JOGLE Day 10 – Newquay to Lands End

Daily Stats – Day 10

Miles Ridden: 45.0 miles
Metres Climbed: 3078 feet
Time Riding: 3:02:07
Average Speed: 14.8 mph

Total Miles Ridden: 898 miles
Total Ascent: 41,898 feet
Total Time Riding: 58:49:29

Todays Weather: Sunny.

Once again I was up at 4am so crept out of the dorm and went for a wander in the darkness. I headed off to do some geocaches in Newquay, the first of which required some scrambling up some cliffs on the beach in the dark. I didn’t manage to find this particular cache though but did find a few others.

After coffee in the hostel and breakfast by the vans whilst the others headed off to MacDonalds we were soon kitted up and ready for the short and final ride to Lands End. We were joined by a couple of other riders from the T1D team, namely 14 year old Alfie and his Dad. They had taken a look at the route I had planned and agreed it was probably the best route to Lands End so set off at the front leading the way seeing as they knew the roads around here well.

Day 10

Day 10

We stopped at a garage owned by Alfie’s Dad for coffee after about 15 miles and then continued on our way. Alfie and his Dad were setting a decent pace at the front, with Ian, Kev and myself following them. The others couldn’t keep that pace up so we dropped them but waited where necessary for all to regroup.

As we left Penzance, the four T1D team riders managed to drop me as well, so I ended up riding from Penzance to Lands End at my own pace which was nice. I was going quite hard though as I knew this was the last day of the ride so wasn’t too far behind them when we stopped a few miles from Lands End to meet up with the support crews. Once the others arrived, we all made sure we had our JDRF tops on, Morgan joined us and we rolled along the last few miles into Lands End in a big group.

The car park attendants knew we were coming and ushered us through so that we could cross the finish line together. Some family members were there waiting for various riders as well so we had a big cheer as we crossed the line, followed by some photos. We then headed around to the signpost for more photos and some lovely, well deserved Cornish pasties. This was followed by a signing of the End to End book in the hotel and a beer or two for some riders. I made do with an Ice Cream as I now had to drive back across Cornwall to Bodmin where we had a ‘Hobbit Home’ booked for the next couple of nights.

We had made it, John O’Groats to Lands End in 10 days as planned and had raised over £3,00 for JDRF in the process. Everyone was pleased with their achievement and it will be an experience we won’t forget.

After giving my wheels back to the T1D team and packing the car we headed off. I ended up being too tired to drive though so Anna took over once again – well, she had just driven from John O’Groats to Lands End, so an extra few miles wouldn’t hurt her. Our Hobbit Home was actually a camping pod at Wheal Tor Hotel, high on Bodmin Moor. We had a fairly unfriendly welcome there, but settled in and sorted ourselves out with the basic facilities. We tried again at the hotel for dinner, but the welcome was once again particularly unfriendly so we decided to head off into Liskeard to find somewhere else for dinner instead.

We ended up at the ‘Village Inn’, a pub and restaurant on a small caravan site. It turned out to be really good food, and a friendly place, even if it wasn’t the cheapest. We then headed back to our Hobbit Home for a night in a camping pod as the rain lashed down outside.

1 Response

  1. Avatar forComment Author mum says:

    I have enjoyed reading the day by day account and we are extremely proud of all of you

    Morgan left his pj tops here!

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Alan Cole

Alan is a Freelance Website Designer, Sports & Exercise Science Lab Technician and full time Dad & husband with far too many hobbies: Triathlete, Swimming, Cycling, Running, MTBing, Surfing, Windsurfing, SUPing, Gardening, Photography.... The list goes on.

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