Last Monday the weather was absolutely glorious – it made a change from the horrid weather we have had recently. So my girlfriend and I took advantage and decided to go for a cycle. One of my favourite routes to go on is the Mineral Tramway. This route starts at Portreath and goes all the way to the picturesque harbour village of Devoran. Basically all the way from one coast to the other.
We packed our picnic and bikes and set off in the van for Portreath, not too far from my house. I absolutely love Portreath. The beach is very picturesque and has awesome history, I always feel very lucky to live so close by. After parking up and admiring the view for a bit, we unloaded the bikes and rucksack then popped on our helmets.
As my previous helmet was looking worse for wear, I’ve recently got a new one – the Brentwood Zip Mold Bicycle Helmet with Flip Visorby Bern (I bought it from Bear&Bear). I am so impressed with this ‘noggin protector’ and was really excited to wear it. It’s the perfect mix of style and comfort. With its skate style design, it looks really modern and trendy, it also has lots of air vents that allow you to keep a cool head while riding.
We set off and cycled on our way from Portreath. The route is so spectacular as it has a large concentration of historic mine buildings (apparently one of the greatest and best conserved in the world). On the cycle trail you also pass some awesome old tramway and railway routes that used to transport ore from the mines to the ports. The history of the area is really interesting and I’d recommend reading all the signs that you spot.
We were powering down a fast little downhill stretch getting up a nice bit of speed, when… We came across a river! However, this river wasn’t normally there, in fact it wasn’t even a river it was just a flooded patch of cycle path. The two months of daily rain had caused a stretch of the trail to be completely flooded from side to side. Gutted, we had to turn around, cycle back up hill and find an alternative route! I wouldn’t worry about this though as I’ve never seen this happen before and it was purely because of the recent terrible weather.
It isn’t a particularly hard route to cycle as it’s mainly level, but it is quite a trek at 11 miles, going past Wheal Rose, Scorrier and Bissoe. I’m just glad my helmet had the air vents, as I did get a little warm in the sun, and it felt nice with the cool air on my head. As you go past Bissoe, the route ends up going along the Carnon River, which is so pretty. However, it got quite busy with lots of cyclists taking advantage of the good weather, as there is the Bissoe bike hire close by and I think everyone was making the most of the weather, so we had to ride carefully along the gravel path.
The helmet felt very secure when riding and because it is lined with some sort of special foam (adjustable tapered liquid injection foam) it is really comfortable to wear. My favourite part of the helmet has to be the removable flip down visor. It worked well to keep my face shaded from the sunshine and I imagine it’ll also be effective in the rain. What’s really clever is that, with just a few poppers (you can see in the photo below), the summer visor lining is removable and can be replaced with a winter insulating lining.
The helmet looks very cool and the well thought out design even has sunglasses channels which proved really useful to keep my shades secured. As you can in the picture above, at the back of the helmet is the super adjustable crank fit system. I properly love this and haven’t ever warn a helmet that’s so easy to get a really great fit in, just pop it on and turn the dial till you’re happy.
When we finally arrived in Devoran, we cycled along the road, heading for the Old Quay Inn – a really nice, traditional pub, with friendly staff and good food – this is where we normally go for a weekly pub quiz too. We sat in the sun at the front of the pub, had a drink and enjoyed the relaxing moment. Then had a wonder down to the river, to find a good spot for our picnic- right on the waters edge. Lush!
Bellies full, we did then have to cycle another 11 miles back to Portreath and my van though!
