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Sunday 9th May 2010 Lands End to Helston via Lizard Point I wasn’t very hungry at breakfast time – nerves maybe. It was another cold day, par for the course this year, but I put on my rather fetching lycra tights, thermal base layer, blue cycle jersey and fluorescent orange jacket and that seemed to make the temperature ok. Trisha drove me to Lands End. The tourist attractions weren’t open yet but the hotel was so I went in, signed the book and got a record sheet which they obligingly stamped. Coming out I met a chap called Rob from Winchester who was also about to set off to John o’ Groats. He was going via the CTC Youth Hostel route and doing it in aid of his local hospital. He mentioned that he’d already tried it once before but had given up at Plymouth that time because of his knees.
After a bit more chat I waved him goodbye and got my own bike ready. The panniers, which I hadn’t actually got round to trying out before now, weighed slightly over 10 kg and made the bike handle a bit edgily. It was OK when I got moving though. Now at last the time was at hand so I kissed Trisha farewell and set off at 10.00. Although cold the day was dry and it was quite pleasant riding along and fairly easy to check my position using the GPS mounted on the handlebars. This first day wasn’t as hilly as I’d feared. I got to Helston, which by contrast is very hilly, and looked round for a B&B for the night. I couldn’t find the Tourist Information Office and the B&B I came across was full so I asked a local for help. He suggested a Travelodge, a place called Strathallen which I couldn’t find, but also said that the Blue Anchor had a few rooms. I had visited the Blue Anchor many years before when it was quite well known for being the only pub left in the country still brewing its own beer – the famous ‘Spingo’. Nowadays with the proliferation of micro-breweries I expect there are quite a few brewing pubs but whether there are or not, Spingo was evidently still in production here.
I entered the hallowed doors and the barmaid said yes, they could put me up in a twin room for £45. This was obviously a recent price-rise, however, and hadn’t filtered down to all levels because when I came to leave the next day they only actually charged me £40. All to the good. Having checked in I dumped most of my luggage in the room then rode down the reasonably level peninsular to Lizard Point in order to cop the southernmost point of mainland Britain. There were a few hardy tourists mooching around there but not a lot to do so after a banana milk-shake and a cheese and pineapple toastie at one of the cafés there, I took a picture at the point for posterity and then rode back to Helston.
So far I felt pretty good really, some slight stiffness in the buttocks and my hands had gone numb occasionally when I’d been holding the bars for a long period of time but overall ok. In the evening I went out for a meal at the local Indian restaurant (mushroom biriani and a Cobra beer) then returned to the Blue Anchor for a restorative pint of Spingo. The beer was fine and afterwards I went back to my room to get an early night and a good sleep. Unfortunately my room overlooked the pub’s beer garden and tonight the Helston Sea Shanty and Old Pop Song Society were ensconced there, happily practicing their vocals till 11.00. ‘Home, let me go home…’ they howled as they explored the resonances and harmonics of Sloop John B. Yes, yes, I thought to myself, burying my head in my pillow, bugger off home, I let you. But no, next came ‘Show Me the Way to Go Home’, then ‘Leaving on a jet plane', successive songs taunting me with their evident insincerity. Then when the minstrels did finally fall silent I found I still had trouble sleeping as my muscles seemed too wound up; I was still awake at 2.30 but eventually dropped off. Distance: 51.27 miles Average speed: 10.3 mph Max speed observed: 29 mph | |||
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