Cardinham: cake and cycle!

Lady Vale (full) 2.5km (1.5 miles) Purple arrows

I'll start with the reminder that this is a walking trail and, whilst its not heaving with people enjoying a stroll, it's not one that you can race around on. Dog walkers enjoy this path so its good to be mindful and slow up a little unless you can see its a clear run! This one is the easy-going, easy access route where you can follow the river upstream and loop around. The route takes you from the carpark by the toilets around to finish at the cafe, however, if you'd rather not navigate around a fiddly gate you can do the route in reverse.  Make your way over to the start of the Callywith wood walk and be sure to stick to the left, it's well signposted. There is a bridge (marked on the map as the Lady vale walk shortcut) that you can easily cross over to make a much easier loop and be delivered back to the cake point!

There are some slight slopes in this trail but its certainly manageable, I used this trail to get used to handling slopes and how to set off mid-slope, I'd say this is a great introduction to woodland trail. If you're used to the relatively flat Camel trail then I'm sure you'd survive the Lady Vale!

Callywith wood 4.3km (2.7 miles) Yellow arrows

I had better reiterate that it's a walking trail again! I'm sure other cyclists use this too, but its a shared space trail. That said, this one does tend to be a bit quieter than the Lady Vale. Following the picturesque stream the trail has a gradual climb past some of the oldest conifer trees in the woods ( I read that on the sign!) I found the terrain to be a little rougher than the Lady Vale trail and at points it's quite rocky, but the bike managed just fine. The first time I did this track I was a bit surprised at the ascent being a bit more hilly than I'd expected, I'd get up a slope to go around the bend and find it's yet more slope! The infamous mountain bike trails are woven across the walking trails so you might see a few fellow bikers dart past.

The views on offer are certainly worth it, but I find the little section of rocky, bumpy track (just before the loop meets back to the trail down again) a highlight of this route! On the handbike it feels like the scene from ace ventura, just be sure to take it steady as you join the track down as its a tight cut-back. Once you've made a 3-point-turn to get yourself heading back down it's a really nice descent following that lovely stream back down to the car park.

In terms of accessibility I'd say that the cut-back sticks out as a potential issue, I have to use a foot to nudge the bike backwards, so this is something for consideration before you set off!

Wheal Glynn 4km (2.5 miles) Grey arrows

Well...I don't feel that this needs the walking trail reminder as much as the others as there never seems to be many people opting for this steep trail!

Accessed via the Lady Vale trail, there is a steep ascent up to the old Wheal Glynn mine. I like that my bike has an electric assist that I can adjust to help me reach the summit! My significant other does not have electric assist, this is why I got to enjoy being first to the top and just a few moments of slight smugness that it was handbike 1 mtb 0!

Wheal Glynn has some of the tallest trees in the wood and really makes you feel wrapped up in the forest. It also has (in my opinion) the steepest slopes in the wood, as you zig-zag down on a handbike it feels a bit risky with a tight bend to navigate (but there is enough space to swing wide) and get yourself lined up nicely to pick your way down slowly over the rough terrain. Confident mtb guys will just zoom on down and rob you of the smug feeling you had earlier.

As I neared the end of the trail I spotted a bridge, though curious I decided not to take it, but as it turned out it (Angel bridge) leads onto the Deviock trail. Taking it will save you a few minutes of detour to the Lady Vale bridge.

Wheal Glynn is a very pretty trail, but I think the steep descent is going to take some getting used to. This isn't one for the faint hearted!

Deviock trail 6.5km (4 miles)  Pink arrows

The longest of the trails, Deviock comes with a warning that it's steep sections may not be suitable for inexperienced walkers. In hindsight this was also a warning for any handcyclists who were getting a bit smug about their electric assist hill climbing abilities. It's worth noting that what goes up must come down had already been demonstrated to me on the previous trails... and yet here I was enthusiastically cycling on.

Described as a gentle climb up, the trail takes you to the outer edges of the wood. The promised pretty views do not disappoint, all of the trails are beautiful, but this has to be my favourite.

I prefer the surface of this track, it mainly consists of a more compacted ground, the shingle that you'll encounter on the Callywith wood and Wheal Glynn occurs much less here. As you find yourself reaching the edge of the wood the trail takes you into the woodland. Going from a nice wide track to being immersed in the woods, it's welcome shade on a hot day.

Just before you get presented with a gap in the trees ( that might evoke a bit of doubt that you'll even squeeze through ) there's a dip. This dip is not so conveniently the same length as the xcr! My advice here is commit to the dip! Picture yourself gliding through into the woodland and just go for it. This is the advice I'd like to have given myself before I took a hesitant attempt and rolled back to settle in the dip, which as I mentioned fits the xcr nicely and doesn't make your escape very easy! Luckily my partner (hiding any laughs) gave me a push. Following the path down through that gap leads you to a small patch of mud and up on past a lovely farm on the right hand side. This part of the wood is a bit damp underfoot but very pretty, that is until you arrive at dodgy corner!!!

Dodgy corner earned its title. The deceptively steep slope that awaits around a left hand bend managed to leave me quite literally bowled over! Whilst the xcr is light enough to flip back over it's worth just stopping entirely before the bend and sussing out how you'd be able to manoeuvre yourself to a straight on position to tackle the slope.

Warning!!! there's a steep slope (if only someone had mentioned that...) 

This is a narrow, steep, rubble lined slide. My lesson here was to just embrace that slide! go with it and cruise on down slowly, too much breaking and you'll likely skid and not have much control. The rest of the trail is a great chance to cruise on back down to the Lady Vale bridge. Take the path on the right to get yourself to the cafe for that well earned cake.

The Deviock trail and Wheal Glynn ideally require you to take a ride buddy, especially for the first attempt while you get familiar with them. I'd say they're for the extra adventurous / confident (in my case naively so!) That said, there's a great sense of accomplishment when you're done.

visit www.forestryengland.uk/cardinham-woods for trail maps and other Cardinham info.