Echoes of Bodmin's mining boom

Sharp Tor, Bodmin Moor Turf hummocks mask mine workings beside the old railway, which weaves between flowering gorse

On the eastern edge of the moor, granite sleepers mark part of the Kilmar railway, used in the second half of the 19th century by trucks carrying moorstone destined for the port of Looe via the Liskeard and Caradon railway. Turfy hummocks mask mine workings beside the way, which weaves between flowering gorse bushes and hawthorn trees draped in bearded lichen. Blue sky reflects in puddles and frost crystals sparkle in cold hollows.

Dumps of wasted stone interspersed with tall conifers tower above the track as it passes beneath disused Cheesewring quarry; ahead, above sunlit sheep pastures, Sharp Tor is fringed with orange bracken.