West Kernow Way: Part 1 - Penzance - Land's End - Tinner's Way - Helston

[@GuyKesTV]

If anyone fancies some shorter historical based Time Travel Gravel day routes I've just started a new channel at kzbin.info/door/gB0GZ1kKDGGy2wS_awiRXg

[@lindathomas5500]

They’re called piskies down here! 😃 Really enjoyed this…. Going to search out your others. Thank you for sharing!

[@matthewlewis2072]

Hiya, can anyone who's done WKW advise on tyre choices?

[@GuyKesTV]

What time of year are you going Matthew?

[@nickeveritt4391]

Looks brilliant! Did KAW earlier this year and loved it, this is top of the list for next year! Super commentary Guy.

[@TheBikeChallenge]

We also made a video of our experience doing West Kernow Way bikepacking over 3 days - do check it out! kzbin.info/www/bejne/bGS6aYBuhtV0faM

[@ekrano]

Looks like you needed a Rudy XPLR fork on the Stig for some of it. I take it that if you avoid the bonus sections then you should be fine on a gravel/all-road bike.

[@lindathomas5500]

Ohhh I have to correct you here! There has NEVER been a prosecution for wrecking in Cornwall EVER, it was a rumour put around by Lloyds of London, as the main insurer they were looking for was to get out of paying! Ask anyone who sails, seeing lights ahead would cause you to steer clear, they tried to say we were on cliff tops waving lanterns! 🤣😂 ships wrecked here frequently due to it being one of the most dangerous areas full of under the surface rocks and reefs! Sailors had a saying.. From Pentire Point to Hartland light, A watery grave by day and night! The weather in Cornwall can turn in a second. Going from clear and sunny to the fog rolling in and being unable to see more than ten feet in front.

[@lindathomas5500]

And ps far from wrecking, whole villages used to turn up to hold the lines shot across from cliffs and beaches to sinking ships so those in the breeches boy could be hauled to safely!! In fact Henry Trengrouse, invented the life saving rocket any earlier for of breeches boy! Enabled us Cornish to send a line to ships on the rocks!

[@oliverj.2267]

I don't have a gravel bike and some of these sections look quite rough. Do you think I could do the official route on a tour bike with 28c gravel tyres (presuming I can avoid some of the rougher bridleways)?

[@GuyKesTV]

Most of it will be OK without big tyres, just maybe not the bit across the northern moors and the lumpy bits just before the Lizard

[@DoodleIT-Web-Design]

Looks amazing thanks Guy. Loved KAW with all the added extras. Did it July. Hopefully get this one in before winter arrives. Peter North Wales

[@Old_Geezer]

No mining here anymore, not since South Crofty finally closed in 1998 - not much fishing either sadly, compared to when I was a young'un. Like a lot of places, heavily reliant on tourism now and that only goes so far. Still one of the poorest counties in the country, yet one with among the highest costs of living. Those born in Cornwall often don't get to stay anymore - property prices are ridiculous and far too many second homes that stand empty a lot of the time or are just rented out as short term holiday lets. Like so much of rural England, caught in a bit of a vicious circle - it needs and relies on tourism money and wealthy retirees etc. but it doesn't solve the problems that many face trying to eke out a living here. Very few places I'd rather be though :) As you have seen, it takes some beating and it's nice to see it through the eyes of someone to whom it's a whole new experience. Oh, and they're Cornish "piskies".

[@GuyKesTV]

Thanks for the updates and local knowledge sir. We've got a similar situation up here in the Dales with holiday homes pushing locals out of the chance of ever affording their own home and creating a very seasonal tourist economy. The whole idea with this route and with others around the Experience Hubs in Helston and Penzance is to encourage people to visit before and after the silly season in summer and hopefully add some more biking coin into the local economy. Am I right in thinking there's some potential mining future in minerals like Lithium? Think I saw that when I was researching the guide book.

[@Old_Geezer]

@@GuyKesTV You're welcome, thanks for replying. I always tell people that the best time to visit the far southwest is often in May or September - we often experience better weather then than we do in the height of summer (not always mind) and there are far less people about. I think your experience proves the advantages of exploration away from the best known tourist hotspots - that's not to say those places are not beautiful or worth visiting - but they can be overrun in season and if you prefer a bit of solitude with your dose of beauty there are many wonderful places to fit the bill - just have to follow your nose and see what turns up over the next hill or down the next lane or bridleway. I'm getting on a bit now so my cycling is pretty gentle - I try to get out most days for a quick 10-20 miles and I really am spoilt for choice route wise - like you, I invariably rarely see another soul for most of the ride. My dear old dad, God rest his soul, was the mining history expert in the family - he catalogued/photographed almost every single engine house still standing, many of which are now long gone. It's how I spent a lot of my time as a kid - in the middle of nowhere traipsing through the brambles and nettles following Dad and his Leica :) It kinda rubbed off on me I guess. His hobby seemed a strange one to most - but I loved him for it, he really cared about trying to preserve the heritage of the place he loved most in the world. My ancestors were mostly all miners - some fishermen too - even an engineer who worked with Brunel on design and construction of the Tamar bridge - so someone in the family had brains back then!! As to lithium mining, I believe there are/were some companies doing some exploratory work over United Downs way. Something to do with geothermal fluid - hot water emanating from great depths which was discovered to be rich in lithium way back when it had no commercial value or application. I also read that they were carrying out exploratory drilling further north in the St Dennis area more recently. That's up St Austell way - an area that was of course once famous for it's China Clay industry. In the past, as you drove west and approached the area you could see the mountainous pure white spoil tips for miles - they earned the nickname "The Cornish Alps" and were very striking. They're still there but they were planted/landscaped and now look like large green hills, almost natural looking but 100% man made. The Eden Project sits in an old china clay pit/quarry nowadays too. Like many quarries and open cast mines, the usual solution was to fill them with water once they were played out. Anyway, I've rambled long enough but really enjoyed the two videos - I know you folks up in the Dales refer to it as God's country - but hopefully you'll understand why we have the same name for our own little corner of the world :)

[@Old_Geezer]

As an addendum, there is still plenty of tin in Cornwall - sadly it's just too expensive to get it out of the ground at the moment. Countries like Brazil have huge deposits and they don't have to go thousands of feet down to get it - open pit mines produce iron ore and tin far more cheaply and we just couldn't compete as the price dropped further and further on world markets. I'm fortunate that my ancestors did all the work underground and I came along too late to be one of them :) As you mentioned, it was hard and dangerous work - especially back then. I've been deep underground at Geevor in West Penwith, the last mine to operate in the St Just district which closed in 1990- those shafts and tunnels were eventually allowed to flood in around 1991 once it became apparent they would never reopen. The guys who worked there then may have had a lot more modern equipment and safer working conditions but it's hot as Hades that deep underground. I was glad I got to go down there - a pretty unique experience for someone who wasn't a miner but working in it week after week, even if the pay was good...I'd have found that pretty tough. I guess even tougher was when they all lost their livelihoods overnight - it had a big impact on the area. It was weird because when they were all told to return to the surface on that fateful day, they left everything behind and on the occasion of my "tour" it just looked as if they would all be back at work the next day - it was a sobering and rather poignant scene. At least I got to see it while you still could - there's no chance of that anymore.

[@karagray3538]

“Need to get a helmet for me little chuff” 😂

[@markbishop5998]

I've lived in Cornwall for twenty years plus , and cycle but would never of thought of doing a route like this it looks amazing, I've just ordered a new ebike , wish I had gone for a gravel boke instead lol

[@Old_Geezer]

As you dropped down into Porthleven, the clocktower you noted across the harbour is not a church - although that is a very common misconception. It is the Bickford-Smith Institute (usually just referred to by locals as "The Institute"). The clocktower is 70 feet high - and waves have broken over it in the past during very heavy seas! It was opened in 1884 and was a gift to the people of Porthleven from William Bickford-Smith of Trevarno who was a fuse manufacturer and member of Parliament from 1885-1892. The building was a scientific and literary institute - a place where local people could sit in the large reading room and read newspapers and magazines or partake of the books held in the lending and reference library. It was a somewhat different use for the plot than what had stood before it - a thatched pub called the Fisherman's Arms.

[@GuyKesTV]

Thanks for the local knowledge Geezer, dare I say it that sounds a lot more useful than a church.

[@Old_Geezer]

@@GuyKesTV You're probably right in the world we live in now - which is kinda sad too. Churches and pubs built and solidified our communities for centuries after all.

[@JeremyLawrence-imajez]

Can't imagine any modern MPs doing anything similar. Despite the fact many of the Government are incredibly wealthy. :/

[@GuyKesTV]

@@JeremyLawrence-imajez TBF I worm holed into a hansard doc about fighting for compensation and enquiry into the ongoing chemical weapon related issues at Nancekuke Airfield which was being pushed by the MP for Portreath a couple of decades ago: api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/2000/jan/18/nancekuke-base

[@JeremyLawrence-imajez]

@@GuyKesTV Interesting wormhole. But not quite an MP giving a fancy building to the community. Not many Titus Salt or Joseph Rowntree types around these days.

[@ESDavey]

Guy, I’m on the Kernow Way starting day 2 today from Mullion. 95% of yesterday’s ride was fantastic BUT 5% was not rideable and changed my mood from frustration to anger. From Bowsullow Common to Mills Down is deeply rutted. How can the reccie team thought this was ok ?

[@GuyKesTV]

Sorry it made you angry. There will always be some challenging sections on a route like this and unfortunately there’s no easy road alternative across that section. The good news is that there’s nothing like that again on the rest of the route though there are some bumpy bits on the path around the airfield south of Mullion and a push up from the sands at Kennack. Like I say sorry the ruts cheesed you off and hope you can concentrate on the 95% you loved 👍🏻

[@dalhall1255]

Brilliant video. Thanks for showcasing the this excellent route. Those rough moorland tracks and ruts above St Just are my daily rides :) Glad you were blown away by Mulfra quoit and the incredible amount of pre history scattered across the high moors and commons here. There are some beautiful little courtyard house settlements tucked away that make brilliant wild camping spots too.

[@GuyKesTV]

I’m very jealous, that was my favourite bit of the ride

[@dalhall1255]

@@GuyKesTV If you like your quoits and hill forts etc. There's a brilliant little dog leg you can add to that route from the track that goes across Woon Gumpus near Pendeen. grid ref. SW405339 Chun Quoit, one of the best preserved quoits in the british isles. Around 200 yard north is Chun Castle, a remarkable Iron age hill fort, again in really good condition.

[@phill2383]

Did you swap bikes near the end, Sorry couldn't see Pasty in the shot. Thanks for taking the time to do this, Guide book is on its way to me :-)

[@GuyKesTV]

I was on the Stig with Pastie for all of this one, although he dropped his hat at Chysauster so I had to go back and get it the day after. That was OK though because I was also doing a series of 3 shorter routes around Penzance that day and I'd got camping accommodation locally. Trouble was I somehow left a light on.attery and spent most of that day trying to sort that and then just as I came back to the camp site after sprinting the three routes the rear mech went into the spokes on the Stig and ripped the dropout off and twisted the chain. That meant I had to drive all the way to Bristol and back to borrow a bike off a friend (which meant I lost a day and half out of what was supposed to be a relaxing 5 day trip to shoot 7 different routes and made it all a bit stressy) and that's the Merida you'll see in part 2. Apart from the bit near the end which I filmed on the Stig on the first day when I was riding back to Penzance from Helston. You probably didn't need to know all that did you! Hope you enjoy the guidebook anyway.

[@phill2383]

@@GuyKesTV Hi Guy that's great. Thanks and don't worry. Really enjoying this and will watch part two now. Thanks again for putting this Altogether.

[@JeremyLawrence-imajez]

Finally you get to use your archeology education. :D

[@GuyKesTV]

Yep, I'm the new Baldrick on a bike 🤣

[@JeremyLawrence-imajez]

@@GuyKesTV I'll still think of you as Guy 'Superlatives' Kesteven though. You're too chirpy to be a Baldrick. :D

[@davidharris4062]

Cracking film, only one criticism, Cornwall is not England, tell a Cornishman or Cornishwoman they are English, they might disagree somewhat strongly with you. The crew of the Solomon Browne were, William Trevelyan Richards, James Madron, Nigel Brockman, John Blewett, Charles Greenhaugh, Kevin Smith Barrie Torrie and Gary Walis. The Crew and passengers on the Union Star were, Henry Morton, James Whittaker, George’s Sedgwick, Anghosttino Verrissimo, Manuel Lopez, the Captains wife Dawn Morton and her two Daughters, Sharon and Deanne.

[@GuyKesTV]

Sorry David, already been pulled up on that one. I’ll never do it again I promise.

[@davidharris4062]

@@GuyKesTV thanks for the reply, I commented on part 2, brought back memories of happier times, I miss Cornwall so much, cracking videos....cheers

[@GuyKesTV]

@@davidharris4062 yes thanks for the extra information you’ve added. I missed the choc factory in Mullion!

[@davidharris4062]

@@GuyKesTV the cafe is part of it

[@kernow62]

Yes, David, was going to point out both things. Mistakenly said the Solomon Browne was the ship that the lifeboat went out to aid, rather Solomon Browne was the lifeboat. Other than that thoroughly enjoyable. Also it is debatable whether locals lured ships to wreck on the rocks. Coastal communities in my opinion would never do that as they know how tragic the loss of life at sea is. Now making off with the cargo and bits of the wrecks was quite common. I can recall my mother telling me of her father coming home with loads of tinned peaches from a wreck, so it went on into modern times.

[@zerofighter42]

Page one of the guide should be. " this route is shite, go elsewhere"