1 September - Land's End to Boswinger via Penzance

9 miles Penzance YHA Hostel to Land's End (on A30)
15 miles Land's End to Penzance (on National Cycle Network route 3)
54 miles Penzance to Boswinger YHA Hostel (NCN route 3)

£0.30 postcard, Mousehole
£9.20 all day breakfast (for lunch), Hayle
£18 one night in dormitory, Boswinger YHA Hostel
£1.00 milk, orange, and banana, Boswinger YHA Hostel

I always knew this first day would be long, when I couldn't book myself and the bike onto a train that got me in to Penzance in time to do the Land's End and back trip on the Sunday. I didn't quite anticipate HOW long, though.

I left my panniers safely in a locker at the youth hostel whilst I took the A30 down to Land's End. As it was early on a Sunday morning (8am) traffic was very light; something I was pleased with, as two cyclists had been killed on the A30 a couple of months ago, just after they'd set off on a charity LEJOG ride.

After the obligatory photo at the Land's End sign, I started my trip proper, following the signs for the NCN route 3. What a treat! Light bike without panniers and a glorious route along the coast, taking in Sennen Cove and Mousehole. I arrived back at the hostel in very good spirits. However, I didn't set off from the hostel for the main part of the day's cycling until 11.15, despite me setting off for the Land's End loop at 8am.

The roads and cycle paths for the day were varied and, in the main, wonderful. The National Cycle Network routes include quiet roads, cycle paths alongside busy roads, tarmac shared use paths separate from roads, and trails through places of interest. The Cornish Mining Trail was a lovely part of the day's cycling, even though it was fairly rough beneath the tyres, and passing beneath a magnificent viaduct on the Carnon Valley trail near Truro was one of the day's highlights.

I hadn't anticipated having to push the bike up quite so many hills, however. Pushing a bike with heavy panniers is actually more difficult than riding it, but as the day wore on and I became more tired, worried about the time, and dispirited, I found myself giving up on hills earlier and earlier, even though this slowed me down more since I could only push for a few yards before needing the catch my breath.

At one point, I had to take the panniers off the bike, carry them to the top of the hill, then come back down to push the bike. This was a very rough track that I would normally only tackle on a mountain bike, but was the route 3 way to the King Harry chain ferry across the Fal river. An elderly couple, valiantly struggling up the hill on foot with walking sticks, were very chipper and friendly as they saw my laboriously transiting my panniers then bike up the steep section. Thank you for your positive spirits and demonstration of slow but steady progress rather than giving up, whoever you were.

I was rewarded for my efforts by evening sunshine as I joined the cars on the ferry (free for bicycles and foot passengers). As I stood waiting for the ferry and stretched my legs and back, I reminded myself how lucky I was to be able to do this trip, and that arriving in the dark at the hostel wasn't a disaster, as long as I got there by 10pm (the time their reception closes).

The last part of the day's cycling was less scary than Penzance. I'd got used to the fact that I had to take the map holder off when I used the front light (even though this meant I had to trust my memory for directions), and the weird feeling of the bike moving with the contours of the road when not seeing the falls, rises, and numerous potholes became quite pleasurable once I got used to it. I had bats flying beside me along hedge-edged narrow lanes, and could hear owls hooting as I puffed and panted to push the bike up yet another hill.

Quotes of the day:
"Those are expensive wheels" - upon meeting a posh sports car on one of the roads where only one car can pass, and I had to get off the bike and stand in front of it, pushed into the hedge, whilst the egotistical driver worried about my panniers touching his car on one side, and the hedge scratching it on the other. I wanted to reply "... And this is an expensive bicycle", but I didn't, choosing to use smile instead.

"She was scared by a bike when a puppy" - when I came down a lane to meet a dog walker, face on so she could see me coming clearly, and her dog on an extendable lead ran across the road towards me.

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