Quick Photoey Post.

Got other things going on right at this minute, which will be revealed in another post very shortly no doubt, so no big wafflicious write up or anything much.

Mind you, there wasn't much to write about really.

The weather has gone back to normal after the baking hot few days of last week. Well, if anything, it's gone a bit the other way and it has been feeling a little chilly at times, as well as wet, but still.

There was indeed a chill in the air (to me there was, but I'm a wimp I feel the cold as riding slowly I don't generate as much heat as a someone going for a personal best) as I took Fatso over to Ladock Woods again on Sunday for a rumble around. Not just a chill, but drizzle too, great waves of it drifting about the scenery, blowing in, then blowing out again. So out came the darned cycling jacket once again, and I ended up sweating like a fat bloke in a pie factory. Never knowingly under dressed, that's me. How these roadies beggar off and do a hundred miles in their vest and shorts is beyond me. I can't leave home without every clothing eventuality catered for.


But enough of all that, the ride was a very pleasant one, and it certainly soothed a few angsts and grumps I'd been having. Amazing how a quick ride on a bike can do such wonders for the general well being.

Right, photo time.

Straight in with a fuzzy one. My head is getting sore from banging it against my wall. Right click and open in a new tab if you want to see it done proper like.

Anyway, old bloke and Fatso on the lane twixt St Erme and Ladock. I don't mind days like this from a photography perspective, I get some detail in the sky. Too often we get grey days with a flat sky that just looks blown out and utter pants in photos. I could muck about with filters I suppose, but I find them a right old faff so they don't come out of the gadget bag much.

View through a gateway of a grumpy looking sky. Sun's out though... crack on!

Bombing along like a rampaging Rhino.

Enjoying gravity assisted velocities towards Ladock Woods, which lie across the road up ahead.

Bimbling about the woods, I came across a bit of a Lone Ranger in the way of this single Red Valerian, the only one in the whole wood as far as I saw.

The forestry boys and girls have been busy and there's a lot of freshly cut timber lying about, and some not so fresh too.

 Nice smiles... nice horses... ni...what the hell have you got on your head?

On your way Dobbin, nothing to see here. (that's a hell of a centre parting there too...)

The second horse got into a face off with Fatso for some reason - he seemed spooked by the bike and didn't want to pass it, but after a little encouragement from his pilot there, he bravely sauntered on. Lovely animals, thick as three trees in a wood sometimes though it seems.

They're a funny lot in Ladock, drink their own bath water and point excitedly at passing cars n'stuff like that, so it wouldn't surprise me at all if these spooky looking articles in the woods were some sort of deities, worshipped by locals dressed in flowing robes and wailing/chanting strange sounding words. These things go on round that way you know, next Saturday for example they're holding a rain dance on the village playing field (if wet, in the village hall). Funny lot they are.

There's definitely a sad looking face in the piece directly above. Look at the top and there's a down turned mouth, above that a large nose (I'm a fine one to talk...) an eye and a forehead.

I didn't stick around I can tell you, I was off faster than a well kicked cat in case I looked round to find I wasn't alone...

Thankfully though, I made it home safely, clutching my St Christopher all the way and the ride, brief though it was, did me a world of good.

I do enjoy riding Fatso, it is both docile and well balanced at low speed, and stable as an aircraft carrier at higher speeds and over rougher stuff. It really is a great bike, and I really enjoy riding it, as I do the others to be fair. But... when the N+1 bug strikes... Well... Oh hang on, there's someone at the door...

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Early Morning Coffee Ride.

Well the heat wave has come to an end, thankfully. It's a grey Thursday morning here at Bimble HQ and the temperature is a most pleasant 17c, which I can cope with, although rather bizarrely, my Hayfever has gone into overdrive and I'm sneezing and snuffling, my eyes are streaming and my face is aching like a good'un. This does not a happy Bimbler make, and the tablets are only now, some two hours after taking them, starting to get a hold of the situation. All through the hot weather it was nicely under control, but now it's cooled down it's gone crackers, but there we go. 

But it's good to get back to something a bit more normal weather wise. It was nice bimbling about in the sun, up to a point, but it did all get rather too hot for comfort after a day or two. Flesh was sizzling, tarmac was melting and the locals cows were giving evaporated milk, it was so hot. Beggar all that for a laugh.

On the plus side, the bikes haven't needed to be washed in weeks. I normally like to keep my bikes as clean as is practical, and hate them being covered in mud, but dust I don't mind so much, so they've just had chain clean and lubes between rides, something no doubt that will please the reservoir monitoring folk at South West Water - "Levels are holding up... has that Bimbles bloke not been washing his bike then?"

Through all this, my back has been pretty good, no coincidence perhaps, as it often seems worse in cold/wet weather, but a wrong move can still wreck it for weeks whatever the weather, so I have to still temper my enthusiasm despite enjoying rather more free movement than is my norm.

So not wanting to miss out on a good ride, I still bravely headed out into the heat for some short bimbles round my usual loop and also Idless Woods, but they were fairly routine, if a little sweaty, affairs.

Fatso on the main drag through Idless Woods.

Fuzzy photo? Right click and open in a new tab.

My last decent ride to East Portholland saw me up at Sparrow's Fart hoping for a good old sun rise, but instead I got drabness and drizzle until mid wayish through my travels.

For Tuesday just gone though, the forecast looked more promising, so I decided to once again get out early (no hardship in the recent weather - sleep being a bit hard to come by) and go and have a coffee down by the river, a bit of a bimble about, and get home again before the day got too hot.

Once again though, I just missed dawn itself by a matter of minutes, so it was starting to get light as I poked Fatso down the road at just after 5 o'clock. Unlike that previous early ride, on this occasion all was still, there was no breeze at all, and birds singing apart, all was so very, very, quiet. 

 Heading down the hill out of my home port of Trispen, and towards Trevella Stream. Even at just after 5 am it was pretty warm out.

Light in the sky top right is either a plane glinting in the sun, a passing asteroid or a UFO. I'm going with it being the former. If it was the latter,  well the little green men were heading east(ish), up country, so good luck with finding a parking spot for your flying saucer up there, and don't forget to pay the congestion charge.

Despite the early hour it was still pretty warm out, in fact, I was getting a sweat on just taking photos, I was glad to get tooting on the bike again just to get some air passing over me.

Easy wheeling down the short hill towards Trehane Wood I was aware of movement off to my left, in the field that sits above the level of the road. I looked across to see a Rabbit, or maybe a Hare (in the low light, and through a hedge, it's hard to tell one from t'other), speeding along parallel to me as if we were in a race. As I neared the left bend by the corner of the field Thumper was still going like the clappers and I half expected him to burst through the hedge and across the road, so a tad grudgingly, I conceded the lead and braked to avoid any unpleasant collisions, but he must've gone to hide in the hedge, or maybe just collided with it, and failed to appear. A magical few seconds though, and these random encounters with wildlife are definitely part of the pleasure of riding the lanes.

There were the usual twitterings of the birds, but otherwise everywhere was still, and utterly silent. 

 On the hill down into Tresillian I stopped to hang my nose over the gate to take some photos of the local Sheep. They looked how I'd felt a little earlier - upright but not yet fully awake.

After a couple more stops for photos, Tresillian and the riverside path was reached, and the Trangia was soon doing its stuff while I was sat on a bench just looking and listening, taking in the peace and quiet. There were still a few early dog walkers about though, and I had a struggle to keep one Black Labrador from burning its hooter on the kettle/stove, or just knocking it all over. Dogs must like the smell of meths burning, as wandering pooches always make straight for the stove when I'm brewing up. Not being a fan of the smell of burning dog snot however, I always have to try and keep them away.

 On the riverside track at Tresillian.

Nothing fancy for my morning coffee this time, just routine old Nescafe.

 What looks like a reflection of the spoon is actually a flame. The silver pot the kettle stands on is, according to Trangia, a windshield, but it is useless on windy days so I use a second wrap around screen when required. On this morning however, the air was completely still so I didn't bother.

Fully caffeinated the plan now was to head back into Tresillian and then use a couple of Bridleways and a footpath (ssshhhh) to get back home, rather than slogging back up the lanes. I'd only discovered this alternative route back in December, so it would be interesting to see how rideable it is in summer.

 Heading back along the track towards Tresillian.

The riverside path between Tresillian and St Clement.

Landowners are supposed to keep public rights of way clear and navigable for those allowed to use them, but clearly some work needs doing along one particular stretch where I had to almost crawl beneath low hanging branches, and then barge my way through elbow high weeds and nettles. There is a case for 'use it or lose it' though with some of these rights of way, and a farmer can close them off if they can prove nobody uses them, so I'm going to get my wheels up and down this route a lot more in the future just in case the landowner wants to remove access. 

Whurrrppp...Whoaaaa....Fwwwapppp... Steady on boy...

The Bridleway starts off as a narrow path across the rear of a load of back gardens, and is rather overgrown in places.

  More friendly than the sheep, this lot wandered over as I was passing to say hello. Not very cute though are they...

 Ah but these two are!

Now I know why I wear long trousers all the time... The Bridleway about to get a bit stingy...

The route passes through a farmyard and starts to climb up a track, then along the edge of a field to a hill top.

Chooching along on top of the hill, and it's all rather pleasant. Elsewhere, rush hour would just be starting... I have many blessings to count I must say.

Somewhere underneath all this lot is the main railway line that passes through a tunnel beneath the hill.

The Bridleway leads up onto a modest hill top, but even at this lowly altitude, the scenery looks remarkably different. It really is a different world when you get high up as you lose sight and sound of so many signs of human life, and in this case, looking around I could only see fields, woods, other hill tops and the occasional distant farm building. No roads, retail parks, solar farms or office blocks to blight the landscape. By crikey it was getting hot though, even though it was still only about 7.30 am, and riding up to the top of the hill saw me sweating like a glass blower's backside. The sun was also very strong too, and despite plastering some sun cream on before I left, I could feel my neck burning good and proper. Thankfully, what goes up must come down, and after a brief bit of flat, I was soon flying down the edge of the field in the tracks made by a tractor, which given the firmness of the ground, made for a bone jarring, double vision, ride, even with Fatso's gert balloon like tyres. Boy was it a great feeling though! Despite the hammer drill ride, the bike never felt like it was going to get out of shape and I was grinning like a loon at laughtime as I made the most of gravity to enjoy some cheap speed and a welcome rush of cooling air.

 Starting down the other side of the hill.

If you want to get a hat, get a head. Or was it the other way round?

My dear old Dad always said I was a scruffy Herbert, but even my carefully crafted shabbiness reaches new heights in hot weather when I delve into the far reaches of my millinery cupboard and fetch out the sun hat. 

Soon though, the Bridleway leaves the fields, travels along a couple of farm tracks and through a farm yard before changing to a footpath down through some woods, along the edge of more fields and back to Tregassow Lane. This latter section made for some great bush busting riding as it is currently very overgrown, and I had to batter my way along in my own personal cloud of pollen, seeds, petals and whatever else I disturbed. Luckily, I know exactly where this path goes, and where the rough bits are, otherwise a stranger might not be able to tell exactly where the path actually is. I was also a trifle wet too, as the morning dew had yet to be burned off and I must've looked a right picture as I emerged onto the lane wearing various bits of foliage, and thousands of tiny seeds and petals clinging to my wet trousers and assorted parts of the bike.

 Wuh... whoa... I'm not crashing... honest... whurrppp... 

 More power!!! 

Barging through the thick foliage is great fun, though I do have to be careful with my back. But the main thing is to power on through and I was flogging the pedals like a Totter flogs a rented mule, but Fatso and I made it out of the Jungle safely.

Ah now this bit is easier going, you can actually see where the track goes for a start. Thankfully, I know this route well anyway, and where to aim for.

 Now why did I take this photo? Oh yes, to show how wet the bike got thrashing through the still dewy greenery, and to show off the only (visible) injury incurred - a leaky forefinger knuckle. Once in the shower at home I found quite a few scratches to my legs, but hey... I'm a rufty tufty mountain biker and can take it like a man... Yow! Woorrrrr shiii...That water's hot...

Both bike and body were covered in this residue. The bike still is...

A quick dust down and removal of a particularly large chunk of weed from the bar end/handlebar interface and then it was round my usual loop to home, back in the door at just after nine.

It is an ambition to one day, or rather night, to do a sunset to sunrise, coast to coast ride, which should be quite easy to achieve down here. Watch the sun go down on the North coast (yup, I'd need to look left...) then ride through the night to the East coast and watch the sun come up there. That would be something a bit special I think, but also a bit beyond my capabilities at the moment. I need various health related things to improve a bit before I could attempt that. In the meantime though, I can do more early morning rides, as it is a quite magical time to be out in the countryside on a bike (especially when the day gets as hot as we'd been having!).

The full details and proper sized map can be found Here

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A Rather Early Ride to the Coast.

Now before we start on the main content of this post, a couple of random bits.

The countryside is generally a quiet, relaxing and peaceful place. It's a place where one can enjoy bird song, cows mooing and sheep bleating, maybe a tractor toiling in a distant field. A place of gentle joy. Apart from the other day that is when I was out for a quick bimble around my favourite loop. There I was enjoying the sunshine, drifting along the lane towards Four Turnings when suddenly - Phhhhtoooommmmm!!!! I almost found out what adrenalin smells like. Good job I was wearing bicycle clips I can tell you. The culprit is below...

Gas powered agricultural laxative device.

As ever, right click and open in a new tab will see any fuzzy photos, like this one, in all their glory.

A chuffing gas powered bird scarer sat in a field, but rather close too close to the road for comfort and good trouser well being. These things are a common enough sound now, Scarecrows were made redundant long ago in favour of these bird bazookas going off randomly, and sounding like a heavy cruiser letting loose with a full broadside. Guffing 'eck it was loud. Normally though they are placed away from the lanes so whilst still audible, they don't scare the bejeezus out of anyone passing. Quite why the damned device was sited almost in a corner of a field, and pointing outwards across the road towards a wood I don't know. I thought the idea was to scare the birds off the field, not blast them out of the tree tops with a shock wave or something. 

Last time here I posted a link to a rather good talk given by Lee Craigie and how to ride like a girl.

Well I found another video by her that also hits so many right notes for me. Nicely filmed too. Well worth a watch - Escape – Lee Craigie’s inner journey along the Caledonia Way

Right, onto the tale of dawnly derring do.

I've long fancied doing a pre-dawn ride, but even in winter when early rise heroics are not required, I've not quite managed it. It helps that I'm more of a morning person anyway, quite happy to get up early and get things done and still have a big chunk of the day left over for whatever. It also helps that sleep is often hard to come by for one reason and another, but enough of that. Plus of course there would be the dramatic glory of the dawn itself, the light, the colours, the mist, the sheer breath taking beauty of it all...

So I'd been mulling over getting out early and having a bit of an epic ride somewhere, and the recent good weather and my back holding up well at the moment only made me want to do it even more. Where to go was of course the big question, and this is where my imagination/daring deserted me, and I opted to do a ride I've done before, just the once though, to the south coast on the Roseland peninsular, and East Portholland.

So with yesterday (Thursday) being the planned big day, I found myself up and about shortly after 4.30am, and out the door bang on 05.00. Unfortunately I wasn't to be treated to a spectacular rising of the sun, no. Instead it was just the dull greyness getting a bit lighter, as the big day turned out to be, well a bit meh.

Amazing how much light a camera can pick up when it wants to. It was still pretty dark when the above shots were taken, and those lights were much needed, although the front one is a 'be seen' jobbie rather than a see where you're going affair.

Oh well, I was up and out, the hard work was done, so adopting the smoke it if you've got it rule, I firmly banished any thoughts of leaving it for a better day and going back to bed, and pedaled onwards, still intent of making the most of my early start. He who dares and all that.

The lanes are little different at silly o'clock to during the day really, just the same noise from the birds and the wind, but visually everything is in low definition, from both the low light and also my still not fully booted up head. The villages of course, are an exception, and Probus and Tregony were both eerily deserted as I plodded on through.

It was just after Tregony that someone let the drizzle out and I started getting wet. Oh well, it'd maybe help keep pollen levels down a bit, so press on.

While I was tooting along I was recalling an online article I'd read a couple of days before about things you simply must take when going on a bike ride – any bike ride that is, and oh boy did I scoff at one of the suggestions – some sort of sat nav device. Pfft! Pah! And Pfft! again. I use the real manly man's method of finding my way around, the paper map. There is something really satisfying I think about stopping, scratching your chin for a moment before pulling out the map, having a quick check and a loud 'Ah Ha!' before smugly setting off once again.

Not only that, but I've read a book on using natural aids to navigation, how to know which is east and which is west by looking at the landscape, trees and moss n'stuff. Proper Bear Grylls me. Sat Nav? My backside!

I arrived in East Portholland at about 06.45, a little later than estimated having had a minor optimum directional issue. I didn't get lost, no not me, uh uh. I just didn't know which turning I had to take at a couple of multi option junctions and may have spent a little while on some unplanned bonus lane exploration... ahem.

Destination reached - East Portholland.

I'm not always a fan of long exposures on moving water, but thought I'd try a couple here. The water draining off the wall there is a stream emptying into the sea that passes beneath the road via a culvert. This was taken at about 7am, but not all the locals were still in bed, and I was being watched by from a doorway behind the phone box. 

Why East Portholland? I don't know why or what first drew me there many, many, years ago, but it was a favourite place to escape to when I was first riding a motorbike back in about 1979, and it hasn't changed at all since then. It is still a collection of a few houses, a cliff and a beach, and being well off the beaten track, still takes a bit of getting at, more so on a push bike of course. For a bit of invigorating and refreshing peace and quiet, it ticks all the boxes.

Right, this blog page is going to utterly marmalise the photo, so do the right clicky thing if you want, but I'm going to lob in a quick panoramic that shows pretty much all there is at East Portholland (there are a couple more buildings behind me, but this is pretty much all there is to see).

No flat roof pubs, no surf shops, no acres of sun burned flesh waddling about. You could almost imagine old Ross Poldark wandering down the coastal path on his way to have another barney with a damned Warleggan...

After the obligatory look around and the taking of a few photos, I plotted up on the small headland to the west of the village and settled down to brew up a coffee on the mini Trangia. One light rain shower passed by quickly while the kettle was on, seen off sharply by an emerging blanket of sunshine that spread colour and warmth all around. Despite the drizzle, the undramatic dawn and getting lost route option disorientation, and all the effort involved in the early start, it was all suddenly worthwhile as the ride went from just something I was doing, enjoyable though it was, to a proper 'wow this is brilliant.'

 A cracking place to sit while the stove boils a kettle for coffee. Look closely and you can see rain drops as a shower was just starting. Nescafe Toffee Nut Latte was again the beverage of choice.

 Breakfast! For various reasons I don't eat much the night before a ride, and not normally at all during one, but I thought I'd have a treat and indulge in a small snack. I need to get brave and experiment with eating while on a ride, as I might not tire so readily on these longer rides. I was hooperchooped by the time I got home.

 Hayup, is that the sun coming out?

Woo yeah!

Now I must admit here that the Jamis is looking a tad grimy. I normally extol the virtues of running a clean bike at every opportunity but while the Jamis here has done several rides recently, they've all been on dry(ish) roads. So with just a light covering of road dust I hadn't bothered to crack out the pressure washer and give it a scrub up. The drizzle and a few sloppy farmyards en route left it looking a tad gribbley though.

The lanes I was riding were all very nice, especially in the sunshine, but also they were a tad featureless, just like as above, high banked with little to see, so I didn't take many photos for large parts of the ride. 

Rather than simply go back the way I'd come as I had done last time, I made my way through West Portholland (there are even fewer houses there) and along lanes lined on one side with acres of vibrant pink Foxgloves and Campion, and after only a mile or so riding in completely the wrong direction after confusing one main road for another (how much are those sat navs again? Ahem...), I was back on roads I traveled only last Sunday, through Lamorran Woods and St Michael Penkevil. This is an area I have quickly grown rather fond of! A quick glimpse of a young Deer, and also some Raptor or other swooping out of the trees and soaring effortlessly and gracefully along the road ahead of me under the trees only made the day even better, and enhanced that new found fondness even more.

 Above and below: Sett Bridge just west of Ruan Lanihorne.

 You don't see a car for 40 minutes, then just as you've set up the tripod for a selfie, one comes past, then stops on a bend while the oldies inside take in the view, and get in the way of my photo... I gave up waiting for it to move, and had thought I ought to ride up to it in case the elderly driver had just expired behind the wheel or something, but true to form, the car moved on as I approached it... Gah!!

Before the selfie, so out of order really, but still. The road through Lamorran Wood.

It doesn't look it, but is slightly down hill here, hence the extravagant speed, but after a grey and drizzly start, it turned out to be superb riding weather.

Back home well before lunchtime made it a day with a great feeling of accomplishment, albeit one with knackered legs, but that's a small price to pay.

I do get frustrated with my map reading/navigation skillz though! A lack of useful signposting and roads that all look alike don't help mind you. There is a time and a place for getting lost – it can be very rewarding in fact, part of the appeal of a good bike borne ramble, but when riding with a set destination in mind and getting lost even after looking at the map and being unable to translate what's on paper to what was in front of me is just flat out annoying. A big loss of Man Points there, and I will beat myself with a copy of the Adventure Cycle Touring Handbook by way of punishment.

But unplanned excursions apart, it was a damned good ride and drinking steaming hot coffee while looking out to sea, just as the sun burst through, lighting and warming all around, was a rather special moment for sure.

As usual, the better map along with other details of the ride can be found Here

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