Back once again with the hill behaviour

Our accommodation in Winscombe was superb. We had a bath for the first time all trip (we had showers everywhere else, we're not that disgusting 😜)

The hosts Steve and Mandy made us feel very welcome, provided a top notch breakfast and let us dry our kit that we hand washed in their laundry room overnight.

Danny preparing bike before leaving Winscombe

We have done 95 and 97 mile rides back to back already but today is the first time we hit 100. We left Winscombe and headed through fields for the coast. The first crossing we made was over the Avonmouth Bridge. This is actually the M5 motorway, luckily we were in a separate section away from the traffic 😬

Crossing the Avonmouth Bridge

We then followed a cycle track along the southern bank of the River Severn and then crossed over the Severn bridge into Wales

Our bikes on the Servern Bridge with the Prince of Wales bridge in the background

We stopped for quite an early first lunch at the Two Rivers pub in Chepstow, then later, a coffee and ice-cream at Raglan Farm and mid afternoon we stopped for pasta at a Tesco in Hereford. By this point energy levels were running low. This second lunch gave us the boost we needed to complete the remaining miles to Ludlow.

Okehampton to Winscombe

Both shattered from our elevation heavy first full day we spent the evening at Medowlea guest house in Okehampton. The hosts were great and well geared up (no pun intended) for cyclists. In fact there were four other blokes staying who were also a day into their LEJOG ride.

After breakfast we cleaned the bikes and then set off on our ride. We opted for the complete NCN route, which is the longest of our three GPX files but has the quietest roads. We stopped in Tiverton for a Subway sandwich and coffee, fish and chips in Bridgwater and a coffee at a country pub, which we can't remember the name of but we couldn't resist the beer garden.



We arrived in Winscombe a little later than planned, at around 18:30, partly due to being held up for 15 minutes while a heard of 200 cows crossed the road in front of us.

Some Strava data

For anyone who is not on Strava and would like to know the rate of progress here it is 😁

Sunday 30th June

Monday 1st July

Tuesday 2nd July

Wednesday 3rd July

Thursday 4th July

Friday 5th July

Saturday 6th July

Sunday 7th July

Monday 8th July

Tuesday 9th July

Wednesday 10th July

Plan B - Welcome to Hill

If you think Cornwall is famous for delicious pasties and ice cream, wait until you have tried their hills!

We left Hayle after coffee and full English breakfast and hit the A30 for a leg warming 12 mile spin. We stopped for a coffee and catch up with Elizabeth Otter (Mrs Otter Surfboards) and baby William, who seemed to enjoy test riding our bikes.

Check out some beautiful hand crafted wooden surf boards over on their site https://ottersurfboards.co.uk

Next we headed west to join an NCN route with little to no traffic for the remainder of the ride. We found a great cafe for lunch in the village of St Columb Major. As the miles clocked up, so did the elevation. The effort was worth it though, we had some amazing views of Bodmin Moor and surrounding areas. It was also good to know that we were getting one of the most difficult days out of the way early.

For the last 5 miles leading up to our overnight stop in Okehampton we followed the old railway track, Granite Way. This was easy miles compared to the hills we had climbed and we crossed the Meldon Viaduct with some breath taking panoramic views.

Stage 1 complete

Our first day went according to plan. We spent 7 hours on trains, we arrived at Penzance station at around 15:00 in glorious sunshine. Quick spray of SPF30 and then set off on the A30 to Lands End. This was the most direct route but fairly busy and not great for cyclists. We soon arrived at Lands End, took some photos and filled out our entry forms and signed the guestbook at the Lands End hotel.

Now the real riding begins so we set our Garmin's using preprogrammed GPX files which took us on the NCN route 3 rather than the A30. This was a slightly longer route back to Penzance and then north to Hayle but much quieter and enjoyable cycling.

We arrived at our overnight stop, the Tamarisk guest house around 18:30. We found a beefeater restaurant 5 minutes walk from the B&B, ate a decent meal and then called it a night 😴

En route to the start

We are on our way to Lands End by train. We cycled 6 miles from Danny's house to Fareham train station at 07:00 this morning. Our route is Fareham to Basingstoke, Basingstoke to Exeter and then Exeter to Penzance. We will then ride the final 10 miles to Lands End, check in and then onward to Hayle for the first night's rest. Ready for the first proper day tomorrow. 

A huge thank you to everyone who has donated

A huge thank you to everyone who has donated to Wessex Cancer Trust. It will be good to know that our suffering in the saddle will benefit such a great cause.

It is not long until our Lands End to John O' Groats trip, we begin the train journey to Penzance on Sunday 30th June, the first full day of cycling will be Monday 1st July.

We are going to try and keep this blog updated along the way. You can also follow our progress on Strava https://www.strava.com/athletes/lejog