nerves

Finally, the night before I leave for foreign shores and my mind is awash with so many small details. I think I am missing the virtue of the bigger picture here. Just spoken to my good friend Leslie on Skype. She is currently at home is the US after an operation. Apparently, they are not quite so well equipped in Rwanda. Anyway, I digress. It was great to her from her and it got me to thinking just what an adventure I have stretching out ahead of me. My cycling buddies from last year’s trip, Pete and Mary, were also on the phone tonight, wishing me luck with the tour. I really wish they were joining me.

This weekend was my dear friends Caroline and Duncan’s wedding, in wet and windy Devon. It was the best wedding I have been to in ages. So many friendly faces and a lot of gossip to catch up on. I think Caroline’s mother thinks I am nuts and there I cannot fault her. However, comfort zones are there to be lived both inside and outside of.

Now, time to go to be as I have a very long first day of cycling ahead of me tomorrow. I reckon about 90 miles through central London down to Dover. Apparently, the rain will fall hard so I envisage a tough day in the saddle. Something interesting to sink one’s teeth into.

So far, people have been pretty generous on the old charity donations. I have raised almost £750 on my Just Giving site. Child’s I Foundation, the charity I am raising money for posted a story about me on their blog today.

Saturday, 26th July

Finally, we are off. I boarded the train from Paddington to Penzance. Two stations down the line, Pete and Mary joined the train in Taunton. I was still worried that my bike was far too heavy yet equally concerned that I did not have all the kit I needed with me. However, once we got off the train at Penzance, the warm afternoon sun and calm roads soothed my worries.

We ended up cycling about 12 miles to the camp site, where we were greeted by perhaps the most hospitable campsite owners in the UK. They cracked open a few beers and chatted away to us for a while. The setting was serene and incredibly quiet, which was great as we needed to get some sleep.

Prior to sleep, we headed out to get some grub. However, Lands End ain’t London and nothing was open, so we ended up having to carve slithers off from the picnic table and garnish them with some woodlice. Nice.