Well the day is here. Today I head down to Penzance to start my end to end. Tomorrow is Day One. I have a mixture of excitement and dread coming over me. It looks OK on a piece of paper but I know it will be testing and so much can go wrong. But I have to do it for so many reasons. It is very difficult to explain but I kind of led my way towards this ever since taking up cycling in October 2012.
The hardest part is saying goodbye to the love of my life Debby XXX She kindly gave me a lift near to Shrewsbury for the train which I was glad about. She dropped me off at The Bridgewater Arms car park in Harmer Hill so I had a nice 6 mile trip into the station.
Bye sweetheart ! Love you !! See you in 4 days at the end of Day Three....
The weather forecast for Cornwall was... HEAVY RAIN so last minute decided to get an old bright orange raincoat for the early days. I was worried people might ask me if I worked for British rail. I could have some fun with this maybe sending people off on all the wrong journeys !! HEHE But I didn't. The other reason was I was very worried about the dreaded A30 in Cornwall and A38 Devon so if I stood out alongside my bank of 5 sets of lights I could not do more to keep safe.
Another thing I didn't think of was hanging Charlene up in the bike store and finding my seat I was far away and anyone could have walked off with her so I was a bit paranoid about this. I knew the return journey from JoG was 12 hours so I had to do something about this. Bike lock added to list.
Changed trains at Birmingham onto Platform 8, good omen, I was doing the lejog in 8 days and it's my lucky number too.
The train arrived and a man had fainted on board and when I got on I realised why. It was 102 degrees in the shade as the air con was busted and everyone was flustered and moaning quietly to themselves so no-one else could hear. Love the British. Everything OK here, Yes thank you. !!!
The hardest part is saying goodbye to the love of my life Debby XXX She kindly gave me a lift near to Shrewsbury for the train which I was glad about. She dropped me off at The Bridgewater Arms car park in Harmer Hill so I had a nice 6 mile trip into the station.
Bye sweetheart ! Love you !! See you in 4 days at the end of Day Three....
The weather forecast for Cornwall was... HEAVY RAIN so last minute decided to get an old bright orange raincoat for the early days. I was worried people might ask me if I worked for British rail. I could have some fun with this maybe sending people off on all the wrong journeys !! HEHE But I didn't. The other reason was I was very worried about the dreaded A30 in Cornwall and A38 Devon so if I stood out alongside my bank of 5 sets of lights I could not do more to keep safe.
Another thing I didn't think of was hanging Charlene up in the bike store and finding my seat I was far away and anyone could have walked off with her so I was a bit paranoid about this. I knew the return journey from JoG was 12 hours so I had to do something about this. Bike lock added to list.
Changed trains at Birmingham onto Platform 8, good omen, I was doing the lejog in 8 days and it's my lucky number too.
The train arrived and a man had fainted on board and when I got on I realised why. It was 102 degrees in the shade as the air con was busted and everyone was flustered and moaning quietly to themselves so no-one else could hear. Love the British. Everything OK here, Yes thank you. !!!
As per usual I get into the wrong seat and told to move by a group of angry determined ladies. Not arguing ladies. I'll get my coat.
Food trolley arrived and I overheard the lady say this was the last sandwich. The old lady thought about this for a moment and said she would take it. So by this time stress levels were high as I had packed some food for the journey but you know what it's like when you hear it is the last one. You really want it !! So I wrestled the old woman to the ground for the last sandwich. Unfortunately she won !!! Not my proudest moment. To be fair she had been working out she told me later and I do have skinny cycling arms. hehehe
Food trolley arrived and I overheard the lady say this was the last sandwich. The old lady thought about this for a moment and said she would take it. So by this time stress levels were high as I had packed some food for the journey but you know what it's like when you hear it is the last one. You really want it !! So I wrestled the old woman to the ground for the last sandwich. Unfortunately she won !!! Not my proudest moment. To be fair she had been working out she told me later and I do have skinny cycling arms. hehehe
Did I mention that I went down in the oldest clothes I could find. I call them my painting clothes. Biggest joke of all, I hate painting and I always get a professional in called Roy Bradley, hes great and I am rubbish at it. Atleast i have a great excuse now. Sorry sweetheart, i cannot paint that bathroom. I left my painting clothes in a B&B in Lands End !!! Part of the kit was an 80s Adidas t shirt I bought for an 80's party. What the heck must have I looked like. !!
Bike safe and sound.... (except for me checking on it every stop to make she hasn't gone AWOL)
Cosford airshow..
Train on time yippee...
Charlene, close your eyes. You are in the mens toilet !!! TUT TUT
Lucky 8
Goodnight C, I'll wake you when we get to Penzance...
When we got there it was piddling down. Arrived at 8:39 PM. Luckily had a taxi booked and luckily the taxi was waiting. I had to hold my bike on the fastest 10 mile taxi ride I have ever taken to Sennen where my lovely B&B was waiting. So I hadn't eaten much that day but what I had was nearly back in my lap after warp factor 7 to my final destination...
Sunny Bank (unsunny-bank) was a lovely B&B. OK, first wobble came now. Alone in a B&B in a dark, rainy place at the end of the country. Panic did come I have to admit. So a call home was needed. Goodnight, sleep tight, tomorrow will be the start of the biggest thing I will possibly ever do....
