Why this ride
From St Just it runs 155 km to St Just; allow about 3 h 04 of riding. The stops in between: The Port of Hayle, Camborne and Redruth Mining District, Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape and Wendron Mining District.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
St Just Mining District and Wendron Mining District
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 155 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 04
- 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 Camborne and Redruth Mining District.
3. Camborne and Redruth Mining District
Cornwall's mining history is told by its engine houses, and around Camborne and Redruth there are more of them than anywhere else. This was the richest square of country in the whole mining world in the nineteenth century, producing copper and then tin on a scale that made the district a global centre of mining technology. Engineers, pumps and steam engines were built here and exported to mines on every continent, and Cornish miners themselves, known as Cousin Jacks, emigrated to Australia, South Africa, Mexico and North America and took their skills with them.
Read the complete Camborne and Redruth Mining District write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 39 km into the recorded legs you reach Camborne and Redruth 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 Wendron Mining District.
5. Wendron Mining District
The first thing to know about Wendron is that the ground beneath it was once worked as hard as any in Europe. West Cornwall's tin and copper made the county rich, and the district around Wendron, a few kilometres north of Helston, was one of the places where it happened. The old mines, the stream works in the valleys and the engine houses on the hillsides are part of the Cornish Mining World Heritage Site, listed in 2006. Many of the ruins are hidden in woods or fields, so you will have to look for them.
Read the complete Wendron Mining District write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Wendron Mining District sits at 75 km, about halfway. Next is back through Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape.
6. back through Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
back through Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape comes up about 100 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Camborne and Redruth Mining District.
7. back through Camborne and Redruth Mining District
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Camborne and Redruth Mining District write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 117 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Camborne and Redruth Mining District. Next is back through The Port of Hayle.
8. 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 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 155 km.
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 Camborne and Redruth Mining District
The Port of Hayle → Camborne and Redruth Mining District is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Camborne and Redruth Mining District to Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape
Camborne and Redruth Mining District → Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape to Wendron Mining District
Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape → Wendron Mining District is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Wendron Mining District to back through Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape
Wendron Mining District → back through Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape to back through Camborne and Redruth Mining District
back through Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape → back through Camborne and Redruth Mining District is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Camborne and Redruth Mining District to back through The Port of Hayle
back through Camborne and Redruth Mining District → back through The Port of Hayle is 14 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.