Wednesday 5th April 2017.
A fabulous day with plenty of sunshine. I left Treknow around 9 o’clock and headed up the lane to Trewarmett. Just a nice gently climb to get me in the mood! Then after a very short and steep descent there was a long climb of over a mile.
I had chosen Posh for this trip because of his triple ring giving me a bottom gear of about 25 compared to Paris’s 29. A good choice! His tyres were also more suitable for the Camel Trail which is a mixture of surfaces, some tarmac, some gravel, some hard packed mud, some quite stony.
There was a strong breeze keeping the temperature down so I was pleased I had wrapped up well with tights and a muff as well as both a long sleeve top and arm warmers. The next few miles were comparatively flat with a nice long downhill stretch.
I was soon through Delabole and as I was shifting on another downhill I missed the turning to Port Gaverne and had to turn round. The descent into the village was not too bad but the climb up to Port Isaac was too steep for me and I had my first but not last walk of the day, but then descended almost immediately by a 1 in 4 hill to see more of the village made famous by Doc Martin. I spotted the cottage on the opposite hillside where his surgery is situated. I retraced my way walking up a slightly less steep lane to the top of the village where I found a Co-op and a cash dispenser, needed because I was almost out of dosh.
Back onto the B3314 I was soon at St. Endellion where I spotted a Farm Shop serving coffee and cake. Lots of children here enjoying the various activities. Just after that I saw a film crew in the churchyard preparing to shoot a scene. (Maybe something to do with Doc Martin?). I joined a small group of onlookers but the crew appeared to be taking a break so I was quickly en route again. Soon I was in Polzeath where there were surfers enjoying their day.
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| The very busy harbourside at Padstow. |
As it was still only just gone 12 I decided to make Padstow my next port of call. My route was via Wadebridge and the Camel Trail. This proved to be far more dangerous than the roads I’d so far ridden. There were hundreds of other cyclists and one young lad would have ridden straight into me had I not shouted “Look where you are going”. I did not stop long in a very busy Padstow as I needed to find an interesting way back.
I returned to Wadebridge and continued on the Camel Trail to Bodmin. When I checked the map I discovered I had overshot the link to the northern part of the trail towards Camelford, so I retraced my way for about a mile to join it.
This part of the trail was really lovely apart from a somewhat rough surface in places. The gradient was just gently up hill for mile after mile and it meandered along following the river.
Everywhere the flowers were amazing, but they were particularly abundant along this part of the trail with banks of primrose mingled with celandines, dandelions, stitchwort and a few early bluebells. In addition there were wild garlic, herb robert, red campion.
A couple of miles on, at Wenfordbridge, I reached the end of the Trail. There was a small cafe and bike hire establishment and so I stopped for a Cornish cream tea. - Well I’d not had any lunch!
This gave me the energy to return to the proper roads with steeper hills and traffic and by the time I got to Camelford I was beginning to tire and I stopped for a couple of short rests and to have a drink from my bottle.
As I neared the coast there was a lot of alexanders and on the stone walls navel wort and some sea pink. I am sure there must be more that I didn’t notice on my faster sections.
I hit 34 miles an hour on that one mile hill down that I’d ridden up to start but then had to walk the hill up to Trewarmett. I was home about 5 p.m.
After a quick shower I walked into town to meet my great nephew Simon who I’d not seen for about 18 months. We had a drink and then a nice meal together. What a great end to a fantastically enjoyable day.
Gridironman.
Gridironman.
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