The Goss Moor Trail great for Walks, Bike Rides & Running.

The Goss Moor multi-use trail is a 7 mile (12 km) circular route around the Goss Moor in Cornwall. This trail is covered by OS Explorer Map 106 Newquay & Padstow which you can view using the link. The map on the information board below also gives information about the trail (just without the full contour detail you get from an Ordnance Survey map).

Map of the 7 mile circular Goss Moor route.

Now a nature reserve the moor has previously been the site of medieval alluvial tin extraction, sand extraction and most famously the old route of the A30; Cornwalls main transport artery.

Goss Moor – infamous site of the old A30.

This long straight 2 lane road was the main route in and out of Cornwall and was infamous for bottle necks leading to it often being referred to as Cornwalls largest car park (due to the hours many spent sitting there in stationary traffic). During the solar eclipse in 1999 some entrepreneurial young Cornishmen even walked up and down between the stationary traffic selling cold bottles of drink and snacks such were the queues encountered.

The old surface of the A30 has now been turned into a cycle/multi use trail.

Going coast to coast: The Bissoe mineral tramways trail. Bike rides, walks and runing (Cornwall).

Mine building at Poldice on the coast to coast mineral tramways trail (Cornwall).

Distance: 11-miles
Route: Coast to Coast Mineral Tramways Trail from Devoran to Portreath.
Terrain: Cycle trail, road
Farmland, mining heritage, ‘mining moonscape’
Max Height: 114m
Min Height: 4m
Total Asc: 198m
Total Desc: 191m

Map: OS Explorer 104 Redruth and St Agnes.

 

This trail’s distance of 11 miles makes for an out-and-back of 22 miles; perfect for marathon training.

Old chimney stack Bissoe trail.

For those used to Cornwall’s scenic coast, golden beaches and lush green farmland the mineral tramway offers a new landscape to explore. In parts more moonscape than landscape, where you are never far from a reminder of the areas fascinating industrial history.

Capped mine shaft on the mineral tramways trail (Cornwall).

It is hard to believe that only 150 years ago the whole area was one of the most industrialised areas in the world. Tramways and Railways traversed the route. Following the contours of the valleys which echoed to the sound of mining stamps and the toil of thousands of men below ground and women and children above ground. In the intervening 150 years, the smell of coal and laboring bodies has subsided and nature has slowly taken a hold. It is a testament to the power of nature and (perhaps given the current global environmental issues) reassuring to see that nature has the power to erase most of man’s past mistakes and mismanagement. Yet even the power of nature has been unable to heal all of the scars inflicted on this land in the name of profit and the pursuit of mineral riches.

Portreath Devoran trail marker.