Why this ride
From Redruth it runs 156 km to Redruth; allow about 2 h 51 of riding. The stops in between: Tregonning and Gwinear Mining Districts, St Just Mining District, The Port of Hayle and back through St Just Mining District.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Gwennap Mining District and The Port of Hayle
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 156 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 51
- 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. Gwennap Mining District
The hills between Redruth and Truro are some of the most worked ground in Europe. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries Gwennap was said to be the richest square mile of mining country in the world, with copper and tin coming out of shafts so close together that the engine houses seem to stand shoulder to shoulder. Today the chimneys and roofless buildings stand in gorse and bracken, and the red-brown streams and spoil heaps tell you what lay underneath. The area is part of the Cornish Mining World Heritage Site, and the village of St Day, with about seven hundred people, sits at its centre, with a fine ruined church in the middle of a green.
Read the complete Gwennap Mining District write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Gwennap Mining District is where the day begins. Next is Tregonning and Gwinear Mining Districts.
2. Tregonning and Gwinear Mining Districts
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.
Read the complete Tregonning and Gwinear Mining Districts write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Tregonning and Gwinear Mining Districts comes up about 27 km into the recorded legs. Next is St Just Mining District.
3. St Just Mining District
Out at the very end of Cornwall, where the land runs out in granite cliffs above the Atlantic, the coast between St Just and Pendeen is studded with the ruined engine houses of tin and copper mines. Some of them stand right on the cliff edge, their tall chimneys silhouetted against the sea, and the shafts below ran out under the ocean floor, so deep that miners claimed they could hear boulders rolling on the seabed above them during storms. This is the St Just Mining District, one of the most dramatic parts of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage site.
Read the complete St Just Mining District write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 53 km into the recorded legs you reach St Just Mining District. Next is The Port of Hayle.
4. The Port of Hayle
Hayle does not look like much at first: a long, low town strung along an estuary, a scatter of industrial buildings, quays slowly silting up and a lot of sand. But in the nineteenth century this was one of the engine rooms of the world. Two great foundries here, Harvey's and the Copperhouse company, built the steam engines that pumped water out of Cornish mines and later out of mines and waterworks on several continents. The harbour shipped copper ore out and coal in, and the whole place is part of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage site.
Read the complete The Port of Hayle write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Port of Hayle, about halfway. Next is back through St Just Mining District.
5. back through St Just Mining District
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete St Just 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 Just Mining District sits at 105 km, about halfway. Next is back through Tregonning and Gwinear Mining Districts.
6. back through Tregonning and Gwinear Mining Districts
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Tregonning and Gwinear Mining Districts write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Tregonning and Gwinear Mining Districts comes up about 128 km into the recorded legs. Next is Gwennap Mining District.
7. Gwennap Mining District
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Gwennap Mining District write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Gwennap Mining District closes the day.
Leg by leg
Gwennap Mining District to Tregonning and Gwinear Mining Districts
Gwennap Mining District → Tregonning and Gwinear Mining Districts is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Tregonning and Gwinear Mining Districts to St Just Mining District
Tregonning and Gwinear Mining Districts → St Just Mining District is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
St Just Mining District to The Port of Hayle
St Just Mining District → The Port of Hayle is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Port of Hayle to back through St Just Mining District
The Port of Hayle → back through St Just Mining District is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through St Just Mining District to back through Tregonning and Gwinear Mining Districts
back through St Just Mining District → back through Tregonning and Gwinear Mining Districts is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Tregonning and Gwinear Mining Districts to Gwennap Mining District
back through Tregonning and Gwinear Mining Districts → Gwennap Mining District is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.