Another weekend off

I am getting lazy with another weekend off from serious cycling but no-one should miss Mazey Day with its fantastic parades and happy faces I have always maintained that Penzance is such a relaxed place you could wander about in your pyjamas without attracting comment and I proved it as a bucket lady this year collecting for GolowanThe Mid-Argyll Pipe Band was back in force drowning out the Acorn choir but they had flown down from Scotland just for Golowan and they gave it such welly you could forgive them anything.Sunday was Quay Day which begins the gentle wind down to normality with luggers moored in the harbour and my all time favourite fisherman in his oilers proudly showing off an enormous gold fishDr Who must have been visiting because the daleks rolled through the fair exterminating all in their sights, somewhere hidden in the harbour they gave up their secretsBut, as I said at the very beginning of this blog it's not a good day if I do not get on my bike so I ignored the gardening that should be done and got on my bike for a short but fast and hilly ride. Next week it's back to serious training.

A weekend half off

The weather was fantastic, the Cornishman was doing money-off vouchers and there was an early sailing so it was worth setting the alarm extra early and resisting that initial urge to go back to sleep. I love everything about the Scillonian from the cheerful faces in the little booking office along the quay to the view of the coast line slipping past, the chugging engines and the queue for coffee and the first jagged outline of the Scilly Isles appearing on the horizon. We took a boat trip to Annet and were rewarded by puffins doing everything puffins are meant to do: circling around looking as aerodynamic as Cornish pasties with wings, bobbing on the waves before upending to dive down, sitting under tufts of thrift guarding their nests. How do such vulnerable things survive the winter months in the cruel seas off Newfoundland?

Seals basked in the sun and shags hung their wings to dry
No cycling for a day but back in the saddle for 40 miles on Sunday. Going up Bone Valley I realised what is meant by 'dappled shade'

Sore Feet

Last week I invested in a pair of cycling shoes lean and mean and brilliant for cycling with their rigid soles but not the best thing for walking around Penzance putting finishing touches to the Golowan Grand Treasure Hunt.

Penzance is a lovely town of granite and slate and sea. The more I look the more I see.

Sad reminders of immortality disappearing shops quirky windows Egyptian myth and everywhere John the Baptists head neatly served up on its plate.The banners are up ready for Golowan, this year they are ranged in rainbow colours.Last year hotel guests complained their flapping in the wind kept them awake but we can still enjoy them down by the pool side cafe and along the PromTraining went by the board but I had a lovely time wandering the town:cycled 30 miles, swam at Skilly and got sore feet - it was great.

See you at 2.30 on 21 June at the Barbican for the Grand Treasure Hunt, you may not win a prize but I hope you will enjoy the treasure that is my local town.

Grand Golowan Treasure Hunt
Meet at 2.30 outside the Golowan Office, The Barbican(next to the Dolphin pub)
'Test your powers of observation almost to the limit as you are led through the byways at the historic heart of Penzance' £2 per sheet of clues

Wind

Cycling in the wind brings its own challenges:sailing uphill with the wind on your back or turning a corner to go head first into a blast strong enough to send you reeling. Cycling along a high banked lane is fine and you forget it's even windy until you pass a field gate when you are suddenly pushed sideways into the hedge. The coast path to Marazion can be exciting, one way you bowl along at a rate of knots enjoying the wind surfers but the other way can be hell, head down with sand blasting into your face and sea gulls going sidewaysThe old joke "I had the wind the whole way" couldn't be truer for us cyclists.

You always know it's serious when the Scillonian creeps into the harbour and shelters against Albert Pier when she should be chugging her way over to the ScilliesThis weekend she has been in the harbour both days so there must be lots of people kicking their heels in Penzance, the ones who took out insurance smugly watching the angry seas from their hotel windows.

I decided to make the most of the wind today by opting for variety:today's ride included the north and south coasts, open moorland, valleys and little country lanes. a foolish whim, I should know better, which ever way I went the wind was either in the face or threatening to blow me sideways into the traffic. The leaves were blowing inside out, buzzards hung still and then at the flip of a feather swung sideways crossing several fields in a split second, the cotton grass danced and the skies constantly changed from leaden grey to summer blue. Coming home I pass the sign to Carfury and Ding Dongthe very names of these little settlements clinging to the side of Mulfra Hill sound of Cornish wind. I cannot imagine a still day at Carfury and they say that the bell at Ding Dong mine never stopped its ghostly clanging.

Where I live we don't have proper trees, the few that do cling to the thin soil end up surrendering to the elementsHigh in my moorland cottage I understand Ted Hughes' lines "This house has been far out at sea all night...the tent of the hills drummed and strained its guy rope...the wind flung a magpie away and a black-backed gull bent like an iron bar slowly"

Nature Walk

In glorious sunshine about 20 people and Grace set off from the pub for a perfect walkBrian had said that he did not want to be described as an 'expert' but he was incredible, not only could he name the birds, their songs and the plants but he shared fascinating stories about them all AND he could explain the principles of the hydraulic ram.

Passing between blackthorn and hawthorn bushes a white throat called and our legs brushed between the bluebells and stitchwort. We joined the coast path in sight of Tater Dhu light house and Brian showed us the shy little squilland described the difference between sea campion and the more common bladder campion. Fulmers were busy in their nests and buzzards hung in the thermals above our heads.

The coast path was at its best and made the perfect contrast to the dappled path back through the woods beside the Lamorna stream.Thank you to everyone who joined the walk and donated to the hospice and an enormous thank you to Brian who gave up his Sunday morning and shared his incredible knowledge.

Including two donations from people who were unable to come we raised £90 for Cornwall Hospice Care.