Background Information
Days 1 to 3
Lands End to Great Torrington
Wednesday 5th June Lands End to Truro
At breakfast the next morning I made the mistake of asking Ann about the decor in her house. There were ornaments everwhere and obviously a strong African connection. We were given a lengthy account of how she had managed to smuggle some of these items back to the UK. She was a very generous lady promising to have a cold beer ready for us when we returned later in the day. She was convinced that we wouldn't be back until 6pm in the evening - we were hoping for mid afternoon
We arrived at Lands End about 9.30am. There were very few people around. We wheeled our bikes through to the official start to find that the signpost was signless - however there was a smaller signpost a few yards away. Christine began to take some photos and some oriental visitors, having found out what we were doing, also asked if they could have their photos taken with us! At this point a man arrived carrying the official signs nearly knocking Christine over in the process of setting up. We took more photos - but as he turned out to be the offical photographer he was not a happy chappy that we had stolen his pitch. And so to the start - by golly it was cold! There was a strong easterly wind blowing. No South Westerly to help us over the next few days.
We made our way along the coast road towards Newlyn and into Penzance tackling several hills on the way. On the outskirts of Penzance we found a Tesco to buy sandwiches for lunch and then we carried on towards St Michaels Mount. Here we passed a yound lady cyclist whom we'd seen and greeted earlier. She volunteered to take our photo - she was training for a triathlon. People we met along the way seemed to guess that we were doing the end to end and many of them wished us well for the trip. We found a bench to rest on for lunch at Godolphin and by 3pm had reached the Royal Oak pub a few miles from Truro where we stopped for a pot of tea
Ann was surprised to see us back at 4. She made some comment about "looking at you last night I didn't think you were very fit!" Later that evening Tony W was invited into her kitchen to sample the poteen. A second strong toddy followed. Fortunately this disappeared down the sink while she turned her back to fetch the third. At this point we arrived to rescue Tony from further tasting and to leave for a superb meal at the Punchbowl and Ladle in the village of Penelewey.
The stats for the day were 41 miles : 8.5mph : 2722ft climbed
Thursday 6th June Truro to Boscastle
We were slightly confused as we left Truro using the cycle track underneath the railway arches which soon petered out into a walkway. However we soon got back on track on the road to Idless. By 11am we had climbed several hills and had reached the Lappa Valley Steam Railway to the east of St Newlyn East. They were just opening for the day so we stopped for tea. A good length of the day's ride was to be on the A39 which we joined at St Columb Major. As we approached Wadebridge we passed the entrance to the Royal Cornwall Show - long queues of cars coming from the north luckily did not hold us up. There was a good view from the bridge on the bypass down the river to the town of Wadebridge. 
My memory that there was a supermarket on the far side of Wadebridge turned out to be incorrect, so we were forced to carry on along this busy main road for another 3 miles until we came across a farm shop. 
They served up an excellent lunch and we were actually feeling quite warm for the first time on the trip. Just a short distance now to where we turned off the A39 and headed for Tintagel where we ate double size ice creams - but not before being told off for parking our bikes in front of the next door shop display window! Then we made our way into Boscastle where we met Christine at the bottom of the hill - thank goodness that we had the car to take us to our very nice B&B at the top of the hill to the east of the village. In the evening we returned to Boscastle for an evening meal in the Napolean - Boscastle's oldest pub and then went for a stroll down to the harbour.
The stats for the day were 42.82 miles : 8.6mph : 3685ft climbed
Friday 7th June Boscastle to Gt Torrington
A day with some very steep hills ahead of us. We cycled from the B&B to our start point in the centre of Boscastle (all downhill) and then the hard stuff began. The initial climb out of Boscastle went on and on for possibly 4 miles although we were able to cycle the majority of it. The GPS suggested a short cut through Crackington Haven which seemed a good idea at the time. We ended up on a rough track which led down a steep hill (too dangerous to ride) to a ford at the bottom. The good news was that the scenery was beautiful! 
Moved on over the next hill and then down a 30% gradient into Millook with great views northwards towards Widemouth and Bude. Then up another steep hill out of Millook and onto Widemouth where we stopped for the first cup of tea and scone of the day sitting outside under a sunshade to protect ourselves from the hot sun. Just alongside was the entrance to the carpark with Paul the car park attendant. His motorbike was parked alongside the kiosk and his dog was sitting calmly on the pillion. On the footwell of the bike was tied what appeared to be a refuse bag - the sort we put cardboard in - and inside that a rather worn dog basket. Paul's dog has travelled with him and his wife over large areas of Europe - and the dog has only jumped off once! Paul kindly donated £5 to Intercare - thank you. From Widemouth we tried to avoid Bude and go to Stratton - but the signed cycle route ended up on a rough farm track so we used the busy A39 for a couple of miles. 
We bought our lunch in Stratton and ate it on the village green. Because of all the hills the 18m from Boscastle to Stratton had taken from 8.40 to 12.15!
We were now approaching Devon and even more hills. Eventually we pulled into a farm shop near Stibb Cross for tea - we actually resisted the cakes here which were all homemade - our senses must have been dulled from all the climbing. We then made our way to where the road crosses the Tarka Trail - a cycleway leading along the old railway into Great Torrington which has beautiful wild flowers and interesting sculptured figures along the route. Tomorrow we knew was also going to be tough as we moved onto Exmoor so after contacting Christine we arranged for her to pick us up at Atherington. This would mean 7m less and fewer hills for the next day.
The stats for the day were 46.41 miles : 7.8mph : 4859ft climbed