Why this ride
From Tavistock it runs 241 km to Tavistock; allow about 4 h 19 of riding. It goes by way of The Luxulyan Valley, Caradon Mining District, Charlestown and back through Caradon Mining District.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Tamar Valley Mining District and Charlestown
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 241 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 19
- 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. Tamar Valley Mining District
For a few decades in the nineteenth century the Tamar valley was among the richest copper fields in Europe, and then, almost overnight, it became a major source of arsenic. The river divides Devon from Cornwall, and the hills on both sides are pocked with old mine workings, engine houses, spoil heaps and the cuttings of former railways. Devon Great Consols, near Gunnislake, was in the nineteenth century one of the richest copper mines in the world, and when copper prices fell the owners turned to arsenic, which was used in pesticides and paint, and for a time it made the valley a strategic industry. The whole area is part of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape, listed by UNESCO in 2006.
Read the complete Tamar Valley Mining District write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Tamar Valley Mining District is where the day begins. Next is The Luxulyan Valley.
2. 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 comes up about 48 km into the recorded legs. Next is Caradon Mining District.
3. Caradon Mining District
Engine houses stand like chess pieces on the southern flank of Bodmin Moor, tall granite boxes with their chimneys still pointing at the sky, and around them the ground is scarred by spoil heaps, shafts and old tramway beds. This is the Caradon Mining District, around the village of Pensilva and the hill of Caradon, where copper was found in the 1830s and set off a boom that made it, for a few decades, one of the richest copper districts in Britain. It is one of the ten areas of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site, listed in 2006.
Read the complete Caradon Mining District write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 81 km into the recorded legs you reach Caradon Mining District. Next is Charlestown.
4. 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
Charlestown, about halfway. Next is back through Caradon Mining District.
5. back through Caradon Mining District
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Caradon 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 Caradon Mining District sits at 173 km, about halfway. Next is back through The Luxulyan Valley.
6. back through The Luxulyan Valley
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
back through The Luxulyan Valley comes up about 192 km into the recorded legs. Next is Tamar Valley Mining District.
7. Tamar Valley Mining District
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Tamar Valley Mining District write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Tamar Valley Mining District closes the day.
Leg by leg
Tamar Valley Mining District to The Luxulyan Valley
Tamar Valley Mining District → The Luxulyan Valley is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Luxulyan Valley to Caradon Mining District
The Luxulyan Valley → Caradon Mining District is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Caradon Mining District to Charlestown
Caradon Mining District → Charlestown is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Charlestown to back through Caradon Mining District
Charlestown → back through Caradon Mining District is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Caradon Mining District to back through The Luxulyan Valley
back through Caradon Mining District → back through The Luxulyan Valley is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The Luxulyan Valley to Tamar Valley Mining District
back through The Luxulyan Valley → Tamar Valley Mining District is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.