Why this ride
From Redruth it runs 321 km to Redruth; allow about 5 h 45 of riding. It goes by way of Charlestown, Devoran and Perran, The Luxulyan Valley and Caradon Mining District. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Wheal Peevor and Caradon Mining District
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 321 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 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.
Scenic road chapters
Atlantic Highway, A39
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 45 km this is Atlantic Highway, A39, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 45 km
- Named road
- Atlantic Highway, A39
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Wheal Peevor
Cornwall's mining country does not look like postcards. Around Redruth the land is brown and scrubby, with chimneys and roofless engine houses standing on every hill, and the soil still carries scars where shafts and spoil heaps once covered the countryside. Wheal Peevor is one of those engine houses, near the village of St Day, and a small piece of what UNESCO recognised as the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape. At its peak in the nineteenth century, Cornwall produced a huge share of the world's copper and tin, and Cornish miners and engineers carried their skills to Australia, South Africa, Mexico and the United States, which is why you find Cornish pasties in places far from Cornwall.
Read the complete Wheal Peevor write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Wheal Peevor is where the day begins. Next is Charlestown.
2. 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 comes up about 45 km into the recorded legs. Next is Devoran and Perran.
3. 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
about 83 km into the recorded legs you reach Devoran and Perran. Next is The Luxulyan Valley.
4. 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, about halfway. Next is Caradon Mining District.
5. 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 sits at 162 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 194 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Devoran and Perran.
7. 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
about 237 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Devoran and Perran. Next is back through Charlestown.
8. 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
back through Charlestown, late in the day. Next is Wheal Peevor.
9. Wheal Peevor
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Wheal Peevor 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 321 km.
Leg by leg
Wheal Peevor to Charlestown
Wheal Peevor → Charlestown is 45 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 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 back through The Luxulyan Valley
Caradon Mining District → back through The Luxulyan Valley is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The Luxulyan Valley to back through Devoran and Perran
back through 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 Wheal Peevor
back through Charlestown → Wheal Peevor is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.