Land’s End. Miserable weather on the ride out – it could have been fields or a huge drop to the sea on the other side of the hedge. Had a job finding the sign in the misty drizzle. Dried out a bit on the way back to Penzance.
Breakfast was a large bowl of sugar with some porridge in it. Plenty of fuel for the ride out to Land’s End and then back to our starting point. A very wet start to the day! Karon was all togged up in full wet weather gear and gradually turning into boil in the bag as I finished faffing about. The Beast had spent the night in the back garden of the Treventon Guest House in Penzance so I hauled it round to the front door before we loaded it with day bags for the ride. Doing it this way meant we could leave a pannier each at base and at least start our LEJOG with a slightly lighter bike than would be the norm.
The fine rain was sweeping inland from the sea as we followed the coast round the bay to Mousehole. From there a long steepish climb up to St. Paul. Halfway up the climb, as we struggled in our lowest gear and I thanked God that I had put on an MTB 22T granny ring, a young chap on a road bike wearing rather unconventional cycling kit puffed his way past. “This is what it’s all about!” Neither of us had the breath to answer!
After the climb, we picked up back lanes to cross the headland for Sennen Cove. The rain and mist were so bad we had no idea what was on the other side of the hedges – could have been fields, could have been a huge drop to the sea! Got cheered by a group of folks outside the Post Office at St Buryan. Near Sennen we came out onto the A30 and decided to follow the cyclepath rather than ride the road. Bad choice. The cycle path created to avoid the A30 was abysmal. Wet sand made the going hard and it found its way onto the chain and into the disc brakes.
Tomorrow we head for Gweek.
