‘FROM Rails to Trail’ by Derek Sturch follows the course of the River Camel from its estuary below Padstow to the village of St Breward high on Bodmin Moor.

Alongside the river is the Camel Trail, which replaced the tracks of the historic, groundbreaking railway whose construction was initiated by Sir William Molesworth of Pencarrow.

This book is a combination of fact, fiction and illustrations. It features the people, towns, villages, and countryside from the Camel estuary to the heights of Roughtor.

It describes the old industries; mining, quarrying and china clay, which together with farming, provided work for the people who lived along its course.

Above all else it is a book which could have been written by a true son of Kernow in its praise for the Duchy but its author can only describe himself as an ‘adopted son’ having worked and holidayed throughout the county for over 50 years.

It is a book for everyone who lives in or visits this magical, mysterious and historical area of Cornwall.

Local stockists along the way are: The Tourist Information Centres in Padstow and Bodmin; The Wadebridge Book Shop; Pencarrow House; St Tudy Community Shop and the Snail Pace Cafe at Wenford Bridge.