Homward Bound (again)

Day 6:

Ballindean to Edinburgh – 58.2 miles

Planned mileage: 58.2 miles

Actual mileage: just a fraction more (little tea room trip around the block in Perth)

Actual cycling time: bit less than 4½ hours

Route: http://gb.mapometer.com/cycling/route_1512951.html

Accommodation: Home again!

We were up bright and early today as we'd seen the weather forecast last night and it looked like (nasty, heavy) rain from mid-afternoon, so our target was to get back to Edinburgh before it. So we were ready to leave at a remarkable 09:30 and set off down the quiet back roads alongside the Tay from Inchture to Errol and St Maddoes. Quiet back roads? They were teeming with traffic, even at this early hour on a Sunday! Haven't a clue where everyone was going. Still, after Errol things quietened down somewhat and even more so after St Madoes, when we crossed over the main road then climbed up towards Kinnoul Hill. We had really good views over the river, the edge of Perth and the Lomond hills beyond, so enjoyed this section greatly, helped by the sun showing through the clouds.

All the climbing was made worth while not just by the views but by the speedy descent into Perth, and we were pleased to note just how many other cyclists, runners and walkers we saw on the quiet roads out of the fair city. We were crossing the river into Perth itself when we heard a call and turning round spotted Allie speeding towards us along the pavement – she had spotted us while travelling with her mother and new baby Calder, and had temporarily abandoned them both to flag us down. Quite a coincidence, and it meant that we had a chance to meet both Calder and Allie's mother and had a very nice catch-up with Allie. So thank you for spotting us Allie! It was also serendipitous as we were rather hungry and Allie recommended the excellent Hettie's tearoom on nearby Princes Street, which we visited and had a fantastic brunch of bacon & egg baps, really excellent hot chocolate, HUGE freshly-made fruit scones and a pot of tea. Other than a quick bar of chocolate at Inverkeithing that got us all the way back to Edinburgh!

Giant scones at Hettie's

Glorious Fife views

We set off again at about 12 and climbed up and out of Perth towards Bridge of Earn (looking pretty in the sunshine) and then up a lovely twisting road, which gently climbed up and up through wooded glades up to Glenfarg. We curved off this B road onto an unmarked narrow route which again afforded excellent views and took us into Milnathort and then to Kinross. From here we were on familiar roads, having cycled this way the summer before last, though by now we were battling another brisk southerly wind which at times forced us to change down into lower gears just to keep going. Through once-industrial west Fife we carried on, eventually getting some extended downhill sections (we seemed to have spent most of the day climbing since Perth) though we still had to pedal hard as the breeze was so strong. Crossing the Forth Bridge was such hard work we just had to laugh, as we struggled to keep going in a straight line, our speed probably dipping well below 10 mph on the uphill section of the bridge.

Fortunately it was easier when we turned westwards for the final few miles from South Queensferry into Edinburgh, though the very heavy traffic along the main road from Barnton meant we had to concentrate hard. What a contrast with the empty roads of the far north (or even of rural Cornwall back in August)!

We arrived home at 3:30, tired but pleased that we had safely completed our tour, and before the rain! 380 miles or so since last Tuesday to add to the 830 we did in the summer, and completing our slightly inverted 'end to end' cycling of Edinburgh-Land's End and John O' Groats to Edinburgh. What's next I wonder...?

Some reflections on the best bits, the not so good bits, the lessons learnt and how our legs recover over the next day or so. Not tonight though, too tired!

Dalwhinnie, Drumochter & Perthshire sunshine

Day 5:

Kingussie to Ballindean – 82.5 miles

Planned mileage: 82.5 miles

Actual mileage: approx 84 miles (avoided the rough track in to The Peach House)

Cycling time: approx 6 miles

Route: http://gb.mapometer.com/cycling/route_1512944.html

Accommodation: Staying with Reynolds family

After finishing our blog writing last night there was a whole load of noise out in the hotel corridor which sounded like someone was trying to demolish the place. Then a few minutes later it happened again in the opposite direction. And finally, some people went out and about 10 seconds later dogs started barking in the room next to us AND... from a room down the corridor. And it went on, and on, and on. Eventually we had a knock on the door which was one of our very apologetic hosts saying they'd gone on an urgent search for the dogs' owners. Who were duly summoned 15 minutes later and to their credit did also come and knock to apologise. Fortunately it wasn't late, so we watched the end of the news (liking the look of the weather forecast) and were still in bed well before 11.

Very good night's sleep and we both awoke properly refreshed before the alarm. We were surprised to go down to breakfast and find there were actually quite a few people staying and we were the last ones down. Another very hearty and tasty breakfast and we were rapidly ready to get on our way in the sunshine. Definitely a slightly quirky and unusual hotel (really more of a large guesthouse nowadays), but very comfortable and we were warmly welcomed and very well looked after.

Stunning Speyside sunshine

The Speyside scenery was looking glorious in the sunshine, so we had a very relaxing start to our ride. However, before long we hit the A9 cycle path and the wind. And a few miles later a section of cycle path which was closed (for 10 months!!!) as it was being used for heavy trucks working on the A9 roadworks to make the road dual carriageway. All there was was a sign at the gate saying it was shut and to call a mobile number for 'transport of cycles'! So... there was incredibly nothing for it but to cycle on the A9, through the roadworks! Very dangerous for everyone, though fortunately it was at least quiet and they've nearly finished the dualling, so we were able to pedal on the other side of the cones, having to avoid the occasional heavy works vehicles. Most definitely not ideal and there may be a letter sent to the appropriate authorities.

Very relieved to turn off and take the back road to Dalwhinnie. From here it was pretty much straight into the fairly stiff headwind all the uphill way to Drumochter summit (462m). Fairly gradual incline, but it was still a hard slog, the sun was hiding and it felt rather cold. We were very glad when we started to make our way back down. This almost coincided with a swing round to the east, so we got rid of most of the wind too – bliss!

Earned chocolate reward at Drumochter summit!

Cycling alongside the A9 doesn't sound very pleasant, but actually very little of the cycle path is immediately next to the road. Track surface is somewhat varied in quality, but it wiggles its way up and down around the railway and the river (most of which disappeared down a giant concrete plughole at one point – most mysterious) and is very quiet and rather pretty in a slightly bleak sort of way.

For the last 8ish miles down to Calvine we had a superb section of wide old road completely to ourselves and thoroughly enjoyed zooming along in the dappled light conditions alongside the river.

Lunch today was at The Watermill in Blair Atholl (down the same road as the station). Much anticipated (we've stopped there loads of times) and it certainly didn't disappoint. Making short work of toasties, pop, cake and hot chocolates, we were rapidly on our way again. Starting gently by undulating our scenic way to Pitlochry where we delayered in preparation of the anticipated climb to come. Now, if you're ever in the area you MUST cycle the A924 from Pitlochry to Bridge of Cally. A good (though manageable) climb up to 384m with a super smooth road surface to swoop and zoom down on (whooping all the way of course), before wiggling alongside the River Ardle on a tree lined road.

Turning onto the A93 to Blairgowrie you instantly hit horrible, rough & bumpy tarmac which is less fun, although the final swoop down towards the town is an amazing long, sweeping descent where some very good speeds can be made (well presumably, still not sorted out the cycle computer).

Quick coffee and cake stop at the new Wee Coffee Shop and it was onwards to Coupar Angus and back roads to Abernyte and Inchture. Glorious sunshine (still a bit of a chilly breeze) by this point, so cresting the ridge where you get your first glimpse of the silvery River Tay was beautiful. Having made great time this afternoon, we made our destination by 5:45 (8 hours after leaving this morning) to a lovely, family (Euan's parents were also here for dinner) welcome. A reviving cup of tea and a chat later and we thought we'd probably better get cleaned up before dinner.

Very relaxed rest of the evening and we're looking forward to a shorter cycling day tomorrow. Longest leg of our tour this time, but by no means the hardest. Very chilled out and now thoroughly used to being in the saddle!

Where have all the trains gone?

Planned mileage: 54.6 miles

Actual mileage: see above (cycle computer still not working)

Cycling time: round about 4 hours – easy!

Route: http://gb.mapometer.com/cycling/route_1512934.htm

Accommodation: Osprey Hotel, Kingussie - http://www.ospreyhotel.co.uk/

No trains here... Euan South of Culloden

It's not often that you're served breakfast by a sporting World Champion, but that's what happened today – Ewan MacDonald, Olympic curler and B&B host. And it was an excellent breakfast, with pleasant chats with our American and Canadian fellow guests – two of them presented us with a bag of chocolate & nuts to help us on our way. We have met some very interesting and pleasant people on our route this time. We left Craigside Lodge – well worth booking in there if you happen to be visiting Inverness – Amy MacD even put our cycling kit in the wash for us – at about 10:30, and headed east towards Culloden moor in 'bright cloudy' conditions with a bit of a south westerly breeze. We passed an elderly couple we had met yesterday, who were doing a similar route to us, then turned off the main road shortly after Culloden, to head south again, on a very pleasant twisting narrow road that roughly followed the railway. After passing Daviot we joined the B9154, the old main Inverness to Perth road (constructed by general Wade and remade in 1925 by MacIntosh of MacIntosh & his friends – we read this on a plaque by the road) which was a beautifully quiet wide, twisting road through scenery which was definitely more of the native woodlands of Rothiemurchus than the bleaker tundra we had experienced further north. We paused at Moy to admire the last wooden bridge on a mainline railway in Britain, before joining the cycle path that adjoins the A9 as we climbed up to Sloch summit (405m or so).

Lunch at Carrbridge - wish you were here?

The descent towards Carrbridge made all the effort climbing worth while, with what was by now bright sunshine and a tail wind just adding to the enjoyment. We covered the last 5 miles in almost no time.

We stopped for lunch at the Old Bakery cafe in Carrbridge and enjoyed their excellent home cooking and baking. Carrbridge felt in good form, with a liveliness about it helped by a good dose of sunshine.

On familiar roads now and suitably refreshed, we headed on to Boat of Garten and then picked up the Coylumbridge road. Into the fresh breeze, but lovely Strathspey scenery to keep us happy. Soon we were at the southern edge of Aviemore, where we took the B road southwards to Kincraig, six miles onwards. Here we stopped off to visit Shona, Derek & Niamh (the latter fast asleep so we didn't see her) where we were given a great welcome and a welcome cup of tea. We chatted for about an hour then it was time to head on to Kingussie, making excellent time and arriving at the Osprey Hotel at about 4:45.

This was a characterful place of hospitality, and we were told to bring our bikes right in to the main reception area – not that there really was a reception, as the place seemed to be run more or less single handedly by one woman, and if you wanted to eat dinner in the hotel you had to book in advance (we hadn't). Still, our room was comfortable (if a tad pink for my liking) and we were certainly made to feel very welcome.

Showered and changed, we wandered round Kingussie before selecting the Silver Fijord Hotel, right by the station (it probably less originally used to be called the Railway Hotel) for dinner in what appeared to be their brand-new or at least renovated restaurant. A very good meal with more friendly service, and we later wandered back to The Osprey, without seeing any trains – we've been following the main railway line for two days now and haven't seen anything using it – and settled down to write our blog.

Following the Firths

Day 3:

Lairg to Inverness – 63.3 miles

Planned mileage: 63.3 miles

Actual mileage: approx 65 miles (B&B location measurement inaccuracy)

Cycling time: guestimate of 5 hours (lots of messing around stopping to take pictures etc...)

Route: http://gb.mapometer.com/cycling/route_1512928.html

Accommodation: Craigside Lodge Guesthouse - http://www.craigsideguesthouse.co.uk/

Oddly enough, we slept pretty well last night. Can't think why...

Very reluctant to wake up and get ourselves down to breakfast. Unusually, we were all sharing one big table. Fortunately, the other guests (two cyclists – one from Burnley and one from Kent, plus a teacher from Adelaide) were very friendly and interesting, so many stories were swapped and enjoyed over a very relaxed and tasty meal.

Falls of Shin

Of course, having woken to sunshine, by the time we eventually (rather slow to get going today) were ready to leave it was raining (again)... So we started out with wet weather gear this time and pedalled off along the other side of the River Shin, all the time appreciating the shelter from the wind. By the time we reached the visitor centre at the falls it had dried up, warmed up and we were pleased to pause, wander down to view the Falls of Shin (plenty of water whooshing through), pay a micro visit to the shop to top up on whisky and remove layers in preparation for some steadier cycling.

Brilliant, brilliant morning's pedalling. First, alongside the railway having carried our bikes up steps and across a footbridge at Invershin Station. Gently undulating, with stunning views over the Kyle of Sutherland. Then, with a tail wind all the way to Tain. Over the previous two days, many of the main A roads were single track with passing places and the occasional cattle grid. Today only the unmarked roads fell into that 'far north, middle of nowhere' category. But they were still pretty quiet and we were able to really relax and enjoy the ride without too much in the way of physical effort.

Bridge at Invershin Station

Resisting the temptations of the Glenmorangie visitors centre, we stopped for lunch in Tain at the Sunflower Cafe. Quite disappointed not to spot any sign of Caboc cheese anywhere, so we consoled ourselves with macaroni complete with nice stretchy cheddar instead. Terrible chore, but someone had to do it!

At last - coffe and cake in Dingwall

Heading south-eastwards out of Tain, we undulated gently into a headwind (thankfully SO much calmer than yesterday) through a succession of small towns up above the Cromarty Firth before diving down into Dingwall. Not just because it looked like it was going to rain, but more because we hadn't done it so far this holiday, we found a nice (brand new) cafe and made ourselves comfortable. By the time our cappuccino and massive slices of Victoria sponge arrived, it was chucking it down outside – poor bikes!

Fortunately, the bikes hadn't dissolved and were still patiently waiting by the time we went back out and put on waterproof layers before cycling onwards. Glad to say that the rain didn't last much longer, but at this point we did find ourselves back onto busier roads. Knowing it was only 12 or 13 miles to Inverness helped us on our way along our first sections of very smoothly surfaced cycle path alongside the A835. Particularly enjoyable was a section near some roadworks where it went silent as all the cars had to stop and we continued zooming along.

The approach to Inverness through North Kessock and Kessock Bridge was very impressive. The power of the tidal waters of the Beauly Firth was evident in the speed of movement and mixing of different wedges of current. Scary stuff, we were glad we didn't have to swim across! By far the steepest climb of the day was up to the bridge – I accidentally took the inside line on a tight corner and very, very nearly stalled.

Crossing the bridge on the cycle path a mere 50cm from two lanes of approaching traffic (the cycle path is on the right) travelling at 70+ mph was somewhat intimidating, but we survived and dropped down onto a low level road through the northern industrial end of Inverness where we came across a renovated clock tower from the time of Oliver Cromwell. Rather innocuous in a busy industrial estate.

The only trauma of the day was managing to lose each other shortly afterwards when I spotted the cycle path and despite attempting to stop Euan, he went on at a roundabout into the busy traffic and ended up at the railway station. After a couple of false starts at getting hold of each other, we managed to meet up alongside the river and find our way up the hill to our B&B. We had deliberately picked our accommodation from a previous stay in October 2008 for the Loch Ness Marathon where we'd been looked after after amazingly well. So we weren't surprised to get a really warm welcome and shown to our comfy room with an amazing view out over the castle and the river. The right choice I think. And we even got our stuff washed for us – much needed after three days!

Restorative curry

Tonight we had curry for dinner in the highly recommended Rajah restaurant. Very tasty, modern setting and pleasantly lively atmosphere. Euan was facing out and had good fun people watching and telling me what was going on. Bit chilly and breezy out, so our stroll along the riverfront was rather speedy and we're now settled back into our room and looking forward to another good night's sleep and a shorter cycle tomorrow.

Into the wild westerlies

Day 2:

Thurso to Lairg – 79.6 miles

Planned mileage: 79.6 miles

Actual mileage: 82ish – inaccuracies of B&B locations on mapping & going into Tongue

Cycling time: approx 6 hrs 45 mins (it felt like a very, very long time!)

Route: http://gb.mapometer.com/cycling/route_1512914.html

Accomodation: Highland Croft House - http://www.lairghighlandhouse.co.uk/

We have several thousand miles of cycle touring under our belts (or tyres) and today was probably the toughest day of any of them. It started out innocently enough, though there was a bracing breeze right from the start and the sky, while bright enough in Thurso, had plenty of dark clouds racing around. We paused to buy a new battery for Jenny's cycle computer (though it still didn't work) and set off at about 10:15. Right away we were heading into that incessant westerly wind and we made what seemed like slow progress in the bright sunshine. Little did we know what was ahead of us.

In full waterproof gear - much needed!

Today's route was essentially on one road, the A836, though we did pick up a B road for the first few miles out of Thurso, until just west of the Dounreay nuclear installation. We followed the A836 for many miles through not many places but with views of sandy bays. All the time battling with the headwind. And then it started to rain. Not the gentle precipitation of Edinburgh (?) but great big buckets of rain which stung our faces and got us pretty wet quite quickly. Fortunately we were well equipped, so out came the overtrousers, overshoes, helmet covers and waterproof covers for our bar bags. By the time we got to Bettyhill, about 30 miles into our day, we were cold and tired and definitely in need of the products offered by the nice-looking cafe. Unfortunately the nice-looking cafe was closed today, due to family commitments. We commiserated with another cyclist who looked even colder and wetter than we were, and headed on our way west. There was a village shop just up the hill which advertised hot food and drinks, so we popped in there for hot chocolate, a pie/pasty and a Fry's peppermint cream. That's the good thing about a cycling holiday – you can eat all that and not feel guilty.

Incredible views over the Kyle of Tongue

We continued on the 13 miles to Tongue and again were rewarded with more great coastal views (understatement of the century – the scenery is totally, totally stunning), a little bit more sunshine and more of that westerly gale.

Arrived at Tongue at about 2:45 and discovered that the post office cum shop cum cafe didn't do lunches, so we tried one hotel, which had finished serving lunches, but fortunately were directed to the Tongue Hotel which turned out to be a real find: comfortable, cosy, welcoming and serving excellent food – what more could you ask for? We had a nice chat over lunch with a motorcyclist from Reading who had come up from Ullapool earlier in the day and then very reluctantly went back out to our bikes – we could so easily have checked in to the hotel and not moved for the rest of the day.

We pressed on. We were now heading south, and the wind appeared still to be right against us. 40 miles to go and it was about 4 in the afternoon – not a good place to be. It was quite bright to start with but as we started to climb, and the landscape became bleaker and bleaker, ominous clouds started to gather and perhaps an hour later it started to rain again, much as it had in the morning with the large drops whipped into our face by the strengthening wind. We continued to climb for mile after mile and then the sky turned black and it started to pour. The rain was battering into us and off us, and the wind just got wilder. At times we were in our lowest gear just to keep going. Not nice.

Then, as we reached the top of this 20 mile climb, the wind seemed to change direction (or we did) and, helped by the start of the descent to Lairg, our speed increased considerably. It was getting dark when we arrived eventually at Lairg, we were cold, tired and hungry, so we just headed straight to the nearest hotel and rapidly ordered then ate a very good meal. The tomato and herb soup was just sooo good! We headed out into the dark and cycled the remaining mile or so to our B&B, which we eventually found, it's still very windy and raining every so often, but we are now full of dinner, clean and dry, and nice and cosy. Good night!

Let's start at the top...

Thurso Bay from Pentland Lodge

Day 1:

Wick to Thurso (+ train Edinburgh to Wick)

Planned cycling mileage: 37.75 miles

Actual mileage: round about 38

Cycling time: approx 2hrs 40mins

Route: http://gb.mapometer.com/cycling/route_1512909.html

Accommodation: Pentland Lodge, Thurso - http://www.pentlandlodgehouse.co.uk/

A few little lessons learnt from today –

• less than 10 minutes connection time between long distance trains is very efficient, but not over reliable and can lead to stressful moments
• check your cycle computer's batteries work before leaving home
• if taking a camera you want to upload photos to a blog from, it's a good idea to pack the proper cable

Vital packing - dry bags, decent panniers and a good waterproof!

These little things aside (resulting in approximate times/distances and only a couple of evening photos taken with my phone), we've had a good first day. A rather long one admittedly (hence the short post tonight – sorry), but all has worked out very well.

Getting up at 5 o'clock is decidedly unpleasant if you've been up till midnight packing and were tired from a busy & active weekend and Monday anyway. However, it's more than worth the effort when you're off on holiday. Especially when pedalling through Edinburgh at 6 in the morning when the city is starting to wake up and you get beautiful pre sunrise skies to catch your attention.

Safely on the 6:32am train, it felt like mere minutes before we were back on the platform at Stirling to await (all of 9 minutes) our connection to Inverness. Greeted with a friendly shout from across the tracks, we were only slightly surprised to spy Euan's friend Keith (who had fed us lunch on Sunday after the Stirling 10K) waiting for his commuter train into Edinburgh.

Another enjoyable and scenic journey up to Inverness, marred only by a 15 minute wait for the late southbound service to pass at Dunkeld. As we had a theoretical connection time of a mere 9 minutes at Inverness, this induced a touch of stress, although we were reassured by the guard that we should (and did) make the bulk of the time back up further north.

Duly transferred instantly onto our final train (not even sat down when it pulled away from the station) in gorgeous sunshine to begin the long, slow, relaxed journey up to Wick. Neither of us had been on that line before, so it was all a big adventure. We passed through plenty of big scenery and very varied views. Train stopped in loads of places, but was an excellent service. The strangest part was the train reversing to go into Thurso (where we're currently staying), then going back out the 'right' way to complete the final 30 minute leg to Wick.

On alighting at Wick and finally (at 3:15) pedalling off, I instantly discovered that the battery on my cycle computer sensor was flat, so no speeds or official times from us today. Annoying, but we'll rectify it in the morning.

Super speedy pedal in the sunshine on lovely, quiet roads saw us cover the 17 miles to John O'Groats in just under an hour. Neither of us had realised how close to the north coast the Orkney Islands are. They looked incredibly dramatic in a mixture of bright sunlight and occasional very heavy clouds and tempestuous seas crashing off the scary cliffs.

John O'Groats was nicer than we were expecting and we were able to congratulate a CTC group who had just finished their 1050 mile cycle up from Lands End. No time to hang around though, so we took some photos and headed back off again.

Unfortunately, we had a head wind pretty much all the remaining 20 miles to Thurso. It was less bleak and more attractive than we'd expected and the sun was mostly out though. So despite feeling fairly tired we arrived at our B&B just after ten past six. Bikes safely installed in comfy shed, tea drunk and welcome showers had, and we were just about ready to wander down into town to eat.

Found 'Le Bistro' just off the High Street and had tasty and relaxing meal in pleasant surroundings. A little stroll back via the seafront and that's us with our Horlicks, ready for a well deserved and much needed early night.

End to middle - here we go again!

Having successfully reached Land's End in August, we felt rather fraudulent to 'only' have cycled the 833 miles from Edinburgh. So... before the moment passed and the enthusiasm wore off, we decided that we ought to finish the job and complete the final section between John O'Groats and Edinburgh.
This involves a long train journey from Edinburgh to Wick before starting the cycle up to John O'Groats and on to our planned nights in Thurso, Lairg, Inverness, Kingussie and Abernyte. Train & accomodation all booked, about to print off the maps & directions, just the final bike maintenance and packing to do and off we go again!
Follow our progress here (WiFi permitting) over the six days. Do you think we'll manage the whole cycle without getting rained on as we did before? Will we pack enough warm clothes? And (most importantly) where will we find suitable cake stops in the sparsely populated wilds of the far North of Scotland? Keep reading to find out...

Homeward Bound

Day 16: Penzance to Edinburgh

Letting the train take the strain!

This is (probably) our final posting from this holiday. Very, very sorry that the adventure is over for the time being. No punctures or significant mechanical issues, only one injury from Euan's run in with that gate and we're still speaking to each other – result!!!

After an early night and a really good sleep for both of us we were up and about early to make sure we were fully packed and sorted. We even had time for a short wander along the Promenade in the breezy sunshine before going into the Beachfield Hotel (which our Guest Lodge was attached to) in search of some breakfast around 8am. Much, much more personal service in here than yesterday morning in St Ives. Lovely setting, tasty food and we enjoyed looking at old photographs of the hotel & environs which were prominently displayed in the reception area.

So sadly we paid for our breakfast (not included in room rate, but well worth it), collected our bikes from reception and gently pedalled our way along the seafront to the station. The nice thing about being on a train from the start to the finish of the journey is that it was waiting for us when we arrived and we were able to take our time getting our bikes and ourselves on. We were safely at our seats around 20 minutes before it left, which even by my anxious standards was rather early!

Apart from to say how relieved we were to have gone for first class tickets (insanely crammed train in standard class and the trolley was stuck at the opposite end of the train from us – I wish the powers that be in CrossCountry would take a trip on their own trains to realise just how utterly horrendous the effect of their cost cutting measures are!) there's nothing much to report about the journey itself. Currently in Leeds station (5pm) having seen no significant rain, read half a book each, watched a film on the computer, eaten snacks and lunch (eventually being offered coffee around 4 – 'only' 6.5 hours after departing Penzance). At this point, looking forward to getting home...

So, what have we learnt from this trip?

• You can be lucky with the British summer weather (yes, really, we have the suntans to prove it)
• We like Cornwall and would like to go down for another holiday there
• Most people are very friendly and genuinely interested in what other people are doing
• There are some steep hills around, but we can almost always get up them
• It's really nice to catch up with friends and family along the way
• It was well worth investing in new panniers before this trip – SO nice not to have to worry about them bouncing off
• Do not buy a new saddle just before going cycling for two weeks (Euan did)!
• We like rest days! Important for recharging the batteries and getting a proper opportunity to see some tourist sites
• It would've been nice to have had some extra time at the end to relax and explore for a few days before heading back
• Bed and breakfasts are often nicer, more individual and much more interesting to stay in than hotels
• For long distance travel it's well, well, well worth spending the extra on first class for the journey home (and booking well in advance for the cycle reservation)
• Pack a few bin bags (or lightweight cycle cover if you have one) – excellent way to provide a makeshift bike shelter if they need to stay outside overnight
• We like Sherborne
• You can spend a lot of money on food whilst cycling!
• Planning the route in advance took ages, but was great fun and was totally worth the effort – our double system of detailed mapping (invest in mapping software so you only need to print out the actual pages that you need) with written directions certainly works very well for us
• Don't rely on following cycle routes – they are improving, but are often poorly marked, confusing, prone to vanishing or just unsuitable for riding touring bikes on
• The UK is full of amazing places to explore and people to meet. We barely scratched the surface – everyone would have a different experience and find their own things of interest to investigate along the way
  Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone we've stayed with, cycled with or met along the way!
  

Almost the end - Land's End

Day 15

St Ives to Penzance via Land's End

Planned mileage: 34 miles

Actual mileage: 36 miles (overshot our accommodation and had to retrace steps)

Cycling time: 2 hrs 45½ mins

Average speed: 13 mph

Maximum speed: 34.4 mph

Route: http://gb.mapometer.com/en/cycling/route_1398274.html

Accomodation: Guest Lodge, Penzance - http://www.guestlodgepenzance.co.uk/

Ok statistics fans, I've done the numbers and... including our rest day trip to the Eden Project which distorts them a little, here's the summary.

Total mileage: 833.73 miles

Total cycling time: 59 hrs 22 mins 33 secs

Overall average speed: 14.04 mph

Average daily mileage: 59.55 miles

Average daily riding time: 4 hrs 14½ mins

So we could've done it more quickly, but we've really enjoyed our riding as a proper holiday. The times of course don't include stops, so we were actually out and about on the road for a big proportion of each day.

What is absolutely amazing to me is that we haven't got properly rained on for over a fortnight. It's been wet overnight (once torrentially) twice and the one time it did rain during the day (today – very hard for less than a minute), we happened by pure fluke to be inside having a cream tea anyway! So sorry if you've had a soggy time of it, but we certainly haven't and have made the most of the sunshine.

Anyway, back to today...Slept incredibly well and were very reluctant to be up even in time to get to breakfast for 9am as we'd planned. Fortunately there was no rush as we knew we'd only 30 odd miles to cycle. I'm sorry, but serve-yourself cooked breakfast from a buffet in a reasonable sized hotel is nothing like as nice or personal as anything we've had in any of the B&B's we stayed in. Even the yoghurt wasn't Cornish, although everything was still pretty tasty.

Stunning St Ives

Leaving our bikes parked and our baggage locked away at the hotel, we enjoyed the great sunshine whilst wandering down into St Ives town, viewing the scenery, coastline and generally vibrant atmosphere. Having said we'd be 30ish minutes, we were actually about 90 minutes as we went all the way down to and around 'The Island' which gave incredible views around 360 degrees. Very, very reluctant to leave. St Ives is full of steep, tiny streets with excellent looking (we only bought one single postcard) shops.

We did eventually tear ourselves away and started our climb up out of St Ives. And for the next 6 miles against a strong headwind, pretty exclusively we climbed – hard work! Fortunately, most of the rest of the route (into & out of St Just excluded) to Land's End was much easier pedalling. Quite a bleak landscape in places (though still very colourful, with loads of wild flowers all around us) with lots of evidence of old mineworkings. There are SO many things to see round here that we just have to come back another time. Bring back the overnight sleeper train service to Penzance and we'll be the first to book!

Land's End - we made it!

Now, Land's End has a reputation for being a bit tacky so we had pretty low expectations. So we were pleasantly surprised to find it full of tourist attractions (including a great little free “End to End” exhibition) and slightly overpriced cafes, but no amusement arcades or anything similarly grim. We ate our mini picnic lunch on a bench overlooking the Atlantic (very dramatic in the sunshine) before venturing into tourist central to take a few photos in front of that famous signpost. Sorry, but we weren't queuing up and paying someone else to do it for us 'properly'.

A much quicker onward journey to Penzance as we had a great tailwind to help us along. The scenery was quite different too, although certainly not entirely without short, sharp hills to ensure we stayed awake! Shortly before 4 we arrived in Mousehole and had our first and only proper Cornish cream tea in the Pilchard Press Cafe – yum. 'That' rain (which sounded like someone was chucking buckets of water noisily on the floor) happened a few minutes after we sat down – purely, purely by coincidence I promise. A rapid spin around the very attractive harbour and we were off for the final 3 flat miles of our route – back in the sunshine again.

We spotted Penzance station (very useful for our train in the morning) when we overshot our Guest Lodge and had to return all the way along the promenade – oh well, a good way to rapidly see just a little of the seafront. We checked in at the very nice looking Beachfield Hotel, abandoned our bikes in a corridor by reception and went off round the corner to find our accommodation which is in a building next door. Quite an odd arrangement, but the room is pleasant, clean and quiet with its own fridge.

Having discovered that breakfast in the hotel in the morning is early enough for us to catch our train we only needed to buy lunch, snacks and celebratory bottle of wine at the local Co-Op on the High Street. Meandered back along the length of the prom and were very impressed with Penzance which seems to have plenty going for it. For the first and only time this holiday we decided to have fish and chips in a proper fish and chips restaurant – yummy! Back in our room nice and early with Vimto and Twix for pudding. Very pleased with our achievements, although almost wondering if we can fit in a long weekend later this year to finish off the journey by bike to John O'Groats... Also a little sad that our holiday is almost over – it's been a really fun adventure!

There may well be more reflections on our experiences written on the train tomorrow – watch this space!

As we were going to St Ives...

Day 14

Bodmin to St Ives

Planned mileage: 50 miles

Actual mileage: 53 miles (couple of minor wrong turns and re-routing)

Cycling time: 4 hrs exactly!

Average speed: 13.2 mph

Maximum speed: 32.8mph

Route: http://gb.mapometer.com/en/cycling/route_1398691.html

Accomodation: Chy-An-Albany Hotel, St Ives - http://www.chyanalbanyhotel.com/st-ives-cornwall-hotel/luxury-hotel.php

When The Famous Five visited Cornwall they always stayed at a farmhouse that gave them milk direct from the cow, home-churned butter and (no doubt) home made fruit compote, yoghurt, jam & marmalade. Well, we were definitely in Famous Five country as we had all of the above. Fortunately however we didn't have any mysteries to solve.

We packed up, sorted our bikes and waved farewell to Stephen Gelly Farmhouse a bit after 10. Our route to St Ives took us along some amazingly narrow, moss-and-grass covered roads which were almost entirely car-free but not hill-free – though nothing like Wednesday's hills, thankfully!

We twisted and turned our way south-west, took a couple of minor wrong turns and adapted our route accordingly (e.g. – we missed Black Cross but instead went through White Cross). By and by we reached a railway bridge over the tiny Lappa Valley narrow gauge railway, and no sooner had decided to carry on when we heard the toot of a distant train, so stayed on until it arrived. We were rewarded by TWO little steam trains passing under the bridge some minutes later, and were delighted when the driver of one of them waved to us. How easily pleased we are!

The day had started cloudy but by this point the sun was starting to shine, and by the time we reached the coast at Perranporth it had turned into a properly hot sunny day. A mere 25 miles from our farmhouse at Bodmin, and the contrast could hardly be more extreme. Instead of a quiet, old-fashioned family house set in the middle of pastoral farmland, we now found ourselves in a thriving seaside village, packed with tourists, and with a beach so thronged you could barely see any sand.

We had been in Cornwall for about 4 days and hadn't had a pasty in that time, so Jenny bought two from a local baker, plus a couple of cakes, and we found a really nice public garden just off the main road where we ate them (they were, incidentally, very good and... extremely hot – ouch!) sitting on a nice bench in the lovely sunshine.

After lunch, we climbed up a long and fairly steep slope only to discover that we were on the wrong road, however worked out an alternative and very attractive route that avoided retracing our steps.

We paused in the pretty town of St Agnes (after getting confused by its one-way system) then carried on along the coast to Porthreath. We didn't stop in this former fishing/whaling/tin mining port, but pushed on up the hill on the other side of it. This was quite an ascent, and near the top we paused to take a photograph of the view down. There was an elderly couple sitting on a bench, who started chatting with us, and we had a very pleasant few minutes telling them our tale and hearing about themselves and the local area (it's changed greatly in the last 50 years – no more industry, lots more tourists and holiday houses). This just reinforced what we've found about the south-west – the majority of people we've encountered have been exceedingly friendly and genuinely interested in our little tour.

By this time we were going along a plain about 50 or 60 metres above the sea, and enjoyed great views down the coastline and even better, without too many hills. We were entertained by some aerial acrobatics from model aircraft practising for a model aircraft show being held over the weekend – there were two military-style planes screaming past at great speed right over us.

At Hell's Mouth (a bay in the cliffs which is actually very un-Hell like) we stopped for Cornish ice cream and ate this sitting atop the cliffs – all National trust land around here, with views down towards St Ives.

The last few miles were quite hilly and much busier, going through the rather depressed-looking town of Hayle then on up into St Ives. As this is our penultimate night we were splashing out and are staying in a grand (ish) hotel, the Chy An Albany, which was dead easy to find as it was just off the main road, with great views along the coast we'd just cycled along.

St Ives

The necessary tea & biscuits over (we also ate our emergency flapjacks!) we got ourselves cleaned up, then went for a wander round St Ives – a very busy and prosperous-feeling seaside town, with clear Atlantic water and lovely golden beaches. The place was crammed with tourists and all the restaurants we saw looked very busy, so were glad we had booked a table for dinner in our hotel.

Dinner now over, and we're sitting in the comfortable sun lounge (no sun, it's 10:45) and we had an excellent meal.

In need of a rest?

Day 13 – Rest Day

To Eden Project / Lanhydrock

www.edenproject.com

www.nationaltrust.org.uk/w-lanhydrock/

Mileage: 23.8 miles

Cycling time: 1hr 56mins

Well, it certainly does know how to rain in Cornwall. It was incredibly wet overnight! Fortunately by the time we got up it had dried out and we were able to sit out in the conservatory to have breakfast without being disturbed by loud, drumming noises on the roof. Stewed fruit from the garden, yoghurt, milk and butter from the house cow and eggs from the hens outside were all on offer, along with good coffee, tasty bacon and toast (with home made jam and marmalade too).

Our bikes had to sleep outside, so we were pleased that our temporary bin bag bike covers had kept the worst of the downpour off their mechanicals. It felt very strange heading out without the weight of our panniers to hold us back. If we hadn't had to pedal straight up a steep hill there might even have been some decent acceleration in evidence! Really nice little country lanes took us all the way to the Eden Project, about 10 miles to the south. Definitely some ups and downs involved, with hedges lining the edges, grass and moss growing along the centre in places and a beautiful woodland glade to keep us entertained.

12 years ago this was just a muddy clay pit!

We managed to get a special bike parking ring complete with stripy, knitted cover (no, we've no idea why either, there were just several like that) and locked our bikes up for the first time this holiday before putting our helmets and other bits into the cycle lockers and meandering down to the entrance which (at 11:30am) was pretty darn busy.

If you haven't been before, the Eden Project is an incredible feat of vision, engineering, teamwork and eco-principles – well, well worth a visit if you're down in Cornwall. The main drawback is actually its popularity, with astonishing numbers of people there, most of whom seemed to be in the shop whilst we were attempting to buy bottled water! Very good, reasonably priced food available too, with the majority of fruit & veg in the meals grown on site.

It's a bit hot in here

The Biomes (massive air bubble greenhouses to the uninitiated) were especially amazing. We were just disappointed that that 50m high (yes, 50m above the Biome floor) observation platform was out of commission, although we'd most likely have melted at that height as it was very, very warm inside anyway.

Wandering away around 4:30 we decided to take a longer route back in order to at least see Lanhydrock House and had a very enjoyable whizz down the hill into Bodmin and even (shock horror) along a maintained off road cycle path for some of it. We passed the steam railway station too and generally got a much more favourable impression of Bodmin as a lively, interesting town than we had the night before.

Feeling pretty tired (we were like that on our previous rest day too) we conked out for a bit on our return and listened to The Archers Omnibus on the iPlayer before we had our showers. After various snacks during the day we weren't really hungry for proper dinner. So we just strolled along the lanes to the Co-Op for pasta salads, rice pudding and Schloer which we munched back at base in the conservatory. Just gearing up now for our final couple of days cycling – we're going to be very sad to have to stop and go back to the normal routine without new places to explore and enjoy.

Hills, hills, hills

Day 12:

Bude to Bodmin – 38 miles

Planned mileage: 38 miles

Actual mileage: 41.2 miles (mostly going down to Tintagel Castle)

Cycling time: 3hrs 20½ mins (although that includes some pushing up steep hills for Jen!)

Average speed: 12.3mph (see comments about steep hills...)

Maximum speed: 31.8 mph (mostly too twisty and/or bumpy to safely go faster)

Route: http://gb.mapometer.com/en/cycling/route_1398253.html

Accomodation: Stephen Gelly Farm, Bodmin - stephengellyfarm.farming.officelive.com/Accommodation.aspx

The hills in Cornwall are steep. I mean, really steep.

We left Bude in bright hot sunshine after an excellent breakfast and a nice chat with our fellow guests. Our trip from Edinburgh has certainly kick-started quite a few conversations, most of which start:

“So where have you come from?”

“We've cycled down from Edinburgh.”

“Oh I see, you're doing it for charity!”

“No, it's just our summer holiday”

“Oh...”

30% - must try harder!

So off we set down the coast and soon started hitting the hills. Not like yesterday's Devon hills, which were quite hard work, but real Cornish ones, which start long and steep and soon become longer and steeper. Then oh, how we congratulated ourselves at our good planning when we met a 30% (that's nearly 1 in 3) downwards gradient. That's steep enough that the cars which were driving up it could barely get going when they met each other. We smirked at their misfortune. Then we reached the next inlet and the smiles rapidly vanished when we saw the signs warning of a 30% upward climb.

Now, I unfortunately have a bit of a personal vendetta against hills, which basically is that I can not allow myself to be beaten by them – the last time I failed at cycling up a hill was on Kintyre in 1986, after which I vowed to buy a new bicycle. Jenny is much more sensible and walked up it after she stalled on the corner with the 30% gradient. The hill just about finished me off, and it went on and on too, so by the time we eventually reached the top I had to rest for a good 10 minutes and get an instant glucose boost by eating our ancient Kendal Mint Cake bar that we've carried with us (surprisingly, or perhaps not, it tasted exceedingly good).

A few miles further on, I noticed that our route took us down to Crackington Haven, which looked as if it involved another such cliff face to ascend. I also noticed that there was an alternative route along nice B and A roads and which still took us to Boscastle, a village we wanted to see. It didn't take much persuading for Jenny to agree to this, and so we upped our average speed and saved both legs and my pride, as I really don't think I could have coped with another hill like the one we had recently climbed.

Boscastle is the village parts of which were swept away in August 2004, but they have done an excellent job rebuilding it so at a casual glance you would imagine that it had remained untouched for centuries, especially on a sunny & hot day like today. It was very busy with tourists, but we found a very pleasant cafe and enjoyed our coffee & cakes sitting on its terrace next to the main road.

We were dreading the road out of Boscastle as it climbed away up out of the village, however in practice it was a cinch by comparison to what we had already done, and even though we followed the coastline to Tintagel the worst of the hills was behind us. Phew!

Tintagel was very busy which gave it quite a buzzing atmosphere but we carried on through the village and straight down the steep path to the castle ticket office. The castle itself is quite spread out, covering the mainland and a small peninsula, and was built on the reputed site of King Arthur's birthplace. It was also massively busy – in fact we were warned to avoid the main path in to it as we would have to queue. As it is run by English Heritage and we get free access with our Historic Scotland membership, we decided just to abandon seeing the castle itself and had a picnic lunch in what was one of the outer courtyards on the mainland bit of it.

More tea please, no hills

Lunch over, we carried on, heading inland through Camelford, almost entirely on B roads and despite quite a few long climbs and a freshening headwind – it had also clouded over somewhat – we made very good progress. Approaching Bodmin around 4, we branched off onto some small roads and found our remote, organic farmhouse bed & breakfast, without too much trouble. Our host kindly brought us tea and home made flapjacks in the (now sunny again) conservatory, before we had much-needed showers in our spacious, comfortable and well-appointed room, overlooking flowers, fields and trees.

We headed into Bodmin on foot, a walk of about 2 miles, and found a very welcoming pub, The Mason's Arms, where we had an excellent meal (sirloin steak, chips & nice veg) and a selection of guest real ales. On the walk home we experienced the first real precipitation of our holiday – very light drizzle, which now (10pm) has turned to proper rain. Let's hope it's dry again by tomorrow!