We’re off! The train journey was long and dull and we got stung for excess fares as there were only two of us on a party saver ticket. Ho hum. We did say hi to Andrew and Peter who joined at Swindon and were starting their end to end today.
Penzance was very windy and quickly left behind as we retrieved our bikes and headed into the wind on the NCN 3.
This part of the journey seemed fairly pointless as we hadn’t really started yet. We followed the NCN route all the way to Sennen via Mousehole and St Buryan. About 15 miles later we were at Lands End having our photo taken and formally started LEJOG 2009!
We chose to take the B3306 to St Ives which we had been warned was hilly. With a very strong tailwind though it was fantastic cycling with only two short climbs to trouble us. The weather was brill, sunny, cool with the odd brief heavy shower which the wind soon dried.
Found a great campsite in town and walked down the hill to eat. A great start to the adventure, long may the good days last!
Distance : 19.62 miles
Time cycling : 1h47m
Ascent : 445m
Average speed : 11.0mph
Looks like you had great weather and a much better 1st day than we had back in 2001. Really jealous of your trip as reminds me of our ride 8 years ago. I was at Mum’s today and saw our LE signpost photo – we had fog and drizzle (in August) and you can’t see anything in the photo -just a white out! We couldn’t even see the sea. Caroline fell off in the first 10 miles on greasy wet roads – so we were cleaning out road rash and patching her up in some old ladies cottage within an hour of starting. Fantastic campsite you have there. BTW, you were supposed to be eating cans of chicken stew tonight, not going down the pub. Enjoy Day 2.
You lucky people
Lets hope theres either NO wind and beutfull sunchine from the 31st onwards. Or theres a strong Northerly!
Well done to you both. *cheers*
What a great start. Regardless of how hard the ride is going to be, it all sounds very exciting and a fantastic opportunity. I hope the weather holds up for you both and you thoroughly enjoy the ride.
Good Luck! (will keep watching this space.. )
Julie
wow! it does sound like a thrilling challenge, and i bet you see some beautiful landscapes and scenery on the way too.
It appears that you have got off to a cracking start, and havent let the weather get you down at all – taking the rough with the smooth, which is very admirable!
Good luck! look forward to reading more!
pete (aka red)
Are you there yet?
I’ve not been able to track you on my computer so a) have you actually left Lands End or b) did you turn left instead of right and take a swim or c) what I actually believe is that you are on the Plymouth ferry to sunny Spain. Maybe though it is just that my computor is too old to pick up the tracking.
Sorry I couln’t meet with you for a pint and a chat at the Red Lion, but I understand you have taken a northerly route out of Devon – all downhill now!!
Good luck and take care – only 15 days to go now.
ps. If you come back with an all over suntan I’ll know where you’ve been, but I promise not to tell anybody.
Uncle Mick