Day 2 and day 3 – it must be time for a cream tea!

Sorry I couldn’t get online last night, we had an epic day out and then the B&B we stayed at was in a dip and NO signal for anything! 

I must first thank all of you for looking in and for all the wonderful comments of encouragement/good wishes that you have been posting.  I love reading them all, I’m sorry I can’t reply to all of them but all of a sudden my world has become rather busy.  I had visions or were the illusions of having balmy afternoons having ridden a couple of hours in the morning, lunch for an hour or so, a couple of hours in the afternoon, then relaxing in a holiday sort of way doing all sorts of things I’d like t do.
Pah!
It hasn’t worked that way so far.  As you know from the previous post, we had a good first day. Long, but good.  A taster of things to come.  It was no taster for day two let me tell you.  The best things that happened on day 2 were; it didn’t rain and we survived.  

I knew it was gong to be hard from the route that had been mapped out months ago by John, I also knew that he had picked the best route he could under the circumstances. 
Cornwall is a beautiful place.  I already knew this from family holidays and numerous dive trips down to this most Southern tip of England.  Indeed we saw many beautiful, nay, stunning views on our cycle through – but I never, NEVER remembered the hills being quite so frequent.  I guess that’s how it goes when you’re in a car. 
When we were training and rode such hills as Devil’s Dyke, Houghton Hill and Duncton Hill, we were reliably informed that we would meet nothing more sinister than these on our trek across this wonderful land that is The British Isles.  I never in my wildest dreams imagined that we would ride nothing but hills such as these for nearly 7 hours in one day!!!
OMG!  We worked hard yesterday.  There were of course hills to sail down too, but I sware te up-hills for out-numbered the down.  If any of my co-riders would like to put me straight, go for it!  

At top of a very long hill on Dartmoor.

We arrived in – of I’ve forgotten the name now – somewhere in Devon, at 7:30, tired, hungry and ready for a sit down.  Our first trial was finding somewhere in this sleepy town that served food – A. on a Sunday night.  B. after 8:00pm.  Finally the White Horse to the rescue.  They were open ’til 9 for food, giving John time to pack our bikes in the van for the trip back to the B&B.  Thanks again John for all your hard work.  We feasted on pizza and beer/wine, piled in the van, back to the B&B and collapsed into bed.  There I would have blogged, but NO signal I’m afraid.
58 miles, in 6 hours 51 minutes – mph ? but low. 

This morning we woke to get ready for a smaller ride only to find it beginning to rain.  I’m afraid this was only to get worse, and despite our best efforts to keep warm and dry, we were all feeling sodden by the end of the day.  At least the ride was more forgiving.  John took us back to where we had finished the night before in the van, and off we set.  Although early in the ride there were two substantial hills, the rest of the day was much more what were used to on our training rides.  It was almost a pleasure – no it was really – to be riding again in what felt like a more manageable way.  I think we all we relieved that it was not a shadow on the day before’s exploits! 
Still no injures, and no substantial falls we’re well on track with our goal.   
In the last two days we have managed to ride between 2 and 3 mph, climb up a 10% hill, ride down a 20% hill and cover another 103 miles, making 161 miles in all.
Phew!  😉 

Tomorrow  we have a half day, stopping just before Bristol to catch up on washing, paperwork and meeting with family and friends.  Should be a hoot, though I suspect not that restful!!  I will try to blog again there, but as always am not sure how the signal/wi-fi access will be. 
Do keep watching, and for those of you who may be new to my blog, don’t forget, you can scroll all the way back to March to see how far I’ve come, or indeed sponsor me through the link on the right or sometimes at the bottom of the page for Just Giving, to help me raise money for The Alzheimer’s Society in memory of my father who had this debilitating disease.

Thank you again for all your comments and best wishes, now I must get some sleep….I’ll try and be in touch tomorrow, stay in touch,

Beth xx         p.s.  sadly no creams teas really!

Sleepy bods after mega day's ride.