2015 was the usual blend of ups and downs, but I'll stick with a couple of the highlights, which included listening to a Woodpecker getting busy while holding a steaming coffee in my hand beside the river near Tresillian, early one misty morning, and watching some Kingfishers darting about a bit further along on the same day. There was the arrival just a couple of weeks ago of the Fat Bike too, but let's have a completely random and self indulgent mooch through a few photos and have a quick look back at 2015. This isn't a comprehensive account by any means, nor are the photos in any particular order date wise, just a hotch potch selection.
Early February was a bit chilly. The second of Feb shown here, had seen frequent hail showers coupled with freezing temperatures to leave the lanes a bit sketchy and my backside a bit twitchy, as things were a bit slippery in places. Riding through the puddles and listening to the ice crunching was good fun though. But better was to come the very next morning...
Snow! Well, a little bit of snow, but we don't see much of it down here so even a light dusting is enough to get excited about (and bring the county to a halt...). This was taken approaching the Five Turnings junction about a mile and a half from home, and I'd already had an unplanned Break Dancing episode by this point involving descending the hill out of the village and some injudicious application of the brakes. Thankfully it was to be the only 'off' of this little ride.
My feet were colder than the socks on an Eskimo's washing line but I wasn't going to miss the opportunity for some wintery looking photos. Fingers crossed we get some more snow in the next couple of months!
January had seen the first of many trips into Idless Woods (above two shots) and throughout the year...
... mud and puddles were to be an ever present feature in parts of these woods, as above in March...
....and again, in July (above).
It wasn't all splashing and slithering about in these woods though, as I found a previously undiscovered by me path that I first thought might have been an old stream or river bed, but is more likely to have been an old Drover's path. It runs pretty much straight its entire length and down hill too, so makes for a pretty good 'chute' to ride down (above).
Idless Woods are a good place to find Bluebells too (above)...
... as is this rural footpath.
That footpath is a little secluded delight that unfortunately peters out as it has become heavily overgrown, but it's still worth a ride along now and then (above and below)...
... but is best avoided during the shooting season as Pheasants are released on one side of the path, while the shooters line up on the other. Somewhat less than ideal for a quiet potter then.
I did explore a couple of new to me Bridleways in 2015, this one going from the Truck Fork junction and up to the back of Probus village (above and below) was a good find...
As was this section of path leading up to the old West Wheal Chiverton Mine (below)
This way to the mine beats this path below...
which is inclined to get a little muddy.
What else? Ah yes, May saw a trip to Holywell Bay to go and see the sea.
Pushing the Jamis through the soft sand dunes was hard work. Guess where I've got a trip planned for the Fatty in 2016?
Getting to Holywell meant riding through Cubert which boasts a very well appointed bus stop...
See what I mean? There's a choice of fair or foul weather waiting, there's plenty to read at the information hub and it is connected to the world at large as well via the communication centre (phone box). If all that isn't enough, there's en suite refreshment available too. This place has everything.
A very worthwhile addition to my riding kit was a Mini Trangia stove and kettle. I don't carry it on every ride, but it gives me an excuse, or a reason, to get out early and have my first cup of the day somewhere pleasant and relaxing. It also makes me stop and linger awhile which makes for some good relaxation - time to dwell and listen and watch what's going on while the kettle is doing its thing.
March saw the demise of my Canon G11 camera. That was a bad tempered day that was! I took a photo and the lens failed to retract on switching off the camera - it became a doorstop and I was less than delighted to put it mildly.
But, that meant I needed a replacement and an opportunity for an upgrade, and I soon had a used Canon G1 X winging its way westwards.
The first ride using the G1 X (above) showed the camera to be worth every penny, with a big step up in picture quality and ease of use, but with one big drawback - the minimum focusing distance is measured in Furlongs rather than millimetres. It's utter pants at close up stuff, but that's the downside to having the large (for a 'compact' camera) sensor.
September saw another photographic arrival as after many months, nay, years, of pondering, I finally pulled the trigger on a GoPro Hero 4. I've not yet scratched the surface of what this thing can do creatively, so that's firmly on the agenda for 2016. There are only so many over the bars shots like the one above, I can stomach.
What else? Ah yes, June saw a bit of a trip down to Coombe and Cowlands.
A good ride that, somewhere I hadn't ridden before and beautiful weather for it.
So good was the weather that my trusty Baseball Hat proved inadequate and so...
I obtained a rather less than fetching sun hat to keep my ears and neck from burning.
I'm a scruffy Herbert though whatever I wear.
Another place I returned to a couple of times was Newlyn Downs.
This is a public access area in and around the Carland Cross wind farm, and is also the site of an old lead mine. The streams here are tributaries of the River Gannel and run red with the rusty iron deposits of the mining spoils. It is also an area of Special Scientific Interest due to its areas of wet heathland.
I don't know about the wet heathland areas at all, but it is also thick with Gorse which makes for some vibrant colour on a bleak landscape.
But Newlyn Downs also offers some quality off road pottering, with the constant backdrop (and whooshing noise if it's windy) of those big fan things. (I don't buy this idea of generating electricity, I think they're huge fans pointing against the prevailing winds to straighten the trees up...)
Looking back, there didn't seem to be much of a convincing summer to enjoy. There never seemed to be a run of good days, just a sunny day, followed by an overcast one, then a flipping wet one.
This shot above was taken in May, and the weather was distinctly cold and although dry, was just grey and bland. This was on the old A30 at Gossmoor, a well known traffic bottleneck on the journey in or out of the county. At the far end of the moor was the infamous railway bridge, that regularly saw the undoing (literally in some cases as HGV trailers got peeled open under it) of many a high vehicle, leading to even more traffic chaos. Thankfully, eventually, at flipping last... the road was by-passed, and the old route is now a peaceful multi use trail.
But, still, there some, occasional, summery days.
So weatherwise it was a bit disappointing. Despite clocking up exactly 100 rides for the year, it also felt like I didn't get out as often as I'd intended, nor did I get as far from home to new places as I'd have liked. And that is about it for a quick (?) look through my photos. I took a ton more of course, and have probably missed out some things that were a lot more interesting, as this all looks and sounds pretty uneventful (dull/boring) but still, there were some positives to be had, and hopefully many more to come in 2016.
Happy New Year!
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