Day 1 St Just to Lands End and Fowey

Well we are finally off and running or rather cycling. Left St Just on a glorious morning to head off for the short journey to Lands End. Final bit of faffing around with bikes infront of the hotel and nervously wondering if we had the right gear with us.


Made the brief journey to Lands End enjoying the feel of sunshine on our backs and arrived to have the standard individual and team photos taken at the signpost. - A bit miffed it only shows 874 miles to JOG - must be a quicker route somewhere !

Anyway we set off with a strong tailwind which made the first few miles easy - we were following the route notes whilst I was fiddling with my GPS trying to work out how to use it ! 


Nice ride along the prom in Penzance before taking in the views of Mount St thingy - the only hiccup (literally) was after an oversize pasty in the village of Marazion - which took a while to work off!

Managed to keep going at a reasonable pace which got us to what we thought was Day 1 lunch stop before the pub opened. Quick consultation with other riders and a panicy text to Steve revealed that Dumb and Dumber should have paid more attention at the briefing and noted we were still 5 miles away from fodder!



Brief butty stop (without beer) at a pub and on to the King Harry Ferry across the River Fal before yet another "short sharp climb" and a race to try and out run the forecast rain in Fowey.

Numerous ascents and descents followed our ferry journey  - comedy moment of the day was when Gareth took the route notes out just as it started raining and they blew out of his hand down one of the few main roads of the day. Cue 2 blokes in cycle shoes running down the road after some wet bits of paper.


Having retrieved the soggy paper we carried on riding and plodded on toward Fowey - relieved at the flattening of the route until we had one last longish climb out of Par which was a struggle on tired legs.


We made it into Fowey and took a little while to find the guest house - all the time panicing that we might have to retrace the steep descent we were making into the village. We were relieved to find a tourist information office who pointed us in the right direction and arrived at the B&B just in time to avoid getting soaked.


Went up to the room and waited for Steve to arrive with the luggage whilst watching the downpour outside and wondering what the weather would hold for tomorrow.


Had a check of Gareth's GPS details of the days ride which showed over 72miles and 7000ft of climbing - not sure if it was working ok but if it was it could explain why we are tired !


Now ready to get changed and find some food to prepare for tomorrow's journey to Moretonhampstead