'We are now at one of the entrances to Eden," announced Nigel Heminsley, founder of the two-wheeled escort agency Happy Trails Bike Rides. It is the Eden Project in Cornwall to which he was taking me, but to judge by appearances he might as well have been referring to the Garden of Eden.
The three of us were alone in a landscape of green hills. This was Eden before the Fall. Where were the two-hour traffic jams, the coaches and the car park so large that you have to take a bus once you have dumped your vehicle? Where was the congestion so extreme that the Eden Project has been one of the few tourist attractions to take out ads telling people not to come?
We were above all that, in every sense. Cyclists arrive via the scenic route: up a track through a wood, on to another track and round a corner. Cornwall's most successful new development lay beneath us like a science-fiction settlement in a crater. It is a cyclist's eye view of the two "biomes" (hi-tech structures enclosing tropical and temperate environments) at the bottom of the old quarry, with paths spiralling up the sides.
We free-wheeled down to the covered cycle-rack in the "Orange" car park and strolled down to the entrance bypassing the queue for tickets. Nigel takes his flock in via a fast-track. We had reached an environmental showpiece in an environmental sort of way. Eden even knocks £3 off the entry fee for adult cyclists and lets in for nothing any accompanying under-15s.
Happy Trails Bike Rides provides nervous cyclists with a guiding hand on their handlebars. He rides shotgun through the countryside and leads them east to Eden. Nigel would be happy if people followed the cyclist-friendly signposts without using his services; but he points out that on a day when he was otherwise engaged, a couple of groups set out by themselves and were last heard of going round in circles on the St Austell bypass.
"Roads terrify people," he explained when we rendezvoused earlier at Pentewan Valley Cycle Hire near St Austell, one of the three pick-up points for the chain gangs to Eden. "I thought that if we sherpa-ed people in, it would make a big difference. I take out the anxiety. I want Eden to start here, not there."
"Here" is a reasonable seven miles from Eden. The other assembly points are at cycle shops in Bugle and Carlyon Bay, 3 and 2 miles away respectively, where customers leave cars and take to the saddle. Bikes can be hired or you can bring your own.
Pentewan Valley Cycle Hire is already buzzing, humming and whirring, as it backs on to the Cornish Way, a major route for cyclists which loops round the county. What the bike shop lacked at that moment was any customers for Happy Trails. Four cyclists had booked but cried off at the last minute, so I was a party of one, completely over-sherpa-ed: Nigel can manage up to 10, double that with "back-rider" Robin Fuller, a former Eden Project employee and keen cyclist who had just returned from a 1,000km spin in Spain.
We set off, straight into the middle of a railway line. Fortunately it closed in 1918, being reborn in 1995 as the Pentewan Trail part of the Cornish Way. The cyclist's route is a whole lot more interesting than the B3273, which runs parallel; it goes through a swamp, or, to be more polite, a wetland rain forest. Pretty soon we faced a choice: ride through a mini-ford or over a tiny bridge. "On the way there, they go over the bridge," said Nigel. "On the way back they ride through the ford."
We emerged on to an open stretch alongside the "White River", so called because of the way its run-off from the China Clay workings used to colour a semicircle of sea. This section led into woods which brought us to a half-mile stretch of wide pavement shared with pedestrians. On the outskirts of St Austell, the off-road section hits the buffers and the (signposted) Cornish Way takes to the streets.
After a long, straight stretch, we pedalled through the village of Tregrehan Mills, then soon turned on to a rough track. And there was Eden below us.
The ride takes on average a leisurely one hour 20 minutes. Nigel leaves his charges in the Project and returns four hours later for the cycle ride home.
Getting there: Happy Trails Bikes Rides, 5 Wesley Terrace, Bugle, St Austell, Cornwall PL26 8QR (01726 852058) offers accompanied rides to the Eden Project from Pentewan, Bugle and Carlyon Bay: adults £15, accompanied children under 15 £6. Group and family discounts. Includes admission but not cycle hire; you can bring your own bike.
· Cycle hire: Pentewan Valley cycle hire, 1 Westland, Pentewan, St, Austell, Cornwall Pl26 6BX (01726 844242). Adult bikes: £10 per day, children £6.50
· Eden Project: Bodelva, St. Austell, Cornwall PL24 2SG (01726 811911, Edenproject.com). Admission: adults £12, children 5-15 £6, under 5s free, family tickets £30. special rates for cyclists: £7, accompanied under-15s free.
· Events: Concerts scheduled for the summer include Primal Scream (August 6), Air (August 13), and Supergrass (August 20). All tickets £25, including entry into the Eden Project. Box office 01726 811972. Cornish-based Kneehigh Theatre Company is performing a production of Tristan And Yseault between July 27-31. Tickets cost £12 for adults, £6 for children aged 10-16 (not recommended for children under 10).
