The Things You Find...

Another ride around one of my local loops yesterday. I really should take a man up pill and ride a bit further afield in winter, but something has got into my head that demands I stay local during the crappy season. Some of the rides I enjoy in Summer are out of bounds at this time of year granted, I'd sink up to the bar ends in clawing gloop no doubt, and that's no fun at all. But I should set my sights a bit further afield at this time of year.

But anyway, a ride was on the cards but what bike to take? I gave the Voodoo a proper tickle last week and it is looking clean as a new pin. Get it all dirty again so quickly? Oh no no no... The Jamis then. Well that's clean as well, but the Carrera... a snotty bike for snotty roads. It's what it's for after all. So, armed with a big stick, I dragged it out from the corner of the shed where it was quietly festering, and then sallied forth on the wretched beast to see what was going on in the (local) world.

The joy of Snotternomics. Leave the pride and joy tucked up in the dry and warm, and enjoy the liberating feeling of piling through the sludge without a care in the world.

The lanes are a bit lacking in vibrance at this time of year it must be said, unless blustery winds count of course. The warming sunshine, bright colours and sweet smells have long gone, leaving everything a damp and dull green or brown. Bozzing along them though is still an enjoyable experience, especially when mounted on an old hack bike you don't fret over, and the decrepit wreck and I (so two decrepit wrecks then) were soon making good pace ploughing through all the sludge and muck. It's an old mongrel of a bike, but it still rides well enough, although the V-Brakes take a little getting used to again after the consistent bite of the discs on the other two. It also keeps aggressive dogs at bay as well - they spy me coming and imagine the fun they are about to have chasing another poor cyclist, then clock the malevolent collection of fetid parts the old bloke is riding and think better of it, keeping their distance and following my progress past their territory to make sure I don't stop and let my bike sully the place. Even the mankiest of farm dogs give me a wide berth when on the Carerra it seems.

So, concerned farm dog aside, what else was happening? Well the only things of note turned out to be crap dumped at the roadside – the first of which was a shopping basket. I had the rack on the bike, but no bungees, otherwise I'd have had that for all the bike furtling and cleaning guff in the shed. I might yet go back to get it.

I think I'll go back and retrieve this, that is if nobody else has blagged it in the meantime. 

The other 'find' was three old car tyres. No use to me, but farmers like them for weighing down tarps and stuff, so at least they too might get re-purposed as it were.

Plenty of life left in them... Mind you, the fatter one on the right wouldn't look out of place on Lewis Hamilton's Sunday afternoon biffabout.

So anyway, that got me thinking, and the result is a small collection of photos of the sort of treasures, oddities and trash I've found while tootling the back lanes.

Old wrecks.

This old ex RAF AEC Matador above has taken up residence beside the road near Grampound, and is apparently waiting to be restored. A superb old beast though, and it looks a proper animal to drive.

On the edge of Truro lurks this old Landie, slowly getting taken over by the hedge. But, it is apparently not alone, as after posting these to Flickr, I was told there is in fact a second Landie behind it, already well engulfed by the vegetation. So well engulfed in fact, that you have to really look hard into the hedge to see it. Next time I go past I'll have me a good prod about.

There seems to have been a purge on old roadside derelicts at some point, as when I was a kid they were a frequent sight round the lanes and in the woods. Obviously to many folk they are a blight on the landscape, but to me their loss is a shame, I love finding these old warriors parked up and slowly decaying.

 Strange goings on...

Now here's a wonderful thing, a Tigger in a tree, in the middle of nowhere. But he wasn't alone...

This rather drunk looking bear was also taking the sun alongside the lane, along with some other soft weirdness hanging from the tree. 

Riding through the village of Zelah I came across this chap. Could be part of some community scarecrow festival, or maybe just one of the locals having a breather on the way to the pub. Hard to tell really, they're a funny lot in Zelah...

Smallest libraries in the world?

There are a few old phone boxes being put to use around the county (and probably beyond too, but I don't go up country... full of funny folk it is up there) as local book exchanges. Bring a book - take a book is the principle, and I think it's a brilliant idea. It only works in 'quiet' places mind you. We have an old phone box in the village here, but we also have a lot of bored youths who would delight in trashing something like this, unfortunately.

Examples of old crafts and rural skills.

There are loads of such things of course, but I've only got photos of one example of old crafts in use - hedge laying. Good to see practices like this still surviving when it would be easier no doubt to just bung in some modern fence or other. This hedge lines both sides of the road for about three quarters of a mile, and would've taken a lot of time and effort, but is far, far better than wire fencing, not just visually but for wildlife too.

Cyclists!

Yes, who would've thought you'd find cyclists on the country lanes, but if this sign is anything to go by, it might come as a surprise to some folk. Or maybe it was asking drivers and pedestrians to caution cyclists, to warn or punish them, after all, there is no punctuation there to suggest a different meaning. Caution them about what though isn't clear.

Useful stuff.

I've no idea what this lever fell off, or what I might use it for, but it is now in my tool box waiting for the day when I need such a device, even if it's only to stir paint with...

Oh ok... this isn't very useful in fact - there's no valve cap look... Someone has been having some puncture related nightmares though - what a mess.

Ah ha! Now that is useful - the forces of win were strong with this find. Some roadside treasures need a bit of spotting, but your eyes soon tune in to look for even the smallest foreign objects lurking on the tarmac or in the hedge.

Memorials

Plenty of memorials to be found on the roads these days unfortunately, and many, like this one, are well tended. 

Rubbish.

Uh oh... incoming rant ahead! 

Unfortunately, there is an increasing amount of rubbish appearing on the lanes recently. The local council don't help when they announce they are going to charge for loads of items at the local tip. A trip to the tip with a car full of crap used to be great fun. You roll up, enjoy lobbing all your crap onto the tip, for FREE, then come home with a car full of someone else's crap you salvaged because you thought you could put it to good use. Now though, there are bins for everything and woe betide you if you launch the wrong thing into the wrong bin - the Tip Police will pounce in a flash and make you feel like the worst form of criminal because the old office chair went in the metal bin but had some plastic on it or some such act of evil. But things got even worse when charges were announced for all sorts of items. You now need a calculator and a supply of ready cash before heading to the dump, and things can get very expensive, very quickly. Yet the council wonder why fly tipping is on the increase... None of the above is an excuse mind you for littering the countryside, the people who turf this junk out on the roadside are beneath contempt.

The junk in the above photo is the telly, not the bike...

Well at least the local cats get somewhere comfy to rest up after a hard day at work sitting under cars and staring into hedges.

If I had my old van I would've had this away, cleaned it and mounted it on the swivel base of my office chair.

A couple of dead bike frames waiting to clang the blades of the council hedge cutter. Whoever dumped them didn't want anyone else having them as both had been cut through before being lobbed into the undergrowth on the verge.

There are loads of other things to be found on the roads of course, especially if you like those red industrial gloves, there's always plenty of them lurking, they've taken over from the miles of unwound cassette tape I think as the most commonly found roadside litter. 

Well that's about that for roadside finds, and wasn't it just thrilling... I have a bucket list of things I'd like to find and actively search the roadsides for - large sums of cash for example, a pair of shoes that actually fit me (why is there always only one shoe?) a new wife even, but so far my best finds amount to a couple of tools. But if anyone finds the end cap from the Voodoo's left pedal, you can keep it, the bearings are knackered already so I'm going to replace them. The lens cap off my Canon 18-55 kit lens though I'd quite like back... lost it somewhere near Tresillian I did.