Day 1 - Penzance - Land's End - Downderry (Cornwall).

Cornwall is so hilly. Why weren't we told this at school? All we heard about was tin mines and a moribund language. One hill broke a spoke in Ben's back wheel. We can fix most things, but not that. So a cab all the way back from Godolphin Cross to Penzance for Ben, as Gareth and Rolfe continued. One new wheel, and two hours later, Ben's mission to catch them up began. It was eased by a puncture for Rolfe and a pub lunch for him and Gareth.

"Cornwall should either be steam-rolled flat or turned into a ski resort, a fkn disgrace of a county." Rolfe.

Our original choice of accommodation was busy, prebooked a year ago, it turned out, by ten 50-somethings, who were doing the same trip as us. Our humbled sense of pride was improved when they told us all their gear was being carried in a van. Filthy cheating scum.

So on we travelled to Looe, to the home of Phil and Mavis (in-laws of a Sanj, a school friend of Gareth's.) Actually we had to travel another 5 miles to Downderry, but Gareth didn't tell us about that. We arrived in the dark. Despite us cocking up their plans for going out for dinner, they made us feel incredibly welcome, especially as all we could do was dribble into the lovely food Mavis had prepared.

Day 1. 95 miles. Over 7 saddle hours. One puncture, one new wheel. A lot of pain.

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