First Coffee Ride Of The Year.

Something I really enjoy is packing the stove and setting off with the intention of stopping somewhere relaxing and having a coffee. It's a great way to clear the mental cache, especially when the coffee in question is the first of the day, as it really hits the spot when I've earned it by riding a few miles with the Caffeine levels on empty.

Yesterday wasn't one of those days though, as I was so bleary eyed and fuzzy of head, I had to have coffee when I first got up, my systems just wouldn't have booted up without it, but otherwise, all the ingredients were there - It was a gorgeous morning for sure, a bit of frost, but clear blue skies and warming sunshine looked good for a ride, and better yet, there was no wind. Once my head had started to rid itself of the morning fug, I set off, heading for a regular coffee spot beside the river in Idless Woods.

Once out of the village and across the main road, the lanes worked their theraputic magic as mist hung in the valley bottoms and the roads were striped with sunlight and shadow. The feeling of peace and calm was enhanced by the very frequent reminders of the right hooley we had on Wednesday, when the region took a right battering from the wind. All was still now, but that wind brought down a lot of branches to litter the roads, and as I was to discover, quite a few trees too.

On reaching the entrance to the wood, I was rather surprised to find I had company, in the form of a youngish black Labrador. As I turned into the wood, he came trotting down the hill and started following me in. I had no idea if he was merely out for his daily constitutional, or was lost. He took a little coaxing to get close, but once we'd been formally introduced with a quick pat and then a good rub of his belly, it was clear we were now buddies. I tried to ring the number on his ID disc, but just as my call was answered, my phone lost service or something, whatever, it cut out. Deep joy. Meanwhile our relationship had moved on with quite some speed, as the dog had got his lipstick out and was clearly rather excited. Well that wouldn't do, we'd only just met after all, so I had to take other steps to find the dog's owner, literally as it happened. So it was a walk back down the hill to the house at the bottom to see if they knew who he might belong to. Luckily, this was in fact his home, so with one presumably sexually frustrated dog duly returned to his owner, I once again headed into the woods.

The lower path which runs beside the river through the woods was in the past, a bit of a no-go in winter, being very soggy and boggy indeed, but the forestry workers set about it a year or so ago, blading and packing it down hard, and now, it is far more accommodating for visitors, with only the occasional and small muddy puddle to negotiate. But with my new found mud plugging friend in Fatso, mud is less of a problem anyway. More of a possible issue was a downed tree, but conveniently, there was an easy walk around available by heading to the river bank and popping back out a few yards further down the track.

Signs of Wednesday's strong winds were all over the place.

The wreckage wasn't restricted to a few branches either, there were plenty of trees down in the woods, and around the lanes too. 

Just to the right but out of shot in this photo are the remains of an old gunpowder works, built to service the mining and quarrying industries. There is another similar ruin in another wood near Ponsanooth, as these gunpowder works, built beside rivers for the milling process, were placed in woods so the trees would absorb and limit the blast in the event of an accident. 

Target spot reached, Fatso was quickly parked to cool his tyres in the water while the Trangia was sparked into life. At least on this occasion the stove lit without fuss, unlike the last cold morning when all attempts at combustion failed miserably. This particular spot is a favourite of mine as not only is it a very pleasant place to while away an hour or so, but there is plenty of seating to be had, which with my knackered back, is much appreciated.

I've no idea what the remains here are, but are also probably linked to the gunpowder manufacturing that took place. Now, it makes a nice spot for a linger.

Beverage of choice was a Latte Caramel. The pound shops stock lots of these three in one type coffees, which are ideal for this kind of use.

No wind shield required as it was pretty much totally still, just a whisper of a breeze occasionally to blow the flame out from under the kettle. 

Old giffer chilling out. I do get some funny looks sometimes when brewing up, but knickers to 'em, flask coffee tastes 'orrible and this beats coffee shops every time for me.

Where to go next? That is always the big question, and I really wasn't sure, but decided in the end to not go too far, but would go and check out the fields of Daffodils up near the Crematorium. Heading up there means a right old slog up a long and grizzly hill, but the views down into the valley and back across to Idless Woods make it a picturesque way to burst your lungs to say the least.

It's funny how the gradient of a hill rarely shows up in photos, but this was half way up a right old slog.

At least the hill comes out from under the tree cover to offer the out of breath a nice view to admire while your lungs explode.

There are many signs that spring has sprung – lambs gambolling in the fields, Snowdrops on the verges, and elastic bands, massed thick like rugs, on the road surface. A sure sign that the Daffodils are out that is. That and the presence of yellow flowers all over the place of course, but still. The lazzie bands suggest the pickers have been active, but in the fields I could see no sign of them. The Daffs all looked ripe for picking, maybe even past their best although the ones on the edges and in view probably suffer more from the elements and may not look their best. Usually the roads are muddy, and lined with Eastern European registered people carriers and mini buses when the pickers are at their back breaking work, but all was quiet, which is a bit odd.

I don't envy the Daffodil pickers one bit. These fields are huge and the work back breakingly hard. 

Photos taken, the quick route home would be along the very close by main road, but beggar that for a laugh, it's too busy and too narrow for my liking so it was back down the hill to Idless and round the lanes to home rather than short cutting back through the woods again.

Taking the road route home saw me passing a field that belongs to the nearby Llama Land, where presumably some of the attractions go on their day off to relax.

It might be Llama Land, but I think handsome here is an Alpaca. 

So the first coffee ride of the year and it was a good'un – a very enjoyable potter about in the sunshine along with some quality caffeination. Proper job.

The maps I use here don't show off road riding, and as that was a major part of the yesterday's bimbling, I haven't uploaded it as it bears little relation to what I actually did. But I did 11 miles, climbed a lot and the journey time was... oh ages.