Day 13 The Final One! Cambourne to Land's End. 26 miles.

Lucy and Paul fly off at 8 am into a veritable rain storm. Pat releashed from Dad duties drives to the end , jumps on his bike and cycles back towards them. The weather is appalling .... absolutely lashing it down. We miss each other one team going on the bypass, and me (Pat) nipping through the town of Penzance. Needless to say Paul says "Time trial it". I meet up with them and we cycle together the last few miles. Paul and Lucy high 5 as they run down the last 100 metres........ and they've finished. Chris's family ( Sue, Barry, James , Caroline and little Logan ) are there to welcome them over the line. The second welcoming party arrive moments later ( Lynda, Ruth, baby Alex, Ellis and Ewan)
A fantastic achievement for the Dynamic Duo. Well done!
In fact when you think about it their first day started at 5pm and lasted 2 hrs , the last day they rode for 3, therefore we can surmise that this fantastic duo di it in 12 days! A truly amazing feat of endurance. Anyone know of a good knee surgeon for Lucy?
Thank you to all the people who have given so generously to St. Ann's Hospice.

Day12- Camelford to Cambourne 45 miles

Lucy and Paul set off on a dark overcast day with rain looming.... as always. It's The Royal Cornwall Show in Wadebridge and every road is chocker. Paul and Lucy use the line of traffic as a wind stopper. They fly through Wadebridge and on to Indian Queens where they meet the dreaded A30. Unfortunately there's no alternative. Lucy hates it . Paul looks after his little sis by riding high, which as you may nknow if your'e a proper townie means riding 4 feet out from the kerb to make the cars and lorries slow down slightly. This means they slow to 50 instead of 70mph!!!! Paul considers cycling two abreast and causing a 20 mile tail back but I think the Cornwall show has done that. They arrive in Cambourne, the home of Chris and Ruth at 1.30 pm.
CHris texts from work " It's only 25 miles to Land's End " but Lucy wants to see the new baby and Paul thinks " Why kill yourself?". We all enjoy cuddles with baby Alex. Ruth and Chris have a lovely new house with a cracking view over a cricket pitch and hills over towards St. Ives..... beautiful. Lynda serves up 4 bacon barms to keep Paul going. Lucy retires to a well earned rest in the bath and Pat, Paul and the boys go off to the beach; Portreath to be exact to have a mini holiday flying kites!
Of course after the event it becomes clear. The reason Paul and Lucy didn't want to finish today was because the sun was shining and it was a balmy 16 degrees. What's the fun of that when they'd had gale force winds and heavy rain almost every day!. Now read the last day!

Day 12- Witheridge to Camelford 80 miles (Very Hilly)

This was the dynamic duo's best day yet covering 80 miles acoss Devon's extremely hilly but beautiful terrain. Paul finally bows to a bit of "Little road joy" and finds the hill climbs hard but exhilarating. Lucy just finds them HARD! Both of them enjoy all the fox gloves, pink campion that abound theses little lanes.Truly beautiful but incredibly exhausting. We stay in a really lovely vegetarian bed and breakfast run by a great couple. Not sure they understand Paul's dietary needs.
We eat at the local curry house where Ramesh a nepalese guy is truly wonderful and despite Paul trying to get 10%, feeds us with a feast. Popadoms galore and wonderful chicken sizzling dishes. He gives us a great deal on beer and Ellis gives him a tip saying " Keep the 10%"

Day 11- Mendip Hills to Witheridge in Devon- 68 miles

Hellish cycle on A roads south to Bridgewater , then Taunton. Follow the A38 against the wind as usual to Tiverton. Now heading west on b roads. Stop in 18th century Hotel ( Coach stop of old!) in Witheridge. Lovely B and B, good food very homely and well cooked wit loads of veg! Enormous breakfast..... Paul pleased again... Poor Lucy is getting sick of bacon but Paul retorts. " Keep eating bacon and eggs. You need energy for all the big hills". Perhaps Lucy should insert a piece of bacon where her cartilege used to be... Might fix it!

Day 10- Hereford to Churchill ( South of Bristol airport) 78 miles

Today was lovely weather , sunny mostly but with a really fierce south westerly.
Had a fantastic ride down to Monmouth with beautiful views and lots of rolling hills. Lucy was flying today and Paul had to time trial to catch her on the hills. Past the resplendent Tintern Abbey while Pat and the boys went off to a Maze, crazy golf and buttelfly zoo. ( Ewan loved the butterflies, Ellis the maze and golf!)They also saw a Peregrine falcon on the cliffs by Symonds Yat.
Back to the dynamic duo as they battled against the wind over the severn bridge and around the chaos and horror that is Avonmouth. Ended up cycling towards the Mendips..... more hills and rest for the night at the village of Churchill. Laura came out from Brissssssol to have a drink with us in the evening and give words of encouragement. "You'll be all right my lover"

Day 9 -Nantwich to Hereford- 75 miles

Great day; mixture of rain sun and of course the obligatory wind though not as bad as previous days . Cycled through the lovely shropshire countryside, and the historic towns of Shrewsbury, Church Stretton, and Ludlow. Got off the A49 and did a stretch on B roads which were infinitely nicer though a little hillier. Paul wanted to do time trials so we set off chasing each other. Met some guys ( end to enders) going north and they remarked that their average speed in headwind was 15 mph, Paul said," oh ours was 8!" He ( the roadie) then went on to say that a comfortable "chatting speed" was 20mph!
Anyway the last stretch to Hereford we did at chatting speed because Mike Lowe had sorted out a lovely room in his Hotel called the castle. Thanks to Mike we all had enormous bacon and egg butties before we set off into the Wye valley.

Day 8: Garstang to Nantwich

By 11:00am the dynamic duo had already done 50 Kms and they were in Wigan!
Have they been spotted eating pies?
Another lovely day. Good luck, we'll update later.

Meet up with Roger Burgess who's cycled a short way with us. A big thank you to Rodger who game a extremely generous donation and fed us a great lunch.

Day 7: Carlisle to Garstang 75 miles

Up hill and down dale all the way to Penrith and then a gruelling 11 mile up to Shap, 1030ft above sea level. Then up again to the summit. They reach speeds of 40 miles an hour on the down hill, Paul doing a no hander in celebration after the long, long up hill. Kendal to Lancaster is lovely but rolling every new ascent seems a little harder. Decide to look for somewhere to stay near Garstang.
Another good day travelling to Garstang via Shap, the high point that felt like being on top of the world. Scenery absolutely stunning. Another beautiful day, very very hot though!
Stay at the Priory in Scoton just north of Garstang, a real cyclers pub/hotel.Comfy beds, massive bath, great grub. Best breakfast yet says Paul!

Chris, Ruth, Lynda and baby Alex wish them well and think the "mighty duo" are doing a fantastic job.

Day 6: Lesmahagow to Carlisle 75miles

It made a good change that the weather was so hot and sunny. It made the journey a pleasure for the first time.
One of the things that helped was the B roads, which were quiet and easy to ride on.
Knees hurting and saddle sore, but making brilliant progress and well and truly in England now.
The dynamic duo are doing really well, the sponsor money is going up and everybody is so proud of them.
Lucy races a proper roadie they meet 10miles north of Carlisle and is sweeping down the road eating up the miles. Paul and Roadie put in a chase very impressed.

Day 5 Crianlarich to Lesmahagow

Just been on the phone to the mighty duo. So quote unquote.
" It's been a simply awful day, pesistent rain all day, rain pelting in your face, flying up from my wheels, getting a soaking every time an enormous truck flies past at 50 mph, soaking you in an instant" uttered Paul.
" Feeling really down, didn't enjoy Loch Lomond as I had to concentrate on staying on the road with all the lorries tonning past. Both knees are hurting like mad. Not enjoying it.Still they say the sun is coming out tomorrow........Hey ho!" said Lucy.
It's a new day tomorrow and the weather is set better supposedly. They will be following the M74 down southwards towards Gretna on a B road that hugs the motorway so hopefully no trucks , just the sound of them!
And the good news..... Paul loved the food at the pub they've just been to. Must have been absolute loads of it and have been cheap as chips then!