Why this ride
From Penzance it runs 264 km to Penzance; allow about 4 h 34 of riding. It goes by way of Charlestown, The Luxulyan Valley, Caradon Mining District and Tamar Valley Mining District. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Penzance long day · Tamar Valley Mining District
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 264 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 34
- 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 Charlestown.
2. 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 comes up about 73 km into the recorded legs. Next is The Luxulyan Valley.
3. 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
about 80 km into the recorded legs you reach The Luxulyan Valley. Next is Caradon Mining District.
4. Caradon Mining District
Engine houses stand like chess pieces on the southern flank of Bodmin Moor, tall granite boxes with their chimneys still pointing at the sky, and around them the ground is scarred by spoil heaps, shafts and old tramway beds. This is the Caradon Mining District, around the village of Pensilva and the hill of Caradon, where copper was found in the 1830s and set off a boom that made it, for a few decades, one of the richest copper districts in Britain. It is one of the ten areas of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site, listed in 2006.
Read the complete Caradon Mining District write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Caradon Mining District, about halfway. Next is Tamar Valley Mining District.
5. Tamar Valley Mining District
For a few decades in the nineteenth century the Tamar valley was among the richest copper fields in Europe, and then, almost overnight, it became a major source of arsenic. The river divides Devon from Cornwall, and the hills on both sides are pocked with old mine workings, engine houses, spoil heaps and the cuttings of former railways. Devon Great Consols, near Gunnislake, was in the nineteenth century one of the richest copper mines in the world, and when copper prices fell the owners turned to arsenic, which was used in pesticides and paint, and for a time it made the valley a strategic industry. The whole area is part of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape, listed by UNESCO in 2006.
Read the complete Tamar Valley Mining District write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Tamar Valley Mining District sits at 144 km, about halfway. Next is back through Caradon Mining District.
6. back through Caradon Mining District
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Caradon 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 Caradon Mining District comes up about 150 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through The Luxulyan Valley.
7. back through The Luxulyan Valley
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
about 183 km into the recorded legs you reach back through The Luxulyan Valley. Next is back through Charlestown.
8. 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, 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 264 km.
Leg by leg
Penzance to Charlestown
Penzance → Charlestown is 73 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
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 Caradon Mining District
The Luxulyan Valley → Caradon Mining District is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Caradon Mining District to Tamar Valley Mining District
Caradon Mining District → Tamar Valley Mining District is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Tamar Valley Mining District to back through Caradon Mining District
Tamar Valley Mining District → back through Caradon Mining District is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Caradon Mining District to back through The Luxulyan Valley
back through Caradon Mining District → back through The Luxulyan Valley is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The Luxulyan Valley to back through Charlestown
back through 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 Penzance
back through Charlestown → Penzance is 72 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.