and Perran → Charlestown is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Charlestown to The Luxulyan Valley
Charlestown → The Luxulyan Valley is 7 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Luxulyan Valley to back through Charlestown
The Luxulyan Valley → back through Charlestown is 7 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Charlestown to back through Devoran and Perran
back through Charlestown → back through Devoran and Perran is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Devoran and Perran to back through St Agnes Mining District
back through Devoran and Perran → back through St Agnes Mining District is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through St Agnes Mining District to Penzance
back through St Agnes Mining District → Penzance is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.