Why this ride
A 277 km round trip from Saint Agnes - roughly 5 h 01 in the saddle. On the way it passes Trewavas, Charlestown, Caradon Mining District and back through Charlestown. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
St Agnes Mining District and Caradon Mining District
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 277 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 01
- 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. 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 is where the day begins. Next is Trewavas.
2. Trewavas
Trewavas Head is a short stretch of Cornish cliff, between Porthleven and Marazion, where the old engine houses of Wheal Trewavas cling to the rocks above the sea. The mine, which worked tin and copper in the nineteenth century, was dug from the cliff face and went out under the sea bed, and its engine houses were built in a precarious position on ledges with the Atlantic breaking below. The sight is one of the most dramatic in the Cornish mining landscape, which UNESCO listed in 2006, and the story of the miners who worked there, hanging on the cliffs and tunnelling under the waves, is told in the old photographs.
Read the complete Trewavas write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Trewavas comes up about 39 km into the recorded legs. Next is Charlestown.
3. 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
about 100 km into the recorded legs you reach Charlestown. 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 back through Charlestown.
5. 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 sits at 194 km, about halfway. Next is back through Trewavas.
6. back through Trewavas
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Trewavas write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Trewavas comes up about 239 km into the recorded legs. Next is St Agnes Mining District.
7. 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
St Agnes Mining District closes the day.
Leg by leg
St Agnes Mining District to Trewavas
St Agnes Mining District → Trewavas is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Trewavas to Charlestown
Trewavas → Charlestown is 61 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Charlestown to Caradon Mining District
Charlestown → Caradon Mining District is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Caradon Mining District to back through Charlestown
Caradon Mining District → back through Charlestown is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Charlestown to back through Trewavas
back through Charlestown → back through Trewavas is 61 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Trewavas to St Agnes Mining District
back through Trewavas → St Agnes Mining District is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.