Monday 18th July 2022, 111.97km, 1,904m

An early start to the day as there were 2 ferries to catch before lunch. The morning was a nice temperature and relatively calm for the first couple of hours. It wasn’t long before we were climbing again and then descending through some narrow country lanes and then descending very quickly to the brew stop at Looe.

After a fast descent the road has to go up again (it’s the rule on LEJOG…what goes down must go back up). Climbing out of Looe I found myself on the wheel of John from the US. We rode until the next ferry together; he’s 73 and a retired architect. We came across a great sign “No through road, your sat nav is lying”. I wonder how many people had driven down that track before realising that something wasn’t right.

The second ferry crossing of the day took us to Plymouth and the lunch break. From here it was a gradual climb to the start of Dartmoor along the Plym Valley. We’re still not sure where we went wrong but we found ourselves walking our bikes through some woods before we found tarmac again. We’d also formed a nice little group; myself, Martin, Jasmine, Vicky, James, Paul & Stef. It was great riding with other people and chatting about the ride and commenting on how hot it was getting. Thankfully, the trail was pretty shady but that was about to change.

Once off the trail and onto the road we were in full sun and it was hot. The heat was physically draining and I was exhausted by the time we got to the afternoon brew stop. I sat in the open door of the van with my eyes closed for about 5 minutes. Looking back we could see how far we’d climbed but knew the climbing wasn’t over.

A long brew stop meant the rest of the group had left before I was ready to go but eventually I got back on the bike and set off. There were still hills to climb but there were also descents to fly down. I love descending so this became fun with occasional interruptions as the road headed upwards again.

In the shady garden outside the hotel I tried to drink a pint with Vicky, John & Olivia but as soon as it hit my stomach I felt like it might come straight back up again. A pint of water was a much better idea.

This was without doubt the hardest day’s riding I’d ever done. The heat was stifling and climbing over 1900m in the heat was draining. However, the toughest day is now done.