Club walk
The club walk. Luxulyan at bluebell time; what better place for a club walk? We were fortunate enough to have a beautifully sunny day and the dappled light through the new beech and oak foliage made us glad to be out on this spring morning.
Eight of us and two little dogs set off from Black Hill car park and walked on the old tramway, under the aqueduct next to the Par River. The woods were sweet with the smell of bluebells and with campion and sorrel along the banks of the tumbling river, it really did feel a most idyllic place to be. The valley is a truly fascinating place, and to think this peaceful idyll, barely four or five generations past, was once a noisy, busy and industrial centre, with granite and clay being carted along the horse-drawn tramways.
It seems hard to believe that this quiet place could have been the hub of such a fortune, that prompted the level of engineering hidden in this valley. That the enormous aqueduct that spans the valley, to the large, overshoot water wheel, geared to lower and retrieve mineral trucks from the higher tramway down the Carmear’s Incline, it seems amazing that this could have been constructed with merely grunt and dynamite. On the lower tramway, clay was hauled to the large clay dry and coal from the docks brought to the furnace. All this industry seems at times so distant in this tranquil place. We took a slow climb up the Carmear’s Incline to the water wheel, and then along the top tramway, back to the aqueduct.
When we arrived back at the aqueduct, our party seemed happy to drop down through the beech woods to the car park. This was a pity, as the walk across the meadows towards Luxulyan, affords lovely views right down the valley, past Prideaux Woods, to the sea. We all met at the King’s Arms near Luxulyan railway station for lunch in the beer garden. It was lovely to see Jan, Nick, Liz, Simon and Isobel join us, for what everyone agreed, was a good lunch. All in all, a lovely walk with great company, good food and beer. How could it be bettered?
Pete B
