We woke up in our little studio Airbnb and had finally slept SO well after yesterday’s cycle! However we did wake up feeling a bit sore! We got up, got ready, had some breakfast and were about to head out for an early start for the big day ahead, when it started tipping it down outside. We decided to wait for the rain to stop as didn’t really want to start the day off soaked, however, we did see that the forecast said it was going to be raining on and off all day. Today was the day on the trip that I was most nervous about because of how hilly it was going to be – Harry wore very appropriate socks…
Once the rain had stopped we headed out.
At about 15km, we had a very short ferry crossing and where we crossed over to was beautiful!
In the first 30km we had 4 mega hills to climb. This view may give you some idea of how much we had climbed…
We then stopped in Looe for Cornish Cruffins and a cuppa from Bowden bakery – they were delish and just what we needed after all those hills!
After our sugar boost, we got back on the bikes to crack on. We needed to cycle a further 25km and 2 more mega hills before our next stop. During this time, on one of the hills, Harry stopped to take a photo part of the way up and told me to carry on and that he’d catch me up. I carried on and as time went by I thought I was getting good at these hills seeing as Harry still hadn’t caught me up as a little time went on… More time went on and I kept turning round to look for Harry. Now I was getting concerned. I turned round and went back down a lot of the hill I had just climbed to go back to where I saw him taking a photo – he was no where to be seen. Worried where he was I called him (on the tiniest amount of signal) and he answered asking where I was – well I had exactly the same question. It turns out for some reason we had slightly different routes on our bike sat navs so we had both gone off in different directions! I then had to climb BACK up the hill to meet Harry – when we found each other he looked rather sheepish having made me climb even more hills than we already had planned for the day!
It was one of those days where the weather really kept changing it’s mind – it would tip down with rain, the rain coats would go on and we would stop to shelter, then the rain would stop so we’d get back on the bikes and climb some hills, get too hot and the rain coats would come back off.
25km later (55km from the start) we arrived at another ferry crossing from Torpoint over to Plymouth.
We found a Tesco express in Plymouth and bought a meal deal for lunch. Of course it was opposite a cricket ground much to Harry’s delight, so we ate our lunch in front of it.
After lunch we left Plymouth and headed towards Dartmoor National Park knowing that we had 30ish km left and still 900m elevation to climb. It felt a bit overwhelming and my energy levels were deteriorating. I had a bit of a blip – there may have been a couple of tears half way up a bloomin steep hill. But Harry came to the rescue with the mini portable speaker my mum-in-law had bought me for my birthday especially for moments like this on the trip. Harry played some mood boosting tunes and it helped a lot – getting me up more hills.
Some more snaps of us over the last 30km sheltering from more rain showers, climbing hills and enjoying the stunning views of Dartmoor…
Finally at the top of a long hill, we made it to Princetown and our Airbnb – I was so happy to arrive!
We quickly had hot showers to warm up – we were in need of a good wash after all the rain and splash from the roads…
We ran to the pub two doors down (our only option for dinner) who stopped serving food in half an hour.
We then headed back to the room to chill out and get an early night for tomorrow (the final really hilly day before a bit of an easier day).
Summary:
Distance cycled: 90km
Elevation climbed: 1,899m – most I’ve ever done in one day
Riding time: 6h 08mins
Highlight of the day: Completing the hardest day on the trip, cycling along to music and the amazing views in Dartmoor and cycling down a really long downhill. And also all the amazingly generous donations we received today – thank you SO much to everyone who has donated, they are really helping me get up those hills!
Lowlight of the day: My ‘blip’ and all the rain – but thankfully no wind!!
County count: 2 (Devon added to the list)
To donate: https://www.justgiving.com/page/barry-towler-cycle-lejog
Towlers' Travels 
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