Since starting Another World Adventures Larissa and I haven’t spent much time exploring our own beautiful country – we’re generally jumping on and off boats, camels or horses in far flung locations meeting our lovely operators. So when our friend and Adventurer Dave Cornthwaite offered the opportunity to take his ICE trike ‘Trikey’ on an adventure around the UK we jumped at the chance with cheers of “Micro-adventure!” “Cycling (kind of)!” and “Bivvy Bags!” (more on that later).

What a great opportunity to explore of the world on our doorstep and try out a new form of non-motorised transport.

If you haven’t come across a recumbent trike before they look like this. Dave has clocked up some serious miles on his Trikey and is now encouraging others to continue the journey putting more miles on it this summer, all part of his Expedition 1000 and Say Yes More campaigns. The lovely people at ICE Trikes who built Dave’s Trikey kindly offered us another of these fantastic machines and as we had to pick them up from Falmouth we figured we would take them (or let them take us) on a local Cornish micro-adventure.

Day 1: MUDDY!
Speed: As fast as the mud would let us
Distance: 39km

With dark skies looming we turned up early Monday morning at the ICE Trikes workshop to get fitted out with our steeds. Trike experts Elliot and Dan ran through a technical briefing and we showed our proposed route to Lois in the office who offered lots of useful tips and helpfully marked the really dangerous Cornish roads with a skull and cross bones.

We started our trip with the 14 mile off-road ‘Bissoe trail’ which winds its way to the north coast. The moment we got on our trikes the heavens opened and it poured with rain for the rest of the day, but we were far too distracted with our mode of transport to mind. Being off road afforded the opportunity to properly test out our gears, speed and turning (without risk of causing a crash) and within 20 mins or so we were fully ‘at one’ with our trikes and happily racing eachother along the muddy paths. Being seated on a trike gives your hands much more freedom and we became multi-tasking experts, opening gates, eating, drinking and map reading without ever having to dismount. The Bissoe trail turned out to be a little more adventurous than planned and it was a mud-filled afternoon of getting lost, changing tyres, fending off inquisitive dogs and creating pools of water in our laps. As we peddled into Portreath the sun came out and we stopped for a quick bacon bap refuel before tackling our first proper Cornish hill to join the coast road. We finished the day with a spot of wild foraging on the beach near Gwithian and cooked up the mussels we collected with some pasta for the perfect carb-heavy cycling dinner – delicious!

Day 2: HILLY!
Speed: Lightening!
Distance: 35km

Our second day was all about the hills. Having holidayed in Cornwall frequently when younger we were under no illusion that this part of the world was an easy place to cycle but the never ending up, down, up, down, UP UP UP UP, DOWN DOWN DOWN as we wound our way along the coast road through Hayle and then St Ives was a true test of our knees (and to be fair every other part of our legs). But it was this ‘day of the hill’s’ that allowed us to truly understand the joy that is riding a trike. The fantastic gear system meant that even though we were exhausted we always reached the top of the next hill. And of course everything that goes up must come down and on the downhill our trikes came into their own, building up some serious speed. As we turned from the coast back in land towards Penzance there were many more downhills and we whooped and cheered our way down with the world rushing by in a blur. The lovely people of Penzance were fascinated by our trusty steeds and having pitched up outside a pub, pints in hand we happily chatted for hours to passers-by about the joy of adventuring on trikes.

Day 3: SCILLY!
Speed: Scilly fast!
Distance: 25km (70km on the ferry)

By now our trikes were starting to feel like extensions of our bodies and so it was with some trepidation that we handed them over to staff at the Scillonian ferry to be loaded into a large shipping container. We were taking them on a day trip to the Scilly Isles, an archipelago of 28 miles from Lands End and the most South-Westerly point of the UK. Once our trikes were safely stowed we enjoyed a lovely 3 hour crossing on deck spotting dolphins and other wildlife. On arrival at St Mary’s we jumped back on our trikes and raced around the stunningly beautiful island stopping off for the obligatory tea & scones and crab sandwiches. Our flying visit was over before we knew it and we were back on the ferry and then racing along the coast to get to Praa Sands before sunset.

Day 4: BIVVY!
Speed: Overtaken by a jogger on the uphill (a low point)
Distance: 35km

Inspired by two of our favourite adventurers Alistair Humphreys and Rosie Swale-Pope we had bought bivvy bags with us hoping to get our first taste of wild-camping the UK. So on this morning we woke up tentless with just our waterproof bivvys, cocooned between our trikes in the corner of a rather lovely field. Despite a little rain shower in the night we were warm and dry – result! Packing up took no time (no battling with tent poles) and were back on our trikes heading towards our first stop, breakfast at Porthleven. From there we were back to the highs and lows of the Cornish roads as we wound our way through Gweek and Constantine towards Falmouth. By this point our legs were really feeling it but we were encouraged along the way with beeps and cheers and “Oooohs” from those we passed (or who passed us…yes I’m talking to you Mr Very Fast Jogger).

On this final stretch of the journey we complied our top 5 favourite things about adventuring on trikes:

1. Saddle sore no more! The lovely comfortable seats make for a very happy bottom
2. Everyone is fascinated by trikes, particularly kids. People love to stop and chat to you about them
3. If you’re really really tired from those endless hills you can stick the handbrake on and have a little rest without having to dismount
4. The fact you’re sitting down means that you’re hands are much freer than on a bike so you can read a map, eat an ice cream, take a photo all at the same time… just don’t forget to steer.
5. Cars don’t know what to make of trikes so they slow down as they pass – which makes the world a slightly better place.

A big thank you to Dave and the team at Ice Trikes for lending us the Trikes. We are absolutely converted and already looking forward to our next 3-wheeled adventure!

Tori & Larissa