Day 1 – Cornish Ups and Downs

It all started fairly gently – unloaded our bikes from the support van, checked everything over, posed for the obligatory photos and then ……. We were off!

The first few miles to Penzance were fairly easy with some gentle climbs and descents. A long(ish) slog out of Penzance raised the heart rate and gave a foretaste of what was to come! From then on it was exhilarating stuff – mostly up or down, sometimes steeply up and down and once or twice very steeply up. The steepness of the climbs wasn’t always matched by the gradients of the  descents. But all in rather challenging and quite rewarding.

We passed through lots of typically small Cornish villages – some with intriguing names. Praze-an-Beeble, Playing Place and Penpillick are just a few. We also went through some large towns –Truro (with a short cobbled section) and St Austell.

The ride was broken up by the welcome sight of Ray who is driving the support van with our kit. But more importantly Ray also has a great talent – producing a roadside snack or lunch 'stop at exactly the right moment.(I bought Ray a beer this evening, so hopefully he’ll remember me when he’s handing out the grub and drinks tomorrow!)

After a last sharp climb we arrived at The Nebula Hotel in Liskeard. A shower, a drink and a great dinner, hopefully followed by a good night’s sleep should set us up for tomorrow’s riding – the crossing of Dartmoor.