The Night Riviera home

It's now been a week since we finished and in the rush to get my life at home organised and re-adjust to the 9-5 of work I've not had time to write about the final leg of the journey.

We took another sleeper home from Penzance, the Night Riviera, back to Paddington station in London. This gets into London but they let you have breakfast as late at 6.30am which means a) you get a decent chance of sleep and b) you arrive in London early enough to take a bike on the tube which helps with getting home.

The Night Riviera was the best sleeper train I have ever taken. Newly refusbished carriages (i was lucky enough to get one) which had very comfortable beds, tons of USB charges and great lighting.

The lounge car is also very comfortable. A bit more traditional lay out than the Caledonian sleeper, but somehow felt bigger. As well as having a well stocked bar, we were allowed to drink our own drinks on the train.

Having had a good night's sleep (obviously 60 hilly miles helped) - I put my cycle on the tube to Richmond, and from there cycled the shortish (4 miles - in relative terms nothing!) home to say hi to my family. I even made it in time to take my excited daughter to school!

Day 17 part 2 - from Redruth to where the land runs out

At first, it was the land on the right that vanished. The deep blue line of the sea taking its place on the horizon. Then further on the land on the left ran out, but a new hillock on the right hand side meant that we still only had the ocean on one side.

But when we passed the hill, the ocean was on both sides. The rolling up and down roads had ended and now it was more or less a gentle descent to the end. The sun was out, it was finally hot and in the distance we could see the houses and churches of Sennen, the last village.

As we neared the land in front of us shrank, and soon we could see the end, support team waving. Hugs and delight at finishing. We rushed to the sign post at the back of the visitors centre for photos.

And that was it - wow what a journey! I think in my head I'll still be pedalling for days. Those last sections in Cornwall, the unrelenting up and down, was harder than the days through the mountains in Scotland.

But today, by Redruth we had broken the back of the journey. We picked up a great cycle path from Redruth through Camborne. Then a bit of climbing to Hayle, and from there a flat ride towards Penzance.

The worst bit, turning into the bay at Penzance, was the headwind. Ferocious and constant. Gre

at for windsurfing, sucks for cycling.

WE MADE IT!!!!!!

Day 17 - when the land runs out

30 miles to go. We've spent the morning riding up and down the Cornish countryside. Lots of up and some perilous downs on narrow lanes. Now we are close, the sun has come out and on top of the hills we can see the sea again. Soon we'll start running out of land and have the sea on 3 sides.

Day 16 - the wettest day (West Devon to St Austell)

Reminiscing about all those summer holidays I had in Cornwall as a boy. The sound of the rain drumming on the windscreen. Watching the winds lash in the rain against our hotel window, nose pressed against the glass hoping it would stop and I could play outside. Feeling the first drops of rain sat on the beach and running for shelter. Hiding in a doorway for shelter whilst trying to enjoy and ice cream.

All these memories came flooding back on the ride today - the wettest day. For the first hour we had lovely sunshine, we even complained that we were too hot.

This all changed as we rode out of Oakhampton. We had seen the weather looming on Dartmoor, but we didn't reach it until we had done the long climb out of the town. Then we hit the excellent Granite way - a disused railway line rising gently into Dartmoor. A really excellent ride.

But as we approached, a cloud of drizzly rain envelopes us. As we progressed it got worse and worse. We were drenched. Tempers frayed. Route 27 turned from fine path into impassable muddy quagmire.

Sodden and hungry we pulled into the Trout and Tackle pub. Drying off we ate the most amazing trout for lunch, caught next door. The barman donated £20 to MSF and one of the other patrons gave us £4.

We hoped the weather would lift, it relented a little in Plymouth. But then got worse. As well as driving rain, the fog visibility reduced to about 10m.

The rain had turned many of the steep and narrow lanes into tricky surfaces. Slippery to climb up, treacherous to descend. With 30 miles left, and having already done an unreasonable amount of climbing (Cornwall is5 very up and down!) we decided that the narrow steep lanes were too dangerous. Instead we hit the main roads. Less traffic because it was later, and the rain seemed to have put people off, we made much quicker progress. If was still very hilly. But I love a good hill so i quite enjoyed the last run in. Big swèping descents, followed by a good grind uphill.

We've showered double quick and rushed out to get food before everything shuts. We'll need it for the last push to the end of Cornwall.

Day 15 - Taunton to West Devon

A relatively short day at 52 miles which was good for two reasons.

 Firstly we were a bit tired and emotional from following the exit poll and election results. And secondly day 16 is out last big day, and involves quite a bit of climbing.

We started out back on the canals out of Taunton, pretty much all the way to Tiverton. We stopped for lunch there by the river and then road up an incredibly big hill - sweaty work in the sunshine.

The last half of our day tracked along these hills. We are in between Dartmoor and Exmoor, and as we neared our campsite we could begin to see Dartmoor rise up in the distance.

I'd found a vinyard to stay at, quite remote stop but lovely place which i would happily bring the children to another time. Best thing here was being able to cook on an open fire, and then keep warm by the fire. At least till the rain came and forced us to sleep.

Day 14 - 72 miles from Chepstow to Taunton

I'm terrified of heights, so i didn't relish the prospect of  cycling across the Severn bridge first thing in the morning.

The bridge wasn't so bad. It is high bit there's a solid wide path and so my vertigo remained under control. The weather though was foil. Driving rain augmented by a strong side wind pelted our arms and faces like gunshot.

The rest of our journey was on quiet roads or canal paths except for a short A road stretch past the bridge where route 4 ran out and lorries pushed past us.

We diverted to meet Wills brother for lunch at Severn bridge. Lovely cafe, great omelette and wonderful home cooked proper chips.

We cycled through old railway lines and along canals - these were some of the best we have cycled on so far. On the Bridgewater - Taunton canal we passed lots of poll boxes, these are part of the WW2 Somerset stop line designed to slow an invasion launched from the West.

This was our flattest day, largely cycling across the Somerset levels. That's good. Resting our climbing legs because on Saturday, leg 16, we have our biggest climbing day of all into Cornwall!

3 miles from our campsite we got our first puncture for 3 1/2 days. It was Wills 8th puncture so far!