Camel Tales

The ride down off of Bodmin Moor was a fast descent via tiny lanes, through the charming sleepy village of Blissland whose quaint old pub we had visited the night before. It wasn't long before we had arrived at the Camel Trail a traffic free cycle route following the Camel River.

The trail clings close to the river in places as it meanders along through the wooded valley and apart from crossing a few minor roads it's a very peaceful, quiet route. It wasn't all peace and harmony though, as cycling towards a middle aged couple out hiking I did the courteous thing and rang my bell as we approached from behind. I could see they had both heard it as they immediately started looking around obviously thinking they had heard a rare breed of "Bike Bell Chough", I passed the couple slowly, with plenty of room, but the women jumped out of her skin insisting I should "get a bell", I rang it incessantly with a shrug of the shoulders as I disappeared down the trail to show her maybe she should get a hearing aid! There's no pleasing some people!

With the first section of the Camel Trail finished we decided to take a short diversion into Bodmin to grab a second breakfast. We were treated on the edge of town by the usual collection of men with Mohawks, derigueur it seems for this corner of the UK. The trail kicked us out opposite the grand but imposing Bodmin Gaol, a disused historic edifice on the edge of town. (Gaol \ Jail what's the difference, answers on a postcard please!)

We eventually asked a local to point us in the direction of a good cafe where we consumed a brunch whilst pawing over our route map and hijacking wall sockets to charge our numerous iDevices !

Maybe it was the amount of time we have spent out in the Cornish wilderness, but being in a town seemed kind of strange and we were both getting paranoid and eager to head to the hills or the Camel Trail at least.

Back out on the trail we soon realised that the Bodmin > Wadebridge > Padstow section was going to be a lot busier. Even on a dull Thursday in September the bike hire companies were doing a roaring trade and the track had it's fare share of dangerous cyclists to avoid, on a fully loaded touring bike this can sometimes prove tricky!

The Camel Trail is a lovely picturesque route, not as nice as the Exe Trail, but I would say that as it's my "local", but well worth a visit! It could also make a good socioeconomic study into the routes Poundland > Lidl > RickSteinLargeYachts diversity. Uni thesis anyone!

After an ice cream on Padstow harbour watching the world go by we headed out to Higher Harlyn Farm to camp for the night. This site was in stark contrast to the small Eco style places we had stayed in so far on this trip, more of a massive caravan car park and a field for tents. We did end up with a field the size of a football pitch for us and one other camper and despite the amount of space available the other camper decide to pitch near us! Why do people do that? I new someone who would drive into a near-empty car park but always drive over and park next to the few cars that were there! Pack mentality I guess!

The facilities consisted of an aircraft hanger sized toilet and shower block all no more than a year old and bedecked in fine quality taps and fittings..... Shame they forgot one thing... To employ a loo cleaner, give me Eco pit toilets any day!

It was a relatively easy 30 mile day as the Camel Trail is pretty flat which certainly helps two grumpy old men cycle and chat, have a good rant and put the world to rights, but most of all smile like fools at the joys of cycling in lovely Cornwall!

Night all x

Sorry about the lack of pics, lack of wifi and a naff Blogger app are to blame. I'll add them soon.

Eco Tour

After a good nights sleep at Cerenity Camp Site in Bude we were away early en route to Bodmin.

The coast road through Widemouth Bay gave us amazing vistas of rolling surf and high cliffs tapering off into the distance. As it's the tale end of the season the roads were quiet and the beaches deserted adding to the tranquility of the scene.

The joys of following the National Cycle Network mean you get to follow routes and back lanes that usually only the locals know about and cutting inland from the coast we were to take our first of these.

A long hair pin 30 degree climb followed by a similar descent and more hair pins climbing up onto the hills above. I'm doing my utmost to cycle around Kernow without pushing and it took a hard fight to crest today's hills, followed by wringing the sweat out of my merino base layer!

Most of the day was spent climbing, as our destination was on the far side of Bodmin Moor, which meant going over the top of it! Apart from a few tiny villages and a pub stop for lunch, the route has been out in the wilds on open moor with cattle and ponies crossing our path, buzzards overhead and the sun in our faces.

We descended off the moor past Crowdy reservoir through tight pine forest, old tin mines, down narrow moss covered lanes, this felt like real Cornwall!

After 30 miles we arrived at our campsite for the night; the lovely South Penquite Farm. Although unplanned, our three camp sites have all had an Eco flavour, solar showers, wind generators, reed bed sewage systems etc, this has upped our green credentials no end.

Penquite also has a menagerie to greet you, including a flock of turkeys that sit on and peck everything, assorted fowl of varying sizes who come and assist during meals, three cats and a lovely purring kitten.

With piping hot solar showers and a nice pub in the village a few miles away, we had found a great spot to spend our third night in Cornwall.

I Don't Like Hills!

After a late start due to the enormous breakfast that was presented to us at Yarde Orchard we eventually bimbled off into the lanes of North West Devon.

The lady at Yarde had given us a picturesque shortcut to get out onto the National Cycle Network Route 3, the route that will take us down into Cornwall. Without either of us really taking onboard the directions it wasn't long before we got lost in the narrow back lanes. Rupert was convinced he heard banjo music so the pace quickened rather rapidly!!

Eventually back on track we followed tiny, hilly car free lanes between small villages, forested ridge lines and river valleys that took us the 30 miles across to Bude. Holsworthy provided a nice mid afternoon lunch stop and we chose the prime location of the Waitrose car park bench to devour our posh pic nic!

I learnt during my Trans America ride what to pack and what to post home, Rupert is refusing to heed any of my advice and every day seems to produce a novelty item from one of his panniers. Today's item of choice was a wooden chopping board, followed this evening by 2 bottles of cider and a bottle of Courvoisier... No wonder he keeps yelling "I don't like hills!" His bike must weigh a ton!

We were hoping for a cheesey photo next to the "Welcome To Cornwall" sign but alas the back lane we crept in on didn't have one and from the map we could see that the centre of the lane was actually the Devon \ Cornwall border. Zig Zagging down the lane giggling like kids we worked out we had visited Devon and Cornwall about 20 times each today!! We didn't even have to show our passports or have bags checked for illegal importation of non Cornish pasties!

We are now camped at the lovely Cerenety Eco camp site and have sat drinking tea with the owners and giving them loads of tips on how to make the place cyclist friendly.

We have finished the day with a night on Courvoisier and Cider watching the lights twinkling over Bude and the clouds race in on blustery skies!

Another great day on the road and our first in Cornwall.

Day 1 ~ Bird Fest

Having nearly missed my third alarm call I crawled out of bed at 5.00am with only an hour to finish packing, shower and meet up with Rupert at Exmouth train station 3 miles away for the 6.10 to Barnstaple.

I had also made a fundamental schoolboy error forgetting that 6 am means dark!! I quickly rigged up some lights and headed into a 28dayslateresque Exmouth, in fact the most lively I've seen it in ages!

After a picturesque journey up the Tarka Line, letting the train take the strain, we decanted at Barnstaple and decided to hit the nearby Tesco's cafe for our first breakfast.

Due to the amount of calories being burnt on this little foray Rupert assures me we can follow Hobbit breakfasting guidelines, which means up to three breakfasts, before we move onto elevenses! I like that.

A chill wind was blowing down the river Taw as we set off along the start of the Tarka Trail. The estuary marshes were a twitchers paradise and we quickly spotted, kingfisher, Curlew, Canada Geese, Egret and Pelican...!

We diverted off the trail to see the delights of Bideford having cycled through the lazily named "East The Water", the reason for it's lack of "of" is beyond me, it reeks of local illiteracy !

Bideford came up trumps with a new found delicacy, Donut Peaches, they tend to leave less beard residue. A large bag full was purchased!

After Bideford the trail started to climb, up through old tunnels and over viaducts looking down on the meandering river Torridge below. We stopped to look for signs of Tarka the otter from a spot where I had seen him many years ago, but he remained elusive.

Our minds soon turned to lunch as reached Great Torrington. The Tour of Britain had recently visited and the hill up into the historic town was worthy of a King Of The Mountains shirt. We were instead rewarded with a frothy coffee and A BLT before exploring the towns market square, ramparts and being bewildered by the number of middle aged men with Mohawks !

The final climb took us up to our destination of Yarde Orchard. This Eco award winning camp\yurt site, bunk house and cafe is an ideal stop off point on the Tarka trail with a friendly, hippy atmosphere, nice beers and good food.

We've only covered 27 miles today, but it's been a great warm up for the days ahead. From inside my tent I can hear a distant rumble of thunder emanating from Rupert's tent!

Night all.

Indian Summer

In less than 24 hours we will be on the road, well on the Trail to be honest, the Tarka Trail.

I've learn't to avoid looking at weather forecasts this summer, they have been without fail harbingers of doom. But this morning I decided to peek over the parapet to see what the coming week may have in store for the pedalling duo.

Well it seems maybe the sun gods will be shining on us!

Boys & Their Bikes