CTC Eastern Area
Tractor Excursion
 Sunday 6th April 2008



Its April again, so what did we wake up to on Sunday the 6th ? answer hail lashing against the window, snow on the roof and the outside temperature reading 0 centigrade. Not quite what I wanted when faced with about 50 miles driving on an open tractor!
After one or two calls from people concerned about the weather, I made my way to Hallworthy Market to find a good number of hardy souls raring to go, morale was high and being a pretty resilient bunch everyone seemed keen to get going.

 


We shipped out just after 10 o'clock, about ten tractors short of what we had entered, but nevertheless a convoy of 25 tractors plus a few cars headed West toward the coast with Andrew Medland laying the trail with yellow arrows which ensured that no one got lost this year.




Dropping down into the Valency Valley, past Lesnewth  Church, the local climate became more hospitable and by the time we arrived at Boscastle for a comfort stop (polite version) the wind was gone and the sun was quite warm.







We then headed for the cliff top hamlet of Beeny to our first off road section which took us past Rusey Cliff and some of the highest cliffs in Cornwall and from this lofty vantage point the views down the coast were magnificent. Emerging out the other end we were reunited with followers in cars and then headed north to Crackingtogton Haven, then on to Dizzard before dropping down to Millook where we ran into a nasty hailstorm! The road out of Millook presented a challenge in the form of a sharp steep uphill hairpin bend.
I got round it ok but just before I reached the summit my trusty old DB1200 spluttered and died! ( Yep it was me who asked entrants to check their fuel filters). I had changed my filters but still had a problem, sods law I think its called!!





Moving swiftly on to cover my embarrassment our next stop was the Widemouth Manor Hotel where a very warm welcome was provided by the Manager Joanne and her staff, all of whom worked hard to provide 72 of us with a topline carvery meal. The current management team have only been in charge a short while but judging from what we saw they deserve to do well.




During our dinner stop a heavy snow shower ragged outside and unfortunately just after leaving the Manor, we were blighted once more by another hard snow shower which thankfully soon passed over.



We headed inland now past Treskinnick Cross on the A39 and turned West toward Jacobstowe village to cross the A39 again at Wainhouse Corner and then turned off to Rosecare to drop down another steep hill to a tint hamlet called Mineshop, well known by Motor Hill Climb enthusiasts for its steep rocky track up through the woods.
Yes you've guessed it, that's where we are going!
As I drove through the ford at the bottom of the track, I selected a low gear and engaged the diff lock and looked back at my trailer passengers, most of whom had a look of trepidation on their faces and were looking anxiously up the track. when we came out at the top they all wore a schoolboy type grin and were happy. Graham Trevaskis said boooooottiee! Jan Tryner readjusted his hat and my dog came out of hiding in the straw bales !! 



Down the road to Pencuke we ran into a problem, namely a 4X4 coming the other way. The driver wasn't annoyed but found reversing difficult. I thought we had made history once again as I reckoned meeting 25 tractors on that road had never happened before ! We then got round a very tight bend that gave me little margin for error and went down a rough track that hasn't seen much use for years. This was a slow ride which was a bit of a challenge but that's the trademark of the Eastern Area Excursion.



We then crossed the A39 again to enter our fourth and final off road section which involved crossing the last and deepest of many fords we had gone through on this day. We came out at Trevilliam Farm and headed south through Trelash and back to Hallwothy Market to finish a trip of about 32 miles.
Everyone still seemed cheerful or maybe just relieved to have survived the elements and the route, which this year featured a lot of hills, but hopefully everyone enjoyed themselves

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As usual I would like to thank my co organisers Paul Burden and Andrew Medland for their sterling efforts and Yvonne who honed her fishing skills by collecting the arrows from a transport box using a long pole ! Kivells and Jack for the use of Hallworthy Market, thanks also to the land owners for permission to use their tracks, thanks to Joanne and the staff at the Widemouth Manor Hotel and to all the participants who braved some pretty awful conditions at times and to nine year old Kera who went home and did a drawing of my tractor and trailer which made me chuckle for ages. Don't forget to give us your feedback about the trip, next year we will most likely be back near the Tamar again so if anyone knows of any useable off road bits please tell us about it.

That's it from me folks I do hope I haven't missed out anyone in the thank you section,

Bobby Ball