68 miles. 7:01 hours of cycling. Average
speed 9.3mph. Maximum speed 33mph.
Pete’s wife
Anne drove us at break-neck speed through the Cornish lanes with the bikes
slung on the back of the car. I anxiously looked at the sky which was overcast
but dry. My mother’s friends from Stogursey, Evan and Fran, took a break from
their holiday in Newlyn to come and see us off. We got our books stamped at the
hotel reception, put our names in the LEJOG challenge book and set off – the
only ones leaving at that time. The first pedal turn was at 9.20.
It felt
wonderful to be on our way even though we immediately hit a fresh north easterly which
was straight into our faces and chilly enough to need a jacket. We
followed the A30 – a lovely, rolling road with very little traffic – until the
Newlyn turn where we dropped down into the village and rode along the sea front
towards Marazion.
One of my great uncles had trawlers at Newlyn and another had boats at Grimsby while my Grandfather sold the fish in Banbury. Arthur Brown and Company is still remembered in Newlyn.
We used the cycle path
which was sign-posted from Penzanze station, but the surface is so awful that
just over half way along, and when there is little choice but to continue, you get a sign
advising cyclist to dismount!
After Marazion we got out of the wind and the
sun broke through making it warm enough to cycle in tops only.
Cornwall is
hard riding. There is very little flat land and along the south coast you are
constantly riding down into steep river valleys and back up again. It took
until 2.00pm to get to Trelissick, where Anne and some friends were waiting with a
picnic hamper. I felt good.
Trelissick is in the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, which Pete worked for.
The house dates back to 1750 and its most distinguished owner was Leonard Cunliffe, a former director of the bank of England, but Trellissick is more fanous for its gardens created in the 1930's by Cunliffe's stepdaughter Ida and her husband Ronald Copeland.
After lunch we went on the first ferry crossing of the day - King Harry's - which has a fearsome climb up the valley edge on the other side.
As we headed towards St Austell I started to struggle with the endless hills and it took til nearly 7.00 to
reach the Boddinick ferry at Fowey. We had booked a farm house B&B just the other
side of the river at Whitecross.
After another xetremely steep climb out of the river valley, a
wrong turn down a sharp downhill that we had to come up again and a loss of confidence about directions we got to Trehaida Farm just after
7.00 to be met by the lovely Anne – a veteran of providing shelter and
sustenance to end-to-enders. We had everything we needed, it was very
comfortable, and Anne took pity on us and drove us the mile back to Boddinnick
to the pub. We simply could not face that climb for a second time.
After getting the
right side of fish and chips and a couple of pints of Sharpe’s beer (Cornwall’s
finest) in the Old Ferry Inn - a wonderful pub - the world seemed a marvellous place. Anne arrived and drove us back to
the farm refusing the offer of a drink as she had, she said, never in her life touched
alcohol.
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