So- we woke up to sunshine and a cloudless blue sky. After consuming large quantities of breakfast, we cruised down the road to Lands End for our official start - to discover crowds of other cyclists doing the same thing. We elbowed our way to the sign and got the obligatory picture:
You'd never know it was like Oxford Street tube at 9 o clock in the morning, would you?!
And then we were off. Matt had cunningly plotted a route on the smallest, most obscure B roads, so we quickly lost the other end-to-enders. We passed from gorse covered moorland with old Celtic crosses to heather in full purple glory on the sides of hills which had all the old tin mine buildings and towers on them - via Penzance and St Michael's Mount, and through Camborne, as a reminder that not all of Cornwall is Fulham-on-sea. At that point, Rachel and I had been promised coffee, and were more than a little distressed when we cruised through Camborne and onto the next village, with the promise that we'd stop at the next coffee shop. There was no next coffee shop, and we eventually had to resort to my banana cake/heap of crumbs and water, sitting on a bench by the side of the road. Thankfully we found a lunch cafe in Perranporth, and watched the surfers and beach goers eyeing up my lovely pink pinarello while we ate our paninis.
The afternoon was rather relentlessly up and down, with no cycling on the flat at all. I was entertained by all the strange place names we passed. Praze-an-beeble and Goonhavern were particular highlights.
Part of my afternoon requirement was a Cornish Cream tea, but village after village failed to deliver. We rode round St Columb Major three times in the hope that a cafe would materialise, with no joy. I had to make do with a Rhubard and Custard energy gel and the hope that our hotel would do teas. By the time we got there, my legs were beginning to get decidedly unamused by the non stop ups and downs, and I was beginning to worry that I was going to be the eternal slowie at the back of the group. But a cup of tea in the sun cheered me up, and a beer is now imminent. Angela and Michael appeared looking decidedly more bouncy than us. So - food, drink, sleep, and then we'll do it all again tomorrow!
Don't forget that Devon also does good cream teas. You just have to remember to put the cream on before the jam.
ReplyDeleteOh, Graham. No no no. It's the jam first, then the cream, because then you get more of both!
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