Days 1 + 2

I've just got to the end of our second day and were somewhere a couple of miles west of bridgewater in Somerset. The worst is apparently behind us for the time being as are devon and cornwall.

Day 1,
Miles covered - 97.6
Hours in the saddle - 7.5
Best moment - Lunch at newquay
Bit we'd like to forget - Bruces 4 punctures, the never ending wind, rain and hills. Bruce walking the last mile.

We set off from Bill and Liz's house at 8 in penzance and flew the 10 miles to Lands End. Photo opps and moral a plenty we headed back to get food for the day at tesco. On entering tesco we had mishap number one. I took the tight corner far too fast and smashed my pedal into the tarmac nearly deseating myself in the process... Luckily I didn't fall but the metal pedal I have is barely recognisable but still useable!

Beyond that we covered 55 miles to Newquay before lunch which is where brucew got his first puncture. The day deteriorated from there into a farce of wind, rain, hills and punctures and sometimes all at the same moment. We will particularly remember the climbs around Camelford that were just incessant.

We had planned to hit Okehampton that evening, but it became clear that we didn't have the time to cover the distance and with nick forrest very close to spewing on the final climb it was also physically beyond us.

So we stopped at Launceston as close to 100 miles from lands end as makes no difference, actually an exceptional choice of last minute accommodation. The locals were friendly, the ones in the bar were either too young to be there or too old to be anywhere else and the rooms were perfect. There we ate and we were asleep before our heads hit the pillow.



Day 2
Miles coveres - 86.1
Total miles covered - 183.7
Hours in the saddle - under 7
Best moment - gamble on a random pensioners advice on the route to Taunton paying off.
Bit we won't forget - The moment when we realised the dobermans that were barking at us wernt fenced in.

What a difference a day makes, sun was out, wind at our backs! After a late start as a result of Bruce in the bike shop trying to fix his recurring punctures (which seems to have worked) until 10. We covered the 20 miles to Okehampton in just over an hour. Thank you to Jill and Tony who stopped to say hello as the coincidentally drove past on the way back from their holiday, a lovely boost. Actually I should also mention that we missed the turning for Okehampton on the a30 - well grum did and the 3 following had little choice but to follow and flag him down. Upshot was we had to walk 400 yards up a hill on a dual carriage way against traffic as the next junction was 20 miles away. Thanks grum.

He managed to recoup this faux pas by convincing us that a pensioner hed met on the way to the bike shop was correct about the route to Taunton. Which saved us a couple of miles but was a much quieter prettier road and also far less hilly. The man in the bike shop wasn't sure of the route but confirmed the other route was a ****. From then on it was plain sailing. An excellent and enjoyable day. Burn lines a plenty and smiles all round.