Luxulyan Valley 7 - River Bridge Traditional Cache
Luxulyan Valley 7 - River Bridge
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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To solve the Bonus cache you will need to note a ‘letter’ from some but not all of the 9 caches on this trail. Some caches will contain more than one letter and should be found at the start of each individual log book. You should end up with 11 letters.
This is a circular walk of 2.5 miles which starts from Black Hill Car Park and follows the Carmears Leat and Fowey Consols Leat on the northern side of Luxulyan Valley to Ponts Mill passing the Wheel Pit on the way. The return part of the walk is along the southern side of Luxulyan Valley back to Black Hill Car Park following the route of the Par River and passes Trevanney China Clay Kiln en route.
The walk is generally very muddy, even in summer, for about 0.5 miles between Treffry Viaduct and the Wheel Pit and this becomes particularly bad after any periods of rain. See the note in ‘Luxulyan Valley 3 – Wheel Pit’ on how to avoid the mud. Carmears Incline is a steep 0.5 mile walk but is all downhill. The return part of the walk is a far gentler uphill walk over 1.25 miles back to Black Hill Car Park.
Luxulyan Valley has long been regarded as an area of great outstanding beauty but also contains impressive remains of its industrial past.
There are the remains of a hill fort, at least 2,000 years old at Prideaux to the south west of the valley and there is evidence of small settlements within the valley that go back to mediaeval times. At this time the sea came up to Ponts Mill and vessels of up to 80 tons were still being berthed there up to 1730. After this time the shoreline was gradually pushed out over 2 miles as the area became silted due to tin streamers working on Goss Moor and the Hensbarrow area which only ceased in 1940.
The fortunes of the valley changed in the early 1800’s when Joseph Thomas Treffry saw the possibility of linking Newquay Harbour on the north Cornish coast and Par Harbour on the south coast to promote his mining and quarrying interests. However, he needed to cross Luxulyan Valley and this resulted in the imposing Treffry Viaduct together with a series of manmade leats and a canal built to service Fowey Consols Copper Mine and as a link to Par Harbour but also to control wagons descending Carmears Incline with their cargoes of granite.
With the decline in copper mining and loss of demand for granite in the late 1800’s the valley’s industrial era was coming to an end. However, there was a growing interest in the export of china stone and china clay. This resulted in the building of Trevanney China Clay Kiln which was in operation between the 1920’s and 1960’s for processing china clay which was piped in from Hensbarrow.
Today the valley is run and owned by Cornwall Council whilst Treffry Viaduct is in the control of Cornwall Heritage Trust. In 2006 Luxulyan Valley’s was been declared part of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site. The valley is now home to a wide variety of fauna and flora including deer, fox, otters, brown trout and bats, many species of birds, woodland flowers, fungi, mosses and lichens.
A local society ‘Friends of Luxulyan Valley’ have produced a small booklet that provides a more detailed overview of the history of the valley and Cornwall Council have also produced a free leaflet and map of the valley. Both are available from Luxulyan Post Office and the Kings Arms public house.
Further information about Luxulyan Valley, Cornwall Council and Friends of Luxulyan Valley can be found on various online web sites.
Thanks are given to Cornwall Council, particularly to Paul Mason the Luxulyan Valley Ranger for permission to lay this trail and also to the Friends of Luxulyan Valley for their general promotion of such a wonderful and special area.
Please note that all caches are placed on public footpaths and rights of way and it would be appreciated if all walkers and geocachers could stay on the footpaths. In the past there have been various plant diseases within the valley and keeping to the paths would help prevent the spread of any future diseases.
GPS RECEPTION WITHIN THE VALLEY CAN BE VERY ERRATIC OFTEN WITH POOR SIGNALS. ALL COORDINATES WERE CONFIRMED WITH 4 GPS UNITS AND ARE THE BEST POSSIBLE. If needed contact the cache owner on 07860-585404.
The geohounds will love it here whilst you are looking for a half litre lock and lock box.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Zber cevpxyl terra fghss.