Day 1 - Lands End to Goonhavern

Monday 2nd August


Distance - 40.22 miles
Max Speed - 36mph
Time on bike - 3h 14m 25s
Average - 12.4 mph

Whats with the Pirates?

Woke up in the back of the van in Porthgwarra with Logans elbow in my face. It was the first time trying out our new sleeping bags we got from Mike at ESP, as expected they were spot on. We heard noises outside, cars, voices etc and I did think "why are there cars and people out here in the middle of no-where". Opened the back of the van and was nearly blinded by the sun, it was a sunny blue sky day. Once I got my focus I was surprised to see the car park full of cars, vw vans and the place crawling with people dressed in swimming wear. As I had just woken up it took me a while to realise I was standing in just my boxers. Once we all had woken up we were intrigued to find out where everyone was going so we followed them. We went past a small house turned Cafe and found out our caves we found were tunnels dug through rocks.

Logan bigging it up in Porthgwarra, just around the corner was the carpark we slept in

We noticed there were people on a path just along the coast so we thought that’s the way. The path led its way through the same shrubbery that looked like it shouldn’t grow in the UK for a mile or 2 then appeared a hidden little beach called Portchapel. We headed on down which felt more like climbing down a rock face than a path and was extremely surprised to see the beach packed at 9:30am, with what seemed to be generations of family’s spreading from grand children to grandparents. Since we were here we had to get in the water, as I was the only one who had swimming shorts Logan and Alastair went in boxer shorts. A few quick belly flops and back flips of some rocks it was time to leave. As we walked back along the path to Porthgwarra I thought to myself, people down here have got it sussed, if this was back home this beach would be empty. I had a massive respect and admiration for this kind of outside lifestyle.

Portchapel Beach at 09:30 am

We grabbed a quick proper Cornish Pasty from the house turned cafe and left Porthgwarra for Lands End. An hour later we arrived and after a lengthy last minute pack we were set to leave, the amount of cars in the car park was phenomenal, with busloads of tourists arriving every 20 minutes. Had a 2 minute test cycle with the weight and it was scary, was getting more excited by the minute. We had a quick walk around Lands End but knew time was ticking on so a few photos and one last pint it was time to go. There were a few tourists gathered to see us off, a nice gesture. We were anxious to get going, more quick photos and high fives with Alastair we were on the road at 15:10 leaving Alastair behind.

I never actually knew there was a start line but here it is

The famous Lands End sign behind us (we refused to pay the £20 to get photo beside so took a sly one by the side)

The bottom of the UK

The first thing we noticed on the bike was the weight at the back; I knew we would get used to it so just cycled on. We encountered a few hills but nothing major, glad the weather was on our side. Rode through Penzance, it was a nice town but it seems there was a re-occurring theme of Pirates. Pirate restaurants, pirate rides at the seaside, pirate convenience stores, I quite like the idea of having themed towns. From Penzance on we were on the A30, our first 'A' road. The going was good although I found myself concentrating really hard to stay in a straight line, I found myself getting more confident the more miles we achieved. We stopped at a road side garage to get some water and a bite to eat, we were both feeling ok and the weather was still good. As we had a late start we decided to try and make it to Newquay to camp up. A good friend of ours, Ross Sommerville, who stays there generously offered us a place to stay but we also knew the Boardmasters festival was on in Newquay and we made the decision against it. This was due to the fact we knew heading to Newquay would have been good to meet up with Ross and the see the Boardmasters festival but the aim of this was to carry out a cycle for charity.

Just after 22 miles I heard a 'bang', resembling the sound of a pellet gun, I had our first puncture. We stopped and came of to the side of the road, flipped the bike over and we couldnt find anything in the tyre so replaced the tube and hoped for the best.  Just up the road we stopped off at a Tesco at Redruth for some food where Logan did the slowest fall off a bike I’ve seen, that’s what happens at slow speeds while your feet attached to your pedals.

 

1st Puncture of the trip

Back on the A30 we headed up to Newquay by cutting onto the A3075. As it was getting dark and starting to rain slightly we decided to call it a night, luckily we came across a campsite called Silverbow in Goonhavern. We accidentally set up our tents in a caravan spot, no harm done though the people were mellow; there were lots and lots of rabbits though. Took advantage of the shower block but on the way down I walked past caravan after caravan, all with awnings attached. The thing was though the awnings were kitted out like a living room where all the family were huddled round a TV watching Eastenders, I couldn’t understand why people go to the bother going on holiday to do what you do at home, but that’s just my personal opinion.

We were both tired out but extremely happy, a few phone calls and entries to journals we got to sleep 10:45pm looking forward to our first 'proper' days cycling tomorrow.