Day 20
June 30th - From Perranporth to Land's End

Nearly there. It was a weird feeling when I woke up this morning to know that this would be my last day on the road. I wasn't exactly sure how many miles I had left but I guessed it was less than 50 which should have made it an easy ride.
When I looked out of the window the weather matched the forecast and it was raining steadily but I wanted to get going so I got the waterproofs on and went down the hill into Perranporth town. Even at 9.30 on a wet Saturday morning there were still plenty of surfer-dudes out and about. I found a cafe, had a bacon sandwich and a coffee, stocked up on snickers bars and then set off up the big hill out of town. I headed south and got on the A30 after a few miles by which time my feet felt as though I was standing in two buckets of water. The road was fairly flat compared to what had gone before and I reached Hayle by midday. I found a cafe and stopped for a cream tea. The cafe owner said she had just had another cyclist in doing John O'Groats to Land's End and asked me to sit at the table he used as it was already wet ! I guessed it was the chap I met in Boscastle as he was an hour or two ahead of me then. As I arrived the rain was easing off but by the time I left it was chucking it down harder than ever but according to the map Hayle was half way between Perranporth and Land's End so I then knew I only had about 20 miles to go.
The last stretch seemed to take forever, probably because I was constantly checking the gps to see how far I had gone. At times I thought it had seized-up again as it was changing so slowly. With about 10 miles to go a large group of motorbikers with what looked like a police escort overtook me and a couple of miles after that my own car with Tony at the wheel went past me. It was nice to see the old thing again after 3 weeks, and the car ! At least I knew there would be someone there to meet me at the finish which was now only 6 miles away.
Eventually Land's End came into view and not a moment too soon. I crossed the finish line at 3pm, 20 days after leaving John O'Groats having done, if my maths is correct, 1189 miles. I found Tony and we made our way towards the signpost for the photos. On the way there I met the other end-to-ender I had been behind and he said he had done 1492 miles. If he had taken the direct route he could have turned around at Land's End and been back to Edinburgh by then - not as much fun though.
When we got to the signpost we found Land's End commercialism at its worst. There was a fence around the signpost and the chap said I could only have my photo taken next to it if I paid him, wait for it, £9.50 for the privilege. I'm far too polite to tell him where he could stick his £9.50 and settled for having some photos taken in front of the fence with the signpost in the background. I was not impressed.
We loaded the bike and the bags into the back of my car and decided it would be best if Tony drove home as my feet still weren't moving too well. We stopped for the slowest fast-food in history at a MacDonalds in Penzance and met the group of motorbikers who passed me on the way to Land's End. They were from Barnstaple and were planning to ride from Land's End to John O'Groats and then back again to raise money for several different charities. On the way home I was glad I finished when I did as the rain was torrential in places. If I had been one day behind I really would have got a drenching.
So that's it for my end-to-end trip. All in all, things couldn't have gone much better - brilliant weather when I wanted it, fantastic scenery, no crashes, no major mechanical problems and only about 4 wet days in 3 weeks. It's been a sight-seeing tour, a fitness regime, a geography lesson and 20 days I won't forget in a hurry. Now I'm off to plan my next rollicking adventure.

Paul Harman

The Routemap

The Speed (in blue) and the Elevation (in green).