Signed off from work yesterday, ate a fine dinner with Naomi and Paul, got a good night’s sleep and now it is time to get going. Have everything on my list packed, I hope the list is right!
Fully packed bike at Horsley train station
Caught the 7:52am from Horsley to Guildford, then the 8:17am from Guildford to Reading. I have no idea whether I was allowed to take my bike on the second train because it was operated by GWR instead of SWT as I erroneously expected. This note is my segue to a little rant about the privatized and split up British Rail. When I grew up there was one national railway company, you could get a ticket from anywhere to anywhere, and the rules were pretty uniform. Now, if you want to take a bike on trains in different parts of the county you have to work out which of about 20 companies runs each service, check their rules, and make bike reservations through their (bad) websites. What a mess for a small county!
Notwithstanding my complaints, I had worked out the human and bike reservations on the GWR train from Reading to Penzance. A very comfortable train that was speedy until it started weaving through Cornwall. Arrived Penzance just after 3pm, no pirates in sight. The sun came out as I rode the 45 minutes to Land’s End. A cliffy promontory that I used to visit with the climbing club from Southampton University so many years ago. Increasingly misty as I arrived with the rocks and lighthouse out to the west coming in and out of view.
I decided to get the obligatory Land’s End sign photo today, in case the weather is less good tomorrow morning.
The obligatory Land’s End sign photo
I’m staying at the Land’s End Hostel which is about a mile from Land’s End. Niko, my very friendly host, showed me around. After a shower and such I then wandered to the First and Last Inn for dinner, another old haunt from Southampton University climbing club days. Early to bed, I start for real in the morning!
First and Last Inn, Sennen, Cornwall
Not really a cycling day but did 13 miles with 1,100 feet elevation gain.