Woke up feeling raring to go (only half a day of cycling and then I can catch up with my friends who have come all the way down to meet me and more importantly spent a night in a tent - Daxa you are a star as I guess camping isn't your favourite of hobbies).
On to the Lizard past RNAS Culdrose (all the nice girls may like a sailor but I don't like to discriminate). Bowling along very nicely today, in part as I had told my friends I would meet them at 12:00 at Land's End so plenty of hussle needed to get there on time but also as the road down to the Lizard was suprisingly level. Got down to the village and then on to Lizard point which was lovely. Parked Lightning up for a photoshoot next to the viewing binocular thingy at the end of Lizard Point, but no time for too much dawdling today. Onwards to Land's End.
Stopped for a quick biccie and water break and then on towards Penzance. Now for some reason I had the Pirates of the Caribbean theme music playing in my head at this time, can't think why. When I could see St Michael's Mount in the distance I knew I couldn't be far away, so one final big push onwards after a fortifying chocolate and water break. Nearly there, nearly there. Of course there are some sneaky uphill bits coming out of Penzance but I was not going to walk another hill today (you know the hill is sharp when you can feel that you are having to pull up the pedal on one side just as much as having to push down on the other). Come on Von, just a bit further.
Now I think some local scamp may have altered the sign posts as I am sure the signs went from 5 miles to Land's End up to 6 miles even though I had covered quite a bit of distance. Thought that must just be me getting tired but then it jumped from reading 4 miles back up to 5 miles. Was I on another road of broken dreams? Hang on, now it's saying 3 miles, now 2, now 1 and a bit....
Scenery started to look familiar, road started to look familiar. Through Sennen village and then is that a Matt Roberts I can see in the distance waiting by the roadside? Yikes but I must be close to the finish if I am hallucinating Scotsmen in Cornwall. No, wait, it is a Scotsman playing advance guard to the finish. Breezed down the hill to Land's End and there....well, now how can I describe the scene? My friends had got hold of one of the Sense banners, were dressed in the infamous Sense T-shirts, were waving a home made banner created by the artistic genius of Ms Sarah Wooldridge no less, orange Sense balloons all over the place and they were all armed....with party poppers!!! Can I get a whoop whoop...well at that point I got a huge cheer, showered with party poppers, and the biggest group hug you could hope for. Now that is what I call a group of supporters!! We unhooked the balloons (tying a good number to Lightning as she is the real star of the show), banners and other bits and bobs (trying to tidy up the party popper debris that had formed around us) and then it was on to the official finish by the signpost. If you are wondering what flag it is that I am holding up in one of the shots well it's a Devon flag - Devon girl done good and the Devon flag is flying for all the wonderful supporters she had in Sampford Peverell in Devon.
Now I was a bit tired at this point and managed to get the mileage I had done wrong by 100 miles by miscalculating - the group photos by the famous Land's End sign suggest I cycled 1180 miles, but actually it was 1080. Now I know what it means to cycle 100 miles and I am going to be honest about the mileage I did!!
A HUGE HUGE HUGE thank you to the intrepid souls who came down to Cornwall to celebrate with me, namely:
Cat Vignon, Chris Wallis (these two came all the way from France!!!), Tom Nixon, Sarah Wooldridge, Daniel Thorndyke, Daxa Patel (sorry about the camping, chuck but I reckon you secretly enjoyed it!!!), and Matt Roberts.
I can't really express how much it meant to catch up with you guys at the end and for all your support whilst I was on the ride - just knowing you were all planning to be there at the end helped to spur me on when times got a bit bleak, and besides, someone had said something about champagne and a picnic so 2,000 miles seemed quite reasonable.
Hi diddle di di, a cyclists life for me? Or maybe not for a while. Unless someone suggests a ride somewhere. Just a quick one. We could do it for charity. Maybe wearing some kind of outfit like a ninjapig? No, no and thrice no. Or maybe...............
On to the Lizard past RNAS Culdrose (all the nice girls may like a sailor but I don't like to discriminate). Bowling along very nicely today, in part as I had told my friends I would meet them at 12:00 at Land's End so plenty of hussle needed to get there on time but also as the road down to the Lizard was suprisingly level. Got down to the village and then on to Lizard point which was lovely. Parked Lightning up for a photoshoot next to the viewing binocular thingy at the end of Lizard Point, but no time for too much dawdling today. Onwards to Land's End.
Stopped for a quick biccie and water break and then on towards Penzance. Now for some reason I had the Pirates of the Caribbean theme music playing in my head at this time, can't think why. When I could see St Michael's Mount in the distance I knew I couldn't be far away, so one final big push onwards after a fortifying chocolate and water break. Nearly there, nearly there. Of course there are some sneaky uphill bits coming out of Penzance but I was not going to walk another hill today (you know the hill is sharp when you can feel that you are having to pull up the pedal on one side just as much as having to push down on the other). Come on Von, just a bit further.
Now I think some local scamp may have altered the sign posts as I am sure the signs went from 5 miles to Land's End up to 6 miles even though I had covered quite a bit of distance. Thought that must just be me getting tired but then it jumped from reading 4 miles back up to 5 miles. Was I on another road of broken dreams? Hang on, now it's saying 3 miles, now 2, now 1 and a bit....
Scenery started to look familiar, road started to look familiar. Through Sennen village and then is that a Matt Roberts I can see in the distance waiting by the roadside? Yikes but I must be close to the finish if I am hallucinating Scotsmen in Cornwall. No, wait, it is a Scotsman playing advance guard to the finish. Breezed down the hill to Land's End and there....well, now how can I describe the scene? My friends had got hold of one of the Sense banners, were dressed in the infamous Sense T-shirts, were waving a home made banner created by the artistic genius of Ms Sarah Wooldridge no less, orange Sense balloons all over the place and they were all armed....with party poppers!!! Can I get a whoop whoop...well at that point I got a huge cheer, showered with party poppers, and the biggest group hug you could hope for. Now that is what I call a group of supporters!! We unhooked the balloons (tying a good number to Lightning as she is the real star of the show), banners and other bits and bobs (trying to tidy up the party popper debris that had formed around us) and then it was on to the official finish by the signpost. If you are wondering what flag it is that I am holding up in one of the shots well it's a Devon flag - Devon girl done good and the Devon flag is flying for all the wonderful supporters she had in Sampford Peverell in Devon.
Now I was a bit tired at this point and managed to get the mileage I had done wrong by 100 miles by miscalculating - the group photos by the famous Land's End sign suggest I cycled 1180 miles, but actually it was 1080. Now I know what it means to cycle 100 miles and I am going to be honest about the mileage I did!!
A HUGE HUGE HUGE thank you to the intrepid souls who came down to Cornwall to celebrate with me, namely:
Cat Vignon, Chris Wallis (these two came all the way from France!!!), Tom Nixon, Sarah Wooldridge, Daniel Thorndyke, Daxa Patel (sorry about the camping, chuck but I reckon you secretly enjoyed it!!!), and Matt Roberts.
I can't really express how much it meant to catch up with you guys at the end and for all your support whilst I was on the ride - just knowing you were all planning to be there at the end helped to spur me on when times got a bit bleak, and besides, someone had said something about champagne and a picnic so 2,000 miles seemed quite reasonable.
Hi diddle di di, a cyclists life for me? Or maybe not for a while. Unless someone suggests a ride somewhere. Just a quick one. We could do it for charity. Maybe wearing some kind of outfit like a ninjapig? No, no and thrice no. Or maybe...............
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