Day 2 - Newquay to Okehampton

That was a tough day! The map says 63 miles - you can see it by clicking here. If you do look at the map, also take a look at the Elevation Profile (click on the word "Show" in the top left of the Bikely.com map) - you will see that we did over 4,100 feet of climbing and it feels like it!!

We were later getting started than we intended as a result of Stephen fiddling around while mistakenly under the impression that breakfast was at 8 o’clock rather than 7.30. As it transpired this was a blessing in disguise. While eating breakfast overlooking the sea we could see storm clouds all round and it soon started to rain heavily. Fortunately by the time we had finished packing and retrieved the bikes it had just about finished. If we had left half an hour earlier we would have been soaked!

Although we encountered a couple more showers later in the morning they were brief and nowhere near as heavy as the earlier one. And our friend, the South-westerly wind continued to blow helping us up the hills to come!

We climbed steadily out of Newquay passing Spitfire Corner near the RAF station at St Megwan.



Not long after, we reluctantly joined the A39 as it was the only obvious way of avoiding crossing Bodmin Moor. Most of the time this busy road was tolerable but every now and then a car or a lorry would hurtle past far too close for comfort. (A message to all you drivers out there. Please, please, please, if the road is narrow and there is traffic coming the other way, then just wait a few seconds until you can see that it is safe to pass while giving cyclists enough room. After all, you will only be a few seconds later joining the next queue behind a lorry or tractor or stopping at the next red light!)

After Wadebridge the climbing started in earnest as we skirted around the western and northen edges of the moor. Every so often there was a downhill but that only caused our hearts to drop even further because we knew that we would be going up the other side on our way to almost 1,000 feet above sea level.

After passing the summit of the day’s climbing we turned off the A roads (thankfully) onto much more enjoyable minor country roads all the way to Launceston. Just the other side of the town in the words of a dimly remembered song from Stephen’s childhood we “crossed the Tamar land to land” and entered Devon after 100 miles in Cornwall. Cue the first picture of county signs - Christine’s aim is to get a photo each time we cross a border.




The Devon hills (at least so far) aren’t quite as steep as the Cornish ones but they keep coming! But there were a lot of them and as we tired they got harder than they looked. Thankfully, the last two miles into Okehampton were all downhill - although that does not bode well for tomorrow morning of course!