Punctures: 3
Crashes: Nearly 2 (one more serious than the other)
Route planning with Zack and Esther:
Luggage for the excursion:
Day 1: Land's End to Perranarworthal (nr Falmouth): 62.4 miles. Total Distance: 62.4 miles.
Had a very leisurely start to the day following latish arrival into Penzance the previous evening (having got the train down from Aberdeen via London with just over two hours' to kill in London cycling around dodging taxis).
Anthony, a fellow campanologist who rings at St Machar's, Aberdeen who is studying in Aberdeen at the moment kindly offered me accommodation at his mother's holiday house just outside Penzance. As he was down at the house for a couple of days, he met me off the train and also drove me and the bike over to Land's End, 10 miles west of Penzance.
Following the mandatory taking of photographs and re-calibration of my bike computer, I finally set off from Land's End around lunchtime.
With Anthony, my host in West Cornwall, official photographer, independent witness & fellow campanologist at the official Land's End signpost, overlooking Dr Syntax's Head, England's (but not Britain's - see Day 11) westernmost mainland point:
Bike computer set at 0 miles at Land's End; it should read well over 900 miles by the time I reach John o'Groats:
About one mile east of Land's End is Sennen, the first (of many) villages:
Half the route (to Penzance) is now complete:
Couldn't even make it as far as Penzance without getting rained upon. Stopped in Penzance to acquire food and a spare inner tube (owing to circumstances conspiring against me the evening before I set out from Aberdeen, my spare inner tube was irreparably damaged). After a while decided it best to proceed east (got a lot of "east" to do before I can do much "north"). Did my first bit of off road riding along the southwest coast path a couple of miles from Penzance to Marazion. Marazion is a pleasant village opposite the famous St Michael's Mount, a delightful place when the sun's out:
Since my decision to cycle from Land's End to John o'Groats, I knew that to do it properly, I would have to include both the southern and northernmost points on the British mainland (Lizard Point and Dunnet Head respectively). This would represent only an extra 60 or so miles' cycling compared to the most direct route. 60 miles was a small price to pay for peace of mind.
Although not planned when I set off from Land's End, I would also visit mainland Britain's most westerly point, Ardnamurchan Point in the Highlands of Scotland. This however drew sharp criticism from certain quarters (namely Tim Wood and others) that I "did not bother" to visit Britain's easternmost point, Lowestoft. Suggestions have been made to go back and "do it properly" next time or, better still, do an entire circumnavigation of the British mainland. A certain other individual even had the cheek to suggest that I had "cheated" by not including the Bealach na Ba mountain road (http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/applecross/peninsula/index.html) on my itinerary on Day 12 - my longest day on the ride as it was in any case (108 miles).
The Lizard, southernmost point on the British mainland:
I had originally intended to reach St Austell on Day 1; however due to the lazy start and loitering at Land's End and The Lizard, I decided that St Austell would be unrealistic to reach and that I should just find a campsite a couple of hours after leaving The Lizard.
After leaving The Lizard, I would follow some minor (unclassified) roads for variation from the mainly busy A-roads I had taken so far. Whilst a good idea in theory, I quickly arrived at the conclusion that this would be unsustainable to do on a regular basis for the remainder of the ride as these minor roads are much slower to cycle on, have hostile gradients (at least in Cornwall) and require constant stopping to check directions from the map. Even downhill, it's usually too narrow to get any decent speed.
Nice village names (with hostile gradients):
The benefit to cycling these little back roads was that from time-to-time, I would round a bend and be rewarded with a view like this:
I found what turned out to be a very nice campsite between Falmouth and Truro where they even let me stay for free. A very pleasant start to the trip which lulled me into a false sense of security. Unfortunately Day 2 turned out to be not quite so good and, along with Day 11 turned out to be the joint worst day of the entire venture. Day 2 started off badly and gradually became a nightmare.
Day 2 turned out to be a bit less pleasurable with persistent rain. I tried unsuccessfully to dry out and warm up in a library in East Cornwall. Further pics etc soon when I next get on a computer (probably two days' time once installed in Cumbria)........
