This run had been in the planning for many weeks, possibly months come to think of it, but we never seemed to get a mutually agreeable date when all keen participants were available.
Russ finally got his Beta back together after some suspension upgrades and fitting a larger fuel tank which he'd purchased several years ago and whilst he was having a bit of an overhaul, he fitted new plastics and decals too. The bike looked brand spankers fresh. Good work that man.
My bike was all clean and ready to go (as always) after last weekends Somerset TRF Event but I still had the Maxxis Trailmaxx fitted. Not my tyre of choice but oh well, that would have to do.
So, the two of us planned to venture on this Cornwall 100 lane route which was downloaded from the South West Trail Riders Facebook group page. The route had been checked against the TRF Green Road Map (GRM) and all lanes seemed legal and above board.
Russ collected me at 07:30. My bike was quickly loaded and we were off.
We arrived at the small car park in Lanner which was a suitably close location to the start of the route to leave the van, free parking too, whoop whoop. Bikes unloaded, ourselves kitted-up and we were ready for the off. We headed off on the route in a North Easterly, Clockwise direction.
The going was very easy with the majority of the lanes being wide hard-pack gravel farm tracks. Infact, this was pretty much the theme for the day and why this report is titled the 'Cornwall tour of driveways' as it was the case that the vast majority of these UCR's were effectively a driveway to a house or a small group of houses. The lanes seemed to carry on past the houses and exit back onto a road but to all intense and purposes these were farm tracks that, especially in these dry and dusty conditions, you could have easily driven a car down. So, not the most adventurous or interesting terrain to ride tbh, but hey ho, we were here so we continued on.
Our route took us to a locked farm gate which we took a picture of and made a reference of with a view to following this up later to see whether the lane was a permissive route or not. We rode around to rejoin the route where the lane exited back onto the road only to note a slightly overgrown gap in the hedge a little further down the road. I poked a tyre in and investigated. Clearly a lane, it was a steep uphill - the first hill I think we'd encountered all morning! I continued up and I was soon met with a 'Start' sign on a tree in front of me followed by a No.5 sign a few meters further up the lane. We'd obviously found the correct lane which is obviously used in some trials event. We rode to the top, passing the marker signs counting down from 5 to 1 (I cleared them all, just saying. Would probably be a different outcome if there was someone stood there with a clipboard), we did a loop at the top and rode back down to join our route.
Onwards we rode taking in some scenic coastline by the radar station and overlooking Porthtowan beach where there were lots of surfers in the water.
At mid-morning we arrived at St. Agnes. The small town was very busy with people and traffic, a tourist hot spot, I guess. Our route took us through the town and I witnessed quite a few people eating pasties which was making me rather peckish having had no breakfast. A quick check-in on the CARDO comms with Russ and we agreed to stop for elevens's (or however you spell it!). Whilst stuck in some traffic I took the opportunity to pull off the road by a seating area which had a bakery shop directly opposite. Pasty purchased we sat and munched and watched the people and traffic pass by. The pasty was absolutely delicious, a very firm 9.5/10. Turns out it was an Etherington's award winning pasty with a PGI protection guarantee (see pic for more details). I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for these again as that was right up there with my other favourite, Lydford Farm Shop.
Onwards through Perranporth beach and past the airfield where I've done a few driving experiences in the past (sons first ever drive at 11yrs old was in a Lamborghini Gallardo spider. Nice) then heading back inland towards Goonhaven, past the Healey's cyder farm, then towards the mine areas around Jolly's Bottom, Chacewater, Goongumpas and Bissoe before heading as far East as the route takes us towards Trelissick on the Truro River and the River Fal. This was one of the best lanes of the day as it took us right down onto the shoreline of the river. There was a large fallen tree to divert around as we descended this great lane and as an absolute bonus, on the way back up a bird of prey flew out of a tree in front of me and I followed it for several meters before it landed on a branch just above the lane. Thinking it was a buzzard or something I was shocked when it turned around to look at me ..... it was an owl. I quickly grabbed me phone and managed to get a fabulous pic.
Not much further to go now but tbh it did seem to drag on a bit as we were back to 'driveway' type lanes come the end of the day ..... but we both agreed that the second half, or final 1/3 of the route was the best.
Summary of the day would be; a bit too hot, too flat, too dusty and not enough challenging lanes but nonetheless it was a day out but not a route we'd hurry back to ride again anytime soon.
Now I've got to figure out how to clean my bike when there's a hosepipe ban in effect. DOH!!
