| Oliver's Cornwall |
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and St. Austell area |
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ON THIS PAGE
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CORNWALL REVIEWS INDEX and SITE CONTENTS
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The Clay Trails - Cyclists, Horse Riders and Walkers
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We were delighted when in June 2005 the new Cornwall Clay Trails opened, in conjunction with improvements at the Wheal Martyn Museum of China Clay. It took a lot of co-operation and clearly a vast amount of money to complete the project. The bodies involved included Cornwall County Council, the Eden Project, the National Cycle Network people Sustrans, the Lottery Fund and Imerys, the company that operates the vast clay fields. The Clay Trails are essentially Cycle Trails. Paths are wide, firm and well drained, the few gradients are relatively gentle and their clear local purpose is to encourage people to arrive at the Eden Project (they all go there - once) by bike or on foot. There are effectively five Clay Trails. Wheal Martyn to Eden, with a detour towards Carthew, definitely the scenic trail and the best for walkers. Bugle (where you can rent bikes) to Eden, not very scenic, except for a detour on foot round Treskilling Pit. Par Beach (near the former Imerys clay exporting harbour) to St. Blazey, with a footpath extension to Eden and a cycle route extension to St. Austell. And Wheal Martyn to St. Austell, continuing south as a cycle route to link with the Pentewan Valley Trail. Waymarking is good, soetimes using massive granite blocks, and explanatory displays have been installed at some of the points of interest. Occasional shelters have domed grassy roofs. Although these trails are essential for cyclists some of them are well worth walking, too. |
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Trails website. Were the Clay Trails worth all the expense? |
| Update August 2010. I learn from surveyor and map maker Ernie Biddle that there are now additional off-road links to the clay trails. If you are on the Pentewan Valley trail to the south of St. Austell, you will find cycle continuations to Heligan Garden and Mevagissey. And a link seems to be planned from the Goss Moor Nature Reserve trail to the trail from Bugle to Eden. I shall be re-walking all the Clay Trails during the latter half of 2010 and shall then upload detailed individual entries. |
Were the Clay Trails worth all the expense?
| When the first of the Clay Trails opened in 2005 I was full of enthusiasm. Indeed Jane and I walked the very first, from Wheal Martyn towards Eden, before it opened. Later I did the same for Wheal Martyn to St. Austell. I enjoyed my walks but with qualifications: except for the Sky Extension on Wheal Martyn to Eden, and the views of St. Austell Bay approaching Trethurgy, there is not much scenery along the way. Perhaps cyclists don't notice scenery. In August 2007, while waiting for the weather to improve for some photos at Wheal Martyn, I walked from there to Eden and back and started to wonder whether we taxpayers have got value for our money. I think not! Because I had the trail almost to myself, I counted how many people were on it. In 10 miles there and back I saw 5 local dog walkers, 2 couples having short walks - and just one walker and 2 cyclists doing the trail. And this in the height of the holiday season. Where were the streams of cyclists (for whom the trail was created at great expense) heading for Eden? The answer was nowhere. What a waste of money! And now more fortunes are being spent on planting new woodland (being overwhelmed by the dreaded rhodo ponticum) and recreating the old heathland habitat (which is recreating itself naturally anyway). Wouldn't it have been nice if, instead of clay trails, the money had been spent on clearing, maintaining and signing the many miles of lost footpaths for which the County Council have responsibility? |
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| Wheal Martyn Museum - now known as China Clay Country Park |
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| UPDATE AUGUST 2010: I wrote the above a few years ago. To be perfectrly fair, now that I am again walking the Clay Trails, I am finding more cyclists on them than before. Pentewan to St. Austell is fairly well used though I saw few between St. Austell and Wheal Martyn On the other hand, when I walked Wheal Martyn to Eden and Bugle to Eden on a sunny Bank Holidy Saturday at the end of August 2010, I counted a total 7 cyclists, not many for 11 miles of trail. |
The Individual Trails
Wheal Martyn
to The Eden Project - 5 miles
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I had walked this three times before, once walking part of it with Jane before it even opened. Walking it again in August 2010, I was reminded that this is probably the best of the Clay Trails. Very little of it is on roads, a mere quarter mile or so. Near the start is Ruddlemoor ‘Village Green’, created by the villagers, then you cross the road on a bridge and pass through what may have been a holding tank, with stop board slots in the wall. After the junction with what I like to call the White River Trail there is a fairly steep climb through woodland, thick with rhododendrons, of some 250 feet up to an unsigned fork. You must go left here to enjoy the heather and ferns on the way to a rustic shelter with superb views over the valley to modern Wheal Martyn pit. Back on the trail proper, the walk is then more or less level for much of the way, until it starts to drop down to Eden from Trethurgy village. Along the way you pass close to Carluddon ‘alp’ then the massive abandoned Great Carclaze Pit and another rustic shelter. All along here tracks head off right as permissive paths. Approaching Carn Grey Tor, you get a superb view over St. Austell Bay to Pentewan Sands, Polkerris and Gribbin Head. If you venture off trail at Carn Grey Tor, you will find an attractive small flooded quarry. |
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Cafés and free parking at Wheal Martyn and Eden |
Bugle to The Eden Project - 5 miles
| Having not walked this one since shortly before its opening, I had forgotten what a waste of time and space it is. Half is on roads, more close to roads, and there are only two point of interest in its 4½ miles. One is the delightful horse sculpture by the car park at the start of the trail. The other is Treskilling Pit where it is well worth seeing the white clay cliffs by the shelter and taking the detour round the shores of what is now a fishing lake. I recommend you start at the furthest entrance, thus covering the same bit of trail twice, otherwise you will miss the rustic shelter behind the Lake View granite sign. And it’s not just the lake view and its informative storyboards. As you approach the shelter, to your left is a cliff of china clay spoil, so startlingly white that you might be looking at the chalk cliffs of the Sussex coast. My only excuse for walking this otherwise boring trail in August 2010 is that I was doing a round walk to cover two Clay Trails in one go. I set off from the start of this trail, walked on the road to Bugle, up the hill through Stenalees, and down through Carthew to Wheal Martyn. There I started the best part of my walk, the excellent Wheal Martyn to Eden trail. From Eden I then walked this trail to Bugle. In all a 14 mile round walk. For refreshments, the Bugle Inn (half-a-mile from the trail start) is open all day, as is the café at the Eden Project. |
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| Free parking at Bugle trail start and at Eden. |
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The Pentewan
Valley Trail - and its Extension to Wheal Martyn - 6½ miles
This
trail follows the White River almost all the way. I like to think
of it as the White River Trail
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Because most of this walk is on a cycle trail, it’s a relatively easy one. It’s also a surprisingly quiet one as cyclists don’t seem to have found the trail to Mevagissey yet, and my route, for the first mile, along the Pentewan Valley Trail, mostly avoids the cycle track. Pentewan itself is well worth exploring so I recommend starting and finishing at the redundant sea lock, fascinating in itself. There are just three short stretches of road – a couple of hundred yards in Pentewan, 100 yards on the footway along the St. Austell road, and less than a quarter mile in Mevagissey. The cycleway that you use from the St. Austell road to Mevagissey is well made and good to walk on. It starts with an easy 250 foot climb through the delightful broadleaf woodland - including holm oak and sweet chestnut - of New Road Plantation. At the very top, at around 300 feet, look out for the fascinating barns of Peruppa Farm on your left. Half-a-mile after Peruppa, a track goes right to Heligan Garden. If you feel like making a visit there, it may only be a quarter mile each way but you will need half a day to do the garden justice. Before the track descends more steeply to Mevagissey, there are delightful views over the wooded Heligan Valley below. The Coast Path back to Pentewan is of no more than moderate difficulty. |
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Oliver's Diary - Route Directions - Interest and Useful Information |
The Pentewan Valley Trail - Oliver's Diary
| I know both Pentewan and Mevagissey quite well, favouring the former by far over the latter. I have also walked all the Clay Trails several times, including Pentewan to Wheal Martyn before its northern section had been completed. It was my map-making friend Ernie Biddle who told me about the new cycle trail from the Pentewan Valley Trail to Heligan and Mevagissey. So when, in August 2010, I spotted it while walking on the Clay Trail from Pentewan to Wheal Martyn, I decided to return to it for my next walk. As it is a round walk, starting and finishing on the coast, in due course it will become also one of my Coastal Round Walks. For the time being, as it includes a short stretch of Clay Trail, and is waymarked as a ‘Coast and Clay Trail’, I am happy to include it on my Clay Trails page. I enjoyed the stretch to Mevagissey more than I expected. Although it is part of both the Cornish Way and National Cycle Network Route 3, it seems as yet to be little used. All I encountered were dog walkers and one couple on bikes. Reaching Mevagissey, I discovered that I had left my sandwiches on a wall by the St. Austell road. A poor pasty had to suffice for lunch. To my amazement, and pleasure, they were still there when I drove by on my way home. |
The Pentewan Trail - Route Directions
| Pentewan Sea Lock
to the S. Austell road – 2.97 miles
Start at the Sea Lock at Pentewan Harbour at 01976/47156. Follow the harbour and the road round, towards the B3373 Mevagissey road, as far as Pentewan Valley Cycle Hire sign. Pentewan Valley Trail starts here (sign). Go through Pentewan Valley Cycle Hire and through a gap (storyboard) on to the cycle trail. After 15 yards on the cycle track, by the trail opening plaque, go L round a barrier, bearing R, crossing a single plank bridge, and then L to the White River. Turn R along the river and at 0.90 miles, rejoin the cycle trail along the river. At 1.17 miles, a wooden FB goes L (signed National Cycle Network NCN3 Mevagissey 3, Heligan Garden 1½). At 1.40 miles, where a stone bridge goes L over the river to the road and a lay-by, go through a gate, through a CP and another gate, for 50 yards to rejoin the cycle trail along the river. At 00659/49114 at 1.59 miles, the path along river ends, continue on the cycle path through woodland. Go through a gap, then at 00718/49278 at 1.72 miles, just before the cycle trail crosses a small bridge, go L with a stream on R, over muddy ground, bearing L, R and L, to continue on a path along the river. Pass a small CP on R then, at the lane, where the cycle trail heads off R, go L to a bridge at 00778/49794 at 2.07 miles. Go between the bridge and Mount Caravans to continue along river. The path starts narrow and a little difficult for 120 yards, then go up the bank to continue on a wide grassy swathe, with a caravan site on R, to a lane at 00852/50218 at 2.34 miles. A bridge goes L over the White River to London Apprentice but continue through an open gate on the cycle trail to B3373 St. Austell road, opposite The Cornwall at 2.97 miles. St. Austell road, through St. Austell to the Trail to Wheal Martyn – 1.60 miles Go R on the footway along the road towards St. Austell, passing on R a road to Tregorrick. At 01357/51641 at 3.33 miles, cycle route goes R on tarmac lane as NCN3, ignore this. Continue on the footway for about 250 yards to 01338/51878 by an EVIIR postbox. Go R on a path (FP sign) past cottages on L and into the Travelodge CP. Cross the CP, keeping buildings on L, and go L on a path up to the busy A390 Lostwithiel to Truro road. Cross the road, with care, go up 12 steps up to a path and 10 more steps up to Belmont Road. Go R on this road, fairly steeply uphill, for ¼ mile. At a turning at 01683/52193, go L, still on Belmont Road, for 145 yards. At the top at 3.97 miles, go L on Eastbourne Road, rejoining the cycle route, then downhill to cross East Hill at the pedestrian crossing opposite Lidl at 4.11 miles. Continue on the cycle route along a path and East Street to St. Austell Church at 4.18 miles. Go through the churchyard then R uphill on Market Street for a few yards. At 01427/52493 at 4.29 miles, go L uphill on Market Hill (toilets on R). At the top, at 4.35 miles, with a CP on L, turn R uphill steeply (no footway) on North Street. Cross the bridge over the railway and go immediately L on Tremena Road to 01178/52820 at 4.57 miles. Tremena Road to Wheal Martyn - 1.86 miles Where the road bears R as Tremena Gardens, keep forward downhill on a tarmac path on the cycle route (NCN32), passing on your L a railway viaduct and several Clay Trails storyboards. The path becomes a track through woodland at first, passing massive overgrown Trethowel Clay Dries at 01289/53577at 5.06 miles. The track from here is sometimes tarmac, sometimes cycle track, mostly easily uphill with some undulations, crossing a wooden FB on the way. Eventually, at 00969/54687 at 5.81 miles, come to a Clay Trails junction. R is to Eden (4.5 miles) but go L downhill, crossing a footbridge over the Bugle to St. Austell road, passing former clay buildings, to Ruddlemoor ‘Village Green’ at 6.20 miles. Continue through the green (storyboard). The track continues, passing a metal ‘chimney’ sculpture, to the entrance to Wheal Martyn China Clay Museum at 00536/55373 at 490 feet at 6.43 miles. |
The Pentewan Trail - Interest and Useful Information
| Interest
Pentewan: The once busy harbour is now cut off from the sea, though the sea lock is still there. Once it exported china clay, tin, stone, sand, grain and building stone. Now it is an ever more attractive village with a large holiday park by the beach. There is a good pub, the Ship Inn, and a café. White River: It’s real name is the St. Austell River but china clay waste once coloured it white. St. Austell: Cornwall’s largest urban centre and of no interest except for the very centre where you will find the church, narrow higgledy-piggledy streets, a market hall and a multiplicity of pubs, most owned by family owned St. Austell Brewery, whose brewery and visitor centre are close by. Menacuddle Well: A Holy Well and Chapel on the White River. Only just off the trail but you will have to leave on a path left after the storyboards after Tremena Road and then walk a little way along the busy Bugle road. Ruddlemoor: A former china clay village with a strong sense of community. The people have created their own linear Village Green where the clay railway once ran. Wheal Martyn: Superb museum in a former china clay quarry and works. Good exhibitions and displays, impressive plant and machinery and a viewpoint over the working Wheal Martyn quarry. The café is excellent. Useful Information Parking: Free CP in Pentewan village. Free CP at Wheal Martyn China Clay Museum. Intermediate Parking: CP on trail and in lay-by, N of Nansladron, on trail near London Apprentice, and in St. Austell. Trail Links: Cornish Coast Path at Pentewan Sea Lock. The Heligan and Mevagissey Loop, 1.17 miles along this trail. Wheal Martyn to Eden Clay Trail at Wheal Martyn. Ascent: Easy approx. 450 feet from St. Austell by-pass to Wheal Martyn. Highest Point: 490 feet at Wheal Martyn Footing: Mixed track and grassy to St. Austell. Tarmac through St. Austell. Track to Wheal Martyn. Difficulty: Easy going, steepest part is through St. Austell. Refreshments: Ship Inn and café in Pentewan. Many pubs in centre of St. Austell. Café at Wheal Martyn. Toilets: Pentewan. Market Hill, St. Austell. Wheal Martyn. |
The Heligan Loop - Pentewan, Heligan, Mevagissey - 6½ miles
| Because much of this walk is on a cycle trail, it’s a relatively easy one. It’s also a surprisingly quiet one as cyclists don’t seem to have found the trail to Mevagissey yet, and my route, for the first mile, along the Pentewan Valley Trail, mostly avoids the cycle track. Pentewan itself is well worth exploring so I recommend starting and finishing at the redundant sea lock, fascinating in itself. There are just three short stretches of road – a couple of hundred yards in Pentewan, 100 yards on the footway along the St. Austell road, and less than a quarter mile in Mevagissey. The cycleway that you use from the St. Austell road to Mevagissey is well made and good to walk on. It starts with an easy 250 foot climb through the delightful broadleaf woodland - including holm oak and sweet chestnut - of New Road Plantation. At the very top, at around 300 feet, look out for the fascinating barns of Peruppa Farm on your left. Half-a-mile after Peruppa, a track goes right to Heligan Garden. If you feel like making a visit there, it may only be a quarter mile each way but you will need half a day to do the garden justice. Before the track descends more steeply to Mevagissey, there are delightful views over the wooded Heligan Valley below. The Coast Path back to Pentewan is of no more than moderate difficulty. |  |
| Oliver's Diary - Route Directions - Interest along the way |
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The Heligan Loop - Oliver's Diary
| I know both Pentewan and Mevagissey quite well, favouring the former by far over the latter. I have also walked all the Clay Trails several times, including Pentewan to Wheal Martyn before its northern section had been completed. It was my map-making friend Ernie Biddle who told me about the new cycle trail from the Pentewan Valley Trail to Heligan and Mevagissey. So when, in August 2010, I spotted it while walking on the Clay Trail from Pentewan to Wheal Martyn, I decided to return to it for my next walk. As it is a round walk, starting and finishing on the coast, in due course it will become also one of my Coastal Round Walks. For the time being, as it includes a short stretch of Clay Trail, and is waymarked as a ‘Coast and Clay Trail’, I am happy to include it on my Clay Trails page. I enjoyed the stretch to Mevagissey more than I expected. Although it is part of both the Cornish Way and National Cycle Network Route 3, it seems as yet to be little used. All I encountered were dog walkers and one couple on bikes. Reaching Mevagissey, I discovered that I had left my sandwiches on a wall by the St. Austell road. A poor pasty had to suffice for lunch. To my amazement, and pleasure, they were still there when I drove by on my way home. |
The Heligan Loop - Route Directions
| Pentewan Sea Lock
to Bridge over White River – 1.17 miles
Start at the Sea Lock at Pentewan Harbour. Follow the harbour and the road round, towards the B3373 Mevagissey road, as far as Pentewan Valley Cycle Hire sign. Pentewan Valley Trail starts here (sign). Go through Pentewan Valley Cycle Hire and through a gap (storyboard) on to the cycle trail. The cycle trail continues, well signed, to the road at Tregorrick, opposite The Cornwall Hotel and Spa. Walkers should do only 15 yards on the cycle track then, by the Trail opening plaque, go L round a barrier, bearing R, crossing a single plank bridge, and then L to the White River. Turn R along the river and at 0.90 miles, rejoin the cycle trail. At 00761/48443 at 1.17 miles, a wooden FB goes L (signed National Cycle Network NCN3 Mevagissey 3, Heligan Garden 1½, Coast and Clay Trail). White River Bridge to Mevagissey – 3.14 miles Go L over the bridge to the B3273 St. Austell to Mevagissey road, opposite Nansladron Farm, then L on the footway and cross to other side for 45 yards to the entrance to Pentewan Valley Nurseries. Cross the lane to a track between hedges at 1.38 miles. At 1.54 miles, cross another lane and continue on the track, which soon winds uphill; through broadleaf woodland. At the top you go under a handsome road bridge (looks like a railway bridge) at 2.29 miles, climbing eventually to around 300 feet by an interesting collection of barns at Peruppa Farm. The descent to Mevagissey is partly in woodland, partly with lovely views over the wooded Heligan Valley. Eventually you find yourself on a tarmac lane passing the Mevagissey Tennis and Bowling Club, on the way to the road at 3.91 miles. Here you can avoid a bit of road by going through a park on the right. At the bottom of the hill, in Market Square, go L on Fore Street, R into St. George’s Square and on to East Wharf at Mevagissey Harbour at 4.31 miles. Mevagissey to Pentewan – On the Coast Path – 2.13 miles Keep the harbour on your R for 50 yards and go L (Coast Path sign Pentewan 2¼) uphill on a concrete path. This, and 78 steps up, take you into the open to continue on grass up to 210 feet at 4.60 miles. The path then undulates before 50 steps down to a FB at Polstreath and a steep climb with 92 steps up into the open again and on up to 275 feet at 5.18 miles. The path then undulates down to the road at 6.00 miles. In Pentewan go along down the S side of the harbour to the sea lock at 6.44 miles. |
Heligan Loop - Interest and Information
| Interest along
the way
Pentewan: The once busy harbour is now cut off from the sea, though the sea lock is still there. Once it exported china clay, tin, stone, sand, grain and building stone. Now it is an ever more attractive village with large holiday park by the beach. There is a good pub, the Ship Inn, and a café. Heligan Garden: Rescued from almost a century’s dereliction by Tim Smit of Eden fame, Heligan is now one of the great gardens. Comprising Northern Garden, Ravine Garden, a tropical Jungle, a Lost Valley and a Home Farm, its 90 acres need at least a half-day to do it justice. Mevagissey: Were it just the busy fishing harbour and its immediate surrounds, Mevagissey would be a delightful place. Unfortunately, it has become the worst sort of trippery resort, filled in season with people wandering aimlesly, eating pasties and ice cream from unattractive cafés and take-aways. Try it in Spring or Autumn. Useful Information Parking: Free CP in Pentewan village. Free at Heligan Garden (off trail). Expensive in Mevagissey. Ascent: 250 feet up to bridge near Peruppa Farm. 210 feet out of Mevagissey. 140 feet up from Polstreath. Highest Point: 300 feet near Polruppa Farm. 275 feet on the Coast Path. Steps on Coast Path: 180 up, including flights of 78 and 92. 62 down, including flight of 44. Footing: Well-made cycle trail to Mevagissey. Good footing, mostly on grass, on Coast Path to Pentewan. Difficulty: Easy to moderate to Mevagissey. Moderate on the Coast Path but with two climbs, one steep with steps. Refreshments: Ship Inn and a café in Pentewan. Café at Heligan Garden. Multiple outlets in Mevagissey. Toilets: By Pentewan harbour and on the road into Mevagissey. |
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I first walked this Clay Trail (now called a Coast and Clay Trail) in March 2006. It was difficult to follow then. When I re-walked it in August 2010 it was still difficult. The cycle route part of it is waymarked with blue National Cycle Network signs. Unfortunately, some of these are missing, some are damaged, two are invisible, and one points the wrong way. Which is why I have thought it necessary to include complete route directions below. For the walker it’s a route of three parts. First a mile across dunes and marsh. Then an urban, but off road, mile-and-a-half, mostly following a small river. Finally a rural mile-and-a-half with a sunken track, a long field, a quiet lane, and a track through scrub to Eden. As it links at Eden with two other Clay Trails, ideally I would suggest doing it as part of a 10 mile downhill route from Wheal Martyn or Bugle to Par Beach. Because much of the route is urban, there are relatively few views, just a glimpse of Clay Country from the lane near Crownhill Farm, though the initial views, south across St. Austell Bay to Little Gribbin and west to the Imerys china clay works, are enjoyable. The grouping of St. Blaise church and the Cornish Arms in St. Blazey is appealing but the church is of little interest inside. On its own this is the least interesting of the Clay Trails. |
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Route Directions - Interest and Useful Information |
Par Beach to Eden - Route Directions
| Par Beach to St.
Blaise Church, St. Blazey – 2.45 miles
The cycle route starts at the Par Beach CP entrance (no sign) and follows the lane through the holiday park to the sculpture at 07897/53303. Walkers should cross the car park to the SE corner and follow a sandy track towards the beach. Officially you should follow the Coast Path W across the beach but the sand is very soft. So, from 08684/53114 at 0.12 miles, cross the dunes at the back of the beach to a Coast Path WM post at 07904/53178 at 0.66 miles. Go R through a CP and continue on a tarmac lane to a T at 07897/53303 at 0.74 miles. On your L is a Clay Trails sculpture, on your R is a Coast & Clay Trail sign. Go L on a track to 07833/53303 at 0.78 miles. Go R (granite WM) on a path through scrubby woodland, crossing a FB over marsh, finally bearing R and L to a hunting gate to Imerys private road at 0.90 miles. Cross to another hunting gate and continue on a mostly concrete path to Par Green Road at 07861/53635 at 1.02 miles (Coast and Clay Trail sign). At this point the cycle route goes R or L round the block. Go L for 20 yards, cross the road to a FP, bears R and L, to Woodland Road to rejoin the cycle route at 07836/53759 at 1.12 miles by a FP sign. Cross the road and go R on the footway for 35 yards. Go L (NCN sign not visible until after turning corner) to a kissing gate to a park. Go through the park, with running track and sports field on R to a T at 07715/54123. Go R (no sign) with the railway on L. Go through the CP at Par Station and continue on a tarmac path up to the road opposite the the Royal Inn, (NCN sign on post behind you). Go L over the railway bridge and follow the footway to 07684/54357 at 1.59 miles. (Here the NCN sign points in the wrong direction). Go L down 6 steps and follow a track through woodland, with a stream on L, bearing L over a FB, then passing a lake on the R to a T at a CP area at 07539/54363 at 1.68 miles. Go L (no sign) on a track through woodland, passing Par Estuary storyboard on R, to open ground. The track follows the line of the woodland on R, enters woodland and then follows a river on L to St. Andrew’s Road at 07242/54358 at 1.96 miles. Go L on the road for 25 yards, crossing the river and a railway level crossing. Go R on a track (NCN sign), with the river on R, to 07048/54881 at 2.31 miles. Go L (no sign) on a path through scrub, bearing L past houses, to Station Road (opposite a NCN sign). Go R on the footway for 35 yards to the junction with Fore Street (A390) at 06899/54793 at 2.45 miles. St. Blaise Church to Eden – 1.61 miles Cross Fore Street to the Cornish Arms and go steeply up Duke Street (no trail sign), which becomes a FP then a deep sunken path, fairly steep. Go through a gate and then a kissing gate at 3.00 miles into a field. Follow the RH hedge, roughly W uphill. Where the hedge goes R, continue on the same line to a kissing gate (FP sign) to a lane at 3.21 miles. Go L on the lane uphill, passing Cornhill Farm and then Treburthan to 05613/54547 at 1.66 miles. Cross the Luxulyan road (sign cycleway Eden Project) and continue on the lane downhill towards Tregrehan, passing cottages on R, to 05345/54339 at 3.89 miles. Go R on the cycleway (signed Eden ¼) on a track through scrubby woodland. Continue on the track, then go through a small gate (walkers, cycles sign) at 05012/54486 at 4.19 miles. At this point, if you continue on the track, you will link with Clay Trail routes to Wheal Martyn and Bugle, and a cycle route to Bodmin. Follow the signed walkers route to the ticket entrance to Eden, toilets on L, café on R, at 4.06 miles. |
Par Beach to Eden - Interest and Useful Information
| Interest
Par: Once a busy place when the china clay works were operating at capacity and the harbour was used to ship out the finished product. Now it’s something of a ghost town. The half-mile beach is a good sandy one, dunes and a holiday park behind it. The tide here goes out almost half-a-mile. Marsh Villa Garden: Lovely, privately owned, garden, open Sunday to Wednesday from April to October. Superb herbaceous borders, rockery, roses, pond, bog garden, woodland and more. Teas. Entrance on R, soon after the Royal Inn and almost opposite where yu go left down steps into woodland at Par Marsh. St. Blazey: Nothing to commend it, except the attractive grouping of pub and church (thirsting after righteousness?) Eden Project: Cornwall’s major tourist attraction and, at the same time, an important ecological venture. Founded by Tim Smit, who also re-vivified Heligan Garden, it needs at least half-a-day for a worthwhile visit. It’s expensive but tends to offer good discounts (including to walkers and cyclists) and incentives. Useful Information Parking: Par Beach (inexpensive). Eden (free). Trail Links: Cornish Coast Path at Par Beach. Saints Way at Par Beach. Wheal Martyn and Bugle Clay Trails at Eden. Ascent: Fairly steep 300 feet from St. Blazey Church to Cornhill Farm. Footing: Mixed track and tarmac to St. Blazey. Paths (sunken and field) and quiet lane on to Eden. Refreshments: Supposed to be café at Par Beach but not spotted. Cornish Arms in St. Blazey. Café by entry at Eden. Toilets: Supposed to be at Par Beach but not spotted. St. Blazey football ground. Eden. |
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