Route 95 - Explore the stunning Cornish coast and countryside on a mammoth three-hour journey from Newquay.

Between Wadebridge and Newquay, is the large village St Columb Major. Providing shops and other amenities to the local area, the village has some fine old houses and its pub, the Ring O’Bells, offers a range of ales as well as food in its restaurant. The church of St Colomba is large and built of Pentewan and Caen stone with an impressive tower. Inside there is a 17th century letter of thanks to the Cornish people from King Charles I.

Each year this is one of only two remaining places which practise Hurling the Silver Ball, an ancient game which was once common throughout the county and played on Shrove Tuesday, the other being St Ives. Local shops board up windows as a scrum forms mid-afternoon between the “countrymen” and the “townsmen” and the teams pass the silver ball between member hurlers until they reach their respective goal, set two miles apart at opposite parish boundaries. The winners share beer which has been ‘blessed’ by the ball.

Nearby is one of the best-preserved Iron Age hill forts in the county, Castle-an-Dinas.

As implied by the name, the town is situated on the River Camel. This name was believed to have been a contraction of Camalanford, from cam, meaning crooked, alan, meaning beautiful, and ford. The symbol of the camel, as seen on the Town Hall weather vane, has often been used in connection with the town, but the name has nothing whatsoever to do with camels.

The town lies on the edge of Bodmin Moor and is about six miles inland from the rugged North Cornwall coast, with the delightful villages of Boscastle and Tintagel within easy reach.

Legend has it that King Arthur and his Knights are a part of North Cornwall history, and that Camelford was the Camelot, of legend. The truth will never be known, although there was a warrior king who died in a bloody battle at Slaughter Bridge, just outside Camelford. This real king’s name was never known, so could it have been Arthur?

A sheltered natural inlet with an unspoilt harbour village. There’s more to Boscastle than a picturesque natural harbour and village.

The Elizabethan quay sits in an impressive amphitheatre of steep cliffs and is home to quaint stone-built cottages, shops and tea-rooms.

Much of the land in and around Boscastle is owned by the Trust. Venture beyond the picture-postcard harbour and a cliff path takes you to the Willapark headland and an intriguing ex-folly, now used as a Coastwatch lookout.

Nearby walks around Forrabury Stitches offer a rare glimpse at a surviving farmed landscape showing ancient celtic strip fields. If you wander further afield, you’ll discover the half-forgotten churches of Minster and St Juliots – once made famous by Thomas Hardy.