Camel Trail
The Camel Trail is a disused and resurfaced railway line in Cornwall (United Kingdom) that provides a recreational route for walkers, cyclists and horse riders. The trail is flat (and suitable for disabled access); running from Padstow to Poleys Bridge via Wadebridge and Bodmin, it is approximately 27 km (17 miles) long and is used by an estimated 350,000 users each year.[citation needed]
The trail is managed and maintained by a partnership between North Cornwall District Council and by Cornwall County Council.
Background History
There remains a small part of the railway in operation: "The Bodmin & Wadebridge Railway" It was originally built at a cost of £35,000 following a study commissioned in 1831 by local landowner Sir William Molesworth of Pencarrow. The line from Wadebridge to Wenfordbridge, with a branch to Bodmin, was intended to carry sand from the Camel estuary to inland farms for use as fertiliser. In the 1840s, England's railway network expanded towards Bodmin. The London & South Western Railway purchased the Bodmin & Wadebridge Railway in 1846 and intended to connect it to the rest of the system by a new line through North Cornwall.
Later the railway was used to ship slate & china clay from inland quarries to ships in Padstow and also transport fish landed in Padstow inland to London and other cities. When both quarrying and fishing died off, the railway lost most of its traffic. The last passenger train was in 1967, freight finally ceased in 1983, when a need to invest in new track forced closure of the line.
Current Trail
The railway was built so that the trains would not have any steep inclines or sharp turns. It is these charateristics which make it an excellent cycle trail. Since the trail has been open to the public cycle hire shops, cafes and other attractions have sprung up to cater for the traffic. Many families take their young children too the trail to allow them to become more confident cyclist in a traffic free environment. The local cycle hire shops have a wide range of tag-alongs or buggies to allow very young children to be safely transported behind their parents. Only a small part of the trail, through Wadebridge, is on roads and shared with normal traffic.
Car parking at Padstow, Wadebridge and Poley's Bridge allow the trail to be broken into 5-mile sections giving an easy 10-mile round trip back to your starting point with a break in Wadebridge or Padstow for food, drink, shopping and rest.
Extension to the Trail
In the year 2006 two extensions to the trail were completed. The first was from Scarlett’s Well car park in Bodmin up into the town. The second was from Pooleys Bridge near St Breward to Wenfordbridge through the old clay dries. The second extension was made possible by Imerys donating the land.
