Day 3 - At Teath to Barnstable

Awoke at 0500 to the soft pitter patter of rain so after a quick dash to the toilet I started to pack under the tree next to my tent. I had to put on my cycling top which I had washed last night and was hanging up to dry. It wasnt dry so not the most pleasant thing to do but this isn't the first time I've had to do it. Rabbits were everywhere bounding around in the early morning mist because once again there was a fog. I packed, had my granola and almond milk, a quick cup of coffee and then headed off.

I took Lee's advise from yesterday and kept away from the coast as it's extremely rugged and with the fog I would have seen nothing. Instead I stayed inland and headed for Bude which I reached about 0900 just in time for my second breakfast which was an overnight oats and cup of tea. Tried to find some more camp food but nothing was available so I headed off taking a much more inland route as there is no good road along the coast.

The ride was glorious, the Cornish countryside rolled by as I pedalled my way through small back roads. The fields smelled of fresh earth, crops and of course cows:) there are so many. Again I had to put on my hi-visibility vest as some of the roads were busy, bit of a worry as some of the roads were very narrow with low visibility corners.

Made it to a place called Torrington where there was a massive derelict building which used to be the second largest dairy in Europe. Popped into a pub only to find out it was a Thai restaurant, but I did come across the tarka trail https://tarkatrail.org.uk/ which I followed all the way to Barnstable via Bideford. Was a magnificent ride through over 20kms of flat countryside. I popped into the bike shop which I had visited in 2019 and from there to a campsite which is where I had a shower, cooked food and recharged my devices

Check out my activity on Strava: https://strava.app.link/VNL7vE09Orb

Day 2 - Mary's Well to St Teath

Early to rise, must have been about 0500, packed everything up and made myself a breakfast of granola and Almond milk. The site was very quiet but at about 0600 the baby in the caravan next to me started crying and woke them all up. The husband looked really young until I realised it was an older son! 

It hadnt rained overnight but there was a heavy fog rolling in from the sea. Visibility was no more have 500 meters so I decided not to take any roads close to the coast as there would be no point, would have all the pain with none of the gain, as in all the hills with none of the views. Instead I found a route to Newquay using back roads that took me slightly more inland. Their were still hills but nothing like yesterday. I had to follow the main A road for the last few miles so on went my hi-visibility vest just to be safe

I arrived in Newquay in time for breakfast and treated myself to tea and a smoked salmon baggle. Newquay is one of the centers for surfing and there were loads of shops catering for surfers. It started to rain so I put waterproof covers on both the bags on the bike. By the time I had finished my second breakfast the fog had lifted so I decided to follow the coast to Padstow.

The hills came back with a vengeance as the coast was incredibly "lumpy". The views though were wonderful and by lunch time I had arrived. Padstow was full of tourists as this is a very popular place to visit. It's also overpriced and has become beloved by rich people from the London area. The town was awash with expensive cars. After an expensive cheese and pickle sandwich I took the ferry across to Rock.

The afternoons ride was hard as the sun came out and was relentless. At one point I lay down beneath a tree and took a break. Just to make things perfect half my gears stopped working so I only had the high gears left which are not the ones you need for hills!!

Like a man staggering across the desert hoping in vain to find an oasis I came across a pub where I had a refreshing drink and chatted to the barman. Lee was very helpful and we discussed various options of how to get to Bude. I ruled out the bus and decided in the end for a campsite close by.

Lovely site where I had a hot shower, did some washing and made myself some food. The hosts were very nice and allowed me to charge all devices but even nicer was the lady in the caravan next to my pitch who came across and offered me a cup of tea. Lovely chat, turned out she was from Castleford which is the village next to Washington where Susies cousin lives and where we stayed in a castle a few years ago. Was asleep by 2100 and this time I found my pillow 

Check out my activity on Strava: https://strava.app.link/WKhLWSi8Orb

Day 1 - Penzance to Mary's Well

Did you know that peacocks wake up and start calling to each other 2 hours before dawn. 0330!! It was a miracle that I slept until 0530 but along with a couple of others I have up, packed up camp and headed out back to Penzance. Found a cafe doing breakfast and treated myself to a veggie breakfast and a cup of tea. Had a lovely chat with Pete as we shared the same table. He used to be in TV and we had some great conversation around the Falklands as his production team was the first to report on the dangers of the Exocet middle.

I left the cafe very motivated for the day ahead. Little did I know that today was going to be the brutal and hardest cycling I have done on a long time.

The ride around to Mousehole via Newlyn was a delight. St Michael's mount was clearly visible (unlike last time when driving rain obscured everything and made my last day a misery). The hill out of Mousehole was wicked and a portent of what was to come. Lumpy doesn't do it credit as it was uphill and downdale all the way to Lands End

Lands End was closed, well at least all the shops they had there. Set off for St Ives and it was a very hard ride indeed (which is an understatement) when you consider I am doing this with a Brompton carrying maybe 30kg of gear. Pushing my little bike up all the hills was exhausting and checking my Fitbit my pulse was pretty constant at 150! Google maps also had me going down some wierd routes which were not roads!!!

Had a break at St Ives, was so tired I just grabbed the first menu and ordered my food which turned out to be from the children's menu!! Actually the portion was good, no wonder there are so many fat teenagers!!

St Ives is lovely except the climb out is horrendous and takes forever. I tried to keep in the shade but the temperature was upmat 29 and it was scorching, thank goodness I had factor 50 otherwisw I would have been burnt to a crisp. 

I honestly don't know how I made it through the afternoon. Constantly stopping, drinking (btw Lands End wtf was in your water it's undrinkable) pushing my bike up endless hills and the amazing scenery

I have spent way too much time moaning about the hills and haven't mentioned the scenery.  The Atlantic to my left, sweeping vistas and the constant reminder of the Tin mining makes this part of the coast an amazing place. Add to that the villages and the history they represent really brings home to me what it is to be part of this land. I was born in Devon which is the next county I am entering, Cornwall is my mother's home, this whole area sings to me

The afternoon passed in a blur of me cursing the weather, the hills, the heat, the hills oh and the hills. Around Portreath I decided to call it quits (80 km with 1.1km of uphill). However the first campsite had no internet so I relocated to another which had amazing showers and a pub 10 mins walk away. So hear I am in a local pub listening to the locals having a jam session and chatting to the barmaid who has only left Cornwall to go to Cardiff

I love my life

Check out my activity on Strava: https://strava.app.link/EubuCuITLrb

 

Day 0 - Brighton to penzance

One of the problems with returning to where I previously ended my bike ride is when it's at the end of the world or in this case Penzance.

Susie made a last minute suggestion that I started my bike trip one day earlier because of the distance to travel. One of the suggestions was to go anti-clockwise and cycle up to around Kings Lynn which actually a good idea as we planned to pick up a hired car at Gatwick after my cycling. However with a heatwave predicted in South East England it was decided to head to the South West and pick up from where I left off on 2019

The train up to London bridge was pretty uneventful but getting across to Paddington was a nightmare. I need to completely re-evaluate how to do this as the combined bike, T bag and backpack was very cumbersome and heavy.

The train to Penzance was a nightmare. The one had been cancelled so we had double the passengers. Add to that this that service required a change in Plymouth which was cancelled and that the train that we eventually caught had no functioning Aircon it was a miracle I got to Penzance at all. It was getting dark but I found the camp, put up the tent in the dark and fell asleep

Day 7 - Somewhere outside Nyköping to Stockholm

Well my plans to share the melon with my German neighbors came to nothing as they went off for a walk, so i ate the melon myself and very tasty it was indeed. Read until the light became too dim and then settled down to sleep. Was briefly woken when the occupants of the rather dilapidated caravan next to my pitch cam home. There was some sort of discussion between them and the Germans plus a couple of dogs barking but I paid no attention and fell asleep again

Woke at 0400, finished off the little food I have left and packed up the tent. Was on the road by 0530 just as the sun was poking its way over the trees. The road to Stockholm is one i know well from here as I have cycled in this area a few times and Trosa which is just around the corner is somewhere I sometimes cycle to on a Sunday

The roads were deserted and few cars passed me as I slowly made my way back to familiar territory. I passed this way back in July 2009 when I cycled from Stockholm to Malmö and found a couple of roads that I took back then that I haven't had the chance to explore since. It bought back memories of how things were for me back then and how my legs ached. I even remember that this area was where I had to disappear behind a stack of felled logs to liberally apply some shammy cream to my cycling shorts.

All the villages were asleep, nothing was open. Reached the ferry Skänssundet only to have missed it by 2 minutes, this seems to be a repeating pattern as i missed my previous ferry by 2 minutes and both of these ferries left at 0800. So made a quick cup of soup and waited. On the other side chatted with a young German cyclist heading back to Hamburg and we discussed  routes. He was heading to Västervick which is nice enough but having just cycled from Vadstena and the Göta Canal I suggested maybe that was a nicer route, problem with the Swedish East coast are the large E roads

Found a delightful cafe that had just opened at 0900 on road to Tumba so had a quick bite to eat. Once i hit the out suburbs of Stockholm is was just head down and cycling as fast as possible to get home. Dropped by the Gamla Stan store where I had bought my Brompton 2 years ago to report that it had worked as planned to do touring with it and to get some idea why the gears weren't working so well. Turns out i need to keep the bike a lot cleaner, something that i am pretty bad at doing, so will have to give that a go and see if it makes a difference

Made it home, had a shower and then we all went out for a celebratory full English breakfast at the new Greasy Spoon on Södermalm. Great to be home and to see Susie again though I must admit I am really tired

618.8 KM in 7 days of which 2 of them were basically half days (the first day just getting to Bredang and the day I arrived in Vadstena. When I look at the mileage its basically the same that I was doing on a full sized bike with no load but this time on a folding bike with 18" wheels and full camping gear. So I am pretty happy with what I have achieved

As always though I am left with a feeling that I could have done more, I was just getting into my rhythm and now its time to stop. And as always I am left wondering what's next and where I can go with my little bike and what adventures I can have. I feel both happy and sad every time I come home. Sad that the adventure is over for another year but happy to see Susie and home

Check out my activity on Strava: https://strava.app.link/C75FWD1WJib

Day 6 - Söderköping to middle of nowhere outside Nyköping

Awesome idea to spend the night in the little room. Tent dried out nicely and my powerpack got a decent charge. Was well awake before dawn. First though i gave my room a good clean and repacked the bags and in the process found 2 things that i had misplaced. Filled the flasks with boiling water and on the road by 0630.

Decided today was going to be a slower day and was determined to examine the route a bit closer and not just barrel down the roads suggested by Google maps. After yesterdays cycling aloing the Göta Kanel i was hoping for something similiar today especially as i have actually done this route before when i came the other way from Stockholm to Malmö

First of all i ignored the suggestion presented and took off blindly down the Kanel following it all the way to Mems where i was able to cross over using a lock. Then i spied the signs for the "Kust Linjen" and knew that I could effectively follow these and forget Google completely as this the official bike route to Stockholm

Glorious cycling. Briefly stopped for a coffee and met 2 German cyclists heading to Stockholm. Was able to pass on my advice of camp sites and the route to use as well as things to see in Stockholm

Lovely lunch in Nyköping as a cafe that Susie and i found years ago. Nice big healthy salad, feels like forever since i have had such good food. Bumped into my German friends again briefly before heading off

Called in at Nynäs Slott a lovely old estate just close to where i camped for the night. Chatted with the lady in the shop, turned out she was a tour guide (though not doing any tour guiding atm of course because of Covid) and we happily exchanged travel stories. She said i should write a book, maybe i will :) My German friends popped up again and said hello

Arrived at the camp, only 100 SEK so a good bargain. Toilets and showers included though no kitchen, thats ok though as i have plenty of boiling wateer and was prepared. Good book, nice food and a chat with my German friends as they are camped next to me. Last night in the tent and home tomorrow. Plan to make an early start and head up to Tumba and jump on the Pendeltag. Will be nice to see Susie and maybe go for a nice meal somewhere

Check out my activity on Strava: https://strava.app.link/PON72sY4Gib

Day 5 - Vadstena to Söderköping

Last night was just lovely, watched sunset and listened to the pitter patter of the rain. My end of the harbour was very quiet with only the occassional dog walker so i was able to sit under the trees and watch Vadstena go to sleep

A good nights sleep though i woke often. Not that i am unfortable but its just a sleeping back is so restrictive in allowing to move around. I did sort out my pillow problem by using my clothes in stuff bag plus the inflating pillow so all good there. Woke at dawn to the geese honking and a lovely sunrise 

My plan lastnight before going to bed was to stop here in Vadstena for another night and then catch the train home on Friday. However after chating with Susie and with Covid still out there and the fact i have 2 (3 if i need it) days to get back we decided that maybe i could cycle back

So having had breakfast and feeling strong and in positive spirits I set off with Söderköping as the destination for the day. 

45 minutes down the road in the middle of nowhere at about 0800 i had a puncture in the rear tyre. I was supprised its taken as long as this to get one as my Brompton has given be cause for concern with its tyres but i was really hoping that these marathons that i have on would be good enough. Nevermind I thought i have a couple of spare inner tubes so stopped to fix the puncture. Big problem. 

The Brompton has a unique design to its gearing which means to remove the back wheel  you need to undo the gears and remove them first. They are held on by a custom nut and a small chain like cable with an adjuster on it that you unscrew. The cable then parts and you can remove in before undoing the nuts, gears and eventually the back wheel. No matter how much i tried i could not for the life of me get the adjuster to undo so i could remove the cable. Looked at the YouTube video a dozen times to see what i waa doing wrong and there was nothing i was doing that looked wrong

I had no choice but to walk back the way i had come and wait for a bus to take me to Motala. Then i had to wait for the bike sho to open before the owner (thanks Mats!!!) supplied me with wisdom, condolenses and tools. He was able to use some grips to get the adjuster to undo and then left me too it. I was able to remove the wheel, replace the tube and put everything back together (during which i found that the bike shop had put a couple of the nuts back on upside down). Pumnped up the tyres according to sugested PSI (which by the was far higher than i had them before which is probably why i got the puncture and a reason why its been such hard work!). The gears are very fiddily to calibrate so again watched a video and experimented until the gears worked. I still need to look at the other gear changer but at least i have back what i started with

The route down to Söderköping meant I had to pass through Linkoping but before getting there i was to pass through some lovely countryside. Farmers are out in force with the combine harvesters collecting the wheat and it was down one of these country lanes that my back pack went flying into a ditch. I forgottent to attach the complete set of bungies and hence it wasnt secure enough. Luckily no damage but a few kilometers later my route took me down the side of the Göta canal where losing my rucksack would have been potentially disasterous!. The route down to Berg was an absolute delete. My tyres at the right PSI, the level path and no traffic meant i was flying. My average speed was 50% higher than previous days

At Linkoping i was able to buy a couple of more insrtant meals from XXL before following the route to Söderköping and checking into the camp site there. Was a bit miffed that they wanted to charge 290 SEK for my tent. They had a vandrehem but that cost 680 SEK but then they said they had a room in one of the old out buildings for 350 SEK so i took that. At only 60 SEK more (cost of a coffee nowadays) i was able to plug everything in to recharge as well as sit at a table and write my blog in peace and quiet. 

So what started out as a high and then hit a pretty big low has turned out just fine. Now just need to decide how to get home

Check out my activity on Strava: https://strava.app.link/GHOgUejtFib

Check out my activity on Strava: https://strava.app.link/SNSL1tltFib