GR300 cycle ride round cornwall November 2010

Day 1 Launceston to Fowey

Almost immediately it became apparent that I was going to have problems with equipment failure,the two main items of equipment being the bike and me. The first hill damn near killed me and that was with me walking most of it and then 3 miles in my chain broke. Is it wrong of me to admit that I was secretly absolutely delighted about this? because a) it gave me a chance to walk for a bit (until Russell in the sweeper van picked me up) and b) it gave me a chance to miss out around 20 (that was how long it took Russell and I to catch up with the front cyclists.

I ended up cycling on my own from Seaton to Fowey with no maps. I had to take the main roads and by the time I reached the Bodinnick Ferry I was wondering what the hell I’d got myself in to. When the ferry guy came over to ask for my fare I burst into tears, so that saved me £1.50.

Day 2 Fowey to Penzance

The rest of the riders cycled from Fowey to Penzance along the coast via King Harry Ferry (note this is the south coast of Cornwall). I travelled from Fowey to Penzance through the middle of Cornwall via the train station (only the last 5 miles I am delighted to report)

3 punctures and 2 wrong turnings within the first 3 miles, sometimes you’ve just gotta see the signs. A few miles further on I passed Par STATION and the die was cast. A quick stop off at a petrol station to stock up on maps (shopping occasion 1) and I’d planned a whole new route to Penzance. Not for me the beauty of the rugged (and hilly coast line). The rail networks have been kind enough to lay on services the least I could do was make use of them.

My original plan had been to catch the train from Truro but after a quick stop in Starbucks (for refreshment), the bike shop (for more inner tubes) and mountain warehouse (just gratuitous shopping really – did you spot shopping occasions 2 & 3!!) I was feeling ready and raring to go. So off I set to Redruth (still raring to go), then Camborne (still raring to go) then Hayle (still raring to go) before a 4^th and final puncture finally did for me, it was starting to get a dimpsy (apparently this is a colloquialism for dusk) and I decided to call it a day and eventually caught the train just 5 miles from St Erth to Penzance.

Russell (superstar-sweeper/support) collected me from the station and I finally arrived at Penzance youth hostel incredibly pleased to be there but also delighted that I’d managed the practically the whole distance.

Special mention has to go to the girl behind the bar at the hostel who was so helpful, smiley and generally delightful. Also the Polish kids who seemed to be skyping at every plug socket in every corridor of the hostel. They’d been towed into Falmouth aboard a tall ship Fryderyk Chopin which had 2 broken sails (this puts my punctures into perspective).

Day 3 Penzance to Padstow

I was very relaxed this morning having decided that the planned 72 miles was so far beyond me it really wasn’t worth trying. I was last out of the hostel and after a shaky start (my legs just didn’t want to work) and a quick pasty stop in St Justs I got to enjoy coastline. I’d recommend the bit of coast between St Justs to anyone, it’s probably at it’s best on a sunny day in November (less tourists) and from a cycling perspective it seemed to be practically flat.

I was now suffering from a whole new bike problem, my brakes just don’t work.When I’m squeezing my front brakes full on they still aren’t touching the rim of my tyre. To stop, my only options are to veer wildly up drives or into walls or across grass verges and there were a lot of hills where this just wasn’t an option so on those hills I just had to walk and push the bike. Can you imagine how much that hurt? Not only was I having to walk up hills but now down as well! Not so much a round Cornwall cycle ride as a round Cornwall walk.

My options for public transport were much more limited today. The trains don’t run very frequently and the lines/stops were much less convenient for todays route.

In the end I decided to do a circular route back to Penzance and then catch the train to Newquay (via Par – check it out it’s not very direct roughly 2 hours on the train to cover about 30 miles).

Today we had a deadline too. In the evening we were going to a choir performance by the Pearl of Africa Choir (the charity for which we were doing the cycle ride).

Given the amount of walking I had done I was quite pleased with my progress. The Newquay to Padstow (Treyarnon youth hostel) run contained yet more hideous hills but with a little stop in Watergate (where the very nice ladies in the hotel printed me out a map) and a chat with a couple of polish guys (they were starving and gratefully took my energy bars off me) on the hill above Porth Mawgan it seemed like no time before I was arriving at the hostel. There were no staff so we couldn’t get into rooms but happily I had a bottle of wine in my bag so we cracked on with that while we were waiting.

The choir were fabulous. Massive smiles, great singing and dancing and a really worthy cause (www.pearlofafrica.org.uk) and enough to keep everyone up until well past 10pm (it had been 8.15 and 9pm bed times the previous 2 evenings).

Note – I’ve now eaten 3 meals with the other riders and my god can these guys eat, honestly I counted and Toby put 5 ladles of chilli on his plate and Duncan had 7 spoons of rice!!

Day 4 Padstow to Launceston

 The taxi driver the previous evening had terrified me with his tales of endless hills from Treyarnon to Padstow but in reality it was much less bad. The 6 miles of flat cycle along the Camel trail was a very welcome relief from the hills. (note – only I got this relief, the others stuck to the long route near the coast).

Thanks to Chris for sorting out my brakes which were apparently totally f*cked!!

If ever the urge takes you to cycle in Cornwall I would highly recommend Treyarnon–Padstow-Wadebridge-Camelford-Launceston. But I may be slightly biased as this route was taking me to the end of this epic challenge. There a lot of flat and downhill at the end the countryside is very pretty, I had aching cheeks by the end from smiling as I watched the miles to Launceston drop 13-12-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 (woo hoo!!) And as a little treat I got to ride down the hill that had made me so miserable at the beginning of the ride.

As I rode into the car park I could see all the other cars still there and Dean lying on the floor, he’d bailed out before Boscastle and had headed back, thwarted by a sore Achilles.

One last meal with the rest of the riders and it was time to head home.

This was an altogether fabulous experience, the other riders were so friendly and amazing athletes, this was an unbelievable challenge.

Thanks again to

Russell (a really really lovely guy) who’s text kept me going on my occasional lows

The fast boys with their filthy innuendos who did such a good job on punctures 2 & 3

My roomies – Dean and Shaun

Kate – for the curlywurlies and refreshers, who needs energy bars

Toby – for organising the whole thing, please let me come again next year

OS map people – I am now the proud owner of all 4 of the Cornish maps