Why this ride
326 km from Germoe to Germoe, about 5 h 55 of riding. The stops in between: St Agnes Mining District, Charlestown, Devoran and Perran and The Luxulyan Valley. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Trewavas and The Luxulyan Valley
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 326 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 55
- 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.
Scenic road chapters
Atlantic Highway, A39
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 43 km this is Atlantic Highway, A39, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 43 km
- Named road
- Atlantic Highway, A39
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. 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 is where the day begins. Next is St Agnes Mining District.
2. St Agnes Mining District
St Agnes is a village of fewer than three thousand people on the north coast of Cornwall, and its coastline is one of the most photographed in the county. The reason is Wheal Coates, a pair of engine houses perched on a cliff above the sea at Chapel Porth, the sort of view that appears on tea towels. The engine houses once pumped water from tin and copper mines that ran under the cliff, and miners worked in tunnels that went out beneath the waves. Today they stand roofless, with ferns in the windows, against a sky that seems to change every few minutes.
Read the complete St Agnes Mining District write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
St Agnes Mining District comes up about 37 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 80 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 161 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 205 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 243 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Charlestown. Next is back through St Agnes Mining District.
8. back through St Agnes Mining District
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete St Agnes 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 St Agnes Mining District, late in the day. Next is Trewavas.
9. Trewavas
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
The route ends here after 326 km.
Leg by leg
Trewavas to St Agnes Mining District
Trewavas → St Agnes Mining District is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
St Agnes Mining District to Charlestown
St Agnes Mining District → Charlestown is 43 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 St Agnes Mining District
back through Charlestown → back through St Agnes Mining District is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through St Agnes Mining District to Trewavas
back through St Agnes Mining District → Trewavas is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.