Mileages and maps

The statisticians have been at work, and the results show that this was the hilliest part of the coast so far.

Interpreting the hilliness factor:

0-50% : flat
50-80%: quite flat
80-120%: average
120-180%: hilly
180-220%: very hilly
220-280%: extremely hilly
280%+ : ridiculous

Four of the days score as "ridiculously hilly", something which my legs would agree with.  Five of the days have entered the Top 10 hilly days of the whole coastal ride (see below).   As you can see the mileages were not very high, but the hillages (ascent) were considerable, especially with a heavily loaded bike.

Maps

Day 1: Taunton/Bridgwater to Minehead

(distance shown includes my train journey from home)

Day 2: Minehead to Lynton

Selworthy Beacon and Porlock Hill clearly shown!

Day 3: Lynton to Yelland (Barnstaple)

Includes part of the Tarka Trail at the end

Day 4: Yelland to Elmscot

Day 5: Elmscott to Tintagel

Day 6: Tintagel to Treyarnon Bay

Including a part of the Camel trail

Day 6: Treyarnon Bay to Porthtowan

Day 7: Porthtowan to YHA Lands End

Day 8: YHA Lands End to Penzance

Top 10 hilly days

John o'Groats to Land's End

Lands End to John o'Groats, or the reverse journey,  is a cycling classic challenge ride.  It's 800, 900 or more miles depending on the route.  Anyone riding it in one go has to be very fit.  Super-humans aim to do it in ten or twelve days, about 80 miles a day.  Most people take two or more weeks.

Eileen Sheridan, who lived in Isleworth  until she recently passed away aged 99, cycled it in 2 days, 11 hours and 45 minutes in 1954, smashing the women's record.  (She continued after JoG to break the record for 1000 miles, a record which stood until 2002.)

I have also completed John o'Groats to Land's End now, but at a more relaxed pace.  It's safe to say that no speed records have been broken.

It took me just under ten years - that's 88 days of cycling and a few days off in between.  My scenic coastal route was 6,033 miles, with 105,029 metres of climbing.

22 May 2023

 

The route

11 July 2014

Lands End and Penzance

Sennen Cove

Capstan House (winching boats up the harbour)

Not this way

I was the only one for breakfast at the Youth Hostel.  I felt obliged to eat a bit of everything at the unlimited continental breakfast, plus the full English, before bidding a fond farewell.  I rode past a busy Land's End airport and then down to beautiful, wild Sennen Cove.  The last mile to Lands End was on a rough track overlooking the sea, route 3 on the National Cycle Network.  At the gate to Land's End I met another cyclist, Will, carrying just a saddle pack.  He was just starting LEJoG, having ridden from Penzance that morning.

Land's End

We took each other's photos by the sign, I wished him luck and carried on.  The roads were quiet and undulating, unless you went down to the sea, which wasn't often.  Fields full of freshly-cut hay drying in the sun. Where it had already been gathered in, the farmers were hard at work ploughing for the next crop, seagulls also working hard looking for titbits in the newly turned earth.

Porthcurno 

I went down to Porthcurno,  where there's a Global Communications Museum, commemorating the first  trans-Atlantic telegraph cable.  Also a cafe.  Once again I was the only customer.   Perhaps I'm beginning to smell?  Porthcurno is also the site of the beautiful Minack open-air theatre, cut into the cliff face with a backdrop of blue seas and rocky cliffs.  

Lamorna Cove (picture doesn't do it justice) 

Then it was down to the lovely, remote Lamorna Cove, a perfect small beach, harbour and cafe.  At the next table a Dutch family were tucking into enormous pasties and chips, and cream teas.  I could have stayed there a long time, but I had a train to catch, ten miles and 200m climbing away at Penzance.

Up and over ...

...to Mousehole

Over the final mountain was Mousehole, with its picturesque semicircular harbour.  Very difficult to get a photo of it all, however.  I hung around the harbour for a bit and then went on.  From here it was a pretty, flattish road round the coast, with views across Penzance bay to Penzance, St Michael's Mount and Marazion.  All the way to Penzance, with the station and railway line plonked right along the sea front.

Coast cyclepath to Penzance

Newlyn harbour

It's been the most brilliant  week.  I've loved every minute, even the bits I hated.  Weather fantastic, scenery outstanding, hills unbelievable, tea stops plentiful, locals friendly, bike and legs kept going despite everything.  I'm catching the train home from Penzance today.   I can't wait to come back and do some more.

Thank you for your company, your comments and your stamina if you read every post!  There just seemed to be a lot worth writing about.  The sunshine helped a lot with that.

I'll write a summary with maps and distances in the next few days.

St Ives

Porthtowan Campsite

Track to Portreath

Busy Portreath beach : Surf Club

Finally! I found the flat bit! From Porthtowan was reasonably flat most of the way to Hayle. I was able to go above 10mph at times, something I'd forgotten how to do. After a breakfast of ... more cookies, I visited Portreath in search of food The Portreath Bakery was open at 9am on a Sunday, as they are an essential service. The lady there told me that they were able to open during the 2020 lockdown, as they bake the vital bread and pasties on site. A Pasty at 9am didn't seem quite right, so I settled for an Eccles cake.  

It was another sunny morning and there was a steady stream of people heading to the beach, many in wetsuits and several with bare feet. I wondered where they kept their keys.

A posse of motor cyclists, all wearing tweed jackets, throbbed through the town. A couple more stopped at the bakery and I complimented them on their stylish attire. They were on the Distinguished Gentleman's ride, 100 or so riders from Hayle to Helston via Lands End, in aid of Prostate Cancer. Expecting to arrive at Helston around 3pm today. It will take me a lot longer.

After the hill out of Portreath, I joined the main B road. This was a long relatively flattish bit, and I saw lots of LEJoG cyclists (Lands End to John o'Groats), going faster than me and carrying no luggage. Also some JoGLE, cyclists, who didn't look quite so fresh. I forgot to mention yesterday that on one of the beastly hills, I saw a couple of cyclists looking exhausted at the top of a hill. They were cycling to John o'Groats but "doing their own route, sticking to the coast". I wished them luck and didn't ask too many questions. Or volunteer any info.

 

Hell's Mouth

The LEJoGers all sped past Hell's Mouth without stopping, (it was worth a visit) and The Towans near Hayle (it wasn't - it was just a caravan park). I didn't seem to see much of Hayle, which has a mainline station, unusual on the north coast. Then I followed a quiet track to Carbis Bay, riding with a local for a bit. I turned off to go down to the sea at Carbis Bay and he warned me about a steep hill back out. He wasn't joking: it was a very steep narrow path.

St Ives was now just around the corner. It's another beautifully situated town on a big crescent beach, like Newquay, but smaller. Lots of people milling around on the sea front doing bank holiday things. I liked it, especially the tiny back streets off the harbour front.

St Ives

I stopped at a small, empty Wetherspoons and had a large lunch. I also took the plunge and booked a room at the Youth Hostel at Sennen, near Lands End. A whole room, for £35. I could have camped for £9, but you can have too much of a good thing.

Lands End!!

There was still another 20 miles to do, though. A beast of a hill out of St Ives, aided and abetted by my diversions to stay near the coast, meant I climbed it three times. After that, it was mostly rolling moorland terrain, with the sea always in view in several directions. I passed a sign to Penzance ... 4 hilly miles.

Floral verges

Moorland ponies

The Party's Here!

I'd planned to stop for tea in St Just but it was getting late. A hamlet I'd never heard of, Morvah, advertised crafts and cake, so I stopped. A tiny place but the party was in full swing. A bunch of locals had been tidying the graveyard, and they were now in the cafe having more fun than anyone I'd seen in St Ives.   They were also finalising plans for the forthcoming Morvah Pasty Day.  A cream tea later, I was best friends with Olivia, a formidable lady who had lived in the hamlet (as she called it) her whole life.

 

Tin mines

Track

Tin mine

YHA Lands End is a few miles before Lands End. It took me a few more miles to find it, as Google Maps was on strike, and a crucial YHA sign was missing. Before that, I had an exciting detour on a rocky bridleway around the coast, past several old tin mines. Very scenic. A trip to Cape Cornwall, after which I decided against another detour along a bridleway, which looked extremely hilly. It might have meant a lot of walking.

 

Cape Cornwall 

The hostel is small, lovely, out of the way, and seemingly empty. Beautiful view down the valley where the sun is setting into the ocean.

 

YHA Lands End Hostel

St Just

No evening meal though, so I rode back to St Just (three pubs) and had an excellent fish & chips.

I have decided that I'll return home tomorrow, from Penzance.   Save the next bit for fresh eyes and fresh legs.   It's still going well, but there have been so many beautiful beaches they are all beginning to merge together.