Day 3: St Columb Major to Wainhouse Corner (St Glennys, Bude)

5 September 2012

ST COLUMB MAJOR to WAINHOUSE CORNER [ST. GLENRYS, BUDE]

Miles 28.5

Average speed:

Hours:

Feet Up.: 2829

Feet Down: 2691

Weather: warm and sunny - mostly with a head wind whichever way we were biking - but that is the sod's law of biking!!!!

After a very comfortable night in our large bed at The Cribbage, we were up early for a cooked brekky at 7.30 am, cooked by our lovely hostess, Caroline. She has been in business with The Cribbage B and B for eleven years.

It is really her own home. The bikes were stacked in her hallway, the brekky was served on her kitchen table, at the end of which were her iPad and her dailynewspapers and her reading glasses. She served us from her kitchen, apron and all. Just lovely.

View across the table to Caroline's kitchen

Our hostess Caroline

Off on the road by 8.30 am . Our first few miles were in the rather scary sounding A39, which turned out to be quite bikable, in that it has a reasonably wide space in the side in which we can bike. The traffic whizzes by, but at a comfortable (usually) distance from us. The worst part probably is the noise.

We always knew that the route we are following was chosen to avoid busy roads, like the A 39, and even some of the B roads. What we did not realize was that, because it follows the lanes wherever possible, one gets wonderful quiet roads on which to bike, but the ups and downs are superbly steep . After all, the lanes really evolved from walking tracks, where people took the shortest route possible. They certainly do not have maximum gradient restrictions as modern roads do,

                                                      Love those lanes, steep though they may be.
                       
So today we took matters into our own hands. As I said, we put a few miles under our belts, passed Wadebridge, which looks lovely with its boats, and its estuary. Our initial route would then have had us heading to the coast, to visit places like Tintagel, Boscastle etc, and then follow, up and down, up and down, (sometimes roads with three arrows in them, indicating severe steepness) the coastline, visiting remote and picturesque fishing villages. Well, we decided to forgo Tintagel, but do a down and up to visit Boscastle, and then head back to the main roads at higher elevation.

Boscastle truly was worth the steep descent (felt wonderful), and the two and a half mile. (mostly 'bike walking' ) back up. (Today I caught myself thinking, as my socks slipped down in my shoes, how funny it would be to get a blister on my heel during a bike tour)

Going down to Boscastle

Boscastle

                                                          Boscastle fishing fleet

Boscastle turns out to be a quintessential Cornish fishing village, with a port at the mouth of a stream running through a deep gully with a narrow protected exit to the sea, which, on full tides, allows boats to be launched to the ocean. It seems like it is still a working port, and on a sunny day it is idyllic.

There are also the requisite ice cream shops, souvenir and t=shirt shops, and even a Museum of Witchcraft, which I would love to visit, but we had no time.

Boscastle was completely flooded around 2004, when the moors up above got saturated and the gullies could not cope.

So after exploring there, we set out on our two and a half mile hill walk, then a bike across a relatively 'flat' bit, to where we joined the good old A39 again, which eventually Ianded us at Wainhouse Cnr, and there was our Pub - beer and shandy immediately, bed and breakfast, and dinner. What more could one ask?

God, I can't wait

                                                          Accommodation in modern Pubs

MISCELLANEOUS

I do not drink tea at home, but on this trip I have discovered its recuperative powers. I LOVE it - I guess the Brits in India knew a thing or two!!

and

I do not like beer that much, but I have rediscovered Shandy, which just fits the bill for me so well, on arrival after a hard day in the saddle.

Our host last night had been in the car business and we got talking about the huge tractors that roam the tiny lanes - all connected with the intense agricultural activities around here. He told us that 'in the business' it was always understood that no sensible person living around here would ever buy a fancy new car, because they get scratched (and worse) immediately, because of having to pass other vehicles on these tiny lanes. He also told us that the huge tractors are called 'company cars' - and we have seen many, in scary places. Today in fact, we were bike walking up a very narrow lane, when two of them came up behind us, and there was no way for then to get by, so they had to wait while we (embarrassingly ) had to get to a passing place - it seemed to take ages!!!

We have learnt to carry some supplies with us for snacks. And yesterday that worked really well as we found a wheat field where we served ourselves cheese and crackers, oranges, banana and chocolate, had a snooze right there in the wheatfield, and then carried on... Sorry, no photos to record the event,

Today ,we came upon a lovely pub high on a ridge, where we had tea, three cheeses and bread at a about 11.30.. How decadent, but we loved it

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