Why this ride
92 km from Helston to Helston, about 1 h 45 of riding. On the way it passes Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape, St Just Mining District and back through Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Wendron Mining District and St Just Mining District
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 92 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 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. 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 is where the day begins. Next is Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape.
2. 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 comes up about 21 km into the recorded legs. Next is St Just Mining District.
3. 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
about 46 km into the recorded legs you reach St Just Mining District. Next is back through Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape.
4. 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, late in the day. Next is Wendron Mining District.
5. Wendron Mining District
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
Back at Wendron Mining District. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Wendron Mining District to Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape
Wendron Mining District → Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape to St Just Mining District
Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape → St Just Mining District is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
St Just Mining District to back through Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape
St Just Mining District → back through Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape to Wendron Mining District
back through 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.