Marazion to Penzance coast path

[RodT]

It has been six months since the closure of the shared path between Marazion and Penzance was announced. It’s still closed. The sections that are open are well-surfaced and (mostly) wide enough to be successfully shared between cyclists and walkers; but you cannot ride a bike from Penzance to Marazion without taking to the road or the beach. Frustratingly, the stretch from Long Rock to Marazion looks finished, but is still closed.
The contractors will probably plead adverse weather conditions for the time taken to complete this project. Well, it has been a bit rough; but I once saw a game of cricket being played between a digger driver and his mates. They were lobbing rocks and he was trying to swipe them with his bucket. At least they weren’t leaning on their shovels.

[peetee]

A timely post. I was at Marazion Station car park yesterday and walked a little way along the restored path - which was unobstructed for the few yards I used. I wasn’t at all impressed. Sure it’s wide and a good surface texture but it is bare concrete and was blinding bright in yesterday’s sunshine which made for very uncomfortable progress and I was glad I was only using it for a couple of minutes.

[[XAP]Bob]

It's wide enough to share at what I would describe as "idling" speeds, but I'll still cycle the road I imagine. It's a fabulous path for kids to ride, scoot, skate; it's a fantastic path for wheelchairs and rollators, for walkers, even with crutches or walking sticks.
What it isn't is a high speed route between the two.

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,

A timely post. I was at Marazion Station car park yesterday and walked a little way along the restored path - which was unobstructed for the few yards I used. I wasn’t at all impressed. Sure it’s wide and a good surface texture but it is bare concrete and was blinding bright in yesterday’s sunshine which made for very uncomfortable progress and I was glad I was only using it for a couple of minutes.

Did you ride it before it was resurfaced?
I did two years ago and it was pretty atrocious, it appeared to be honeycombed slabs (slabs of concrete with holes in it) Which must've been designed to hold the sand and stop it being eroded or washed away?

[peetee]

I understand that the previous surface was used to discourage skateboarders and scooter riders.

[[XAP]Bob]

I understand that the previous surface was used to discourage skateboarders and scooter riders.

And wheelchair users
It was really not a good path.

[RodT]

These pictures show the promise and the reality. I took these this afternoon, after seeing four touring cyclists barred from using the coast path because of renovations..
Interesting that this is part of a European-funded project, with a contribution from Cornwall County Council.
The section from the barrier onwards will inevitably become hub-deep in sand blown from the beach. It always does.
I assume the path will become part of the West Penwith Way when it opens in the autumn. There will always be issues about shared-use paths, and there will always be those who would rather ride on the road. At the moment it’s a case of having to. But for the leisure cyclist, this could be a great way of exploring Mount’s Bay. Pity it’s taking so long. If it were a road they were building, it would have been finished in half the time.

[pwa]

It has been six months since the closure of the shared path between Marazion and Penzance was announced. It’s still closed. The sections that are open are well-surfaced and (mostly) wide enough to be successfully shared between cyclists and walkers; but you cannot ride a bike from Penzance to Marazion without taking to the road or the beach. Frustratingly, the stretch from Long Rock to Marazion looks finished, but is still closed.
The contractors will probably plead adverse weather conditions for the time taken to complete this project. Well, it has been a bit rough; but I once saw a game of cricket being played between a digger driver and his mates. They were lobbing rocks and he was trying to swipe them with his bucket. At least they weren’t leaning on their shovels.

Having worked on landscaping projects (not the same, but sharing some of the issues of this project) I know that wet weather can bring progress to a halt. It isn't that the workers don't want to get wet. It is that some activities are impossible to do well in the wet, and waiting for dry weather can make the finished job better. Anything with concrete or cement, for example, will be much better done in dry weather. Anything to do with moving soil as well. Anything that involves a lot of heavy machinery moving around over soft ground is better done in dry weather. You can end up making a hell of a mess if you proceed in wet weather when you should have waited. It may mean the job takes longer, and it may leave workers idle and playing games to pass the time, but carrying on with work that ought to stop in wet weather is not clever.

Not far from us is a road project that has been similarly delayed by the weather. A new road bridge over a shared use path has been under construction for nearly two years with the A road reduced to single track with traffic lights. The finishing touches should have been done a few weeks back but the weather has held things back. It is a problem with all construction projects, much as it is with farming.

[francovendee]

I always wondered why resurfacing roadworks here are rarely done here in the winter. I always thought this odd as it's done when traffic is busy. I was told it was because of the temperature of the road, new tar sticks much better when the road is warm.

[[XAP]Bob]

Parents have just walked the whole thing and report decent surface throughout - that photo above looks like the old surface to me.

[RodT]

The photo was taken six days ago and nothing has changed. I walked from Long Rock to Marazion this afternoon. That pocked surface is between the level crossing and the next slipway. From the slipway to the Marazion carpark, you have to take to the beach. The coastpath from Penzance to Marazion is still effectively closed.

[mjr]

I always wondered why resurfacing roadworks here are rarely done here in the winter. I always thought this odd as it's done when traffic is busy. I was told it was because of the temperature of the road, new tar sticks much better when the road is warm.

Yes, part of National Route 1 was relevelled and then resurfaced last autumn... except part collapsed into a drain and the two day levelling took over three weeks, which meant freezing temperatures during the surfacing, so it didn't stick... long story short: they redid part of it last month and the rest still needs redoing!

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,
I rode it two years ago 22 months to be correct, they were working on it at the east end then.

Parts were the honeycombed concrete with holes, part was dust track but rideable and part might of been an eroded path with potholes - IIRC.

[[XAP]Bob]

The photo was taken six days ago and nothing has changed. I walked from Long Rock to Marazion this afternoon. That pocked surface is between the level crossing and the next slipway. From the slipway to the Marazion carpark, you have to take to the beach. The coastpath from Penzance to Marazion is still effectively closed.

The section from long rock to marazion hadn’t been done when I was last there - and that was the old surface IIRC.

I shall ask them more specifically about that section. They are looking with an (untrained) eye for me as a wheelchair user.

[peetee]

31st May update:
From Longrock car park eastward towards Marazion the path starts as the old surface but after about 100 yards, by a beach access ramp, the newly laid surface starts. However, it is surrounded by high fencing at this end and there is no option but to walk on the beach - difficult or impossible with a bike. Such a shame that is not obviously signed at Longrock. Strangely, the new concrete surface is laid from Marazion station car park but not fenced off. I can’t comment as to how far one can walk before one is ‘behind bars’ or even if those two sections join in the middle.