Day 4

After yesterday's weather, today was a welcome break - for some!! We had left Roz in Falmouth with a bike with dicky brakes, but she sorted it out.Was on the road at 0545am this morning, cycled the same route we had done yesterday and by the end of the day had cycled 68 miles by the time we got to Penzance at 5pm - courage or what!!

During the day, Gill was pleased to see Kerry, Chris and Jenny all out on their visits while we were pounding the pedals who shouted and waved to urge us on!

Later on we were joined by my mountain biking friend Richard near the Lizard, as usual full of banter, gossip and good advice and we then had a lovely DRY ride, taking in a bit of off road across Loe Bar (not recommended on a tandem!) via Porthleven - delicious tea and sticky cakes before speeding down to Penzance via Marazion and ending up at the Youth Hostel. Brian and Mel then joined us and we had a very welcome glass or two (!) of red wine in warm sunshine, followed by lots of good food in the Turks Head.

For those of you up at 6.10am, I will be on Radio Cornwall then - hopefully as long as my mobile works and I wake up in time!!!

Hard work across Loe Bar

Delicious tea at Porthleven!

Off roading!!

It was a pleasant relaxed day - tomorrow sees us round the corner of the County at Lands End - not an easy ride before we get to Zennor. But an added bonus is that Nikki Martin is joining us for this leg, so more banter and gossip will ensue, of that I am sure.

Day 3

Ha, so you thought the weather would defeat us - no chance!! 

The Falmouth Beach Hotel may have (sadly) burnt down, causing a slight deviation to our route, but we got to Coverack by 6pm, tired, but proud of what we had done.  Brake failure caused Roz, our fellow cyclist, to finish prematurely in Falmouth, but Roz being Roz, got it fixed, is getting up at 5am tomorrow morning to cycle the tortuous, hilly route to Coverack (from Ponsanooth) to join us for 10am. And then, she will cycle tomorrows route with us to Penzance.  What a star!!

Back to the route!  We left our B&B at 10am after a massive breakfast and cycled down to King Harry Ferry for the crossing, who waived the fee - thanks guys!!  We then popped in to Wendy Mudge's for an early lunch at Devoran.  Coffee, delicious soup and lots of banter - she is getting married this Saturday - Lots of Luck Wendy, many thanks and hope the weather is better than today!!

On to Falmouth, easy apart from heavy rain where we met our good friend and neighbour Judith, who plied us with the most delicious gingerbread. Sorry J, all eaten now!!  Due to the fire, we had to deviate and were unable to go around Pendennis Point so took a "short cut" to Maenporth, (big hills) and then to Mawnan, Port Navas, Trengilly Wartha and Gweek.  Then off to Mawgan via the short cut (Very steep!) and then past Gear Farm and eventually to St Anthony in Meneague. Lovely ride around the creek, despite the heavy rain and strong winds and on to Porthallow. More climbs - we are getting good at these, then Porthoustock, St Keverne and finally, (delightedly!) Coverack, where a lovely welcome from Denise and her friend made all the hills worthwhile.

Then Roz and her husband Bobby joined us in the pub - The Paris Hotel - excellent burgers!. It was all downhill from there!!  Hot baths at R and B's lovely barn, followed by a 28 year old Mount Gay rum to help us off to sleep. More follows tomorrow (providing I do not drink too much of Bobby's rum!) after we reach Penzance - an easy ride after todays epic!!

Ben the Dog posing!!

Slightly wet!!!

Love the expression Gilly

Day 2

High winds, heavy rain and fording rivers did not stop us from achieving our goals yesterday.  The only sad part of our day was that Jayne, our lady runner, had contracted a particularly nasty virus the week before and it was always a slight question in her mind as to whether she would recover enough for the run around Cornwall. She managed the first day, but with difficulty, and it was a Team decision that she and David (husband and other runner) would support us (the three cyclists). Particularly nice yesterday with the bad weather!!  Plans are afoot for the cyclists to hand the baton to Jayne and David in a few weeks to complete their part of the challenge.

On to the day. Battered and bruised, we made it to Fowey, feeling quite cold. But after a swift coffee and sticky cakes at Niles Bakery,we all felt a lot better.  We had some serious hills to contender with, the one out of Polperro and Port Mellon being particularly tough. But we did everything without walking.  We then had to ford a river which had burst its banks, which was really exciting and was the highlight of the day!!

We arrived at our B&B near Port Loe in wet crumpled heaps and after a nice hot shower (someone who shall be nameless had a bath and took all the water!!), we repaired to the New Inn pub in Veryan.  Hot fire, wonderful food, fantastic quiz and even better, loads of money for the cause!!  Thank you all who were there and who supported us, even if we came last in the quiz!!

So today, we are off on one of the toughest legs - Port Loe to Coverack, via King Harry, Falmouth, Swanpool, Mawnan Smith, Gweek, St Anthony in Meneage and down th coast to Coverack.  As I sit here writing this, the weather does not look too bad - but never trust the weatherman!!!

For those of you who have been texting us or trying to ring us, we are sorry, the signals are very intermittent on the Roseland and, where we are now, not around at all.

Hmm, how do we cross this!!!??

Lovely views neaer Caerhayes

Full 

One of the many hills that day

Stormy weather

How to ford a swollen river with a tandem

How Mrs Collins did it!!!!

Day 1

Roz coming up the hill from Cremyll with Plymouth behind her

At the start at Cremyll lovely to see Richard and family, Maggie & lovely dogs & my sister Rose who blasted us off with shouts, cheers & a fog horn! Undulating terrain! until the lovely cliff top cafe at Freathy. All 5 of us indulged in lots of lovely unhealthy food. We were overtaken by a wonderful bunch of roadies who thought Gilly was reading a book, but which were infact the directions on my back. The sun actually came out as we approached Downderry & from there on to Seaton where we encountered Looe Hill - our first major uphill. A steep downhill followed ending on a beach! At this point we had to enlist the help of a wonderful family who helped carry tandem bike & trailer up a series of very steep steps! While doing this we met a fantastic lady who told us of her adventures as a child on a 1937 Raleigh tandem with sidecar in which they took her on holiday to Margate!! On to Looe where we met lots of very lovely generous people enthusiastic and encouraging of our venture. Another minor deviation and another big climb took us to a steep and welcome descent to Polperro - hooray!! Quick showers and off on the razzle. A big thank you to Rob & his lovely customers in the Blue Peter Inn for very generous support & entertainment. The kindness and generosity of strangers throughout today has been overwhelming.

Jayne and David on the road

Fame at last!!

I don't suppose there were many of you listening to Radio Cornwall this morning at around 6.12 am - but if you were - you would have heard me talking about the Round Cornwall Challenge with Ross Ellis, (standing in for James Churchfield). 

But do not worry, you can catch up with my dulcet tones on the BBC iplayer (I am going to as well, as I have no recall on what I said!!), which I imagine will be available after 9am today, after the show has aired.

We start the run / ride tomorrow from Cremyll, on the Cornish side opposite Plymouth, at around 10am. (timing is slightly dependent on the train from Reduth being on time and when we catch the ferry).  And from then on, we carry on each day around our beautiful coastline.  Lets hope we see at least some of it, as the weather is not looking too good and the visibility may be bad.

Radio Cornwall will be keeping in touch with us, quite possibly on a daily basis, depending on phone signals etc etc, but keep an ear out for me or one of the other Team members on James Churchfields morning programme.  And wish us luck - we will need it!!

A final PARTY TIME reminder before we set off!!

Oh dear, the weather is so far looking pants for next week!!  But I have faith in that the Weathermen  / Weatherwomen at the BBC Spotlight are not always right. Anyway, what's wrong with a bit of rain?!

All  the more reason to remind you about THE DO in St Agnes.As I have written in an earlier blog, kind friends have organised a do at the St Agnes Hotel on THURSDAY 3RD MAY. (Definitely not Saturday 5th May as published by the West Briton!).

The details are on the poster I have scanned in below, but we would love to see you all there. There will be a raffle, live local band Badland Blues and of course - us! Given that we will have run / rode from Zennor that day, we may not last the night out, but that does not mean you cannot. Hope to see lots of you rocking the night away and enjoying what promises to be a really good night out.

Final training ride with luggage!

Sunday dawned showery and with a cold, blustery NW wind - but undaunted we set off - complete with all the luggage we will take on Round Cornwall. To give you an idea of weight, the last time we did this in France last year, I weighed everything - I wish I had not, as we (including the two of us and the bike) were moving around 200kg on 2 wheels!! We have pared this down a lot, but I am not weighing it this time.

The tandem handles very differently with panniers front and back and a handlebar bag as well.  The steering is considerably heavier, making for sore shoulders, and because it has a "lady frame" on the back half (no crossbar), the bike tends to flex a lot more than usual going around bends, making cornering interesting to say the least!  Speed is a definite no no, as the rim brakes are never good at the best of times and with extra weight, even worse.  If wet, well, great care is needed and a keen eye for the road ahead, as stopping takes four times as long.  And of course, hills are a lot harder with more weight!



Testing how the "Beast" handles with luggage

But today, we had a nice day.  It did not rain, despite the forecast, we managed to avoid the worst of the wind until we had to turn for home, and nearly 30 miles showed up on my GPS, so honour was satisfied.



We will probably go out for a short blast on Thursday, just to check all is ok, and then (feeling nervous just writing this) we all set off on the 28th.  Wish us luck!!!