Why this ride
From Tavistock it runs 226 km to Tavistock; allow about 4 h 33 of riding. It goes by way of Caradon Mining District, The Luxulyan Valley, Devoran and Perran and Portreath Branch of the Hayle Railway.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Tamar Valley Mining District and Portreath Branch of the Hayle Railway
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 226 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 33
- 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 Caradon Mining District.
2. 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
Caradon Mining District comes up about 18 km into the recorded legs. Next is The Luxulyan Valley.
3. 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
about 52 km into the recorded legs you reach The Luxulyan Valley. 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 Portreath Branch of the Hayle Railway.
5. Portreath Branch of the Hayle Railway
Cornwall's first railways were built to carry copper ore down to the sea and coal back up, and the Portreath branch of the Hayle Railway was one of the busiest. It opened in 1837, joining the mines around Redruth to the small harbour at Portreath on the north coast, where ore was loaded onto ships bound for the smelters of south Wales, and coal came in to feed the pumping engines. A tramroad had already done the same job here since the early nineteenth century, and the railway replaced it with steam power and heavier loads.
Read the complete Portreath Branch of the Hayle Railway write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Portreath Branch of the Hayle Railway sits at 116 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 130 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through The Luxulyan Valley.
7. 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
about 174 km into the recorded legs you reach back through The Luxulyan Valley. Next is back through Caradon Mining District.
8. 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, late in the day. Next is Tamar Valley Mining District.
9. 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
The route ends here after 226 km.
Leg by leg
Tamar Valley Mining District to Caradon Mining District
Tamar Valley Mining District → Caradon Mining District is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Caradon Mining District to The Luxulyan Valley
Caradon Mining District → The Luxulyan Valley is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Luxulyan Valley to Devoran and Perran
The Luxulyan Valley → Devoran and Perran is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Devoran and Perran to Portreath Branch of the Hayle Railway
Devoran and Perran → Portreath Branch of the Hayle Railway is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Portreath Branch of the Hayle Railway to back through Devoran and Perran
Portreath Branch of the Hayle Railway → back through Devoran and Perran is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Devoran and Perran to back through The Luxulyan Valley
back through Devoran and Perran → back through The Luxulyan Valley is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The Luxulyan Valley to back through Caradon Mining District
back through The Luxulyan Valley → back through Caradon Mining District is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Caradon Mining District to Tamar Valley Mining District
back through Caradon Mining District → Tamar Valley Mining District is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.