Monday, June 17

The second day brought us a fresh start and — after a bit of excitement on the A30 again out of Three Burrows — our first of several flats.

Retyn, Newquay

While I was fixing the flat, a gent about our age — but far fitter — whizzed past us in the opposite direction. We called to him and he stopped and chatted with us for a few minutes. He was on Day 10 of Jogle — John o’ Groats to Land’s End — and had the goal in sight. We didn’t detain him long.

Not long after fixing the flat and setting out confidently again, we came to the cycle path that wasn’t: a cow pasture full of mud and brambles, and 99 44/100% free of actual path. And yet Google Maps insisted this was a cycling path that was the quickest route to our next way station.

Goss Moor

Snail’s Pace Cafe, St. Breward, Bodmin

Lunch turned out to be one of the true and rare gustatory delights of the trip: Goat’s cheese burgers.

Many hours of climbing later, and getting through much rain, we found ourselves speeding downhill through puddles of mud. I was in the lead and with Kuroko’s fat tires I was splashing fearlessly through the opaque puddles and the broken pavement they were hiding. Fearless Leader Joe on his skinnies did not fare quite as well, and soon had a pinch flat — although it took some time for him to catch up enough to get my attention. We pulled off at a likely looking farm gate to sort out the pinched inner tube.

Hatherleigh

Not 10km later we rolled into Hatherleigh. It was 8 p.m. and I could see from our route that we had 20km of climbing to go before reaching our goal for the day. With rain (again) in the offing, we decided to seek out lodgings where we were.

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