Day 11 The Final Leg

Breakfast at the Fountain in Okehampton was the best breakfast of the trip, but it was a bit of a struggle to get it down. The usual routine was to ride 20/30 miles and then stop for breakfast.
We set off in light rain and a 20mph SW wind which once we got on the A30 was right on the nose. We had discussed a few routes for this last leg but with difficult weather conditions we decided that the fastes

t route would be straight down the A30.
The first coffee stop was at the services 4 miles west of Launceston and before we got there we had had several heavy showers. Fortunately we were able to ditch our luggage at this point as some kind neighbours had agreed to meet us there and take it from us. As we left the services I was beginning to doubt that we were going to make it as it was already nearly 11am. As we rode over Bodmin moor the heavens really opened, so hard that it was stinging my face and we were soaked through. A few choice words were shouted at the heavens but we were not going to be stopped. The rain eased and gradually conditions improved from there on. Once we had passed Bodmin and I could see signs for St Austell and Truro I knew we were going to make it. With the luggage now gone we were making much better time. Lunch was at Mcdonalds and our last coffee stop was at a second Mcdonalds 10 miles east of Penzance.
When we got into Penzance and saw the sign for Lands End only 8 miles away we both were really spurred on and were flying along. In no time at all we were there to be met by my wife and a friend Ennis. It was now 630pm. I felt on top of the world, we had made it! Photos were taken at the finnishing post and after a quick change of clothing it was into the First and Last pub for a couple of well deserved beers.

Day 10 Bristol to Okehampton

Day 10 started with a flapjack and a nice cup of coffee made by a guy who was camping in a roof tent on top of his 4x4, Adie was very impressed by this and I think there may be one added to his pickup truck sooner rather than later. We headed towards Bridgwater along the A38. It was several miles before we passed the campsite we had planned to stay at. We were on a roll this morning and the average speed before breakfast was nearly 16 mph, not bad with the luggage we were carrying. We were on a mission to make it to another Premier Inn for their superb all you can eat breakfasts. Donna came along to visit us at breakfast and it was a real morale boost to see her friendly smile. The Premier was mobbed and it took nearly 1 ½ hours to have breakfast, which put us behind target a little.
We rode past my work and down towards Taunton and onto Wellington, the weather was okay and there was a slight headwind. After Taunton the roads started to climb and that was the theme for the rest of the day. This was especially true of the road between Torrington and to Crediton, if you decide to do this route, take another road!!. On the way it started to rain and the rain coats came out. The climbing was tiring and the weather was starting to take its toll. About 6 miles from Okehampton we were starting to wonder if we were going to be able to camp that evening. Adie talked about just carrying on riding to try and make the next day a bit easier, we had seen Tuesdays’ forecast and we needed to complete the ride on Monday now. We decided to ring ahead to the campsite t see if they had somewhere to eat and perhaps alternative accommodation. There was no reply, well it was Sunday evening. Going straight to the campsite meant bypassing Okehampton, so we made the decision to go to Okehampton, find somewhere to eat and get warm and make a decision on the next step. Afetr talking to some helpful people in the main street we had a few options, there was a hostel at the top of a long hill, we could look for B&B and there was still the original campsite. We went to the Fountain pub in the main street, which one of locals recommended for food. Ot was a really friendly place and the food was excellent. Adie asked if they had any rooms, we were cold and wet by this time. After a lot of negotiation and a cal to the manager, Adie managed to whittle the price down for a twin room, to be far it was still too much for the standard of the room, but we had somewhere dry to stay, a shower and somewhere to dry our things. Not to mention the comfy bed and good night sleep.
Stats
95.59 Miles
7.36 Hours Riding
11.5 MPH Average
31.2 Max MPH
6012 Calories burnt
4016 Feet of climbing
Camping
B&B at the Volunteer, Okehampton, £50. Good food and great breakfast.

Day 9 The Wye Valley

It was a pleasant surprise when we came out of the campsite and instead of sending us left up the steep hill we had encountered the previous evening, the satnav sent us right over gentle undulations. George especially had been dreading the climb with cold muscles and injured knee, so it was a great relief. After a few miles of country lanes we were back on the A49. After breakfast in a layby cafe we continued on into a noticable headwind and stopped for a coffee in Leominster. We also found a bike shop who obliged with a stirrup pump. We continued on the A49 past Hereford where we picked up the A466 to Monmouth. There were a few nasty hills on this stretch but the best part of this route, Monmouth to Chepstow is a winding level road following the river Wye. If we had been at the beginning of our journey we would have been stopping taking photos at this point, but as the days were now longer and tougher the pressure was on to reach our destination. The Severn Bridge finally came into sight and we stopped at the services at the Bristol end for a Burger King. It was now 6pm and we still had a fair way to go. As we ate we saw the weather forecast which was warning of a severe southerly gale coming in on tuesday. That was it, we had to be at Lands End by monday evening as planned.
Rejuvenated with extra calories we whipped through Bristol and onto the A38. We had to keep our wits about us in the fast moving traffic but we were moving well. A mile or so before reaching Bristol airport George spotted a camp site and we swung in. It was now 8pm and we threw up the tents in the fading light. A plate of chips and a couple of pints later and we were sorted. Only two more days to go!

Day 8 Croston to Presthorpe

We left the Royal Umpire early. This was one of the least eventful days of our trip. However the end of the day was to prove interesting. Most of the day was spent riding down the A49 and bypassing the bigger towns we visited. We went through Wigan to start with and found a Premier Inn to have an all you can eat breakfasts. These are highly recommended if you need to pack in calories for the day, when they say all you can eat they mean it, Adie loves a 4 sausage breakfast. We continued down the A9 until we got close to Whitchurch. Phil had sent us a text the previous day, warning us that the road to Witchurch was closed, due to bridge repairs. He had reached this a couple of days before and turned left at the diversion and found himself climbing some big hills. On his advice we turned right and the trip was much easier. We stopped in a lovely cafe near the canal in Whitchurch for coffee.
Back on the A49 we headed towards Shrewsbury, most of the roads were in good condition and reasonably flat and we were starting to think it would be a reasonably easy days riding. Just after stopping to eat a flap jack in a lay-by, whilst riding along a busy dual carriageway, I heard a shout from behind. It was Adie, who had forgotten to put his helmet back on after our stop and realised it had fallen off his pannier. I remember discussing riding on dual carriageways with Adie before the trip and we had agreed to avoid the like the plague, because they were too dangerous......it’s amazing how things can change once you’ve been on the road for a few days, this type of road helped us to keep a very good pace during the day and you get a little pull along from passing trucks. Adie made the decision, against my better judgement, that his helmet couldn’t be too far back and he could ride the wrong way down the carriageway to retrieve his helmet. I offered to buy him a new one instead, but he was determined. So off he went, whilst I sat at the side of the road waiting for the sound of sirens. It wasn’t long before he was back, with a grin on his face and his helmet on his head.
Shortly after we left the main roads and started to ride through country lanes for the first time that day. I didn’t realise that the area was so hilly, we had ridden about 85 miles and the legs were tired. My knee was playing up again and we hit a series of very long steep hills. However we were very pleased when we were riding down the 2 mile long steep hill towards the campsite. When we planned the route this campsite looked like it was in a little village, so we presumed that there would be a pub to eat at. That was not to be, the nearest pub was back up the 2 mile long hill and then a further 1 ½ miles alongthe road.
The campsite its self was quiet nice, but expensive, it cost £5 each for the washer and drier and we really needed to get some washing done, we were slightly whiff. We pitched our tents and popped down and put some washing on. We then decided to ride to the pub for dinner, this was the first time that I had thought I might not be able to complete our trip. My knee was in agony and I had started to get some pain in my ankle too. When we got back to the hill I couldn’t ride the bike back up and Adie was finding it hard too. We ended up pushing our bikes 1 ½ up the hill and then riding along the flat to the pub. The pub itself was probably the most expensive place we ate in the whole trip, but we did have a nice meal, before riding back down the steep hill to the campsite, in the dark, with only one headlight. It was a little unnerving. Back at the site we transferred the washing to the drier and headed back to the tents, on the way I told Adie about my fears of not being able to climb the hill the next morning. We would need to see what happened after we picked the washing up in the morning and got on the road.

Stats
90.48 Miles
7.08 Hour riding
13.6 MPH Average
36.2 Max MPH
5798 Calories Burnt
2798 Feet climbed

Camping
Mill Farm Caravan Park (not recommended due to position)

£5 each, but £5 each for washer and drier and then we had to pay for the showers too.

Day 7 Pooley Bridge to Corston

Another early start and a the last of Jackie’s cake got us going in the morning out of Ulswater, it was a beautiful morning and we found that we were climbing right from the start, which didn’t go down too well with my knee. Adie was climbing well and we found ourselves winding our way through a country estate towards the A6 and Shap. Shap was one of the longest climbs of the trip, however it wasn’t t

oo steep. We reached Shap village, where a welcoming sign at the Bull pub invited us in for breakfast, just the thing to get the calories in before we climbed the next 5 miles to the top of the hill. The North side of Shap was a little grey and hazy, but once we had reached the top it had started to brighten up. We stopped to take a picture of the bikes against the sign at the top and later found that these were some of the last picture we would take until the end of our trip.

We had this idea for most of the trip that the run down from Shap would see some of our fastest speeds so far on the trip. Unfortunately we started well and were flying down the hill very quickly and then we saw the road works half way down, DOH!! The brakes came on and we had to slow, maybe next time we can set a new speed record. The South side of Shap was very pretty and much greener. We wound our way towards Kendal, where we stopped for a coffee. Kendal was a very nice town and I will look forward to visiting it for longer in the future. We even found a Holland and Barret which allowed us to stock up on flapjacks for the rest of our trip. These proved to be the ideal food to get us going in the morning and then ride 30 miles ish before stopping for our now daily full English breakfast.

The rest of the day went really well and we soon found ourselves at our destination, the very nice Royal Umpire Campsite, not only was this one of the nicest sites we used, they didn't charge us for our stay. The pub wasn't far to go to either and we would highly recommend this site, even if you are paying. We met a young lad here that was heading North on his LEJOG and he was camping too, we did invite him to join us for dinner, but he declined, shame it would have been good to share our experiences.


Stats
83.44 Miles
7.04 Hours riding
11.79 MPH Average
35.6 MPH Max Speed
5204 Calories Burnt
2578 Feet Climbed

Camping
Royal Umpire Corston Free

Day 6 Abington to Pooley Bridge.

We did wonder why such a lovely quiet campsite was so unoccupied. All became clear in the night as every hour or so a train went past which sounded as if it was coming through the tent.

We got away fairly early and number 1 priority was to find a bike shop so I could put a new back tyre on, it was in poor shape, with the outer layer separating from the inner. We were still stuck on the same road r

unning parallel with the M74. The surface was better than yesterday, but not much better. It soon became apparent that the nearest shop was in Carlise, 65 miles away, so it was a question of trying to avoid all the potholes and a large stone, the biggest worry was the tyre failing catastrophically in the middle of nowhere. With 15 miles to go I really didn’t think the tyre was going to last, it was getting more out of shape and bulging. But it did make it and changed the tyre at the Specialised shop in the centre of Carlise.

It was great to get back out of the city and into the countryside. George’s knee seemed to be giving him a little less pain than it been giving him all day or was it just the painkiller kicking in.

We rolled into Waterside campsite at 6pm and pitched up close to Ulswater Lake. A 15 minute walk along the shore into Pooley Bridge for some grub and a pint and we were all sorted.

Stats

86.17 Miles
7.27 Hours riding time
11.5 MPH Average speed
35.68 MPH Max speed
5555 Calories Burnt
1153 feet Climbed

Camping at Waterside campsite £10 each, great site and great facilities.