Porthpean Sailing Club’s walks good luck continues......... Rain in St Austell area first thing in the morning did not bode well for the proposed walk around Mount Edgcumbe Country Park later. Meeting in the car park at Cremyll, all those that were gathering wondered how wet they were going to get as, although it had stopped raining it was still overcast. Those were the words that I wrote last year, but for once our good luck with the weather came crashing down. Read on…………………. After what has been acknowledged as a very mild winter, we have finally, at the end of January, arrived at a cold spell; and unfortunately just the right time for the annual Club walk. For the last few years, the walk has usually been in February, but Anna, our social secretary, has very masochistic tendencies and decreed that we should do the walk this year in January. Actually cycling is becoming more popular with quite a few Club Members and so it was decided that the journey could either be on a bike or people could choose to walk. And what a walk it was for those who wanted to walk as the chosen route was the Camel trail from Wadebridge to Padstow, which is a 5 mile distance and to rendezvous with the cyclists at the Customs house pub in Padstow for 12.00. The walkers assembled at Wadebridge for about 10.00 to start their journey, in overcast but dry conditions. The cyclists depending on how keen they were could either start at Dunmere, Bodmin and cycle an extra 6 miles to get to Wadebridge, giving them an 11 mile journey each way. The less enthusiastic cyclists could opt to start from Wadebridge. Stacey, Lucy, Liz, Anna, Adam & Sean, started at Dunmere and were met a few hundred metres down the track by Chris Hazell, who unlike the rest was in his Lycra shorts…In January? Sue & I having listened to the weather forecast and having cycled that distance before opted for the Wadebridge to Padstow route. We arrived right on time for the rendezvous and found the other cyclists waiting for us, and so at 11.15 we started down the trail heading for Padstow and more importantly for us it was still dry. We caught up with the walkers about a mile out from Padstow and we all arrived together at the Old Custom House Pub just as the rain was starting. Well at least we had done one half of the journey in the dry.

Lunch was quite a pleasant affair, though we all at times looked, without much enthusiasm at the weather outside which was steadily getting wetter by the minute. Anna had arranged the day so that the walkers could get a lift back to Wadebridge to reclaim their cars. The combination of walkers and cyclists changed somewhat here. One or two cyclists had had enough and swapped the comfort of their saddles for the hard ride of a car seat (have I got the right way round?). I don’t think we had much time to gaze at the scenery on the way back as full concentration was needed to try and avoid the larger of the puddles that were rapidly appearing on the trail and it was with a lot of relief that we eventually completed our journeys and set off on our ways back home. It was certainly a different type of Club adventure this year, but well worth going, especially in the good company that we had. Thanks Anna