BACK AND PORTH: DAYPACKING CORNWALL

Mount Hawke made for a great basecamp location; a solid few hours drive south-west in Rich’s VW T4 – bikes, bags, trailers and supplies for a few days in tow. Note – T4 drivers all wave to each other without fail.

The ex-mining village is just a mile-or-two from the coast and is probably most known for its well-established skate park, which is how Rich knew of it; locals Holly and Jack the same but also because they live / have lived nearby. Mount Hawke is well connected to a varied palette of places to ride bikes: minescape moorland, lush lanes, beaches and coastal gravel.

Trailerpacking was a new thing for me, and I was super impressed with how amazingly the single-wheeled Tout Terrain handled on both road and techy off-road, even well-loaded. Just make sure you have a whole load of Voile straps (other straps are available) or bungees with you, somewhere – a rule for life really. My bikepacking experience had gone full circle – from traditional fully-loaded panniers, to lightweight rackless bikepacking bags, to the adding of a small backpack, to now #carryeverything again but in a trailer this time. My mind was, and still is, whizzing with things I could now easily take on a bikepacking adventure. Le Creuset, anyone? Maybe joining a Mountain Bothy Association (MBA) Work Party…

Anyway, the plan was to head out on 2-3 day loop rides – ‘daypacking’ – from the Mount Hawke basecamp. With the January weather looking more promising on Day 2, on the first day we opted to load bikes for a ride-out to the Poldice Valley and its nature reserve, network of bridleways and metalliferous mining landscape, before riding to the Porthtown for an evening cookout on the beach:

Several vivid cheese dreams later, and we all woke before a piercingly-cold first light to pack bikes for our next day out. Our dawn seafaring plans, and then loop along the coast meant strapping surfboards to trailers, hand-planes and sea fins to forks, and surf boots to seatpacks.

Knowing there wouldn’t be much swell, we headed for a beach swim, surf and brekky session as the light rose – the horizon’s light pastel tones matching those of the ‘lichen’ and ‘nimbus’ Cotic bike colours. Wetsuited up, Holly and Jack headed into the waves as I lit the fire, toasted hazelnuts as a topper for brekky, and prepped a pourover for #coffeeoutside when the guys emerged from the cold. A special morning.

From shoreline to cliff-tops, Cornwall’s coastal gravel bridleways took us North towards Perranporth through the afternoon, before finishing up in St Agnes for the evening – a short-ish ride away from Mount Hawke. Holly knew of some jumps around the back of Wheal Kitty, so after a coffee and social at Open – watching champion surfboard shaper Beau Young in action from the coffee-machine – we popped off the road, along a slither of subtle singletrack, to watch Holly take off. Again.

Rain hammered our cosy camping dome sheet window for our entire last 12-hours in deepest Cornwall, but dampen spirits it did not. In early-January, what did we expect?

Whilst Jack fired up the Moccamaster and brewed-up, we wheeled his Cascade in, erected the easel, and settled down for a speedy sketching session before Mount Hawke Skatepark opened. And, well, once the skatepark was open Holly, Rich and Jack were back in their element. Following another quick sketch session on the plywood floor, I couldn’t not have my first proper go riding a BMX, but no-one needs to see photos of me on a ramp. If there’s one thing I’ve learned this trip – leave things to the pros:

BIKEPACKERS
Holly Bendall
Jack Farmer
Stef Amato

PHOTOS
Sam Firth

FILM
Rich Baybutt

WORDS/ILLUSTRATION
Stef Amato

PARTNER
Cotic Bikes

LOCATIONS
Half Moon Domes – Mount Hawke
Open – St Agnes
Taphouse – St Agnes
Mount Hawke Skatepark

ADDITIONAL PARTNERS
Foundation Coffee Roasters
Sealskinz
Finisterre
Tout Terrain