OGIL ride 14th July 2021
Those of us waiting at UC were treated to a visit from not one but two Denises on their electrically assisted steeds. They declined to join us as they were on their way to Stithians to experience a previously unexplored road that had apparently been discovered in the vicinity. Someone had better tell Ian about this.
We departed very slightly late due to this diversion, and met up with the rest of the crew at TOP. With a total of eleven of us, there was quite a lot in the way of greetings and chat, but not an awful lot in the way of decisive destination choice. The word “Wales” was heard, but was deemed a bit too far as some of us had to be back by 2pm. It turned out that certain individuals were discussing the forthcoming Wheelers’ Tour de Cymru, which apparently has been modified somewhat – what started out as a cycling and camping trip now involves luxury hotels and rail transfers. More our style, I would have thought. Despite the fact that the absence of Amanda meant that the quality of the coffee offered did not factor highly in the choice of destination, it still took a considerable time for consensus to be reached, but eventually the Woodland Kitchen near Relubbus was settled on, satisfying our current preference for avoiding the coastal tourist hot spots. And so we set off on the normal route via Carnkie and Nancegollan.
At Nancegollan, uncertainty arose as to the best route to take. Some favoured forking right on the Drym road (which seems to have acquired a somewhat mysterious aura about it), but this was vetoed on the grounds that a recent ride had gone that way. Also, it would be shorter and we were still quite early. The suggestion that we could simply ride more slowly to compensate was quite rightly laughed out of court. So it was that we followed our “usual” westbound route, turning right at Perran Downs and then right again onto the main road. The cafe arrived at a convenient time just after we had laboured up the steep Tregembo Hill out of Relubbus, although the lack of signage caught the odd person out (and believe me he is quite odd), who had to retrace his steps.
The café was fairly quiet and we spread ourselves out over three table in the sunshine. Phil3 kindly bought us tea and coffee in recognition of his approaching celebration (?) of entering his eighth decade at the weekend. Thanks Phil. The service and food was, I thought, pretty good (except for the coffee – you were right, Amanda!), and nobody had coffee tipped over them this time, which must be an improvement. The added bonus was a sink inside the café that was accessible for us to fill our bidons.
Suitably refreshed we headed up the main road, but when we reached Leedstown we shockingly turned left instead of going straight across at the cross roads towards Praze. Needless to say the Pied Piper of Penryn was leading things at this point. However, we immediately turned right, which took us through Wall to Carnhell Green and Barripper. Usual way home from here, we thought, but we bypassed Troon to the south and then carried on to Four Lanes. The zoom down the hill to Penhalvean was interrupted a couple of times by traffic, and as usual we paused in the lay-by to consider whether to turn left to Stithians or carry straight on. At this point Emma arrived – more greetings and chat. Somehow we carried straight on, a decision we came to regret as the road had only just been top dressed, and we soon found ourselves sliding and crunching in what seemed at times like ankle-deep chippings. This lasted all the way from the Golden Lion to Carnmenellis – avoid it if you can for a while.
The rest of the ride home was incident free to begin with. Riders peeled off at intervals to take themselves home by the shortest routes. This left just three of us to experience the chaos on Hillhead Road due to one broken down articulated lorry, another articulated lorry trying to turn in from Kergilliack Road, one coach and a prolific quantity of ‘normal’ traffic.
Good route, good company, good food and acceptable drink, warm and dry. What’s not to like?
74km for me.
Dramatis personae: Dave, Councillor Dean, Fred, Ian, Jan, John, Kath, Mike, Phils 1&3, your correspondent.
Top slightly fuzzy picture courtesy of Phil3.