Cornish Cycle Tour - 9 days cycling

Protected from Atlantic storms, St. Ives was once the most important fishing port in Cornwall, but like elsewhere on the surrounding coast, by the beginning of the 20th century, the fish stocks became depleted and the fishing fleet largely disappeared. However as early as 1811 Turner visited to paint the seascapes and by the late 1880s there were several artists installed and the town became famous for its vibrant artists’ colony. This perhaps reached its peak during the late 1940s and the 1950s. Today, their work can be seen in the St. Ives Tate Gallery, the Barbara Hepworth Museum and the Bernard Leach Gallery.

Accommodation: We use several guesthouses in the busy town of St Ives, one is a 4 star and the other a boutique B&B. If this is full you may be booked into Carbis Bay 10 minutes ride away.

Then you’ll head east through Treen, passing some ancient remains, and cycling through the semi tropical valley at Lamorna. The route runs down the coast of Cornwall to Mousehole (pron’Mowzl’), another picture postcard village. It has a history of pilchard fishing and now has a small artists community. You then pedal through Newlyn and into Penzance. This has a number of attractions including some Georgian and Regency housing, the exuberant Egyptian House, Maritime Museum and National Lighthouse Museum.

Before Treen you can take a little detour to Porthcurno which is home to the Minack Theatre. It is dramatically situated and built by Rowena Cade - a unique place where the auditorium and stage are carved into the cliff above the sea, and above a wonderful bay.
Accommodation: You will stay at one of our selected guesthouses/B&B's in the seaside town of Penzance.

 

Pedal out inland to cross Lizard Point avoiding the steepest coastal hills. You pass the heath of Goonhilly Down to St. Keverne to view its pleasant village square and remarkable churchyard. Here over 400 shipwreck victims of the nearby Manacle Reef are buried. Continue cycling to Helford and round the pretty villages that surround the Helford River. Frenchmans Creek here was made famous by the writer Daphne Du Maurier. Here you need to take a ferry across the Helford River. On the other side you could drop into the famous Trebah Gardens, before continuing through to the pretty cove at Swanpool for a coffee or an icecream. Finally, you roll into Falmouth, home to the world’s third largest natural harbour and the National Maritime Museum.

Accommodation: We use a number of guesthouse/B&B's in this lively town.

You start today's cycling with a ferry ride from Falmouth to St. Mawes. It is a remote pleasant little yachting harbour at the end of the Roseland Peninsula, which boasts a clover leaf castle built by Henry VIII in 1542. Today is hilly as you visit various attractive coves on the route, you are cycling across the pretty Roseland Peninsula passing through Veryan (with its round houses) Portloe and Portholland before rolling past Caerhays Castle and beaches. Then cycle along country lanes with some steep hills to the old fishing and smuggling village of Mevagissey.

The hilly route continues to your overnight stop in Charlestown. This attractive old port was used as a location for filming Poldark and Jane Austin’s Persuasion. Usually there is at least one square ridded vessel being worked on in the old dock, which gives the place an old fashion air. There is also a shipwreck museum. Today or tomorrow you could visit the Eden Project, famous in Cornwall it is a biosphere reserve with tropical gardens.

Accommodation: Our Georgian guesthouse lies at the head of the historic port, Charlestown is a Conservation Area of special local importance. There are seven tastefully decorated letting rooms all en-suite with views overlooking the harbour.

Heading towards the Eden Project, in the old China Clay pits, you avoid the busiest roads, to ascend the quiet lane through Tregrehan Mills to join a rough track that goes to the project. At a junction, if you want you can do an excursion off along the Clay Trails - a landscape well known for its clay tips and pits created by the 250-year-old clay mining industry. This striking and dramatic scenery is visible from distances of many miles. You can ride them, passing the Eden Project and then into the beautiful UNESCO ‘World Heritage Site’ valley before the pretty village of Luxulyan. Then onto Bodmin, which has an 18th century gaol where you could break for lunch passing the Bodmin & Wenford Railway, where steam locomotives are still chugging away. Leaving Bodmin, your Cornish Cycle tour ends with a gentle cycle along the Camel Trail. Follow the river towards Padstow and you have now completed this exciting loop of Cornwall.

Accommodation: As per the first night.

Depart Padstow after breakfast.