Ride the JOGLE!

[RobSN]

Captain's blogle, Jogle day 17, July 6: rest day!

 

[RobSN]

Captain's blogle, Jogle day 18, July 7: Bruton to Silverton, Jogle stats: 66.8 miles; 7:16 riding time; 2,812 ft ascent; 2,135 calories; 95/133 average/max heart rate.

Today was the first day without panniers for both Hayley and me - Susan is now acting as our support driver - or maybe our "bag lady", ferrying the luggage in a rental car (which may be very appreciated for tomorrow, the expected toughest day). It is also the day we turned right a/k/a west, and entered Somerset and Devon, also technically known as the long pointy sticky out bit on the left at the bottom of England. It was a fast day, with a whole section of relatively flat riding in the so-called Somerset Levels.

 

[RobSN]

Captain's blogle, Jogle day 19, July 8: Silverton to Fowey, Jogle stats: 76.6 miles; 9:09 riding time; 5,883 ft ascent; 2,853 calories; 98/133 average/max heart rate.

Woo-hoo! We stopped for lunch in a pub which turned out to be a matter of yards from Cornwall but was in Devon. After we left lunch and crossed the bridge into Cornwall, it greeted us with an extremely steep hill and then continued to do so, including one that was 750ft over about 2.5 miles, ending in the village of Minions, where we stopped for a Cornish cream tea, which we reckon we had earned. Our climb from a ferry across the river Fowey estuary to our B&B was also a lung buster. Earlier in the day, ridewithgps.com had sent us down another effing farm track which had an extremely deep puddle of who knows what. Naturally, I chose the wrong course and had to stop and put a foot down. A few miles later, I stopped at a gardening centre to use their water tap to wash my sandal and sock - I was not keen on incubating too much on my right foot! On this, our penultimate day, we had a whole set of cows line up by a water stop: we will assume that they were cheering us on. We also both got a lot of extra protein today, as ingesting bugs/filling hair with bugs/getting bitten by bugs seemed to be on the menu. We also saw something that we hadn't seen properly since Bettyhill on the North Coast of Scotland: the sea! (I'm excluding seeing a bit of the Solway Firth).Today was always likely to be the hardest day, and so it seemed. At dinner, I think both Hayley & I were dreading tomorrow, but maybe a night's sleep will set some things to rights. What won't be set to rights will be our cycling gloves, both of us have nigh on destroyed them.



First sight of the sea since Scotland

 

[RobSN]

King Henry ferry

Captain's blogle, Jogle day 20, July 9: Fowey to Land's End, Jogle stats: 71.1 miles; 9:00 riding time; 5,715 ft ascent; 2,766 calories; 98/140 average/max heart rate.

We made it! We even went through Hayle (the town, not a mis-spelled daughter). The day was characterized by some massively steep hills. Even though ridewithgps had predicted a maximum grade of 13.9%, we went up a 1:5 hill, which my mathematics says was 20%. However, it was but a mild incline in comparison to Trewarveneth St & Adit Lane in Newlyn or Mousehole. This latter was the lung buster of the entire trip. It felt and looked like 45 degrees, but I daresay it was marginally less - nonetheless, our front wheels were in danger of lifting off the ground as we went up. I had to stop three times and lean over the front handlebars, gulping air and wheezing. As another blog mentioned about a steep hill "a mountain goat was hitching a lift", but in this case, it wouldn't have even been able to stand to put its thumb out. I am proud that other than the unrideable farm path mentioned on day 16, I cycled up every hill and didn't walk up one. We cycled along National Cycle Route 3 for part of the day, which included a section of the so-called "Mining Trail", which went past old Cornish mines and mine working. No doubt it is a tourist attraction, but I was saying "Bloody Ross Poldark, give me a decent surface to ride on"! We rode past Susan in Penzance and told her that we'd be another 1:30-ish before we finished. At about 6:25pm, Hayley & I got to Land's End and rode to the finish post together. Tim & Lucie (1st cousin once removed) Haddon met us along with Susan at the finish post, bringing a bottle of bubbly which we guzzled. I feel great that we've finished but feel almost lost - the trip has been such a big part of my planning over the last few months, and then a continuous three weeks, that I hardly know what to do with myself. However, I did solve a bit of that by stuffing my face at a Nepalese curry restaurant in Penzance (Hashtag: EarnedIt!).

 

[RobSN]

Final statistics, exluding Duncansby Head trip on day zero: 1,015.2 miles; 120 hours 20 minutes riding time; 54,301 ft ascent; 37,696 calories; Average/max heart rate 99/148; Average/ max speed 8.4 mph/37.8 mph.

Thanks are due to many people: Tim & Anne for their hospitality and taking us all to John O’Groats; Mike & Dee for their hospitality and a much-needed break; Hayley and Diane for encouraging their Dad and acting as windbreaks; Susan for being the bag lady at the end; Tim and Lucie for the bubbles; Clare for her hospitality and being airport taxi driver; Dennis for helping with training; and many more who sent words of encouragement.