The finish line

The finish line

Day 14: St Austell to Land's End
It was a real struggle to get out of bed this morning after my 'big' day. With my body being decidedly unco-operative I made it down to breakfast to find out what had happened to Colin. It seems he had made it to the far side of Liskeard by late evening and been picked up by Margaret. In discussion we decided to spend today riding to Land's End and for him to use the spare day tomorrow to ride the 20 mile 'gap'.

Puncture-resist this!

Great plan but I was hardly awake so we didn't set off until 10:00. We decided to head for the A30 in order to make best progress South-West. But which way to go? Bing was still convinced that the hotel was in central St Austell, so we asked a local chap for directions. So it was that we set off for Roche and the Goss Moor Trail which is actually the old A30, and the scene of my puncture. It seems puncture-resistant tyres are not proof against a 20mm roofing nail (imagine that).

At Fraddon we got onto the new A30, but I seemed to have no energy and could barely maintain 15mph on what was essentially a flattish route. The idea of getting on the A30 had been to pick up speed and make good progress. I put this down to the efforts of the day before and plodded on as well as I could. Eventually we got to Hayle and decided to stop for coffee. Where I discovered that the back brake had been binding since I'd mended the puncture 25 miles beforehand! Strangely, after drinking some coffee I was back to my old self again.

Eventually we got to Penzance and the final 10 miles to Land's End passed very quickly. By 16:30 I was leaning against the railings of the Marker Post, strangely deflated. What was I going to do tomorrow?