Cornwall
week - 7th to 14th September
2019
(Click
the
photo to see a larger picture in a slide show.)
Credit to Rob and John for some of the photos.
Those of us from our Section that headed to Cornwall were:
Stuart & Lesley - Norton Dominator
Rob Jones - Honda 400/4
Terry and Dilys - Honda CM200T
John & Mary - Triumph T90 & Honda
Howard & Carol - Lomax 223
Bill & Jean - Lomax 223
The weather didn't look too bad as we all headed for the Monkey Tree
Holiday park on Saturday the 7th. John and Mary were already there,
having gone to Cornwall on the Thursday. There was an evening get
together in the 'Summer nights' bar which filled the room to
overflowing. There were some 65 entries - plus passengers, so it was
understandable how the room filled up. Route sheets etc were available
for the following days run and 'welcomes' were made.
Sunday
- 8th Sept - North Cornwall run
Today the weather turned out to be very good, nice sunshine and a few
fluffy clouds, as we all assembled in the car park for the 10am start.
The route was to cover North Cornwall and we were soon out through
Newquay
and heading up the north coast. Through Porth and Watergate Bay, then
past the airport to a coffee stop at St Kew farm shop and cafe
From the coffee stop we headed back towards the coast and the village
of Port Isaac, better know as Port Wenn in the TV series Doc Martin. It
wasn't easy threading our way with the two Lomaxes through all the
pedestrians. Anyway, out the other side of Port Isaac the route took us
out onto Bodmin Moor for the lunch stop at Jamaica Inn. Although a bit
crowded they were well organised with dishing out the food and most of
us were fed a nice 'Sunday lunch'.
From the Jamaica Inn, we dropped back onto the A30 dual carriageway for
a few miles before peeling off back onto the moor and heading towards
Blisland village and back to the coast for a visit to Padstow.
The
bikes were able to park in Padstow, but the two Lomaxes
couldn't get in,
so headed back to the camp. Mileage for the day - 99.9.
Monday
- 9th Sept - West Cornwall run
The day dawned pretty damp and drizzly and whilst some of the entrants
set off for the 108.4 mile ride to Lands End and back, we all opted for
a
leisurely day off and went on a visit to Perranporth for lunch. So,
nothing much else to report for the day.
Tuesday
- 10th Sept - East Cornwall run
Today the weather looked a lot better, although it was touch
cloudy. After 19.2 miles we had a coffee stop in Withiel
village hall.
The route then took us towards Looe for a lunch stop, however on
skirting Bodmin, I found that we were on our own out front and after
back-tracking, found Howard with the bonnet off his Lomax. He had made
a left turn and the engine had just died.
We all gathered round and
started the diagnosis - consensus was that the carb had flooded with
the float chamber needle being stuck open. After a judicious knock with
a hammer the motor started and soon settled down. We continued on
towards Looe where we were able to park up on the harbour front.
However, Howard told us that his engine was lacking power and was
struggling on hills. Time for lunch and a discussion on what could be
wrong.
After lunch we went for a walk around the town and on returning to the
car park, we found that we were the last ones left and as Howard's
Lomax was acting up we decided to straight line it back to camp. It was
decided that the best thing was to strip and clean the carb.
Wednesday
- 11th Sept - Leisure day
Today Howard was left to re-assemble the carb and road test the Lomax
whilst Rob and I headed to Pete Smiths house near Portholland, as Pete
had opened his 7 1/4 inch gauge garden railway. John opted to ride his
bike there with Mary following in their Smart car. When Rob and I
arrived at
Pete's house only Rod and Carol Hann were there.
It
wasn't until Rob and I got back to base that we discovered why John had
not made it to Portholland. John was riding his Honda and on rounding a
bend came face to face with a tractor with it's bucket in the down
position. On anchoring up the Honda front wheel went away and John
ended up on the tarmac. After being seen to by the paramedics he was
taken to Truro Hospital and was kept in for two days after
scans
and blood tests etc. John's right arm had to be immobilised due to some
tissue damage - added to that he had three cracked ribs.
The evening was rounded off with a BBQ for all - and good it was,
although John and Mary were missing.
Thursday
- 12th Sept - South Cornwall run
The day dawned nice and fine, with the first job being to collect
John's
damaged Honda and load it into my van. We then set off on the 115 mile
South
Cornwall run. After some 24 miles the morning coffee stop came up in
Penryn, which is just outside Falmouth. From there we had 39.4
miles of single track roads to lunch at The Lizard - without a doubt
the toughest and most un-enjoyable part of any of the days routes.
After
a good feed in a local pub, the run back to camp was a lot shorter. The
afternoon coffee stop was at the King Edward mine, just south of
Redruth.
The run back to camp from the coffee stop should have been only 10.5
miles, but we managed to take a wrong turning and ended up completely
lost, so headed for the main road and Redruth, where we headed for
Newquay as we
knew we'd then pass the camp-site. Only problem was that it was 5.30pm
and we were right in the middle of rush hour getting into and out of
Redruth. Eventually we made it after covering twice the distance that
we should have.
Friday
- 13th Sept - mid Cornwall run
Some really welcome sunshine today for our last run of the week, which
was only 67.4 miles and as we were readying ourselves John
showed up, complete with plastered arm. The
days route headed back up the north coast before turning inland to St
Columb
Major and Bodmin before stopping for coffee at Cardinham Woods.
From Cardinham we headed south to Fowey and after negotiating the towns
narrow roads skirted St Austell to visit Charlestown. The following few
photos were taken by Rob and show the Charlestown harbour where scenes
from the recent Poldark series were filmed.
When we arrived we found the event marshal halfway down the hill and he
told
us that he'd wanted us to park at the top - not very helpful, as we
were pointing the wrong way, so the two Lomaxes turned into a side
street, where there was no parking at all - after a quick con flab we
decided to head back to the camp-site and call things a day.
The evening get together in the Summer nights bar consisted of a Fish
& Chips supper, which went down well. Goodbyes and thanks were
said for a good week.
Saturday
- 14th Sept
This was the day that everyone headed home - with no problems.