Day 6 Rest Day. George's Blog



Apparently, so I've learned, as a non cycling day it's bloggers support night and Rich has asked his co pilot to come up with the goods... I'm sure his cycling expoloits are far more exciting than my blog but here we go!

Lets start from the beginning.....

Managing co-pilot support and trying to squeeze in sight seeing has been a little tricky a couple of times.  Planning and timing being critical.  I had a fantastic hour or so walk at Lands End on day 1, genuniely thought I'd have time to look at St Michael's Mount too.  But in the end a photo/drive by had to suffice in order to have time to catch up with Rich and get in a pub lunch. I did also have a quick look at the point where the Minack Theatre is, but you can't see the amphi-theatre unless you buy a ticket and go in (which I didn't have time for, maybe one day!). The view from the top of some of Cornwall's best West coast beaches near St Levan was amazing with such beautiful blue water.  I kept thinking Rich's cousin Lizzie would love to see a Shakespeare play from here.

View from Land's End

View From Minack Theatre near St. Levan

Keeping close to Rich at times has turned out to be important on a few occasions, helping to lead Rich in to the accommodation at the end of that first day was one of them.  The B&B was on an unnamed road and Rich's bike sat nav wasn't getting him there.  He looked so pleased when I first turned up, I could see his grin - ear to ear! - from the car mirrors as I overtook him.  He later told me that at that point towards the end of Day 1 he was feeling particularly spent having had a steady and unrelenting flow of hills all afternoon, so seeing me really spurred him on.  When he finally finished he was actually still out of breath, which he hasn't been since.  The owners of the B&B came out and met him too which was such a lovely welcome. 

Rich has already put a lot about this first phase (days 1-5). But the trials for me have somewhat different. 

Day 2 - A reconnaisance of the point we were meeting our Plymouth friends at Dartmouth to ensure Rich didn't need to cycle off his route any distance.  Needless to say Ed and Caroline were spot on with their chosen meeting place and I worried unduly. 

Day 3 - trying to find a suitable pub at the right distance with my Dad and June in convoy was a bit of a fiasco.  Having driven past the first decent pub, tried to turn back only for Rich to catch up, then the next pub was grotty, the next they told us they were closed and finally where we ended up I had to walk back to flag Rich down so he didn't miss us, leaving Dad and June to get the drinks.  Thanks Dad - ever patient!

Day 4 - trying to find a birthday card for me from Rich as he'd left it at home and was fretting over it - but despite 3 village stops being unsuccesful

Day 5 - couldn't find a supermarket for our picnic lunch, actually spent an hour driving around before googling on my mobile.  Why oh why didn't I do that earlier, not rocket science!  Rich admitted he was getting a trifle hungry when we finally ate around 1.30pm...

Day 6 - today finally a rest for Rich having had his longest day in the saddle yesterday and finishing later around 6pm.  Spent the day with Mum and Graham. After a lay-in until 8am, for me 24 lengths of the swimming pool, then a leisurely breakfast, we set off on a drive around the Peak District and went to Buxton, Bakewell and Whaley Bridge.  Very picture-skew.  At Bakewell we hit the rural shops looking in the outdoor wear/walking gear shops for cycling "tights" for Rich - finally found something similar that will do the trick.  We all flashed our plastic around picking up some bargains in various sales.  Rich even managed to buy me a replacement birthday card (phew!).

We had lunch in a shop advertising itself as producing the original Bakewell pudding.  Fairly light lunch, sharing paninis and soup, then tucked in merrily to a taste test - the Bakewell Tart versus the Bakewell Pudding. Tough call as the former was homemade so better than anything you get in a shop, but the pudding which was hot and with custard and cream won the day.  We all talked of trying to make one at home another time.  It's a more like an egg custard filling than a cake and in a flaky pastry case.

When we got back to the hotel I managed another shorter swim, then steam and jaccuzzi, whilst Rich had his body massage.  The bit he said he was most impressed with was the massage around his knees (!!) but he came back rather oily (I did warn him), so had to have a second shower to get it off.

Tomorrow I'm dropping Rich back where he finished in Disley just down the road, then back to the hotel for a facial.  Trickier route tomorrow with a rough plan to meet for lunch just before Halifax.  We've got into a good routine of studying the route, comparing the map to what my sat nav comes up with and the likely distances.

Both of us felt it's been nice to be in one place more than one night - unpacking and packing is a bit tiresome.

George