Day 1 - Hills, Headwind and The RNLI

The famous Land's End sign at the start of LEJOG

After a comedy moment when I could not find the keys to unlock the bike, we managed to gather clothes, spares, cameras, etc. and cycle down to Land's End by about 9am.  It is a strange, empty tourist attraction at that time of day - everything locked and only a few bleary cyclists wandering around.  Most of them were on sleek carbon fibre racing bikes and planning to complete the trip in 8 or 9 days.  The all looked like they thought I was mad doing LEJOG on a single speed.  After photos at the famous sign and two months after I came up with the idea, I was off and riding.

Wow - What a headwind!  In the first few miles I found I had to pedal even to go downhill on slight inclines and had to real push hard to climb the frequent hills.  The first section on the A30 was busy, but when I turned off at Penzance and joined the coastal path, the ride got more enjoyable.  On the outskirts of Penzance I looked across the railway lines and could see Fiona in the car just leaving the supermarket after buying fuel.

The surprise support squad!

The coastal village of Marazion was very pretty with St Michael's Mount appearing out of the haze.  As I turned the corner and headed south for Lizard Point, I was overtaken by our friends Di & Chris who were camping locally.  A few miles further on I met them at the side of the road with a "Go James Go" banner which was a true surprise.  We joined up with Fiona for lunch at the cafe on top of the cliffs above the old RNLI station at Lizard Point before cycling round to the new RNLI station a few miles away.

Making a donation at RNLI Lizard Point

I was lucky enough to meet Ned Nuzum, Lifeboat Operations Manager who showed us around the new Lizard Point Lifeboat station, which was completely rebuilt a couple of years ago.  Ned showed us the beautiful - and surprisingly large - rescue boat RNLB Rose and described how the station performed the most "shouts" in its 155 year history; 23 in 2013.  The boat is launched about once per week on exercise and then has to be reversed onto the slipway and hauled back onto the station with steel cables.  It is a thoroughly professional operation in a beautiful building.  I gave our donation to Dan Atkinson, the full time mechanic and second Coxswain of the boat.

On board the Helford Ferry

Departing from Lizard Point RNLI, I headed north east past Goonhilly listening station with huge sattelite dishes in the mist and on to Helford to catch the river ferry.  Unfortunately in Helford I managed to get rather lost and ended up on a grass path that turned into somebody's lawn at the back of their house!  I planned this part of the route with Google Maps, but realised I had gone wrong.  After a second attempt and rounding another headland I found a tiny jetty with a bright yellow folding sign to call the ferryman.  He arrived promptly with two passengers and three of use joined for the return journey.  Ten minutes later we were across the river and with congratulations for not hitting the boat's throttle when unloading my bike I was riding again.

The St Mawes Ferry has a bike rack!

The hills from Helford were so steep I had to zig zag across them to keep moving.  After climbing for maybe ten minutes, you get a brief respite of whizzing down the other side only to be faced with the same again and again.  This was the section where all the warnings about the ride seemed warranted.  Riding into Falmouth I managed a comedy double circuit around the block before finding the jetty for the St Mawes ferry.  They have enough the cyclists on this route they have bike racks on board!  Fortunately, I didn't have to wait too long and the ferry made swift progress from Pendennis Castle in Falmouth to St Mawes Castle in ... St Mawes!  Both are run by English Heritage.

Leaving St Mawes I was again on a route planned on Google maps and found I was on a small street that became a tiny street wide enough for pedestrians only.  This was the first time that I had to get off and walk - I don't think I could have got up it in "granny ring" and certainly couldn't climb it on my single speed.  I got back on as soon as it became a road again and headed for St Austell.

The final 20 miles were still hilly with some big climbs all the way to St Austell.  With just a mile to go I thought I was done, only to be faced with one last big haul up to the edge of the town.  By this time I was looking forward to my dinner and was pleased to find the Cornwall Spa hotel and swing in and lock up my bike outside reception.

We had what I think will be the fanciest dinner of the whole trip, local trout with triple cooked chips!  I managed to avoid falling asleep in the restaurant and headed for bed while the Scots counted their votes.

I completed 77.2 miles in 10 hours elapsed and 6 hours 15 minutes moving at an average of 12.3mph and a max speed of 36.7mph (I think the extra couple of miles on the map below are from the Falmouth - St Mawes ferry).