......and finally.

Well it is Sunday and we have spent the day resting and reflecting on what we have actually acheived, both in terms of self satisfaction and in raising money for a very worthwhile cause. The ride was dedicated to my best mate Trev. Trev was a true fighter who inspired many people by the way in which he battled against his illness right until the very end. He inspired me to do the ride and when things on the ride got a bit tough, or didn't go quite as we planned, I did think of Trev and found inspiration from the reasons behind our undertaking ths ride.

Would we do it again?

Rob says...never again ( never say never!!).

Steve says....not for a while, but actually probably would like to do it again with a slightly different route.

Lessons learned.......
Dont buy cheap inner tubes, always carry far more spare innertubes that you think you will need.
Dont push the daily mileages too much. When things go wrong you need time to be able to get them sorted out. 60-70 miles is comfortable but more than that we found was pushing things a little, particularly if you are using hostels which close after a certain time, which can leave you without a bed for the night.

Dont think that because you are only doing a 50 mile day that things will go smoothly...that will be the day when you get lost or the road you want to take has been closed for sewer works causing you to take a massive diversion.

Take plenty of Chamois Creme...it was our saviour!!

Finally...enjoy the ride!!!!

Inspired by our journey? -  then feel free to get in touch. If you want full details of the route which we (roughly) followed, it can be found on the CTC website at http://www.ctc.org.uk/ .

Thank you to everyone following our blog and for the messages that have been left -  we did read them and they really did make a difference to us and inspired us to keep going.

Rob and Steve

Day 15 - We made it! Truro to Lands End. Mileage 43, cumulative total 1019 miles

Well what can I say. The past two days have been the most challenging of the ride. Firstly apologies to anyone who turned out with the intention of riding with us. Today we set off from home and before reaching Tesco in Truro Robs bike got a puncture. That wasn't good timing particularly as I had put out times for meeting people yesterday. After changing the tube we continued on our way to Devoran, where my bike punctured. By Stithians Robs tyre was flat again. By this point I had used all our spare inners up.
After repairing Robs tyre we continued. To cut a very long story short I changed back wheels 7 times during todays leg and got through all our spares! That threw out our timing completly. I believe we lost a good couple of hours, maybe more. We eventually arrived at Lands End for just after 9pm.
We then proceeded to get our route cards officially stamped and signed the end to end register which is kept in the hotel.
Thanks from us both for following our blog. To date we have raised over £1900 for Macmillan. A massive thanks from us both.

Finally, and most importantly, a very, very special thank you must go to my wife Vanessa, who has been absolutely brilliant throughout. Only I know the sacrfices she has made to enable us to undertake this ride.
Rob and Steve.
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Day 14 - Exeter to Truro. (was meant to be Golant!). Miles 103 cumulative total 976.

What a day we had! Things started badly when our plans for a seriously early start were thwarted when we were unable to get our bikes out from the yha bike shed before 8am. We had failed to notice a sign which did say that special arrangements had to be made the night before if an early departure was planned!
By time we left it was 8.30. We stopped on our way out at Sainsburys for supplies before heading out for Mortonhampstead. We knew this was going to be one of the toughest days but we didn't realise just how tough! The hills between Exeter and Princetown are brutal! We both struggled with our heavily loaded bikes and it took ages to cover ground. Shortly after leaving Mortonhampstead the heavens opened and we were soaked. I had planned to meet colleagues in Princetown, who were going to cycle with us, but by this time we were almost 3 hours behind schedule and they had to leave due to other commitments. We arrived eventually arrived at Princetown at 2pm and dived into the Fox Torr cafe for a bite to eat and to dry out for a while. From their the roads were much kinder and we made good progress to Plymouth, where we promptly got lost. Plymouth caused us the biggest headache of the whole ride! We spent the best part of 2 hours trying to locate the Torpoint ferry! It was made worse by a distinct lack of signs for the ferry on the cycle paths. When we asked directions everyone could say how to get there by car but not by bike. Eventually we crossed the Tamar but by this time it was around 7pm by the time we reached Torpoint. We headed out along the coast to Seaton where I got a puncture. After initially trying to keep going by inflating the tyre I gave up and changed the tube. We were now seriously behind schedule and decided to head for the Polruan Ferry to cross over the estuary into Fowey as it runs later than the Broddinick Ferry. We made the ferry by 10.30pm but by this time the yha reception would be closed and we would be unable to gain access. I did phone ahead to the yha earlier and left a message on the answerphone but they never got back to me. At this stage we put plan b into operation and decided to make for Truro. We eventually made it home to our own beds by 3am having picnic'd on the quayside at Fowey at 11.30pm and layered up for a cool night ride. The final days ride is now shorter and we are back on familiar roads. Anyone reading this who wants to ride with us we shall still come via Devoran and expect to be there for around 12.30 ish.
Rob and Steve
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Day 14 We cross the Tamar!

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Day 14 and then it rained!

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Day 14 Dartmoor

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Day 14 the Devon Countryside.

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