Why this ride
From St Just it runs 338 km to St Just; allow about 5 h 47 of riding. The stops in between: Pool village and East Pool Mine, Charlestown, Devoran and Perran and The Luxulyan Valley. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
St Just Mining District and The Luxulyan Valley
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 338 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 47
- 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 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
St Just Mining District is where the day begins. Next is Pool village and East Pool Mine.
2. Pool village and East Pool Mine
Pool is the place where Cornwall's mining past is easiest to see, because it lies along the main road between Camborne and Redruth, and the engine houses are right beside it. East Pool Mine, now cared for by the National Trust, was one of the richest tin mines in the county, and it kept working until 1945. Two huge beam engines still stand under their roofs, and the big granite engine house, with its tall chimney and arched openings, dominates the village. It is one of the sites that make up the Cornish Mining Landscape, inscribed by UNESCO in 2006.
Read the complete Pool village and East Pool Mine write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Pool village and East Pool Mine comes up about 38 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 88 km into the recorded legs you reach Charlestown. Next is Devoran and Perran.
4. Devoran and Perran
Devoran is a quiet village at the head of Restronguet Creek, a tidal arm of the Fal estuary south of Truro, and it takes a little imagination to see it as the busy industrial port it once was. In the nineteenth century, the Redruth and Chasewater Railway brought copper ore down from the mines to quays here, where ships loaded it for smelters in South Wales and returned with coal. The remains of the quays, ore hoppers and old warehouses are still visible along the shore, and the village is part of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape, listed by UNESCO in 2006.
Read the complete Devoran and Perran write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Devoran and Perran, about halfway. Next is The Luxulyan Valley.
5. The Luxulyan Valley
Granite boulders furred with moss, beech and oak closing overhead, and somewhere below you the sound of water running in a stone channel built by people who wanted it to work, not to look pretty. The Luxulyan Valley, tucked between Par, Lostwithiel and St Austell in mid Cornwall, is one of those places where industrial history and woodland have grown into each other so completely that it is hard to tell where one ends.
Read the complete The Luxulyan Valley write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Luxulyan Valley sits at 174 km, about halfway. Next is back through Devoran and Perran.
6. back through Devoran and Perran
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Devoran and Perran write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Devoran and Perran comes up about 213 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Charlestown.
7. 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
about 251 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Charlestown. Next is back through Pool village and East Pool Mine.
8. back through Pool village and East Pool Mine
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Pool village and East Pool Mine write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Pool village and East Pool Mine, late in the day. Next is St Just Mining District.
9. 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
The route ends here after 338 km.
Leg by leg
St Just Mining District to Pool village and East Pool Mine
St Just Mining District → Pool village and East Pool Mine is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Pool village and East Pool Mine to Charlestown
Pool village and East Pool Mine → Charlestown is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Charlestown to Devoran and Perran
Charlestown → Devoran and Perran is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Devoran and Perran to The Luxulyan Valley
Devoran and Perran → The Luxulyan Valley is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Luxulyan Valley to back through Devoran and Perran
The Luxulyan Valley → back through Devoran and Perran is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Devoran and Perran to back through Charlestown
back through Devoran and Perran → back through Charlestown is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Charlestown to back through Pool village and East Pool Mine
back through Charlestown → back through Pool village and East Pool Mine is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Pool village and East Pool Mine to St Just Mining District
back through Pool village and East Pool Mine → St Just Mining District is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.