Well, we gone done and done it, didn't we!?
Drinking time!
xxxxx
Lots of sunshine, much cloud and some very heavy rain
today. Quite warm, tailwind shifting to
headwind.
Via Redruth and Penzance
We woke early for the final assault on the summit. Well not exactly, but we knew that despite
the exhilaration and entertainment of the night before we still had quite along
way to go. Breakfast at Pauline’s was
hearty, although Dave didn’t know that the full English was available and
Pauline thought that none of us were that hungry…. Next time Pauline, if there’s any left after
Tim and Andy had their portions! We said
our goodbyes to relatives, old and new friends, dogs and cows and left uphill
to a cacophony of cheers and cowbells.
What a riot. We had been exposed
to the happier, quieter, softer side of the west country, hadn’t we, my
luvverrrrr?
The high-sided hedgerows kept us from views and the weather
for a short while, but to go faster we decided to attempt some of the A
roads, A fast ride past Liskeard, Double Bois and along the Fowey river to Bodmin parkway. Yipppeee no hills for a few miles which fran loved!
Took a short detour through the grounds of Lanhydrock House national trust property then joined the A30 to make up some miles. Didn't count on the heavens opening and another puncture for Dave by the side of a very busy road! Pauline's sarnies were a welcome distraction!
Cold, wet and feeling a bit mis we pulled in to 'sizzlers' for coffee and hot chocolates and Charlie's tuck shop opened! Here we opened the map book and decided on a quieter route passing by Indian Queens where Joe told us Pocahontas was waiting. It's true, we googled it!
We rode on passing near to St Columb Major where Fran's Alan spent 6 months as a wee boy. A scenic tour followed through the Lappa Valley, no wine here, just steam trains!
Fortunately, as a local Joe was quite capable
of figuring out ways of heading westwards.
Fran and Dave were a little disoriented by this but quite happy just to
ride and not have to think to much.
Our water bottles made from Pauline’s well was, well,
unusual – it tasted of coffee!!
Interesting, my luvver!
Onwards, we saw some interesting sights and kept up with
depleting the tuckshop in Charlie’s bag:
Mandy, only 1/2 a mile away!
The distance was getting shorter but as the afternoon wore on we were clearly getting more and more fatigued. The hills kept coming, as we used the minor roads and got some fabulous views as we approached Penzance:
St Michaels's Mount
But - we were getting there, weren't we my luvvers!
At 5pm and with only 11 miles to go we set off up and up Mount Misery we went and the realisation and emotion hit us all.We counted off the miles whilst singing . Tim, Jack, Judy and Bob passed us in the car and gave us the energy to crack on.
A head wind had been with us for most of the day, we had worked really hard and at 2 miles to go we stared to smile, sing, wave at the passing cars and anyone else around. We could by now see the finish. The sun came out!!! We stopped for a brief moment to take in the sight before us and changed into our charity shirts. (justgiving FrancesJones2)
Crossing the line , our welcome party of friends, family, banners, flags and other random Land's End visitors all clapped and cheered our achievement. (Andy, Jane, Ollie, Cathy, Pauline, George, Ellie, Julie, Lucy, Bob, Judy, Oscar, Tim, Jack and Ruby) and made us feel like Olympic champions!
We had made it, Jane provided some bubbly and we celebrated formula 1 style and then we took the photos to prove we really had done it.
Champagne !!
Thanks everyone, brilliant to have you there!!
Our trip was a real adventure, we visited places that we would normally fly by in the car, most were beautiful and would re visit. We met some fantastic people who were generous in many ways, thank you to all of you for helping make our trip as comfortable as possible.
We have been amazed by the generosity & support of family, friends and complete strangers on the way. Thanks to Paul, Chris, Stuart, Kirsty, Nick, Chris, Mandy, Mark and Joe our cycling buddies and navigators! Love you all.
We'll now look at the map of the UK in a different light and are amazed that our legs have carried us 947 miles over 13 days! (we are tourers not racers!) It has been an exhilarating, emotional, exhausting, inspiring 947 mile trip for us all and would recommend an adventure to everyone......watch this space for the next one!
Did we mention we cycled 947 miles?! That's over 1500 km!!!
Did we mention we cycled 947 miles?! That's over 1500 km!!!
Let's not forget our reason for this adventure. We have currently raised well over £2012 on the justgiving page and have loads more to add and we estimate to have raised around £4000 in total. Amazing!!!!!!
It's a funny thing, wanting so much for us all to get there, to finish, to be at the end... but when it was all over you just wonder whether you can just keep going, to get back in the saddle... Of course not!!!
It had started to rain again...
So we headed home for a big roast and celebrated until we were tired (which only took about an hour).
What a great adventure it was.
