We need a plan ….

OGIL ride report 2nd February 2022

Twelve of us milled around fairly aimlessly at TOP, perhaps slightly nonplussed at the unseasonably mild weather for the first OGIL ride of February.  Steve2 (aka B A Steve – don’t ask) took this to extremes by wearing shorts! After some discussion and straw polls, the Chocolate Factory at Mullion was decided on as our destination, despite concerns being voiced that it has recently been observed in a distinctly closed state. Nevertheless, it was decided to regard it as our Plan A and to head to Gweek and make a phone call later to confirm whether it was open or not.

We headed off cheerfully, and nobody was surprised that we turned right at Brill as we often do. What we weren’t prepared for was the right turn immediately after reaching the road down from Edgcumbe.  Instead of the anticipated downhill run to Gweek, we had a few sharp downs and ups to negotiate through Treloquithack, before attaining Boskenwyn and the delightful hill (apart from the mud) down into Gweek. Another of Ian’s clever ideas for increasing the amount of vertical ascent on a ride. Having re-grouped at the entrance to the boatyard we continued up Gweek Drive. At the roundabout at the top we paused to revel in the calm, mild air, nobody seeming in a particular hurry to move on. Here Fred declared that, despite heading the rush up Gweek Drive, he was feeling a little under par and decided to head back home. Meanwhile, Phil3 failed to get any response on the telephone from our destination, and it was agreed that it probably was not open. It didn’t take long for a new destination to be agreed – Cast in Helston became our plan B.

Obviously, we needed to ride a loop to get there otherwise the mileage for the day would have been embarrassingly meagre, so we headed off to our favourite of Trelowarren. Riding up through the woods we wondered what the odds were of not meeting a horse – low, we concluded, bearing in mind who would not want to be out riding on a day like this. However, we got to the entrance to the house without sighting a single equestrian, but were compensated by meeting no fewer than six cars on the way up to the gates to the estate! This must be a record, and had us wondering what must be going on at the house.

We pushed on to cross the main road at Cury Cross Lanes, and then headed up to Culdrose and thence to Helston. Riding into the centre, we encountered Road Closed signs at the start of the one-way section of Meneage Street, but as is our wont we ignored them and rode on the pavement to get past the works. The ride down to the traffic lights was on lovely new smooth tarmac, and of course traffic-free. A quick left, right and right again took us up the hill to the Cast Café. We admired the workmanship of the granite block work of the building housing the café, parked our bikes neatly and piled inside, anxious for refreshment. But we were disappointed – they were expecting a large party imminently and would be unable to serve us food. That had us reverting to plan C: the boating lake café.

Time for tea
Wheelers as far as the eye can see in the Helston boating lake café.

A few of us elected to share the outside tables with the gulls and geese, enjoying the early cherry (?) blossom and watching the ducks, whilst everyone else kept warm inside. The food was good (at least mine was) and the coffee good enough.

Helston boating lake
Early blossom and geese and ducks at Helston boating lake

Before long it was time to press on. After riding up the hill through the centre of Helston, whoever was leading (name omitted to protect the guilty) had decided to take the main Redruth road, presumably to avoid Muddy Lane, although I suspect that conditions would not have been too bad considering the extended dry spell we have been experiencing. When we stopped to re-group in a lay-by just before the Coverack Bridges turn, there appeared to be some talk about alternative routes back, which I didn’t really take much notice of. When we got to Wendron I followed Phil1 turning right past the school on the usual route (not being a fan of riding on main roads), but everyone else carried straight on. I presume they turned right past the Poldark Mine, which would conveniently (for some) lead them to the Star Inn at Porkellis, and inconveniently (for the others) to Carnkie hill. However, I couldn’t possibly comment on what might or might not have taken place, as I wasn’t there.

A lovely day for a ride, and a pleasant route in the end. A perfect 64km (40 miles in old money) for me, with 960m of ascent. That equates to 15m of ascent per km ridden, which qualifies it as a moderately hilly ride by Cornish standards (compare the Coast & Clay Sufferfest Sportive at 18.5 and a regular ride to Porthleven at 13.4).

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.