Nancuke Airfield
RAF Portreath was opened in March 1941 as a base for bombing raids against the occupied French Channel ports and fighter escorts for shipping convoys. Later in the war it became the main "jumping off" point for equipment headed south. The airfield was closed in 1946 and taken over by the Ministry of Supply where it was used as a secret base for chemical weapons manufacture. Long after its closure in the late 1970s, it emerged that former workers there had died of exposure to the nerve gas, sarin. As a precautionary measure, a large cleanup operation was mounted in 2000, though no residues of toxic materials were found to be remaining.
On walks
- Portreath to Wheal Tye (7.3 mile walk)
Get the iWalkCornwall app
Download the app and use it to explore the walks and to purchase a guided route.
The app will direct you to the start of the walk via satnav.
The app guides you around the walk using GPS, removing any worries about getting lost.
The walk route is described with detailed, regularly-updated, hand-written directions.
Each time there is a new direction to follow, the app will beep to remind you, and will warn you if you go off-route.
A map shows the route, where you are at all times and even which way you are facing.
Each walk is packed with information about the history and nature along the route, from over a decade of research than spans more than 3,000 topics.
Once a walk is downloaded, the app doesn't need a phone or wifi signal during the walk.
The app counts down distance to the next direction and estimates time remaining based on your personal walking speed.
We keep the directions continually updated for changes to the paths/landmarks - the price for a walk includes ongoing free updates.
