The Happy Trail.

I’ve renamed the Bissoe Trail, The Happy Trail and I’ll explain why. 

As a family we cycle a lot together and we invest in our outdoor lifestyle we choose to live. We don’t eat out much, we mostly holiday in the UK, which has become the norm for everyone over the past couple of years for some reason, we surf a lot, and our bikes are our freedom to explore at a slower pace. We’d recently invested in what seems to be the latest cycling trend and bought ourselves a gaggle of ‘Gravel Bikes’ for some future family adventures here and abroad and more suited to the terrain we want to ride and opted for a more comfortable ride. Living in the West of Cornwall, we often venture out on the rough back lanes that are not gravel but often with grass or gravel up the middle, the coast paths that are accessible, the bridleways and the occasional footpath. The lanes can be torn up in places by tractors and covered in slurry so we gave into the marketing and influencers and decided that a decent gravel ride was warranted. In saying all this we’d not yet conquered the Bissoe, actually conquer is a big word, lets just say 'ride' the Bissoe Trail. 

The initial test ride for our new vehicles would give us the opportunity to set some seat heights, tune some shoe cleats, test out the tyres and let the gears settle in, whilst meandering through Mining landscapes, the Bissoe Valley Nature Reserve partly, historic mines like Gwenapp,  Wheal Jane, and Unity. Being an old tramway that closed in 1825, the trail is mostly flat or with very little incline which is another reason to feel happy en route, in fact it must be the flattest part of Cornwall as I heard that for every ten miles of riding in Cornwall there is a thousand foot of climbing, and I can verify that when I ride to work over  'the ride by the numbers' read like this (to coin a Dustin Klein phrase).  2 hours riding time (there and back), 26 miles (1950 ft of elevation). This is a not the easiest commute. 

Everyone we met on the trail that day, the whole ride, there and back, was happy. It was a friendly, smiling and polite social ride which in return made me really appreciate how nice some people are, in fact most people are. Greetings were exchanged, dog walkers held their dogs as cyclists rode past and likewise, riders slowed as to not spook the dogs, and this was gratefully acknowledged by all with a smile and a thank you. Cyclists waved as we crossed in opposite directions and not knowing if they were coming or going from the two start points made it interesting, if we’d see them on the way back too.
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Riding through the heart of Cornwall on the old Tramway used to transport minerals from the surrounding areas to the Port of Devoran, the Bissoe Trail is about 22 miles long. Stretching coast to coast, beginning at either Portreath or Devoran, we’d promised ourselves for years that we must do it and now we had no excuse. 

Apart from my sons bruttally hard saddle (part of the test and now replaced), the whole ride made us smile, and that is why this should be called 'The Happy Trail'. We began at Bissoe Trail Centre and were stoked to find that it was free parking and after we unloaded the van, got our bearings we set out. The trail is a combination of different terrain from real gravel, mining trails, pavement and a little tarmac, but the whole journey is a joy when you're used to those numbers of elevation in the Wild West. We also decided to take a picnic and flasks of tea, which in times of penny pinching where needed, we kept our costs down on the ride and saved some cash for coffee and cake when we got back to the Trail Centre at Bissoe. If picnics aren't for you then there are plenty of places to stop on the way like the little cafe just before you enter the area of Poldice, the Fox and Hounds at Scorrier, the World Champion Pasty makers, Prima, located just opposite Roddas Dairy on the other side of the a30 at Scorrier too,  and then there’s all the cafes, bakeries, and Chip shops in Portreath when you arrive. 

This really is a fun ride, and at around 22 miles overall, you can do as much or as little of the trail as you like, and on any bike you like but would recommend something with a little grip on the tyres for some parts. In fact we didn’t go all the way to Devoran so our ride was about 19 miles in total. I’m also stoked we did this as a family as rarely do you get a chance, or feel like  riding a quiet lane, safely side by side, and chatting all the way. There are a couple of road crossings but these are by no means dangerous and with crossing places too, don’t worry. 

I hope you enjoy this little recap of our ride. All of these rides are well documented and written about by far better guides than me, because I’m not a guide or a travel writer, I just love being outdoors. We’re doing the Camel Trail soon, the West Kernow Way, and I have the odd MTB Enduro coming up. I may even enter my first Longboard Competition in over ten years, maybe. 

I hope you enjoyed my little write up on The Track at Portreath, and if you haven't, it's the post before this one. I also plan on visiting a couple of Pump Tracks and maybe a coaching session up in Devon soon, so please keep dropping by. 
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