MINIONS from TOKENBURY CORNER

After last week’s cancelled walk, all 31 of today’s walkers were eager to set off on one of the few walks that take place beyond the Tamar Valley. We were parked on the southern side of Hill at Tokenbury Corner in , but Maggie was soon leading us towards Minions in the east. Strolling along this week we focussed on following the remains of the dis-mantled railway line that would once have transported all the copper ore from the mines and granite from the quarries down to the quays beyond the bridge at . The 1879 and Caradon railway was built for this very purpose and its trucks would have travelled on rails atop granite sleepers although these were mostly hidden from view where our feet were treading today. The photo below shows some of its detached, gravity-driven wagons travelling down the incline with just the brake-man at the front to stop them running out of control. At Looe it was horses that hauled the empty wagons back up the hill again. Beyond Minions and the Cheesewring the track connected with the Kilmar Granite Tramway; once completed, another section via Gonamera was then closed.

The waste dumps, engine houses and chimneys lie in ruins now and can be seen scattered far and wide across the hill, but those hard-working miners are long gone, however their ancestors can still be found in such far-flung places as Africa, Australia and the Americas where their parents would have emigrated after the closure of the Caradon mines towards the last part of the 19th century spelling the end of the railway. Rounding Caradon Hill which was dotted with sheep, we came across several Belted Galloway cattle with their unmistakeable long, curly black and white hides; they were giving us some shifty looks as we passed beside their watering hole. This particular breed of cattle originated from western Scotland, making them perfectly suited to the wet, cold winters and the boggy soft terrain of Moor.

In the next photo we are seen nearing the village of Minions which in In the 1900’s was called Cheesewring Railway but at some point in the 20th century it became Minions, not a very flattering word meaning an ‘unimportant underling who take orders from superior others’. Passing this huge puddle Jeff came out with another of his famous one-liners, ”Non-swimmers to the right please!”

We didn’t actually go into the village today but lounged about on the moor for a coffee-break before climbing the tarmacked road to the very top of Caradon Hill where there were some pretty amazing views all around, well worth the climb! At around 1211ft we had a close encounter with its iconic television transmitter which was built in 1961 thus adding another 780ft to the height of the hill making it quite a landmark. This aerial was built to send signals to households in an area covering approximately 150 miles, encompassing Cornwall and Devon, and even some parts of Somerset.

It was all downhill from here with squelchy grass beneath our feet and far-reaching views of the south coast to be enjoyed as we chatted amongst ourselves. Thankfully, despite a blustery wind from the north, the weather stayed dry throughout our walk when we never saw another human being all morning.