Why this ride
From Saint Agnes it runs 104 km to Saint Agnes; allow about 1 h 38 of riding. On the way it passes The Port of Hayle, St Just Mining District and back through The Port of Hayle. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
St Agnes Mining District and St Just Mining District
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 104 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 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 back through The Port of Hayle.
4. 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, late in the day. Next is St Agnes Mining District.
5. 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
Back at St Agnes Mining District. That is the ride.
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 back through The Port of Hayle
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.