Day 9

Truro to Plymouth

Today: 92km and 1466m ascent.

Overall: 891km and 12987m ascent. 

Details on Strava .

Truro to Fowey 

My day's travel started with David driving me the 30 minutes back from his place to Truro. Whilst I had been waiting for him to pick me up the previous day, I'd finally fixed the front basket to make it fully usable again. Fixing involved extending the adjustable arms that went from the front of the basket to the forks, so that the other arm - the one from basket to steering column that was fixed on the morning of day 2 - had no chance of rubbing the tyre. Yes, a rocket-science solution that finally dawned on me after a week of contending with tyre rubbing!! 

By the time my bike was loaded up - yes, with camera in basket - it was 9am. I'd decided to pop into Waitrose as I left Truro as it was en route. I realised "pop" wasn't the word when Google said the 2 miles would take me 20 minutes, especially given I've also realised that I generally only manage two-thirds the pace Google thinks I should!

So, with getting to Waitrose taking 30 minutes (and plenty of pushing), and then deciding I needed a second breakfast of the morning, as well as buying supplies, it was almost 1030am before I really got going on the day's ride.

1pm: First photo of the day, which is of the sort of view that each ascent rewarded me with. And there were plenty of rewards! 

2pm: Lunch, which involved consuming one of the supplies bought earlier from Waitrose. This small (for me!) veggie, nutrient dense lunch has become my go to over the last few days, with nuts and apples being my snacks of choice. This has clearly worked well for me because, as they say, the proof of the pudding is in the... cycling.

315pm: I finally get to Fowey and gain 200m of distance travelled with zero effort!

Into the sun, unfortunately, but Fowey on the right and Polruan on the left, looks like places I'd like to explore in the future.

And a view of the ferry from the Bodinnick side.

 

And on to Plymouth

350pm. Another view. Oh, and I looking again at this picture, I do like the place name Lostwithiel!

520pm. My first view of Looe.

550pm. My second view of Looe😁

This wins the "best fish and chips of the trip" award! Given the ups and downs that were to come, I'm very glad that I chose to eat now rather than hanging on the couple of hours to Tor.

No photos unfortunately, but my route out of Looe took my through it's centre. Wow! Old, narrow streets with lots of interesting looking shops and places to eat and drink. Looe centre, together with the now developed docks area - I'll be going there again!

645pm. My bike is looking a bit lost in No Man's Land. And just to be clear, the Seaton on the road sign my bike is leaning against is the Cornwall one, not the Devon one I passed through on day 1!

The above picture was taken as I rode the 25 km from Looe to Tor. There's very little option for the route here so I was mostly on two-way A roads. The route was very undulating too, which meant I spent another several chunks of time pushing my bike. There were several stretches with no pavement, and some of those had no verge for me to escape to if a car was approaching. So not much fun, especially the couple of instances when I could see a car ahead approaching and also hear a car behind approaching at high speed. Anyway, I survived to tell the tale and write this!)😊

830pm. On the Torpoint Ferry and so I'm about to return to where we do things correctly. I mean clotted cream first, jam second, of course😁

And a picture of another ferry going the other way...

It was only whilst on the ferry that I booked my accommodation. At the start of the day I did have plans to book one of the £55 slightly out of the city Travelodges. But by 830pm that plan became book the much nearer £90 city centre one!

The final day

First, I've written the above from 5am to 7am on Sunday morning. Each blog has taken at least 90 minutes to write. I've had that time available because I seem to be very fortunate because I don't need much sleep. I thought my sleep duration would increase with all this exercise. However, my latest Garmin 7-day-average sleep duration is 5.5 hours, which is business as usual for me! No alarms used either. I did set my alarm for 5am this morning, but was up and running before 430am! 

Planning today's ride has been a bit of a logistical challenge🤓 That's because at least half a dozen of the Bikes 'n' Beers posse are joining me for the cycle back to Exminster. So, first destination for me is Totnes train station, followed by Torquay, Teignmouth and Dawlish Warren, with the aim that we arrive at the Royal Oak in Exminster at 615pm.  

If you've been following my ride (odds are you have if you're reading this!) then it would be fabulous to see you there as I/we cross the finish line. I'm 100% certain you will see a grown man cry if you do come along! However, I'm also 100% certain that bout of crying will be magically cured with a 🍻