Took the train from Torquay to Penzance then biked the final 15 miles to Lands End.

1,000 miles to go.

Lands End

Cornish village of Mousehole. But being England - and particularly Cornwall it isn’t pronounced mouse-hole.

My friends came to see me off which was really lovely.

Today was insanely hard.

It started off very well. I left Lands End at 7am. Too excited to hang round waiting for breakfast.

It took me around 2 hours to get to St Michaels Mount in Marazion. The weather was perfect and the roads were lovely quiet country lanes.

St Michaels Mount was great. It’s a monastery on an island that can only be reached at low tide.

I love this fresco of a lion and a unicorn in chains. For those of you who aren’t British you may not know that Scotland’s national animal is the unicorn. (Yes, really). And the lion represents England. So it’s saying England has enslaved Scotland….

Then I had 25 miles left to cycle. Normally that would be easy but in the heat it was insanely hard, bordering on dangerous.

I’m riding on lovely back roads through lots of villages - but all the villages were too small to have a shop.

I get to Portellis where I’d planned to stop and there was no village. Only a pub that was closed at lunchtime. Luckily the landlord was outside and he filled my water bottle. And luckily I had food on me. I was very overheated and a man who was watering the plants hosed me down. But even that didn’t help that much.

With 12 miles left I just had to keep going. I had to be in Truro before the bike shop closed as my bike was making a clicky sound.

And then I had my next piece of good luck. The bike shop had a spare bottom bracket and were able to fit a new one for me straight away.

Dinner at Weatherspoons.

I had let myself get so dehydrated that I ended up with such huge dark circles under my eyes I looked like I had 2 black eyes!

Today’s ride was crazy tough. But luckily I’m tougher. And crazier.

The problem today was the elevation (hills). They were so steep I could barely walk up them.

I left Truro at 6am and carried enough food and water with me for the whole day. But I found the 20 miles to St Austell really tough.

I arrived at St Austell absolutely dead with 24 very hilly miles left. \240So then I had a big decision to make - stick to the back roads or take the A road?

I chose the A road. Which was 21 miles. And still hilly but not nearly as bad. I was worried about the traffic, but it wasn’t really that bad.

Took me forever though. \240I walked up almost all the hills. And I’m sure \240it was mostly uphill.

Amazing to see Liskeard once had a synagogue.

Dinner at weatherspoons.

My longest ride yet at 53 miles. I was nervous about the distance- but I was absolutely fine. Which is lucky because most of my days are around 50 miles.

A 2 mile detour didn’t help. I’m lucky it wasn’t longer.

The best part was crossing the Tamar river (pronounced TAY-Mar) at Horsebridgr \240and entering Devon. Leaving Cornwall is a big milestone for all LEJOGers. And as I live in Devon it was extra special to get here.

I’d done half of todays ride before when I cycled round Dartmoor. And that made it easier. There is a lovely flat ride on an old railway line from Lydford to Okehampton.

Had lunch at the Okehampton Weatherspoons. Then just had 18 hot miles to Crediton, but luckily they were mostly downhill.

Dinner at the Crediton Weatherspoons. I always try to go to Weatherspoons because:

* I don’t feel uncomfortable going there by myself

* I don’t have to decide where to go. By the end of the day I’m too tired to make a decision.

* I don’t have to decide what to eat. I always get the steak.

The less decisions I need to make the better - because I am very tired by the end of the day

Miles: 34

Total miles: 183

Counties: Devon & Sometset

Weather: very hot.

Because I only had 35 miles to do today I didn’t leave until 8. And I regretted it. It was hot and I wished I had left at 6.

I was looking forward to going to Wellington, Somerset as I’m from Wellington, New Zealand.

Unfortunately the weatherspoons didn’t have anywhere I could park my bike so I could’nt have lunch there.

Claire came from Torquay to meet me.

And we found the castle in Taunton

Taunton was unexpectedly nice. Has a very cute castle.

And other interesting buildings.

All anyone can talk about is the heatwave and I was getting very anxious about riding in the heat.

So instead of my planned 47 miles through country lanes I took the most direct route. 38 miles up the A30. The M5 now runs parallel to the A30, so it is a lovely fast road - with very little traffic.

I left at 6am and arrived by 10:30. Riding in the cool and on the flat makes a huge difference.

I’ve got my food and water right now. Which also makes a huge difference. And I’m finally well past home and in a part of the country I’ve never been to.

I had loads of time to go to the beach for fish and chips.

I can absolutely do this. 😀

Left Clevedon very early to beat the heat. And had a very pleasant cycle ride through the countryside.

Because of the heat I’ve changed my plans so that I’m only doing 30 miles today. So I’m in a hotel in the middle of nowhere doing nothing for the rest of the day.

I’m now a quarter of the way through my trip! And so far everything has gone to plan and I’ve had lots of good luck as well.

“The comfort zone is where dreams go to die”. Well I’m definitely achieving my dreams. And definitely out of my comfort zone.

A short ride today do I could get there by 9 before the heat got insane.

Gloucester is the end of the first section of my ride. Very proud of myself for making it this far. With no problems besides heat strike 😀

Lots of lovely buildings in Gloucester

And my hotel feels like it’s out of Shakespeare in Love. It was amazing. I highly recommend it.

I met my friend Jo for lunch which was lovely.

I’ll rest up today and tomorrow. Try not to move in the heat. And get back on my bike on Wednesday

Ate in the weatherspoons.

And saw some more of Gloucester

The n heatwave is over and the weather was good for cycling.

However I found todays ride very hard because my head wasn’t in the game. I was worried about something totally unrelated to my quest. And until I’d solved that I found the cycling very hard.

But I just had to keep going. No other option. And it wasn’t a long day, so I easily made it.

Tewkesbury was very cute.

My daughter Abby met me for dinner.

Droitwich Spa also has some lovely buildings

The local accent has definitely changed. 😀

Really long tough day today. I don’t like cycling on canals

Having dinner with Ruth, one of my protest buddies.

I made it to the North of England! I can tell I’m up north because I’m no longer in shorts and a t-shirt.

It started off raining, and I was quite anxious, because I haven’t ridden in the rain much.

By the time I got to Market Drayton I was very wet so I stopped at a cafe for cheese on toast.

Market Drayton

The cafe stop cheered me up a lot and I felt much better afterwards.

Audlem

Still very wet so I stopped for lunch in a cafe in Nantwich

Nantwich

Last part of the ride was easy, because I’d eaten properly today.

Hardest day yet. At lunch time I totally bonked - my blood sugar went so low. It took over an hour to get my blood sugar back up again.

I feel like I’m in the game of thrones. I’m up north and winter is coming. Well summer is well and truly over. I’m wearing arm warmers and leg warmers. Not the Jane Fonda kind - the cycling kind 😀

I’m halfway now! And finally feel ‘in the groove’. I think I’ve sorted out most things. It’s all about getting food right. I need to eat more than I was.

Was very anxious this morning that the day would be too hard. But of course it wasn’t. I need to have more faith in myself.

Started off wearing my arm and leg warmers. But they came off after half an hour. Summer has returned to the north.

Had lunch in Lancaster

Lovely ride out of Lancaster by the river Lune.

Hornby Castle

Then entered the Yorkshire dales. The open space freaked me out a bit. My satnav kept wanting to take me off the very quiet main road and onto country lanes - but no way did I want to leave the safety of an A road.

Had to cross the Pennines today. I crossed the Howgill Fellls. Which was \240was a pretty big fell / small mountain.

I think the first 20 miles today were the hardest of the trip so far.

Penrith is cute. The local accent sounds Scottish to me.

Strong crosswind cycling the 18 miles to Carlisle made the ride feel dangerous.

Carlisle

Just after Carlisle I saw a pub called the Crown and Thistle which confused me - I thought I must be already in Scotland, but I was still 6 miles from the border. Evidence that the border has moved.

(the thistle is the Scottish National plant. English pubs are called the Crown and Rose)

I made it to Scotland!

Lockerbie for lunch

And staying in Moffat.

The accent is a lot stronger than Penrith.

Can tell it’s Scotland. I had porridge for breakfast.

There was an insane hill, called the Devils Beef Tub to climb out of Moffat. It was 7 miles long and took me an hour twenty - and I didn’t walk or stop once! I must be getting fitter 😀

Then I was in the Southern Uplands. Gorgeous. Once again felt like I was in Game of Thrones

Had lunch at Biggar

And then I left game of thrones and entered higwarts. The hut says ‘Hagrids Hut’ on it

Am now in a nice hotel in Livingston, just out of Edinburgh.

Today was tough. I was sore from yesterdays mammoth effort and had an equally hard day today.

Found it very hard to get my head right today.

Can tell it’s Scotland because it’s cold. Had to wear my long fingered gloves today.

Country park I rode through to get to Queensferry

Started off the day by meeting Sarah who has just finished LEJOG, in Queensferry

Then \240I crossed the Forth bridge

I’ve never been north of Edinburgh, so it was a big milestone.

Lunch in Kinross

And staying tonight in Perth

A perfect day today. Very scenic. On cycle route 7 all day.

The highlands

Lunch at Dunkeld

This gate lead to the nicest cycle route I’ve ever been on. Cycle route 7

Staying at Pitlochry

Although Strava only recorded 24 miles - I actually did 45. You can see the straight line where there was no internet reception.

I was really worried about crossing the Cairngorms today and got myself into a right state.

But I stopped here at 9 miles and the universe sent me a guardian angel. A lovely man called Kevin who biked with me the rest of the day.

I’d been really really worried that the pass would be too hard but actually I didn’t even notice I was going uphill.

The highlands actually look a lot like New Zealand

Staying in Kingussie tonight.

Throughout the country the stones change colour. Here in Scotland everything is this colour stone and the Victorian schools look like this - which is different to how they look in England

Found a pagan stone circle

Inverness is lovely

Todays ride was my longest yet - but absolute magic. I loved it.

Another hill. That’s 3 mountains in 3 days.

The second to last day and I’m feeling sad that my adventure is coming to an end. I’d happily keep going.

Lairg. The lake (loch?) looks very pretty this morning

Crosswinds made cycling really dangerous and I had to walk sometimes to stop myself being blown into traffic

Tongue - The North Coast!!!!!

Bettyhill

My hotel in Bettyhill

Biggest bowl of porridge ever. The waitress wanted to know if I wanted whiskey on it 😀

The Orkney islands

Lunch in Thurso

I think the last 20 miles from Thurso to John O’Groats was the best / easiest of the whole trip. A lovely ride along National cycle route 1, with the wind in my favour