Well we made it! Stopped off in Redruth to visit Keltek Brewery. A small but successfull Cornish brewery who’s other half of business deals in fibre optic cables. We were kindly given a few beers that we’ll try tomorrow and write about when we’re back.

Then the final 25 miles to Land’s End. Other than being the destination if you’ve left John O’ Groats, I cannot see any other reason to go there. It’s basically a tacky pier on a headland.

Checked into our last hostel, very nice again and already looking forward to breakfast and sleeping past 7am.

Also… waves look good today, crappy cream tea, best baguette yet, met a fellow end to ender, curry night in Wetherspoons, pissing it down with rain now

Location:Penzance,United Kingdom

Total Distance: 71 miles
Time Cycling: 5hrs 30mins
Average Speed: 13.1mph
Top Speed: 50mph!!! in a 40mph zone, with a broken wheel!

Heavy rain delayed start but cleared up quickly. First 40 miles to St Austell went pretty smoothly then SNAP! Another snapped spoke.

We now had 4 spokes missing all on the same side of the wheel, it could buckle completely at any second. We limped into Halfords but they didn’t have any spokes and said the nearest (proper) bike shop was in Truro. Halfords kindly let us leave our bike there and we hopped on the train to Truro with our rear wheel.

We found Clive Mitchell cycles and they did a super quick repair in the time it took us to drink a pint of St Austell Proper Job. But it wasn’t quite quick enough, we sprinted to the station and missed our train by seconds. Full of fish and chips we caught the train back to St Austell an hour later and were on the road to Perranporth at 7pm.

It was dark by 8pm and we wouldn’t have been to cycle without our Exposure light. It was amazing, even down the dark country lanes.

So after an eventful day we made it to the hostel and now have a pint of Betty Stoggs in hand.

40 miles to Land’s End and 1 brewery tomorrow. What could possibly go wrong?

Location:Beach Rd,,United Kingdom

Total Distance: 70 miles
Time Cycling: 5hrs 15mins
Average Speed: 13.7mph

Sunny, flat and fast in the morning. Wet, hilly and slow in the afternoon. 2 more snapped spokes so 4 in total, just hope the wheel holds for the last 100 miles (déjà vu Montpellier!)

Also… Coffee and scones, good local ales from Waitrose, big dinner of jacket potatoes, rain forecast tomorrow.

Total Distance: 58 miles
Time Cycling: 4hrs
Average Speed: 15mph
Top Speed: 40mph

Our shortest day so far. We stopped off in Bath for a coffee which turned into 2, then lunch, then a pint. We then went to a small local brewery called Dawkin’s Ales and met Alex who showed us around. Unfortunately he didn’t have any of their ales to try but did load us up with 4 very good (and strong) bottles of Brewdog.

Quick dinner at the hostel and plenty of beers to lighten the trailer… 4 Wychwood, 2 Brewdog and a good chat with the hostel volunteers.

Just 3 days cycling left now, feels like we’re on the home straight (well away from home)

Total Distance: 70 miles
Time Cycling: 4hrs 30mins
Average Speed: 16mph
Top Speed: I’ll check tomorrow

Started the day with another great YHA breakfast… vege fry up, fruit, yoghurt, croissant, pain o chocolat, tea and coffee. Perfect.

It was only 35 miles to Witney and the Wychwood brewery which didn’t take long despite another problem with our rear wheel. A snapped spoke and lots of loose ones meant the wheel became untrue and rubbed against the frame (it was literally fine that morning). A quick coffee and a spoke key meant we were back on the road in 20 minutes.

We were greeted at the gates of Wychwood by Dave adn given a superb tour and brief history of the brewery. We had no idea just how many beers were brewed on site and the heritage behind Wychwood. Again, we’ll go into more detail when we’re back.

Fuelled by 7 different types of Wychwood and Brakspear beers (and a coke and coffee to sober up) we steamed down to Swindon and over the M4 to another YHA attached to a pub.

Off to Cheddar tomorrow and just 4 days cycling left.

Also… stingy landlord, almost hit a hawk/eagle/falcon, “Mummy, don’t forget to put potatoes in the soup this time”

Location:Wood St,,United Kingdom

John Burke heard about our adventure and decided to write this book, which is now an ‘all-action tv series”. He took a recent photo of Sam and I to use for the cover.

Location:Wood St,,United Kingdom

Total Distance: 77 miles
Time Cycling: 4hrs 30mins
Average Speed: 16mph
Top Speed: 39mph

Zoooooom! That was the sound of us speeding past you on the tandem. Flat terrain, fast roads and the wind on out back had us flying past Birmingham down to Stratford-Upon-Avon with a quick stop at Quartz Brewery. Finished the day at another fine Youth Hostel, a lovely local pub and some generous locals.

Also… cows in the road, lots of dual carriage way, early finish

Location:Warwick,United Kingdom

75 miles in just 4 and half hours today, plus a brewery. Time for a well earned pint Shakespeare Town.