LEJOG Day 3

The B&B last night was fantastic, a large double bedded ensuite room in a tiny quiet village. 

Today I have no fixed accommodation for tonight, the intention was just to see how I'm feeling and go with the flow. Given the hard rides of the last 2 days, I'm planning a shorter ride up to Weston Super Mare, about 50 miles, where there should be a plethora of cheap guesthouses. Late afternoon on the beach with fish and chips is the plan.

By 1030 I'm through Taunton and stop at a coop for some strawberry milk. No sooner have I lent my bike up to go inside, a grumpy old woman with a big dog tells me (tells, not asks) to move it because that is he usual spot for tying up her dog and "she doesn't like being tied anywhere else". The same grumpy woman then begins bossing the staff around because someone isn't immediately available to serve her. I just had to smile, what an annoying lady. 

I reach the north side of Bridgwater and have some lunch, my shoulder is giving me some pain, like a trapped nerve or something. The only downside to my bike is its quite an aggressive riding position (much like a racing bike) so days of touring on it take its toll. It's something ill have to look at for next time, maybe some new handle bars or at least lifting them up. 

A few thoughts so far, mostly from yesterday but I was too tired to write them then. 

It's the little things that motivate you along, like realising you've ridden off the page in the map book and you can turn over or the incentive of a cream tea in the next town. There was a time yesterday when I was rationing jelly babies, today it's Jaffa cakes. Food is so important as a fuel but as motivation too. 

I finished yesterday's ride covered in sweat and dead things. If you go for a long drive then the front of your car will inevitably look like a graveyard of flys and other insects. Yesterday that was my face...and arms, and shirt etc. things have a suicidal death wise to immortalise themselves in your blood and sweat. A few bigger bugs thumped into my helmet too, I'm glad they don't hit my eye and sometimes I have To just put my sunglasses on to protect them even if it isn't that bright. 

I've been mega impressed with the bike so far. The only niggle is the aggressive position but ill look at that. It's coped with the extra weight in luggage, being pushed up steep hills and then free wheeled at silly speeds down the other side. Even the brake pads are holding up although I will probably replace them soon enough. The new clip-in pedals and shoes are working a treat even if I occasionally forget I'm clipped in and almost embarrassingly wobble over at junctions. Usually I'm good at remembering and un-clip one side just before pulling up. 

So this afternoon I'm cycling from Bridgwater to Weston Super Mare, hopefully a very flat ride approaching the coast. I haven't got any accommodation booked but found a few guesthouses with vacancies or under £30 so will call in when I get there. Tonight I plan on fish and chips on the beach and maybe a few arcade games in the pier. 

The ride to Weston is indeed pretty flat, especially once over the Quantock hills. I stop briefly at a outdoor/caravan shop, a huge place north of Bridgwater. I'm not a fan of caravans but I can certainly see myself getting a small folding camper sometime soon. They had some decent ones there for under £1500.  With 2 double beds, a siting area, cooking bits and an awning to go with it. Could be an option when I've sold the van. 

The road to Weston is awful, vibrates everything in me and my bike. Another cyclist passes me on a proper sporty thing. Cycling along the promenade in Weston and this place is packed, the pier and the beach and full of people. I take a nosey to the train station to look at trains home and make the decision to try and get back tonight. It seems pointless paying to stay the night and then train it home tomorrow when it's still only early afternoon and I've a good chance of getting home. It all depends on getting my bike on the train. 

I manage to get on the 1538 train bound for New Street. I was hoping to avoid the rush hour but it seems I've hit the main early rush hour train out of Bristol with people fussing over seats and reservations etc. 

So that concludes the first section of my end to end ride. Just a few quick days but already with about 225 miles under my belt. The next stage will take me through Wales but a decision needs to be made whether to go through the Lake District or ferry it over to Ireland and spend a few days there before travelling back into Scotland. Z

LEJOG Day 2

Last night at the hostel was pretty good on the grand scheme of things. The food was decent enough accompanied by a pretty average local cider. Early night because of today's big ride. 

I'm out by 0715, that's after a boil in the bag breakfast is brought with me and a careful walk up the long stoney driveway. I didn't want to tempt fate and get a puncture so early on. The riding started hard and continued that way. I had barely got going before I had to stop to let a herd of cows cross the road. There were a few steep descents but they didn't really make up for the constantly grinding uphill struggles that kept cropping up. Lostwithiel, Liskeard, Collington, Gunnerslake all involved massive hills, the later was a struggle to push the bike up let alone ride. 

Near Collington I passed the Ginsters factory but couldn't stomach going to get one, its odd how you crave certain foods and not others when doing this much exercise. Tavistock and its time for a hard earned cream tea and milkshake but the day goes on; around Dartmoor above Okehampton to a quaint village called  Exbourne and The Red Lion pub. 

I'd always mentally thought of Okehampton as being near the end but it was just nearer the end than where I'd started. It must be a good 30 miles more and for a while it appears to have flattened out. By the time I get to Crediton im feeling pretty drained and down to my last 3 Jelly Babies. There is the mother of all hills which I spend most of it walking up before whizzing down the other side but still with another 10 miles to the B&B. To its credit, the bike has held up great. Punishing uphills and recklessly fast down hills with just a dash of chain lube each morning. 

Now I'm at the B&B, Brambles, and I'll keep this brief. It's a nice place and my room is lovely. I need some good rest tonight and ill take a more relaxed approach in the morning. Night. 

LEJOG Day 1

On advice from the hostel warden, I'm up early this morning to do the stretch to lands end and back before breakfast. I can blast this out with no kit then pick it up on my return through Penzance. Truth be told, it wasn't a great nights sleep and by 6am I was getting up and ready. The first 5 miles was hard work, short but steep hills were in abundance combined with still being abit tired and only fuelling myself on a banana and a cereal bar made for tough going but before long it flattened out and I was breezing along. A taxi with 3 guys and their bikes past me near Sennen and I met them again a short while later fiddling with their bikes and sorting their luggage at the lands end car park. Already one guy was complaining he had too much weight, people don't learn. Save for a surplus fleece I don't think I'm doing too badly so far. 

Amongst the buildings, past The Last Pub and Last House in England, I find the infamous signpost marking the end of the UK. 874miles to John o Groats and just over 3000 to New York. There is a pedestal for a larger slightly more prominent signpost here but I understand that only comes out for tourists paying for official photographs. Seems abit of a con to me but I'm sure someone is making a lot of money out of it. The ride back to the hostel is quicker than the outbound was, the temperature has comfortably just picked up a fraction  and I'm whizzing along. Really must be careful not to completely zone out else ill end in a mangled pile of limbs and bicycle forgetting I'm clipped into my pedals. As a final thought for now, I go up to my room to get my breakfast things and the guy on the lower bunk is shaving his toes? Bonkers! Is this common practice? 

Before i leave, i meet the father and son again ready in all their expensive cycling gear. the boy asks me if ive been training for this to which i said a little but not for long. I shoot one back at him asking how long he's been riding, before quickly clarifying I meant cycle touring rather than ditching the stabilisers. Probably a similar answer though. I set off again at 0855, in earnest now, heading North all the way. The going is pretty varied, a couple of unavoidable dual carriageway bits near Penzance and Truro but otherwise it's country lanes and a few A roads. I pass the father and son for the first of many times today, I next see them around 10am when I'm stopped for a doughnut and they cycle past. Practice really does make perfect in cycling and there able to slowly pedal up hills which with the extra weight I'm carrying compared to them, I find myself walking up part of them. The doughnut stop village has such a perculiar name but it eludes me at the moment. It did, however, mark the start of some serious hills and the next hour and more or so until Truro was characterised by such, spaced it with a few fast flat sections. The unfortunate thing about the hills here is the inherent danger of going all out on the downhill runs as I usually like to do so to make the next ascent that bit easier. But alas in Cornwall there's always a tight bend, cattle grid, junction, animal or elderly person crossing the road so no free uphill miles can be earnt. Shame. 

After a slightly disappointing Cornish pasty in Truro, it spat with rain and I pushed on. The hills soon made another appearance much like a not-quite-extinct Dr Who monster and were relentless. The only real route from Truro to St Austell is via a busy A road which wasn't all that great to struggle up hill on. Tiredness starts to really kick in on this stretch and the other road users seem to get less considerate culminating in one lorry driver in St Austell pulling sharply in towards me when trying to overtake on a busy street. I've got his license plate though and depending how moany I feel later ill give the company a call and send them a (polite) piece of my mind. 

The yha at Golant is another mansion overlooking the valley up to Lostwithiel. The Fowey River (I think) flows past and its all very serene. Tonight is all about relaxing and recovering, I have to. Tomorrow I will have to top my distance from today to get to my booked B&B near Tiverton and today was a new personal record for me. If only the hills will be friendly but somehow I have my doubts. The American lady at the hostel seemed really impressed with my profess today but I'm already thinking about tomorrow. It'll take at least one cream tea to keep me going. 

LEJOG Day 0

On a day of storms and floods I make my way to Penzance by train to start a split cycle ride from Lands End to John o Groats. The journey itself ends up taking the better part of 11 hours, mostly due to the curious workings of trying to take a bicycle on the rail network. The first couple of legs to Exeter are simple enough. It was cheaper for me to travel in first class and the improvements on the cattle wagon are appreciable . Complimentary drinks and snacks, free wifi, a polite lady waiting on you and not a screaming child or iPod-blaring teenager in sight. That said, my choice of shorts and t-shirt stuck out somewhat from the business and well-to-do pensioner type crowd. 

I get into Exeter and the serenity changes. Knowing I had a long wait because of not being able to secure a place for my bike until a much later train, I went to a nearby pub for a drink and a walk. It turned out to be a  student pub next to the uni campus with a stunning orangery room overlooking the exe valley. Definitely a place to come back and visit when friends study here. 

Returning to the station and heavens open, the forecast storm is late but severe . It turns out its causing more problems across the south west, the line to Barnstaple is closed, attested by innumerable people coming up to the desk in the waiting lounge asking the same pointless question and getting the same polite reply. "go away and wait for an announcement".

I tried to see if I could get on the 1525 train to Penzance, but the dash up the rainy platform was futile when it turned out the bike storage area was already full and the guard supervising it didn't even seem to know where Penzance was! Great First Western Trains not doing well so far.

I eventually get on my original train which is late and finally leaves at 1635. There's another guy loading a bike on here too (same bike as mine actually, nice to see that he's ignoring the decathlons anti-pannier advice too). He vents some frustration at bikes on trains and the next I see of him is sprinting at full pelt along the platform at Par in Cornwall, presumably almost forgetting his bike was still on the train at the other end to where he got off. 

The skies are brooding at times but we pass through some stunning countryside along this part of the journey, in particular the costal section hugging the cliffs around Torbay and the famous Brunel bridge just after Plymouth. Whilst the hills here in Cornwall aren't vast, there's a lot of them and you really get a sense for how tough the first few days of this are going to be. At least day 1 tomorrow is relatively short. 

The youth hostel is set in a stunning hill top mansion overlooking Penzance and as such was abit of a steep ride to get to. The atmosphere is great, very family friendly and I meet all sorts. Also in my dorm is a man and his son of about 11or 12 who are cycling from Penzance to Canterbury in about 5 days. This is the 3rd big cycle tour they've been on together, what an amazing opportunity for the young lad. They seemed not too fussed about some long days they had ahead - up to about 100 miles albeit with not kit- the father conceding its usually him holding his son up. That said, I'd be happy to do 80-90 miles a day let alone the 100+ mark. 

The room is as per usual for yha, unbearably hot and the 12 year old is reminding us frequently that his pillow smells of popcorn. Great.