Famous Five [actually Six] ride again

Porthleven

UC OGIL ride Wed 31 March 2021

Hurrah! At last the lockdown restrictions have been eased and the rule of six reintroduced. As soon as it had been announced there was a flurry of WhatsApp activity to book a space on the first OGIL ride. The Union Corner mob consisted of the usual suspects – Dean, Jan, Hot Legs Kath, Phil(1), Sylvia and your correspondent. As we chatted next to the missing telephone box, we were graced with a visit from someone looking like a cross between Rasputin and Father Christmas – it turned out to be Ian saying hello before heading off to join the group meeting at The Other Place. He assured us that he was planning to have everything shorn at the same time once the barbers opened, although his level of hirsuteness would suggest a sheep shearer might be more appropriate.

Anyway, off we went, glorying in the dizzying experience of wind in the hair and the whirr of gears, except in Dean’s case it was more of a clunking and grating. When we got to TOP the other group had already left, and a quick examination of Dean’s bike revealed a fractured front mech. Having decided this amounted to a terminal problem, he headed back home. Luckily, John turned up to bring us back up to the required six. It was as we prepared to get under way again that we realised that we had not actually decided on a destination. The north coast was discounted due to the likelihood of sea mist, so the south coast it was. Unfortunately, nobody seems to have done any research about which cafes would be open (perhaps Dean had done that), but we decided to chance heading for Perranuthnoe, a decision that would return to haunt us.

We took the usual route to Perranuthnoe (Porkellis, Godolphin Cross and Goldsithney), only to find to our horror that both cafes were closed. The lady at the Cabin was very apologetic, and explained that they were in the middle of building a surf shack – we will have to bring our wet suits when we return. There was no option really other than to head to Porthleven. As we were hungry and thirsty by that time, we decided a main road dash would be appropriate. There seems to be something about riding on the main road – you can’t really relax and even gentle drags become hills that need to be attacked. We were all grateful when we reached Ashton and could turn off to take the coast road into Porthleven. There we fuelled up with coffee and cake from the Origin cafe (lovely banana loaf), sitting at the top of the harbour to admire the mud. Strangely, we watched a man who seemed to be trying to bail out the harbour with a bucket, moving water from one part of the dried out harbour to another. The only possible explanation we could come up with was that he was trying to uncover his mooring to inspect it after the winter, but even that didn’t seem very likely. Funny folk in Porthleven.

Refreshed, we left via Shrubberies Hill for a change and headed for Penrose, but had to stop to find Kath who had somehow managed to get lost leaving Porthleven. Eventually we regrouped and headed home via Helston and Muddy Lane as per usual.

A nice ride in benign conditions for a change – it was actually warmish and dry with hardly a breeze. It was good to be back with the OGILs.

77km and 1,126m of elevation for me.

Photo courtesy of Sylvia © 2021

One Reply to “Famous Five [actually Six] ride again”

  1. It’s so good to be able to ride in a group again! The slower OGILS (we’re not slow, just not as fast as you lot!) also enjoyed a 34 mile ride last Wednesday – starting off as six, but Don M and Denise left us to go to Portreath, so Sonjia, Ann, Jane and I ended up at good old Miss Molly’s, where we got a warm welcome….The drinks and food were fine, but of course everything arrived in disposable cups, wrappers etc. They can’t wait to be allowed to serve customers in proper china and put an end to the huge problem of plastic waste. We returned via the Great Flat Lode and Stithians…a great ride on a lovely day.

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