Tuesday 21st September – The Levant Mine
The Levant Mine is a National Trust property but unlike the Crown Mine has a lot more buildings and has guided tours. Due to pandemic restrictions we were unable to book or join a tour when we were there. But we did have a long conversation with one of the volunteers outside.
The slag from the mine had been dumped over the cliff edge and some of it was the ground that we were standing on. We explored the site looking at the remains of all the buildings in particular the ovens used for recovering arsenic!
We watched this couple searching through the rubble past the ovens.
The Pendeen Watch lighthouse is in the near distance.
Looking past back down the cliffs the other mines were in view from the small hill.
Away from the site we could see the Geevor Tin Mine that we had passed on the bus when we had gone to St Ives earlier.
We walked back along the dirt road to Botallack which was a much shorter route. We had to dodge the occasional car, van or even motor home as this was not as quiet a route as we’d expected.
The Levant Mine is on Page 67
Tuesday 21st September – Walk to St Just
After lunch, we studied Google Maps and decided we’d walk the direct way to St Just across fields following footpaths that we hoped were still there!
Initially we started along the Coastal path towards Cape Cornwall where we had walked before. But as we came to junctions we turned inland and followed bridleways and footpaths they lead away from the coast.
We came to some very narrow paths that went through old woods with high stone styles at either end. Down steep slopes past more old mines until we came to isolated houses and a road, Old Foundry.
From our phones we could see that this road would eventually lead us into the Botallack to St Just road, but we wanted to keep to the footpaths.
Opposite these trees a footpath headed up past a water treatment plant. Once over the small bridge and the wooden styles we were clmbing up through a dense wood.
We then came out at the top of a field looking down on the road and where it joined the main road.
Our walk had probably been followed years before by miners going to and from the mines from their homes in St Just.
Now nearly at the end of the walk, we passed a row of cottages and had no choice but to walk up the hill on the main road into St Just.