Why this ride
80 km from Hayle to Hayle, about 1 h 37 of riding. The stops in between: Wendron Mining District, Portreath Harbour and back through Wendron Mining District.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape and Portreath Harbour
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 80 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 37
- 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. Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape
West Cornwall is the sort of place where a ruined engine house stands every few hundred metres, tall, square and roofless, with a chimney beside it. These are the remains of the tin and copper mines that made Cornwall one of the great industrial regions of the world in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The beam engines in these houses pumped water out of mines that went down hundreds of metres, in some cases under the sea. Miners from Cornwall, known as Cousin Jacks, took their skills around the globe, to Mexico, Australia, South Africa and the American Midwest, and the pasty went with them.
Read the complete Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape is where the day begins. Next is Wendron Mining District.
2. Wendron Mining District
The first thing to know about Wendron is that the ground beneath it was once worked as hard as any in Europe. West Cornwall's tin and copper made the county rich, and the district around Wendron, a few kilometres north of Helston, was one of the places where it happened. The old mines, the stream works in the valleys and the engine houses on the hillsides are part of the Cornish Mining World Heritage Site, listed in 2006. Many of the ruins are hidden in woods or fields, so you will have to look for them.
Read the complete Wendron Mining District write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Wendron Mining District comes up about 21 km into the recorded legs. Next is Portreath Harbour.
3. Portreath Harbour
Portreath is a harbour made by hand. Before the Bassets, the great landowning family of this part of Cornwall, built its quay in the late eighteenth century, there was only a cove between steep cliffs. Afterwards, there was a port that shipped copper ore to the smelters of Swansea and brought back coal, with a tramroad running up the valley to the mines. The tramroad, built in 1809, was one of the earliest in Cornwall, and horse-drawn wagons rolled down it for decades. The harbour has two basins, a sea wall, and a granite pier, and a rocky island called Gull Rock lies just off it.
Read the complete Portreath Harbour write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 40 km into the recorded legs you reach Portreath Harbour. Next is back through Wendron Mining District.
4. back through Wendron Mining District
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Wendron 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 Wendron Mining District, late in the day. Next is Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape.
5. Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape to Wendron Mining District
Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape → Wendron Mining District is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Wendron Mining District to Portreath Harbour
Wendron Mining District → Portreath Harbour is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Portreath Harbour to back through Wendron Mining District
Portreath Harbour → back through Wendron Mining District is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Wendron Mining District to Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape
back through Wendron Mining District → Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.