Day 19: St. Ives to Lands End (Finale) - Now Blog Off

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Morning wakeup was to the sound of seagulls outside the hotel window. This is it, the last and shortest leg of my cycle trek and it will put me at journeys end - Land's End. 1800kms completed,... except for that episode between Kendal and Manchester. But, the Orkney trek, the cycle back to Penzance, and a few other diversions have easily made up the mileage, although not the terrritory.

Panniers packed and taken down to the lobby, I blended with the busloads of senior seniors in the hotel restaurant and chatted up a few. Buffet breakfast, and then out the door and onto the bike

Another sunny start, with the obligatory dark clouds on the horizon.

Penzance popped up real fast and was a great cycle. Mild hills, and then a steady roll down into Marazion, and then,... bump... English Channel/Celtic Sea juncture. And across from the coastal trail, that I joined, is St. Michael's Mount (castle on an island, accessible at low tide). Pictures taken, I would explore that on my return to Penzance. Penzance itself, could be seen a few miles west.

Back to the task at hand. A casual cycle along the coastal path brought me to Penzance, where my B & B would be, upon my return from journey's end. I was expecting more hills to burden me, and once past Penzance, I wasn't disappointed.

At Mousehole (yes, a town), it was a nice roll in, a saunter around a beautiful harbour, and then I did a double take on my GPS screen. Surely not, but there it was, one narrow long steep climb up to the top of the bluff. I called the bluff, and gearing down I cycled on (or up), just to be met 1/3rd the way up by a delivery vehicle blocking the road. With no way around, I stopped, squeezed by, and wasn't getting back on. It a balance, coordination, stamina, angle of attack, directional thing, and it wasn't working for me. The road wasn't wide enough to try cycling across to gain balance and momentum. Plan B... push bike to top. Not really an issue, as my pride was long gone on similar climbs earlier in my trek.

Once on top the land levelled and then took a deep switch back dive into another hole filled with houses. Surprisingly, the climb out was gradual, although it was almost like a jungle at the bottom. I would find an alternate route on the return to Penzance, as the climb back up the switchback was not in my return program.

And yes, it almost did happen. I was three kilometres from finishing when I just missed being bug splatter on a would-be rally driver's windshield. I was lucky I remembered to veer British left, rather than Canadian right.

From there on in, it appeared to be rolling, mild, hills. I did have a scare at the last village before Land's End. The route wound down towards the bottom of the village and I could see a steep rise out the other side. Oddly, the cycle network path veered 90° and ran along a ridge past the village. An obvious misdirection by the National Cycle Network, as they seem to relish dips, hollows, and ascents.

Beyond the village, it was a nice serpentine non-aggressive coastal gravel trail all the way to Land's End. A bit of a fizzle really.

Then I rolled through the entry gate, past the souvenier shop, the hotel, the 3D cinema, the overpriced restaurant, the fast food vendor, and over to the mileage sign post that signifying the most westerly point, and end of mainland U.K.

I lingered for a while, got a fellow tourist to take the obligatory signpost picture (with me and my trust steed/bike), had a cornish pasty and coffee at the last restaurant before the new world, picked up postcards at the last souvenier shop and last postal outlet, peed in the last urinal, and was on my way back to Penzance.

I did return back through Mousehole, just to run the steep hill in the right direction (that being be downwards). Once back in Penzance it was pick up my train ticket to Newcastle, visit tourist info for local points of interest, pop into a pub, and then over to my B & B by 5:30pm.

End of story.... and if you've been following this blog... go on, get on with your life.

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