The Diary - Part One

So here it is, part one of the diary they've all been waiting for. Ty explains the goings-on on tour from his viewpoint (usually towards the back...).

Day 0 - Saturday 1st July

Last night was manic. The plan was to have had everything packed days ago and get the train down to London after work to spend the evening at Dave's stag do (and then meet the others first thing Saturday morning to train it down to Penzance). It didn't happen - too much to sort out at the last minute. Thankfully Kerry offered to drive me straight to Penzance - what a star!

The journey down in the glorious sunshine was a little less fraught once I had established that the other four had safely boarded the train at Marylebone. Kicking back in the passenger seat of Kerry's car, I began to look forward to two weeks exploring the British countryside on a bike.

On arriving at Penzance station to meet the others, I couldn't help but stare in amazement at the amount of stuff Matt had managed to bring! As it turns out, he forgot the spare wheel, but was prepared for most other eventualities.

And so, the prologue began. A quick 10 mile sprint down to Lands End to warm up, get the photos done and meet my Dad (who, by complete coincidence, was setting off for John O Groats the same time as us, but aiming to finish in 8 days!).

After posing for the myriad of cameras down at Lands End (well, three) we headed into the Ship Inn to watch England vs Portugal. Oh, how Martin laughed. It wasn't the best of starts to my holiday - but nonetheless it was soon forgotten as we crossed the famous start line and headed back towards Penzance.

And it was just 4 miles from Lands End (yes, that's right, 4 miles!) that we had our first accident. I'm ashamed to say that it was me that takes the honour of being first faller. I learned to be a touch quicker at unclipping my pedal cleats after that.

So, 10 miles in to the journey we arrived at our first stop-over - Penznace Youth Hostel. With bikes safely stored and paperwork sorted, we headed down to the seafront for a feat of fish and chips and battered mars bars (I thought they were a Scottish delicacy?). A quick pint and then off to bed in preparation for the first full day.

Day: 0, Miles: 9.50, Time: 40 mins, Ave Speed: 14.2mph, Max Speed: 39.3mph

Day 1 - Sunday 2nd July

The start was early. Especially when we were supposed to be on holiday!

We set off in earnest ready to tackle whatever Cornwall could throw at us. As it turned out, it was quite hilly and we ended up having to sit out a thunder storm in a bus shelter in Peranwell Station.

However, a roast lamb lunch at The Roseland Inn at Philleigh (tel: 01872 580254) was awesome enough to help us forget all that. However, we quickly came to the conclusion that snacking throughout the day was much better than gorging for lunch as we tried to cycle our over-full bellies up the the next mountain.

The afternoon was spent lost in the lanes of the Cornish "outback", adding several miles onto trek - as if it wasn't long enough already! We finally made an unplanned descent down to Portmellon in the late afternoon. A bit of confusion over whether we were cyclists or in fact heavy goods vehicle meant that we ditched the 100 yard flat route out of the village, opting instead to cycle 1.5 miles up one side of a very steep hill and down the other. The locals stared in disbelief. We rewarded our stupidity with clotted cream fudge from a shop in Mevagissey.

By this stage it was getting late and, as we approached St Austell, it was clear that Sunday trading had ceased several hours before. Undeterred, we pushed on towards Par. But this undeterred-ness was shortlived as the road to Par was closed. Somebody had kindly dug it up.

A helpful local pointed out that cyclists could still get through, although she didn't point out that the cycle path was a little "cross-country". A successful piece of navigation later, and we were in Par. And then we found our Oasis - a Spar - and it was actually open. A Spar. In Par. Par Spar. How we joked about that (for approximately the next eight days). Midly more amusing was the poster in the window showing some recent staff fundraising efforts - they were described as Stars. You can guess what happened next.

We purchased sausages and pasta, got three sets of directions to Golant and opted to take the steepest.

On turning off the road at Golant onto the gravel driveway, my bike slipped underneath me and my knee twisted sickenly. I didn't say so at the time, but I really thought the adventure was over before it had even begun.

At 9pm we decamped into the Youth Hostel and Matt amazed us with his awesome Cheffing skills. Sausage and pasta followed by sticky toffee pudding. Mmmmm...

Day: 1, Miles: 65.4, Time: 5hr 58mins, Ave Speed: 10.9mph, Max Speed: 38.1mph