Day One

21.03.2008 - Land's End - Okehampton

Route (See disclaimer on day zero post):

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/LEJOG-2008-DAY-ONE

Land's End was amazing. The sea was in extreme turmoil. I could have stayed there all morning watching the big waves rolling in and clashing against the rocks.

We take our photos talk to other departing cyclists and head off wobbling in the 35mph north westerly wind. Weather forecast does not look good.

3 other departing parties, a couple of guys with "Cancer Research" high visibility vests, supported by a van, another three of four in a group, supported by a van and a solo mountain-biking woman with two huge panniers. We saw her on the way from Penzance - 12 miles in brutal headwind. She must be tough as nails.

I talked to her briefly. She plans to do it in 14 days. Off we went in our group of four - me, Angus, Ben and Hen.

The standard first day route is pretty straight forward plus lots of ups and downs. We stopped at Bodmin for lunch and got lost, thanks to me, anyway, got back on track after adding some "junk miles" as the hilarious BikeSnobNY blog would have called them.

Late afternoon, over the hill came an expression of pain. It was Angus with plenty Cornwall ache in his thighs. The geography here is part of the folklore, as one may hear in the lyrics of "Camborne Hill".

Henry had three punctures. Ben one, in the middle of a hailstorm on the ghastly A30 - a dual carriageway for long stretches. One could die of exposure repairing a puncture in those conditions. We were all shivering and very happy to reach Okehampton in the dark where we stayed in the last remaining 5 beds in town which Henry found at lunchtime, after some ringing around. We headed late for the local Italian. Cycling long miles does bring out the taste in all foods but does makes portions look smaller than they really are - it peeved Angus the Brave no end! Me too.