Walk 8 - Water Lane, Wheal Butson and Jericho Valley

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Start at Trelawney Road car-park, walk back down to Vicarage Road, the main road through the village. Turn to the right passing an Estate Agents and a Butcher's shop. Look across the road to the left and you will see a building A that looks like the lych-gate of a church. Curiously, until fairly recent times this was the village mortuary. The local doctor even did his post-mortems there. Now cross the road, pass the post-box in the wall and find yourself at the top of a steep hill on the left. A note of caution before we return to the walk; from now on all the road parts of this walk have two-way traffic and no pavements. Please take care.

Back to the walk. Proceed down the hill, turn left at the bottom and continue down until you see a Londis Store on your right. (This is the last opportunity to purchase drinks or other goodies to sustain you during this fairly long walk.)

Turn right immediately after the shop into Water Lane B. Its name is soon seen to be very appropriate as a stream burbles by the roadside. To trap unwary motorists it changes sides half way up! Although the lane climbs throughout its length the slope is so gentle and the surroundings so peaceful that the gradient is hardly noticed. A turn to the right will be seen between the set-back dwellings; ignore it, keep straight on. When the lane-proper takes a turn to the left it is time to leave it, taking the unpaved lane which is straight ahead. Follow this via a couple of stiles to the Promised Land.

This area, which shelters a few houses and cottages, is idyllic enough to deserve the name. Many stories exist about how it came to be the Promised Land. A member of the family that coined it a few generations ago assures us that it was because the then head of the family promised that parcel of land to his nephew; hence 'the promised land'. Note that it is so designated on Ordnance Survey maps.

Take the first turning on the left. It looks to be a private lane but a path continues after the houses are passed on the left. This path runs along the top of three or four fields and passes over stiles or through gates depending on livestock before it turns right and passes a row of cottages. A left turn is now made into a lane that leads on into Goonbell. The white building that is now visible at the end of the lane used to be the Goonbell Methodist Chapel but is now a private dwelling.

On reaching this house turn to the right. Soon you will see two garage-type buildings at the other side of the road. Pass the first and turn left just before the second. (This path is used regularly by the horses from the nearby stables. As a result it becomes a quagmire of mud in inclement weather. Should you choose to avoid this stretch, continue to walk up the road, turning to the left at the top of the hill. Keep bearing to the left on the road signposted to Wheal Butson and Silverwell. The muddy path route joins this road in about 400 metres.) If you are now following the path you will soon pass under a bridge that used to carry a railway line that ran to Newquay; it was a victim of the swingeing cuts made to our railway network in 1963. Continue up the path between high hedges and at the T- junction turn right. The path soon begins to climb as it passes a selection of dwellings on the right-hand side.