Why this ride
From St Just it runs 145 km to St Just; allow about 2 h 45 of riding. It goes by way of The Port of Hayle, Kennall Vale, Trewavas and back through Kennall Vale.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
St Just Mining District and Trewavas
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 145 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 45
- 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 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 24 km into the recorded legs. Next is Kennall Vale.
3. Kennall Vale
Kennall Vale is a steep, wooded ravine in the middle of Cornwall's mining country, and for a hundred years its stream was used to make gunpowder. The mills, built in the early nineteenth century, produced the powder that miners used to blast tunnels and shafts in the tin and copper mines, and the valley was chosen because it had water, privacy and trees to absorb explosions. The gunpowder works closed in the early twentieth century, and the buildings fell into ruin. Now the old mill walls stand in a thick green wood of oak, beech and ash, with moss on every stone and a leat, the stone-lined channel that brought the water, still threading through. It is one of the most atmospheric places in west Cornwall, and a nature reserve.
Read the complete Kennall Vale write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 49 km into the recorded legs you reach Kennall Vale. Next is Trewavas.
4. 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, about halfway. Next is back through Kennall Vale.
5. back through Kennall Vale
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kennall Vale write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Kennall Vale sits at 101 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 122 km into the recorded legs. Next is St Just Mining District.
7. 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
St Just Mining District closes the day.
Leg by leg
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 Kennall Vale
The Port of Hayle → Kennall Vale is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kennall Vale to Trewavas
Kennall Vale → Trewavas is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Trewavas to back through Kennall Vale
Trewavas → back through Kennall Vale is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Kennall Vale to back through The Port of Hayle
back through Kennall Vale → back through The Port of Hayle is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The Port of Hayle to St Just Mining District
back through The Port of Hayle → St Just Mining District is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.