The title says it all really! The second major target of the trip was Geevor Tin Mine. I’ve been down coal mines, slate mines, a lead mine and up a copper mine (you enter at a lower adit near the bottom of the hill then climb up to the top) so adding tin to the collection made sense! It was very quiet, especially early on, so I was able to wander round in peace. The Dry (the miners’ changing rooms) is quite evocative, looking much as it would when the last shift worked.
There were three of us for the first trip down the mine itself, and we had a few minutes wait, but the guide was excellent. You walk down through The Mill, where the stone was processed, and are met ready for the tour. The available level is from the early mining era, all the 20th Century levels are below sea level and have long been flooded. The guide suggested they’d like to dig a new tunnel to show how things were when the mine closed in the 80’s. The tunnels are sometimes quite low and very narrow (hard hats and dust coats are provided) as of course they didn’t want to remove any more waste rock than they needed to. It was thought that these levels dated back to the 17th or 18th centuries however carved into the rock at one point is what appears to be a stoup, as used for holy water in Catholic churches. It clearly has no practical mining purpose, the water is too mineral laden to be readily drinkable so there’s a possibility clandestine services were held in the 16th C.
After coffee and cake I finished off the last couple of buildings and drove the short distance round to the Levant Mine. I had planned to walk along the cliff top but the exercise yesterday plus the steps in The Mill and walking through the Mine whilst bending down had all taken their toll! The main attraction at Levant is a working Cornish Beam Engine, honestly I could sit and listen to it all day. I also spent some time setting up a few arty photos, colour and black and white, I won’t really know how they’ve come out until I get home and download them but I may have at least one entry for a calendar competition! It took a while to get some pics as I had to wait for people to move.
The sat nav wanted me to return via the A30 but having been that way three times in two days I took the northerly B road route instead. It’s quite twisty and very narrow in places, with the added hazard of open top tourist busses, I nearly got hit by one and was held up behind another. I saw St Ives in passing, so to speak, before arriving back at Hayle with thoughts of a late lunch. Fortunately there just happens to be a pasty shop, with a car park, right by part of the harbour. The mistake was having a large oggie, I lost all enthusiasm to do much by the time I’d eaten it! Back at the site I just parked up and collapsed, reading and dozing for the rest of the afternoon.
Tomorrow I move back eastwards, via a couple of railways, to a site near Boscastle and Tintagel. That puts me nearer to my long weekend stop with friends in Devon. Hopefully I’ll have more energy by Wednesday as I’m planning on just using the bike to explore the area. The weather looks set to be wet tomorrow and fine the day after, but then the forecast says there’s only a 10% chance of rain now, I can assure the Met Office there’s a 100% chance ‘cause it’s tipping it down!
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