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Monday 10th May 2010 Helston to Wadebridge It was hard work today. Lots of hills and often I was only doing 4 mph. The weather was ok though – cool but dry. By 16.15 I had reached Wadebridge and decided that that was enough; I just didn’t want to do the additional 15 miles necessary to reach my proposed stopover, Camelford, not if they were likely to be as hilly as the previous 46. Earlier, at midday, I had stopped for lunch at the Plough Inn in Shortlanesend, where I got a vegetable soup with crusty roll and a coffee. Actually I had little appetite but knew I needed the fuel as I’d used up a fair bit of energy getting over those hills. I could manage the soup as it didn’t require much effort but I left over half of the bread roll. It was white and not especially nice and it felt like eating it was using up more calories than I was getting back. Later I had a KitKat which was easy to take – perhaps, I thought, I could only take in liquid or sugar when I was knackered.
Generally speaking the back roads I was riding along were pleasantly quiet and scenic but the surface was poorer than on the main roads with more potholes and loose stones around. It was also a bit harder to navigate than on the main roads as I had to keep stopping to check the GPS – I still went wrong a couple of times as I couldn’t be riding along looking at it all the time. The last time I missed a turning I found I was almost at the A39 to Wadebridge. Pressing on would be easiest and though it meant 7 miles of A road I decided to forge ahead rather than track back. In the event the major road was not too bad really although traffic was a lot faster. Of course because I wanted to get past that stretch as quickly as possible a wind sprang up in the opposite direction just to annoy me. Not too strong though. Having decided to call it a day at Wadebridge I found accommodation at the Swan Hotel for £30 not inc breakfast. In the evening I partook of a fairly nice mushroom tagliatelle and garlic bread there – nice and easy to digest. In bed by 9.40.
The hotel appeared to think it was ok not to offer breakfast till 9.00 which seemed a bit odd to me - surely most people want to be off and doing by then. Anyway I’d asked permission to be a pain in the arse and have mine at 8.00 instead, even if it was just cereal. The lass I was talking to went over and asked someone called John about it and this worthy generously said that would be ok and he would come in early. I got down promptly at 8.00 in the morning but there was no sign of John anywhere, just two cleaners sitting in the bar having a chat and a cup of tea. They thought he might be in by 9.00 so I grumped my way back upstairs and waited for a further 30 minutes. When I came down again John was there so I said any chance of breakfast. ‘OK,’ he grunted but didn’t proffer any menu or ask what I wanted. I took a seat and waited for him to ask me but instead he turned up a few minutes later and wordlessly shoved a plateful of sausage, bacon, hash browns, beans, tomatoes, double eggs and fried bread on the table. He had turned around and was already walking away when I tactlessly said ‘I don’t want all this, I’m a vegetarian.’ He stopped, turned back and looked at me rather as if I’d said ‘I don’t want all this, I’m a screaming homosexual.’ Just as well I wasn’t wearing my lycra tights at the time, I thought nervously. ‘There is no vegetarian menu,’ he rumbled. ‘Here, I’ll get rid of the sausages and bacon.’ He took the plate away, presumably scraped off the unwanted meat, and brought it back. The fried eggs were dripping with grease but surprisingly the whole lot went down very well – perhaps I needed a bit of grease in my calorie-depleted state. John had a very short crew cut and loads of tattoos. When I paid up I searched for something suitable to say about his efforts. ‘Thanks,’ I said, ‘that was very…’ He looked at me expressionlessly while I searched for a suitable word. Cholesteroid? Greasy? ‘…nourishing.’ I concluded triumphantly. He regarded me as if I’d just confirmed his worst suspicions about me but the customer is always right, eh. He only charged me £3.25 for the breakfast though, which was pretty decent value. Distance: 46.29 miles Average speed: 8.8 mph Max speed observed: 31.6 mph which seemed plenty fast enough | ||
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