Barney takes a trip where few bike journos have dared to tread – Cornwall.

WORDS & PHOTOGRAPHY BARNEY MARSH

Ah, Cornwall! Last gasp of Great Britain westward before the relentless, unyielding expanse of the ocean. Kernow (in its local tongue) has long been spoken of in hallowed terms by the sunshine-seeking surfers unwilling to leave these shores (and unrelentingly conservative OAPs…).

But it is also as beloved by the history buff as it is by the flaxen-haired wastrel and as much by the gourmand as the grandma. It is festooned with hills, with woods, with rolling countryside; there are as many heart-stopping views as there are high-sided lanes and dark, dingy crevices. There are caves, there is coastline… there are moors, beaches, hills and dales. So why is it largely overlooked by the mountain biking community – or at least the media? As far as they are concerned, Great Britain ends in Devon. Any further west, and you’ll find mountain bike journos looking askance at each other, nervously shuffling their feet, and muttering ‘no lad, for there be dragons’. But why? What’s with the thorn wall around Cornwall?

The rote answer that has oft been hauled about is that the bridle path network in Cornwall isn’t up to snuff. Or “There are no big mountains.” “People just don’t mountain bike down there.” And it’s also possible that Cornwall suffers from its proximity to its illustrious neighbour, as there’s so much fantastic riding in Devon. Exmoor and Dartmoor between them provide some of the finest riding to be had in England, so why bother going further west? Unconvinced, I decided to investigate. It’d take a few days, but I felt it’d be worth it. The journey down from Yorkshire was taken in one gasping hit, starting at 4.30 in the morning. It finished at around 11am, after innumerable coffee stops, astonishingly bad rain and crawling motorway speeds that made me wonder if I might as well just abandon the van and start cycling from there (looking at you, Birmingham). But as I pulled into my first destination, Cardinham Woods, the weather finally broke, and I gratefully put the bike together for a lap or two of Blue, with a light smattering of Red. And some puddles.