A Man's Not A Camel (Trail)

Mon 22 May

Today had finally arrived...the day I was to cycle the Camel Trail, the disused railway line between Poleys Bridge and Padstow via Bodmin and Wadebridge along the Camel River. Although it was lightly raining, I was assured that it would clear up. It did; about 3 hours after I had completed the ride!

I sourced a bike from one of the farm workers and hitched a lift with the butcher to Poleys Bridge (12.30 pm) where the 18 mile trail begins. The trail naturally breaks down into three sections, so I aimed to bike for an hour and pub for an hour etc. The first, and longest section (6.8 mile), was a pleasant ride in the bush along the river. It was a bit muddy under-wheel and without mudguards I was getting coated. I got to the Bodmin/Wadebridge intersection in good time so decided to bike the extra mile to Bodmin to take a look around. Rookie error as this was all uphill. The flipside of an uphill is a downhill, so heading back was easy as. I zoomed past the intersection about came across my first stop: The Borough Arms. I had a pint of Skinner's (Cornish Knocker I think) and a gammon baguette.

Having sufficiently muddied all surrounding areas for an hour I saddled my steed bound for Wadebridge. This section was horrid. The rain was heavy, I was full from lunch and I had a sore arse from the seat. Despite my harships I rallied on and made it to the Molesworth Arms for a pint of Tetleys ahead of shedule. The final, and supposedly most picturesque, section of my journey greeted me with heavy rain and a head wind which was relentless until I got to Padstow at about 5pm. I was shivering from the cold and wet but found the Harbour Inn for a St. Austell Duchy's Bitter and a few Cornish Creams.

At about 6.30pm Joe and Andrew finally rescued me and took me to the Shipwright Pub for a Rattler cider and then to Rick Stein's Fish and Chips. The cod here was just about the best I had ever had, and certainly hit the spot after my exhausting day.