Why this ride
157 km from Saint Agnes to Saint Agnes, about 2 h 38 of riding. It goes by way of The Port of Hayle, St Just Mining District, Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape and back through St Just Mining District.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
St Agnes Mining District and Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 157 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 38
- 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 The Port of Hayle.
2. 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 comes up about 29 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 Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape.
4. 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, 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 107 km, about halfway. Next is back through The Port of Hayle.
6. back through The Port of Hayle
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
back through The Port of Hayle comes up about 130 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 The Port of Hayle
St Agnes Mining District → The Port of Hayle is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Port of Hayle to St Just Mining District
The Port of Hayle → St Just Mining District is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
St Just Mining District to Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape
St Just Mining District → Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape to back through St Just Mining District
Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape → 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 The Port of Hayle
back through St Just Mining District → back through The Port of Hayle is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The Port of Hayle to St Agnes Mining District
back through The Port of Hayle → St Agnes Mining District is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.