Coffee rebellion

OGIL ride report 30^th March 2022

As nobody could remember the last time we visited the Bluebell Nursery café (although that’s not saying much when you take into account the general cognitive decline of the average OGIL), the bunch was reasonably happy to accept it as our destination. However, as we moved off there were already murmurs about the coffee there and the possibility of a boycott. Off up to Halvasso, and BA Steve seemed to have a screw loose and was making an odd rattling noise (or, to be more precise, his bike was) which was a little concerning, so that he decided (wisely) to return to base once we reached the main road. The rest of us carried on past Crane Garage to encounter yet another road closed sign, which we dutifully ignored. The nice men doing the resurfacing work didn’t object.

We carried on to Carnkie, where unusually the rubbish truck was nowhere to be seen. Judging by the bins and recycling bags piled up along the road, we can only assume it was running late. This gave us a nice clear run down the hill, although the parking seems to have got worse such that caution is advisable navigating the bends at the foot of the hill. At Porkellis we took a left to pass the Poldark mine into Trenear, then along the main road past Wendron to turn right to Coverack Bridges. From here it was Releath, then up to Crowan where we had a short interlude in the lay-by next to the church. I’m not too clear what the purpose of the stop was, but Fred took the opportunity to check that the church clock was telling the same time on all sides. We carried on to Praze, and then up to Carnhell Green. It was here that the conspiring came to the surface, and four ladies (for these purposes, Damien is counted as an honorary lady) broke away and headed to Stithians, supposedly for a superior coffee drinking experience. There was some heckling as they rode off (I think I heard the word betrayal at one point), but blood is thicker than water (or in this case, coffee) and no doubt they will be forgiven and welcomed back into the fold. I am not sure this was quite what we had in mind when we discussed splitting into smaller groups the other week, but I suppose the outcome was similar.

The remaining faithful carried on to Barripper and then Ramsgate, where we turned right to follow the main road to the Bluebell Nursery. All was quiet when we arrived, except that John was already ensconced, presumably having forgone the circuitous route we had taken on account of arriving late at our departure point. We noted that it would seem that the nursery business has been abandoned in favour of the presumably more profitable camping side of the enterprise, but the café was unchanged. There were no complaints about the food, but it has to be admitted that the rebels had a point about the coffee – even Phil3’s double shot version failed to elevate the taste much beyond dish water. As we partook of our refreshments, Paul arrived resplendent in shorts, having recently arrived back from a cycling holiday in Mallorca. Unfortunately, whilst Cornwall basked in sunshine last week, Mallorca was apparently awash with rain and mist. Still, at least he could enjoy riding quiet, smooth roads (in the rain), unlike us having to endure the gravelly, pot-holed roads here.

When it was time to leave, we rode down to Praze where we turned left then took the left fork at the school to enjoy the climb up to the spine. At the junction we turned right instead of left for some reason known only to Ian before heading to Nine Maidens and the usual route back to Herniss. Here there was another minor split as some of us decided not to bother the nice men doing the resurfacing and so headed straight up to the main road. This proved significantly faster than negotiating the closed road, and we had to wait some time for the others to arrive by Crane Garage. Once reunited, those who needed to departed to ride straight down the main road whilst the rest of us turned off through Halvasso. Standard route thereafter.

A nice ride and a good destination if only they could sort out their coffee offering. No longer an opportunity to buy any plants, though, but bring your tent. Just over 65 km for me.