Cornish Contrasts
Explore Cornwall's inland scenery; the wide open heath of Goonhilly Down and the mining country dotted with the impressive ruins of old engine houses. Along the way you take in castles, exotic sub tropical gardens and visit the most southerly point of the British mainland. Attractions: St. Michael’s Mount, Pendennis Castle, Lizard village and lighthouse, National Seal Sanctuary, Goonhilly Earth Station, Poldark Mine, Trevarno Estate, huge pasties and cream teas! This tour includes bed & breakfast accommodation, a tour pack (including colour coded route directions and a map), bicycle hire, luggage transfers and emergency telephone assistance.
3 days, 2 nights
This tour involves three cycle rides as follows:
Day 1 - Lizard Peninsula. Ride down the west coast through the delightful Church Cove to Mullion from where you can continue all the way down to Lizard, the most southerly point of the British mainland. This also takes you to Kynance Cove where the combination of the rare serpentine rock and the powerful sea has produced amazing beaches with cliffs, caves and islands. The next section takes you across the Goonhilly Downs where the solid rock makes a good stable platform for the satellite tracking station where a visitor centre explains the technology and gives you a guided tour of the site.
Day 2 - St Michael's Mount. Ride out past the Penrose Estate, an area of woodland around the Loe Pool now owned by the National Trust. Continue to Porthleven, a working fishing port and then follow the coast west to Praa Sands, a mile long sweep of sand renowned as one of Cornwall’s finest family beaches and popular with surfers. A little further on is one of Cornwall's most famous landmarks, St. Michael’s Mount, a little island community that can be reached by causeway at low tide.
Day 3 - Wendron, Penryn & Falmouth, Pendennis Castle, Constantine and Gweek. Ride out to Wendron and on to the site of a reconstructed mining village. A huge beam engine dominates the site above ground while below you can explore the old tunnels and workings. The ride continues through mining country with several old engine houses dotting the landscape. Continue to Penryn, once the main port in this area before moving down the coast to Falmouth, a busy pleasant town where the atmosphere is flavoured by the salt sea air. There is still an active fishing fleet here and the docks still repair and refit some fairly large ships although leisure is now a more important business with several exotic gardens a maritime museum and some pleasant beaches. The impressive fortifications of Henry VIII’s Pendennis Castle still dominate the headland. Continue past more subtropical gardens to Gweek on the Helford Creek where the sheltered waters are a popular haven for leisure boats and a rare and delicate marine environment famous for its oysters. It is also the home of the National Seal Sanctuary where they rescue injured seal pups from local beaches and also care for other abandoned sea mammals.
B&B Price: £264.00 (price per person, based on two people sharing)
2 days, 1 night
This tour runs as above, but misses the ride on day 3.
B&B Price: £181.00 (price per person, based on two people sharing)
