What a sight for tired eyes- no, not me, but the pile of laundry alongside some breakfast that the fantastic host of Chandlers B&B left for me. Oh yeah, he also wrapped a couple of slices of last night’s pizza for me. If Carlsberg did hospitality…
Laundry…cereal…get in!
Sorry bike- we go into the grimness once more!
Defo in Cornwall now.
Long live! Trying to get the ferry…
The cunning plan was to get the Rock to Padstow ferry: it actually worked! Six quid though…but worth it to avoid the detour. No sign of Capo Stein- he’s probably largeing it in Monaco or similar, hah-hah! Padstow looks pleasant, like quite a few places have so far…must return in a more civilised manner.
Six quid!
The Stein’s lair…
S’alright.
Post-Padstow it was a trundle on all manner of roads, gradients, traffic, civilians etc…no issues apart from the racket coming from my rear brake. Fair dos, it has seen some action over the past few days but the pads were new only three weeks ago. By chance there was a bike rental place before Portreath. Bloke there was helpful and put some new rear pads on, but did say that because of the metal-metal contact from the worn-out pad, the disc was scored to f**k and would need replaced…he didn’t carry a spare but did recommend a shop in Hayle, just before St Ives. And he didn’t want paying for his time either!
Bike shop #1
Bike shop #2
One trousered rear disc.
So I ummed and aahed about whether to bother stopping at this second bike shop- the pads would probably be okay and get me to flatter days, and time was only ever going one way. Snap decision as I passed it…stop! Good job I did: mechanic bloke could see time was tight, so dropped what he was doing and had a look. He said that not only was the disc terminal, there was a risk of it breaking altogether which would not have been optimal. He could have flogged me the same disc again but said he had a barely used disc which would last longer than Shimano’s Ice Rotor bollocks. So he gave me a spare set of pads and put that disc on for £20. Again, no labour charge. Blimey!
Blue skies at last!
Still feel it..just a little less.
Novel to have effective brakes innit!
The one order of business was to get to Land’s End before 5pm- reason being that their official photographers would finish then and because this is a charity thing (don’t like to talk about it much), they would take a photo at the sign gratis. And again, they were onside…even though they aren’t meant to through in some extra photos using the punter’s iPhone, that’s what they did. Nice one!
Nice to see you etc.!
And the official effort. Cheers Guv…
He looks a bit miffed. Scary.
So that left about 10 miles to Penzance and the obvious choice of The Pirate Inn for tonight’s acco. Tragic, I know…
Told you.
Bit of pod action!
It’ll do nicely.
The pub itself ain’t great but the bonus ball was a firm of Morris Dancers doing their unhinged thing in the beer garden. Take a bow, England!
Rehydration protocol was identical to last night’s.
The warm-up. Fearsome.
Post-dance debrief/lash-up happening!
Just the two items of business remain…
Stats ahoy!
And today’s tune is an old favourite (ain’t they all?) and sums up how much I appreciated the help. Nice one!
In keeping with tradition, breakfast was three boxes of cereal and a brew…Yorkshire Tea, natch.
Those UHT jobbers never get any easier to open…
Meanwhile in the bathroom, this chap made an entrance. Reckoned it’d be worth getting 4 pairs of Cure Leukaemia branded xxxxxxxxxxxsml cycling shorts for him: well, he has got eight legs and almost certainly would be better at this malarkey than me!
His bathroom, his rules.
No dramas getting away by 0700, thankfully…and then it was a case of taking the scenic route up to the A39 via the toll road: result as the booth wasn’t open! A terrific climb, avoiding the traffic and insane gradient of the main road.
No choice at all. Go right!
Ocean!
“Excuse me Sir, did you have roast lamb last night?”
And then you join the A39 for a bit before going into the wild…
Looks wonderful…tough landscape though.
Down we go…which means vertical incoming!
In all honesty, these tracks and roads were on the limit for me, both in terms of the crazy steep descents in shaded, wet and mossy surfaces as well as the ramps up to 18%. Brutal Sir, brutal…oh! Of course nowt lasts forever and in some ways that early section was the highlight of the day…must need my head examined, hah-hah!
You ain’t kidding!
Norn Iron jury took f**k all time to record a unanimous verdict!
Refuelling strategy today went out the window: so needs must!
A what reserve, now?
You’ll have probably grasped that today’s route featured about 10 feet of level ground, hah-hah! Regrettably, tomorrow’s route is a case of ‘rinse & repeat’, so am very much hoping that one can scramble a way around to Penzance!
Well hello!
Are we there yet? Shuddup!
“Yes?”
Am I glad to see you and the fantastic Guest House!
That *is* tidy. Sorta.
Only choice in town for grub…it hit the spot.
So the final order of business is to play out with a perfect pop song from days of yore…go CCR!
Oh yeah, stats…where we’ve been etc…well, Garmin decided to split today’s ride in half…tech is great when it works!
Part one…
And the second bit!
Another couple of donations today, which is just the finest boost…good on you, whoever you are!
Best laid plans etc.! Despite arranging with the hotel reception for me to be able to access my bike at 0700, lo and behold, there was nobody at reception…absolute Marie Celeste. I rang the hotel’s number and some bloke answered and said he’d be down in a minute. Cue the next 20 mins of not being able to find the key to unlock the room where my bike was etc…in the end I think he climbed in through an open window and opened it from the inside! Points for ingenuity/burglary.
The Marie Celeste. Crew MIA!
But prior to that, Alpen plus da Pops is the business.
Away and straight into the vertical as advertised.
Today’s climbing was gonna be at the start and end of the day, but it was the middle 50 miles that concerned me, really: trying to get from The Severn Bridge down to Bridgwater in the quickest, shortest and least stressful manner possible. And on two wheels! But before that…
Going up!
Photo of the tour already!
The other, less selective bridge…
Some breeze aloft!
Back to the land of roundabout decorators…
I’d be happy never to cycle the transition 50 miles again…grim surfaces, fast roads, blah-blah-blah. Although one funny arose: I ignore ‘Road Closed’ signs as a rule, as there’s always a gap to get through. So I trundle on down this country road and come to a bridge over a train line…the only scenario that might scupper me is if Network Rail are replacing the thing. Of course they are!
Zero chance!
I might have spied this if I hadn’t have been looking at the traffic. Fair dos though…
So I’m wondering if I can sling my bike over and somehow make it across the gap, when a Police car arrives. PC thought the same as me- there’s usually a way across, right? His accent was right outta ‘Hot Fuzz’ too, hah-hah! Fair play- he was almost game for trying to see if we could manhandle the bike and panniers across somehow, but that was Mission Impossible…cue backtrack and a bonus mile or two.
You don’t need a weatherman etc…scenic too, hah-hah!
Proper soaking, but it then behaved sorta.
The Irish have some belting place names, but this is right up there!
So we come to the final fun bit…the gradients got up to a barely doable 16% but it was worth it…The Quantocks are ace! Downhills too…
Fair play- they are.
Looks okay? Did not stay that way…mercy!
Loadsa livestock giving it the big ‘I am’. In this case, good call!
Reassuring.
From there it was more up-and-down, albeit less violent…and Porlock was a very welcome sight. More specifically, The Castle Inn! A massive upgrade on last night’s acco, no doubt. Today was another tricky day, and it looks like tomorrow is gonna be a little more of the same. Bueno!
Carry on, follow that Ambulance!
Blue Bay train station: welcome to 1954.
We’re all fans, right?
Quite pleased to see this.
Tonight’s host.
Rehydration protocol.
Defected to The Ship Inn…not hungry any more!
All this and Palace win convincingly at Villa! I couldn’t watch any of it as the nearest pub with Sky Sports is about 8 miles away in Minehead, hah-hah! Big day today, more incoming tomorrow so here’s today’s tune…
A thing of beauty…speaking of which, if you wanna throw Cure Lekaemia a little…that would be wonderful!
