Stats for the day: Miles: 89ish, Ft Climbed: 5100(!) Calories: Lots, Group Punctures: 2 Beard Status: Still patchy but at least its not ginger, Undercarriage: Feeling the burn!
(a short post today as we are late and like Andy in the above pic, truly buggered)
Hello Slog Blogettes, it’s our last night on our adventure and as always it’s a pleasure to share it with you. We’re in a hotel that sits up on a cliff over a beach in Newquay, it’s pretty smart but the view it has is amazing, we could quite happily stay here and have a few beers. That isn’t going to happen though, because tomorrow is THE day. Land’s End, we are coming to get ya! It’s a great feeling, but to get here was a big day:
As I divulged to you yesterday, we were without a ferry to make the trip from Swansea to Ilfracombe this morning, so we had a 3 hour drive to make in order to get to our start point. Now, our van has been fantastic, but spacious it ain’t, so crampy, achy legs were in abundance by the time we pulled up. We were also late- 1pm came and we hadn’t turned a wheel and with a long ride ahead of us we needed to get moving. I also had a few work worries to think about,(a stark reminder that we will be back to the real world very soon and that I’ve got more responsibilities than just keeping my legs turning.) but they had to be buried as leg turning is what I needed to do!
We were painfully aware that this day was about one thing: hills. Devon and Cornwall are beautiful places but they are not flat, not by a long shot and coupled with the baking sun we had a very sweaty few hours. There weren’t many dramas, but we were aware that if we didn’t get a move on the darkness would beat us and we’d be needing to do much more miles tomorrow to make up for them, so the pace was pretty relentless.
The roads were good, but getting any kind of a rhythm was incredibly difficult as it was almost constant rolling climbs and we found ourselves willing them to flatten out just a touch so we could get the train going and gain some momentum. Thankfully, the last 25 miles did just that (to a point) and we just started to settle into a fast pace when something unexpected happened:
The sat nav fell off.
We were flying down a hill at over 30 mph when suddenly it fell off Andy’s mount, bounced twice across the road and into thick undergrowth. Queue one big search, during which the irony losing the sat nav was absolutely appreciated. The bloody thing had beeped at us constantly for 8 days but when we really wanted it to pipe up it was quieter than the French World Cup base has been today. Thankfully Steve showed the value of his proper riding glassed and found the little blighter chilling out under a bush. Impressively, other than a few scratches all was in order, so no harm done and we were just able to still get into town before the light completely faded, with a stunning sunset and a total climb of a mega 5100 ft. That is even taller than me.
So here we are, so close. Over our very late dinner we all found it hard to comprehend how much we’ve done in the last 10 days, it hasn’t really sunk in. Now all we need is to hit it hard once more: 58 miles and 2800 ft, a shortish but steep run. My knees are in bits, my cuts hurt and it takes longer to get going after every stop, but I tell you what if I have to carry the thing on my back, tomorrow I’m getting to that sign. With a bit of luck, this one might even be there!
So with that determined growl, I’m off to bed. By the time we speak again, I shall hopefully be in the van on the way back to the real world, my own bed and the mrs, I shall sleep content but excited tonight.
Speak on the other side.
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