Padstow harbour, at the start of the trail	Girder Bridge over Little Petherick Creek	Wenford Dries, near the end of the trail

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The Camel Trail

INTRODUCTION

Padstow to Wadebridge

Wadebridge to Dunmere

Dunmere to Wenford Bridge

REVIEWS INDEX and SITE CONTENTS

The Camel Trail - an introduction

	Until the 1970s a branch railroad in the Camel Valley linked Padstow and Wadebridge with the main line at Bodmin.  Now it is an 18-mile hiking, horse riding and cycling trail, extended to Wenford Bridge on a former quarry tramway, again alongside the river.  For the cyclist it then effectively continues as the Camelford Way as far as the town of Camelford, making a total trail of some 26 miles.  Refreshments in Padstow and Wadebridge, at a tea garden near Dunmere, at the excellent Borough Arms at Dunmere and at the Potters Barn in Wenford Bridge.  Hikers, beware summer vacation time when there can often be too many cyclists for comfort.  Horses and hikers take precedence over cyclists but not many cyclists choose to behave as if they know that.  Bikes can be hired in Padstow and Wadebridge.  For walkers the level firm terrain could not be easier - but can be boring against the Coast Path or Bodmin Moor.
Padstow Harbour	Trail leaflet from Tourist Information Centres	Trail marker

Padstow to Wadebridge - 6 miles

For the first three miles views of the Camel estuary are superb, looking back to Daymer Bay and Pentire Point and across to Rock.  Views are then restricted for a couple of miles but then open out for sightings of wading birds on tidal mud flats and salt marshes.  It's rather urban for a while through Wadebridge town but you are soon back on the trail again.

The famous 'girder bridge' near Padstow	Wadebridge station - now Betjeman Centre

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Wadebridge to Dunmere - 5 miles

This is my least preferred section.  At first views are open, over what was meadow grazed by cattle but in 2006 was returned to salt marsh as far as Sladesbridge.  But then you are in fairly uninteresting woodland for the rest of the way to Dunmere, relieved only by a handsome bridge at Polbrock and by remains of the occasional station.  For interest along the way  you could visit Camel Valley Vineyard or perhaps encounter a steam train at Boscarne Junction, the western terminus of the restored Bodmin and Wenford Railway, which runs not to Wenford but to Bodmin Parkway, where it links with the main line.

River Camel at Polbrock	Dunmere's former station

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Dunmere to Wenford Bridge - 7 miles

This is my favourite section of the Camel Trail.  Quieter than Padstow to Dunmere, it climbs and winds gently through beech woodland following the line of a former quarry railroad that carried granite and china clay from Bodmin Moor. Although heavily wooded, the feeling is surprisingly open and there are often good views down to the river below.  There is quite a lot of interest along the way.  At Helland Bridge look out for the handsome medieval bridge and consider visiting the Old Mill Herbary Garden or Paul Jackson's studio pottery.  The once renowned pottery of Michael Cardew at Wenford Bridge no longer operates but the Potters Barn does teas in season.  In the last mile from Poley's Bridge to Wenford Bridge a number of metal sculptures include a massive silver salmon and you will pass Wenford China Clay Dries.

Medieval Helland Bridge	Wenford china clay dries

July 2008.  I am told that the Potter's Barn at Wenford Bridge has closed. I haven't been to check yet so can anyone confirm this?  If it is closed, there is still Tresarrett Tea Garden, just over a mile south, at the hamlet of Trersarrett, just off the trail.

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