LEJOG DAY 1

 A hot and attritional day

Breakfast at the hotel from 8am meant a slightly later start than we would have liked - but we were never going to miss out on the buffet breakfast that was included in the room price.

A quick photo at the signpost and said our goodbyes to Roger and Margaret, before setting off.

Thanks to them both for driving our car back for us. Their parting offer of "if you get stuck or anything, just call us and we'll come and pick you up, except Thursday, we're busy on Thursday" provided us with much amusement.

The morning ride to Penzance was lovely. Tracy's highlight of the day, a few hills, wonderful views and some traffic free paths along the coast.

Above Penzance 

Loving the flat cycle paths

Onwards to Hayle and a coffee and cake stop at Phillip's pasty shop. Awesome.

First cake of the day

Twenty plus miles in and we were feeling confident. Our LEJOG cycle jerseys gaining beeps of encouragement from passing motorists and a source of conversation with people walking on the NC3 at Penzance.

The lovely morning ride continued on the path at Hayle, watching fish on the shallows of the estuary and ducks on the mudflats. Life is good.

Hayle estuary 

Continuing on the NC3 past Camborne and Redruth was flatter than Cornwall deserved to be and we passed many reminders of Cornwall's industrial heritage. All good 35 miles in, getting a bit warm, but all ok. We stopped for food at Twelveheads near Bissoe at a cafe called Bon Appetit. A warm welcome and wonderful food if you are ever passing. No pictures as we were too hungry! This section of the trail we had ridden before with our kids on tag-alongs. Many moons ago now, but nostalgic for us.

Redruth 

And then the afternoon happened. Relentless climbs in the heat that seemed to get steeper every time. Tracy had to resort to the lowest gear (get off and push) a few times and our target of 10mph was firmly out the window, along with a 5 o'clock finish.

Onwards and (seemingly) forever upwards we rode. A small respite at the King Harry's ferry, as we crossed the Fal, before climbing up from the river once more.

King Harry ferry 

Maybe go through Truro instead to avoid climbing up from the river

Onwards we climbed, even accruing the pitying stares of motorists as the beleaguered duo limped past on the hills.

On through small villages with interesting but somehow forgettable names, past the Lost Gardens of Heligan to pick up the NC3 once more. Only we got confused and ended up on a muddy track downhill, where Tracy had a close encounter with a puddle. She may have said some bad words.

Locating the right path was rewarded with a fabulous descent on a decent surface down the the Pentewan road. By this point Tracy was done. We had covered more miles than were planned (we need to remember to add 10% of our distance each day to avoid this disappointment) and emotionally she had had enough. She had gone quiet. Never a good sign.

Onwards to St Austell, where we managed to find our accommodation (eventually). A shower, a drink and a change of clothes and we both started to feel human again. A stroll into town for dinner and I am not proud of this, but we went to Wetherspoon's. First time since way before lockdown. Trouble is, the food was cheap and quick. The beer was priced from a previous decade, I could get used to it 

Back to our B&B. Tracy is now sound asleep.

Day 2 - St Austell to Launceston, planning an earlier start in the morning, shorter distance, less climbing and feeling more positive - after all tomorrow is a new day.

Miles covered: 63

Elevation 4843ft

Cake of the day Rhubarb and strawberry slice

Tracy whinge factor 4/10 (for silently not whinging, loudly)

Lands End - Sun 28th July

 Tracy's blog.  

So today was travelling day. We set off at 8am with Mum and Dad, us, 2 bikes, 4 panniers and overnight bags all squeezed inside our Fiat Doblo. Actually, there was still room to spare... sort of.  Although Dad did kind of have a saddle in his face for much of the journey!

We had a very good run down, traffic surprisingly light and arrived in Lands End to beautiful sunny weather and fantastic views. The Lands End hotel is very luxurious (robes and slippers no less!) and we enjoyed a wander around the attractions  in the glorious sunshine with a fun game of mini golf (thrashed by Dan 😡). We finished with drinks in the sunshine on the cliff top terrace with beautiful views of the Atlantic and a lovely meal (albeit a bit pricey but that's Lands End for you).  First time I've been to Lands End and it wasn't blowing a gale.

We all got excited about an object splashing in the water offshore - pretty large, dolphin? basking shark? A rare humpback whale? What a start to our trip! Oh, wait a minute, it's a rock.

All this makes me wonder what on earth l am doing! From tomorrow, all rest and relaxation is out the window for the next 15 days.... Oh well, too late to back out now! I was very conscious of the succession of hill after hill after hill as we drove through Cornwall. For the next 2 days I will be cycling back through Cornwall, more or less the same route,but taking 2 days instead of 2 hours. And it's going to be a lot harder on the bike! Still, the weather looks like it will be kind to us for a couple of days, perhaps even a bit too warm, but I'll take a couple of wind free days. 

So all set for a relatively early night and trying not to dream about all those hills....

miles ridden 0

Cake of the day: none (disappointed!)

Tracy whinge factor 0/10 (probably for the last time)

Sat 27th July - Packing day

 Night before

So we are heading down to Cornwall tomorrow morning and have already packed - I think we just want to get started.

Seeing both bikes here has made me realise a few things:

1) It will be a very different ride to my solo challenge 14 years ago. Same distance, but an extra 50% to the time. I will also have Tracy for company. Should be good except when it is hilly and/or she is hangry.

2) Too late to lose the weight that I was on planning on.

3) My hedge needs cutting.

Any how, my kit comes in at 15kg and Tracy's at 13.3kg. That's 33lb and 29lb in old money. I have to say that I have no real frame of reference for either unit, but  whether it is metric or imperial, I know that it will feel heavier on every climb.

Miles covered: 0 (apart from riding around the carpark at Jon's bike repair - thanks for all the help this year mate!)

Cake of the day: None

Tracy whinge factor 0/10 - calm before the storm 

Shaftesbury - our last practice ride!

 Sunday 2nd July - 2 weeks to go

7am start from home across the forest, a bit of off road at Dearleap to Ashhurst to woodlands and through no-mans land, redlynch and on to Downton. Slightly late start meant coffee and cake!

I am begining to think that Tracy is only riding LEJoG in an effort to make her cake addiction socially acceptable.

We continued on thru Odstock and Stratford Tony (named after the notorious Hampshire mafia don) before reaching a very challenging climb at Donhead St Mary. 

Tracy doesn't like climbing. Tracy particularly doesn't like climbing when she finds out that we haven't actually reached the proper climb yet. If looks could kill when I shared that info. Not looking forward to riding Cornwall or Cumbria with her! Headphones might be useful then!

Onwards to Shaftesbury and then the famous zig-zag hill. Iconic, but not so challenging. Fantastic views afterwards though. 

Onwards through pretty villages and a roast dinner at Farnham. Due to finances we were due to have a Tesco meal deal lunch, but apparently we can eat out "because it's a training ride, so it can come out of the holiday budget"Tough life! And I thought that I was good at "man maths".

Ice-cream at Mockbeggar and a climb up Linwood, downhill from Boldrewood to Lyndhurst and home. 

I won't lie - that ride felt tougher than I expected. We both seem to flag a little after 60 miles. Good job we still have loads of time to get fitter...bugger!

95 miles 

Ride time 8h 34min. 11.1mph

Height gain: 4280ft

Cake of the day: Lemon drizzle cake

Tracy whinge factor: 2/10 apparently I kept buggering off when we reached the hill at Linwood.

Round the island - practice ride

 Saturday 22nd June

A jaunt around the Isle of Wight with full kit.

A dawn start saw us on the 6:05 Wightlink from Lymington.

Don't attempt anything without coffee

A climb from freshwater treated us to spectacular views of Tenneson down and the chalk cliffs.

Continuing on the military road and up the dreaded climb at Blackgang Chine, we were feeling confident about our progress and fitness. I was confident that Tracy does not like hills.

View from the top

We were making excellent progress and aside from a loose chain and frayed tempers, we arrived at Brading before 10am. We took a detour to the Roman villa to expand our culture knowledge (not just coffee and 🍰 honest)

Onwards to the crab and lobster at Bembridge for lunch. 

Apparently by this point we were pretty confident about our riding endurance. Over confident as it turned out. A long lunch and in my case a couple of beers didn't do much for our speed. The brutal headwind that we had seemingly all the way back to Yarmouth and the endless succession of hills led to a long afternoon. Tracy had her first experience of "bonking" - a complete loss of energy left her sat on the roadside unable to continue for 20 mins, whilst she attempted to eat her weight in peanuts and fig rolls. 

We limped back into Yarmouth, managing to catch the ferry with 5 minutes to spare.

Like I said, don't attempt anything without coffee 

A slow meander back to Hythe and a well earned snooze in the conservatory. A few lessons learned about fuelling correctly, taking more regular, but shorter breaks and the fact that Tracy hates hills means that we feel more prepared for our upcoming trip. Apart from the hills.

Distance: 93 miles

Climbing: 5875ft

Ride time: 8h 43 min

Tracy whinge factor 4/10