New Discoveries.

It's always exciting finding somewhere new to ride, even better when it comes as a complete surprise, and on Saturday I found two such places.

Bozzing along in the local woods.

Out for an extended bimble, I had got the Voodoo a little muddied in the local woods. Aww bums. Nothing serious mind you, but it was clean as a new pin when I set off and I like to try and preserve that freshness as long as possible. So feeling able of body still, I thought a run through some local fords would wash away the grolly nicely, plus it'd be somewhere to go and so on, so a plan was quickly hatched to ride up the hill to the village of Shortlanesend, and then down the lanes the other side where I knew there were two or three fords to have a good old splash through.

 There are acres of woods here, and this lot all crowd onto one tiny old stump.

The woods are just starting to show Autumnal colours in the tree tops...

...But still appear dark and sinister in the denser parts at ground level. (I scare easily).

Heading down the hill from the village I was fair flying along when I saw a green sign on the right pointing out a bridleway. This was news to me, not noticed that before, so I duly had a quick nosey up it to check it out. It looks promising but I thought I'd check it out on the maps at home first, so back on to the lane I went, only to be distracted by another sign, on the left this time, pointing to a Nature reserve. Well this was news to me as well, not noticed that before either, so I duly had a nosey up to the entrance of that too, to check it out. Now I've never actually been in a Nature Reserve before, but I have seen them on the telly, and know they are full of Giraffes, Zebras and Lions n' stuff, so I thought I'd go in further and have a look. You don't see animals like that often, not in Shortlanesend anyway.

 So far so good... nothing hairy and hungry to be seen yet...

I was all alone in there, no other people around, and as the sign at the entrance made no mention of not cycling, I stayed on board the bike and rode in, just in case I needed to pedal furiously away from a marauding Cheetah or something. Well most of the path is a boardwalk which is pretty good to ride on, and whilst it was very quiet and peaceful in there, the only wildlife I encountered was a friendly Robin that wanted to check the Voodoo out. Bit of a swizz I thought, I can see them at home, but maybe the big beasts had got the weekend off or something.

It's not all boarded out, but still makes for easy and pleasant riding or walking.

The only wildlife to be seen was this cute little chap. 

Being serious though, I had no idea there was a Nature Reserve there and will make it a regular place to visit I think, as despite the lack of hairy arsed critters and beasts, it was a very tranquil and enjoyable place to poke around.

So after that little diversion, I carried on and dunked the wheels in a couple of smaller fords before hitting the big one at New Mills. Always good for a pair of wet feet on a bike that beggar is, and the plan worked well, as most of the mud was washed off the bike. The only drawback to this part of the plan was having to climb the hill back up and away from the ford, and that hill is a properly ugly affair. That's the only bad thing about cycling in Cornwall, the geology is definitely on the lumpy side and some of the lanes feature some serious hillage.

Giving it some welly through the last, and widest/deepest ford to clean some mud off the bike. It worked a treat, but I also got wet feet, which rhymes. I'm a poet and didn't know it.

Heading homewards from Shortlanesend I took a different route to the way I'd come previously, down a truly deserted lane. This lane passes through some woods, and there is another bridleway hidden away in the middle of them to explore at some point too. I did have a mooch along it but by now my back was starting to give me grief so I thought it prudent to keep heading homeward. I did stop and listen for a while though, to the sound of falling leaves. That, and the occasional bird, was the only noise I could hear – magical!

All in all then, a very enjoyable ride around, and some new bridleway exploring to be done, very soon, hopefully.

Heading back towards home, I had these lanes all to myself.

Still miffed I didn't see any Lions n' Tigers n' stuff though...