Its first distinguishing feature: it’s short. Very short. At just 11 miles from the north coast to the south coast, it’s not just the only C2C you could complete in an afternoon; it’s the only one you could complete in an hour. But that would be a shame. Eleven miles of former mineral railway track, almost entirely traffic-free, make this a blissfully stress-free ride for a summer afternoon. There’s nothing to interrupt your gentle amble through the Cornish countryside save the occasional café and bike hire centre. It’s bookended by two fishing villages, and there’s a hamlet at the (single) hilltop with two pubs. Sounds good? It is. Two old railways make up the route of the path, both initially horse-drawn. The Redruth & Chasewater Railway (opened back in 1825) is the southern section, the Portreath Tramway the northern. They didn’t survive long into the 20th century, but in recent years Cornwall Council has made a concerted effort to bring these and other old mineral lines back into use as cycle routes.
