Land's End!

The Wheel Inn, St Austell - Seemed apt!

A super early start today so I could aim to finish about lunchtime.  I had been persuaded on the camp to change my route from the A30 and take the A390 instead through St Austell to Truro before joining the A30 again above Redruth.  Whilst Truro was stunning, I had not taken into account the huge climbs on this route which, along with a time pressure, made it rather hard work!

Truro Cathedral

Once back on the A30 things seemed to settle. It's a fast  and fairly flat road so I was soon whizzing into Penzance having pretty much given it everything I had got. 

But again the hills would test me again - the last 10 or so miles seemed to be entirely uphill. 

With two miles to go my knee popped and I had to stop and give it serious TLC.  In a way it seemed frustrating that it had lasted all this way to possibly let me down at the last hurdle.  However, it was an apt reminder that I was not doing this in my own strength and this made me thankful and focussed my thoughts for the last couple of miles.

The very last stretch was downhill and Mum and Dad were there to cheer me over the finish line, along with a few tourists, which was a little embarrassing!

The End!



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My t-shirt on the ceiling!

Land's End itself is sadly rather commercialised and we even had to pay for the iconic photo finish.  We had a hearty meal at the First and Last Inn and they have added my t-shirt to the many others on the ceiling, making me part of a family of End to Enders!  I even chatted to a couple of guys who had also finished today and seemed a bit surprised that I had cycled it on my own.

I'm going to take a little while to reflect on the journey and will do one last post when it's all had time to sink in!





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