Wednesday 24 August 2011

Day 7: Whiddon Down - Land's End

Tina came and met us at Whiddon Down for breakfast. It was good to have a proper Little Chef breakfast, as opposed to half a malt loaf and cold pancakes!

We set off into a slight headwind down the A30 towards Okehampton. Will wasn't so keen to ride alongside the traffic, so he took a smaller road through Okehampton, while I stuck to the A30. We rejoined after a couple of miles and headed off down the old A30 towards Launceston. Having done a lot of climbing early on it was a nice downhill run off Dartmoor.

We had about 15 mins of rain outside Launceston but luckily that was it for the day. Rather than stay on the A30 we headed north to the atlantic highway (A39) and stopped for a break in a very busy and traffic congested Camelford.

It was soon time to press on through Wadebridge, before rejoining the busy A30. It wasn't much fun, as the roads were busy, but it was a case of head down and get on with it.

We tried to get off the A30 where possible, going through the centres of Redruth (which, according to the sign, is the world capital of Cornish mining!), Camborne, Hayle and Penzance.

After yesterdays failure to get a free subway in Exeter, we thought we would try Penzance, where they were able to provide us with a free footlong to see us through the last 10 miles. Thanks again to Bev Knight from Subway for sorting that for us.

The last 10 miles were a mixed bag. There were some stepp climbs at the start, but once up the top it was an easy last few miles into Land's End.

It was good to arrive in the sunshine at around 5.30 pm and with lots of people around, unlike a fairly barren John O'Groats. Lots of people saying congratulations and seemed fairly shocked we had done it in 7 days. We signed the register at the hotel and got in the car to head back.

Overall a hilly day but it was familiar roads and whilst Devon and Cornwall have NO flat bits, it is what we are used to, so didn't come as a shock. Looking forward to not sitting on a saddle for a bit....

Vital Statistics:
Total distance cycled: 112 miles
Time spent on bike: 7 hours 58 mins
Average speed: 14.0 mph
Max speed: 38.8 mph
Total ascent: 2398 metres
Max elevation: 306 metres

Mechanicals: nil
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