We first had to ride from Penzance to Land's End. We followed NCN route 3 on a path and then narrow roads along the coast through the quaint seaside village of Mousehole. Just beyond Mousehole is a very steep hill, the first of only about 3 or 4 on the whole trip that we had to walk part way up.
We soon came to the Merry Maidens, one of the best preserved stone circles in England (although ones we saw later in Cumbria and on Orkney were taller and more impressive).
|
| Cliffs at Lands End |
The NCN route is rather circuitous, ending up on a rough dirt track over the cliffs from Sennen Cove to Land's End - something we could have done without at the beginning of a long trip on our small-wheeled tandem. I wish Sustrans would have some way of indicating the quality of the surface on their off road sections.
The weather had brightened up, so that the cliffs at Land's End were grand, and we were able to snap our "start of ride" pictures in bright sunshine - unlike many you can find on the internet! We logged in and picked up our end-to-end sheet at the hotel, and set off back towards Penzance, this time following the more direct CTC route on B roads, which were quite traffic free and fine.
 |
| Mike, Lynn and Bike Friday at Land's End |
On the way back to Penzance we had the only almost-disaster of the trip: coming down a steep hill into Newlyn the front tire blew, and it was hard to stop the bike without losing control: very scary for the captain! The rim was too hot to touch, and the puncture turned out to be right at the valve, so heating due to the heavy braking seemed to be the cause, something that is a worry on a tandem, particularly one with small wheels like ours. We do have an additional drum drag break on the rear wheel - something we discovered was necessary after our first descent on our other tandem when we started riding a few years ago. However the hill was steep, narrow, and crowded with cars, so we had to come down very slowly. After fixing the flat I noticed that the rear V-brake cable wasn't seated properly, so maybe the rear brake hadn't been doing its share.
We replaced the inner tube and continued to Penzance. Lynn purchased a Vodafone SIM card for her cell phone (they seemed to have the best coverage over the more remote areas we would be visiting), and we bought a replacement spare inner tube from a cycle shop down a tiny back alley. Unfortunately they only had the 20" size we needed with the Schraeder (car) valve. The rims can take these, but we use Presta valves regularly. Still, since we were imagining tires popping on the hills to come, this would do!
We bought Cornish pasties for lunch, and ate them on the coast just past the city, with a view of St. Michael's Mount.
It was now time to get some miles under our belts. We followed the NCN route, first through farmland on rolling hills, and then through an area with many industrial ruins from the nineteenth century tin mining industry, looking like abandoned castles and cathedrals. We had planned to stop at a few places, such as the British Cycle Museum in Camelford, but because of the delays caused by the flat tire and shopping in Penzance we kept cycling until we reached St. Day. The St. Day Inn in the village didn't do accommodation, but told us about a bed and breakfast, Lower Poldice Cottage, half a mile away, which we found had a room available and turned out to be very nice. We had dinner back at the pub.
Mileage: 51.6 miles (of which 14 were on the leg in the wrong direction from Penzance to Land's End)
Route and more pictures
Elevation (altitude in feet, distance in miles)
[Day-by-Day][Previous Day][Next Day]