Lands End to Manchester: Summary of my LEJOG first half.

Day 1- Lands End to Lanlivery Puddle. Saturday 17th April 2010
Very late start about 12:30pm, drove down from campsite in Lanlivery Puddle, paid the parking fee at Lands End then dawdled some more. Got photo taken at sign, brilliant memento and off. Really lucky to have H with me for the first stretch to Penzance which was really nice. At Penzance I had some GPS battery issues, running down very quickly so bought some AA batteries and swapped them out. This is the cause of the dodgy numbers from Saturday. After Penzance I headed off and got trucking along. The route was very pleasant staying mostly on quiet roads.

Saying ‘Cheese’ at Lands End

Team Pickle approaching Penzance

Paddy cycling along the Cornish Coast

There are a lot of hills in Cornwall. 6 hours later I rolled into the campsite in Lanlivery Puddle very pleased to be there. Feeling far more tired than I had been hoping for I got cleaned up and we cooked some dinner at the campsite, a lovely chicken stirfry. Also sampled a well deserved pint at the local pub. Mistake of the day no chammy butter. Plan was 100km 2500ft. GPS says 100km 5800ft!

Day 2 – Lanlivery Puddle to Minehead. Sunday 18th April 2010
A long day of 100miles over to Minehead. The morning started well, legs working, quiet lanes, even worried about sunburn. Brilliant! Mostly downhill to Lostwithiel then a rubbish A road route chioce. Quickly moved into quieter lanes which was really good. The weather was brilliant with sun and a light wind. I was moving on at a real pace, perhaps too fast. By about the 1/2 point I was feeling good but during the afternoon my left achilles started to really hurt added to the tendon behind my right knee also feeling the strain my emotional state started going downhill. This changed when I found the Granite Way which is a great sustrans route along a disused railway. IT also goes over a viaduct which for a boy in a man sized mould was great fun. Stopped for lunch in Okehampton and made a school boy error stuffing a giant steak pasty into the fuel tank whilst sitting in a sunny park. To say that it clogged up the fuel lines would be an understatement. Slow progress was made for some time and the tendon problems really started to wail. The final leg really hurt, from Dulverton to Minehead was really hard. Leg really sore, body knackered and bum sore too. The route should have taken me onto the top above the A396, instead I opted to travel the A396 as this was a more gradual incline than the up/down of the original route. This was certainly busier thought. Funny thing was I was going against the river flow but I know that there had to be a lot of descent into Minehead. 100miles 8415ft ascent done but achillies of left foot really sore.

A big hill sign…one of many

Day 3 – Minehead to St Brivaels. Monday 19th April 2010
The B&B was great, comforting and the breakfast good, I had scrambled eggs, beans and bacon. Felt a little queasy afterwards though. Strange that the food side of things has been so difficult. Minehead to St Brivaels today, 90 odd miles. I took some time to lower my seatpost thinking that this would aid the sore tendon and it did. I also bought a stand for the bike which is a great help. I then popped into the coop and bought a bunch of pain killers and anti inflammatory. Well stocked I thought about the road ahead. Should be flatter than yesterday so fingers crossed. Initial route took the main road out from Minehead towards Williton where I then branch off into quieter lanes. This was really busy, quite unpleasant and I wouldn’t repeat it given a choice. I had a call from Graeme, a work college, who was coming down the route and we were hoping to intersect. Fingers crossed. All the route today was busy after the comparative quiet of the SW. We eventually bumped into each other on a tiny back country lane south of Clevedon. He was a welcome sight and we started what was to be a fun day of cycling together. a quick stop in Clevedon for some lunch and a huge coffee and we headed off into the bowels of the industrial part of Bristol. WE navigated some of the sustrans cycle ways in this area which was better then the local roads but herer’s a top tip. Follow sustrans diversion signs, they are there for a reason. One reason being the bridge over the motorway isn’t there anymore!Getting through this section wasn’t inspiring but it got us over the Avon mouth bridge and the older of the two Bristol channel bridges both of which were great fun. The long drag up the other side wasn’t. We were also joined by another friend, Alex, who found us in the industrial badlands and smoothed out transition over to the north of the Bristol channel. He had parked at the destination for the day, St Brivaels and had ridden down the route. With such a competent guide it was easy to sit back and just focus on chatting and turning the pedals. Very pleasant. The route then winds it’s way down the valley into Tintern Abbey which is a great stretch to ride, you go steadily downhill for a good 10miles. The real shocker is the hill to get to St Brivaels, it long and it’s steep! Incredible building thought, proper castle, portcullis’ and everything. Alex bought me Fish & Chips and a couple of beers. 93miles no ascent data as i wiped the daily GPS data. 15mph moving avg.

Paddy & friends outside Wilderhope Manor

Day 4 – St Brivaels to Wilderhope Manor. Tuesday 20th April 2010
Another 80miler. Felt pretty this morning. Good breakfast and a quick get away, lots of tweeting to do before setting off which is fun. Head towards Symonds Yat to start with, staying high then dropping down on to the valley floor. Not feeling the love, ankle really hurting something chronic. Wondering how the hell I’m going to get through the day. Also feels lonely after such a fun day yesterday with the guys. Stop at Coleford and take an urgently needed toilet stop, toilets being rebuilt so have to go in portaloo. Doh! Purchase lots more antiflam and pain killers. Eat those and what’s this a bag of mini eggs made it through the check out to. How did they get there? They don’t last long. Get moving and I feel a little brighter, always keeping the gearing easy so the ankle doesn’t hurt. Felt like a long way. The route is good though lots of quieter lanes which is always nice. Skirt round Hereford and bump into Leominster, time is good so I decide to stop for a proper lunch. The Blue Note cafe/bar is chosen as I used to work in a place called the blue Note when at Uni. As soon as I walk in I think ooops, mistake. More bar than cafe. I’m trapped though people are lookign at me. I hover at the bar and try to read the menu. Brain power is low and I let someone go ahead. Strangers asks about the bike and I point to it outside. Conversation about gears ensues. I hope I made sense. Pasta carbonara was ordered and consumed along with a triple expresso. I certainly left with more enthusiasm than when I went in so job done.

The Blue Note Cafe…a bonkers find

Continued but legs appear to have been replaced with stringy cheese. Friendly tweets of encouragement from twitter help get me through. I cycled onto Yeovil where I stopped and picked up some dinner as I was unsure if the destination served food. They did but my chilli and family sized rice portion was lovely followed by peaches and creamed rice, oh and a huge bar of chocolate. Wilderhope manor is another incredible building, Elizabethan manor house virtually unchanged and certainly not Victorianised as so many of these building have been over the years. 75 miles 5291ft ascent. I think all up hill. Avg13mph. fastest 41mph. Zoom zoom.

Day 5 – Wilderhope Manor to Timperley. Wednesday 21st April 2010
Home, home I say! A lovely room to myself the night before hadn’t left me feeling refreshed I was awake most of the night for some reason! I think the exercise leaves you feeling pumped up and it’s hard to sleep. 80 miles to Manchester. I had iced the sore tendons the night before and been good with the antiflam. As a result the ankle felt a lot better this morning. The initial hill out of the Manor grounds seemed brief. I made video diary entries and checked the tweetosphere and Jumped on my bike. The road then followed a stunning ridge line steadily trending down towards Much Wenlock. From there there was a steady drive northwards towards Market Drayton then Alsager. The thought of getting home was strong enough to drive me onwards. I skipped lunch and kept munching as much food as I could.

Paddy on Day 5

The weather was good again and the winds had died down. I pushed hard on the bike and kept thinking the next village would be familiar. I was so preoccupied I ended up listening to the same album 3 times on my ipod before finally reaching the house at about 4pm. Result. Very pleased to be home. 81miles 3500ft ascent. 6hrs 49mins. No breaks so legs pooped. Jumped in the shower and got a wash on. I also quickly made the tweaks to my bike that had been bothering me. I swapped the granny ring round so the teeth were closer to the middle ring, changed the rear cassette to the 11:32 from my MTB the swapped the rear derailleur to my XT shadow, again from my MTB. Maintenance done thoughts turned to dinner. A huge steak, potatoes and veg went down a treat.

Day 6 – Home on the Sofa. Thursday 22nd April 2010
Porridge followed by a healthy portion of apple pie and ice cream for breakfast.  Messed around on the internet followed by lunch with lovely H at The Frozen Mop pub in Mobberley. Returned to the sofa.  Made final amendments to my route north in an effort to limit 200km days.

Paddy leaving home for the journey north

Rest day over, now for the real meat of the trip 600 miles over 5 days. Manchester to Kirkby Stephen 150km lots of uphill…

This entry was posted on Friday, April 23rd, 2010 at 12:09 pm. It is filed under All, Bike, Cycle Touring, Feature, Trip Reports and tagged with adventure, Cycle Touring, cycling, LEJOG, Manchester. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.