Bridge Bike Hire The Camel Trail, Wadebridge Cornwall PL27 7AL

Leading the way: We were the UK's first cycle hire company to have our mechanics trained to the Cytech standards all our cycles are thoroughly checked and expertly maintained for your safe use by our Cytech qualified mechanics

The Camel Trail has 16 miles of traffic free cycling along which you can enjoy a variety of wildlife, flora and forna. The trail covers an area from Padstow to Wenford Bridge along some of Cornwall's most beautiful countryside. If you are interested in the local wildlife or forna then you are sure to enjoy a trip along the Camel Trail.

Upriver looking from Polbrock back to Wadebridge

Five miles to Bodmin, and a further six miles to Wenford Bridge. This increasingly popular section of the Camel Trail is a delight year round.

However, springtime with the bluebell roads (GAFF AND UNDERTOWN), the water meadows full of Iris's and the excellent chance of seeing a deer or an otter or the flash of a Kingfisher - upstream is the place to be.

Downstream to Padstow from Wadebridge

The Camel Trail estuary side leading to Padstow is quite spectacular no matter what time of the year or what state of tide. This remains the most popular section with Padstow still very much an active fishing village, with all the hustle bustle and charm associated with commercial fishing.

Add to this Rick Stein's influence, ferries across to Rock, speed boat trips, fishing trips and the general ambience of a holiday town and it is hardly surprising that the majority of the Trail users head to this pretty and unspoilt village.

Wildlife

There is an extraordinary array of wildlife to be appreciated along the Camel trail. Look for signs of secretive mammals such as fox, badger, rabbit, deer and rarities like otter and greater horseshoe bat. Coppiced hazel is the home of the dormouse.
A few wild service trees have sprung up among the oak, spindle and sycamore. See foxglove, campion, mullein, madder; violets and snowdrops appear as early as December in some years. Thistle seeds provide food for the goldfinches. The River Camel supports salmon and trout, dipper and kingfisher; on the estuary live bass and mullet, curlew and shelduck; an ever increasing number of little egrets now live alongside the local herons.

The Atlantic Coast Express

In 1846 the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) bought the BWR, the first shot in a long, hard-fought battle for supremacy between supporters of broad gauge and standard gauge railways.

In 1899 the line from Wadebridge to Padstow was laid, starting the route of the Atlantic Coast Express which carried thousands of holiday-makers to the west country until the line's closure in 1969.
Perhaps the most famous of those travellers was the Poet Laureate Sir John Betjeman, for whom the railway, the river and the estuary were a great source of inspiration.

Bridge Bike Hire is a proactive company, we support the National Cycle Network (Sustrans). The Camel Trail is part of National Route 3 that forms a 6,500-mile web of cycle ways through out the country. We have established a links to schools in their activity weeks, which combine education with cycling, this service is available to other education outlets.