BURKEYS END 2 END : Day 14: Over the Worst

Dartmoor YHA to Boswinger: 67.06 miles

Time Spent Cycling: 7 hours 19 minutes

Average Speed: 9.1 mph

Apart from the uphill bits, the early morning's pedalling was a joy with the rewards of some spectacular views across the western edge of Dartmoor and another totally awesome descent from the top of the moor into Tavistock. On the descent I reached a top speed of 47.7 mph which was 3.7 mph faster than the final descent of the night before. It was a new trip record but for me, the one from last night was better.

The four of us regrouped in Tavistock and formed a slow train as we crawled out of the town on a large uphill before dropping back down the valley and over the River Tamar. 'Welcome to Cornwall' read the sign at the end of the bridge and we posed for a group photo. We had made it to the last county in England but the one which we feared the most based on what we knew ourselves and what we had been told by our fellow End2Enders. What was certain was that our legs didn't feel like they were made of steel, more like lead.

A short stretch of road was pushed up as we entered the town of Gunnislake and we stocked up on energy drinks. A further ridiculously steep push got us out of Gunnislake and onto the quiet roads above the busy A390. We were making progress albeit of a slow variety as for the next several hours we pushed up steep Cornish slopes and cycled down the other side. It was a repetitive process. By the time we reached Pensilva we were gasping for more drinks on yet another scorching hot day. We pulled into the local community centre and visited the cafe there. What a great place this was for such a small village. We had only done an average of 8.9 mph at this stage and that includes the huge descent where we hit 47.7 mph! That kind of sums up the day. It was frustrating and, to pinch the phrase the cyclists we chatted to in the YHA over breakfast this morning used to describe it, it was 'undulating'.

We thought we were battle-hardened to Cornwall and could get through it unscathed when, on a larger than normal descent, Ella shouted out she had punctured. I didn't hear her and neither did Rob and we waited at the bottom of the descent. Ella and Georgia didn't appear and I began to fear the worst. After a while Ella came into view wheeling her bike with the front wheel in the air with the tyre hanging loose. We were running low on spare inner tubes but we replaced the tube yet again and hoped that Ella's luck would change. It didn't as just ten minutes down the road it happened again, this time to the back wheel. I couldn't believe it. There must be more to this than meets the eye. I replaced the tube and we were now down to just two tubes left between the four of us. This wasn't good as there probably wasn't going to be another bike shop until Truro as it had now gone past 5pm and St Austell shops would be shut.

Rob and I discussed the problems with Ella's punctures and we decided it was due to two main reasons:

1. The heat on the roads was expanding her tyres
2. The tubes were under-inflated and were sliding around under the tyres when she brakes

We resolved to pump the tyres up at a garage and Rob asked the lady in the local shop in Luxulyan where the nearest one was. Amazingly, a customer in the shop told us her husband had an air compressor and he would inflate them for us. She only lived a couple of doors away and her husband duly obliged. Of course, nothing had been straight-forward as regards Ella's bike and when he inflated the front tyre it began to deflate as soon as he removed the compressor. The valve had damaged and the inner tube had to be replaced. We were now down to our last inner tube. We replaced the tube and the man inflated it and also her back wheel too. We thanked him and set off to cycle the remaining 20 miles or so to Boswinger.

We got as far as St Austell when, would you believe, Ella's back wheel burst. It was unbelievable. 4 punctures in the space of half an hour's cycling. We were down to our final inner tube. If anything else happened we had no idea what we could do other than walk it for the remaining miles to Boswinger and it was already gone 7pm when we were in St Austell. This was turning into the worst day of the trip. We were starving hungry and praying that we'd make it to our YHA with no more bike problems. We rode like pussycats for the final miles and we did make it safe and sound. Upon checking in at the YHA we were told the meal we had ordered and paid for in advance was now no longer available to us as the kitchen was closed. We were gutted but Rob used his charm and convinced them to re-open the kitchen. The fish and chips we ate outside still in our full cycling gear wasn't the best fish and chips of all time but it almost tasted like it was.

Our luck must surely change for tomorrow and our last day. It had to - at least until we could get to Truro and visit yet another bike shop.