Not too far to go now, or so we thought!!

We were looking forward to a couple of days of warm easy cycling through the English seaside Riviera, however we woke to damp drizzle with a challenging head wind so our positive finale looked unlikely! Things didn’t improve as we set off cycling, as we appeared to have chosen the “hilliest” route for our second last day towards Lands End. We worked hard through the wind, rain, mist and hills and climbed up to Launceston, where we decided not to stop but to carry on for refuelling at the next stop on the route. Going on from here we experienced a strange phenomenon “How can we continuously climb and never seem to find a downhill on this route?” Jon thinks it’s an excellent concept for his future studio cycling classes; watch out Spirit Health Club Eastleigh members!! Reaching Egloskerry we realised our decision not to stop in Launceston had been a mistake as there was no one to be seen here other than a refuse lorry collecting rubbish, so we carried on to the next stop on the route, Davidstow. Unfortunately all we found here was a large dairy, so in the rain and wind we decided not to hang around and to make for Camelford, there was sure to be a café there. Passing through the 1000 miles to date distance, we made a swift descent into the town and found the welcome sight of a coffee shop, conveniently with a free car park opposite. Meeting up with Papa Smurf we went in to warm up, dry out and replenish our caffeine levels, managing to have 2 lattés each in under 45 mins. Next stop was St Columb Major via a complicated cross country route, once again the iPhone saved the day and directed us along the lanes, although perhaps we should investigate whether there is an app for choosing the flattest route next time. Conveniently at the bottom of one of the seemingly never ending ascents Jon’s chain jumped off the chainring which allowed for a quick breather. As he was sorting it out a helpful local shouted from what looked like his upstairs loo window that the “the real hills start from here”. “Surely there can’t be many left to climb” we replied, “You’ll be surprised, everywhere is uphill from here” said the loo man. “Best of luck” he shouted and then shut the window and presumably went back to the loo!! We eventually made it to St Columb Major where we had our first real Cornish Pastie of the trip and grabbed a cup of tea from a pub, as it was the only place that was open. From here it was just a final 15 miles or so to our finish for the day in St Agnes, however it proved to be an extremely hilly run in, with a huge climb out of Perranporth, which really tested the legs. Nonetheless we made it to the finish point before the support car, so we decided to complete the climb out of St Agnes to make tomorrows final leg a bit easier. Met up with Andy’s Mum and Dad tonight, had a great Thai meal with an interesting young waiter who had just completed a Forensic Science qualification, we even managed a couple of beers!! 78 miles completed today, 1059 miles cycled to date. Final day tomorrow, approx 45 miles to the finish of the challenge!