Day 11 - Forest of Dean (rest day) https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/hedgyharry Harry Peksa you are a machine with endless energy. I don’t think you understand the word rest day. Daddy is walking around like a Zombie with a headache. Rather than having a lie in we decided that we really must visit the local park run. So up at 8am, my parents drove us all the Mallards Pike. Probably not the easiest course to run on sore legs. It’s starts beside a lake and then climbs steadily for 2.7km, climbing 63 metres. The hard work pays off with a 2.5% downhill for the rest of the race. Harry was introduced at the start of the race and he was a little shy, but he got a large round of applause and we told them we would be handing out our charity flyers at the end of the race. I also got to write my first Parkrun report! It contained many of our adventures in getting to be there this morning. 31.48 seconds later I sprinted home, feeling great. There were a lot of park run tourists at this event and a travelling cohort of Vegan Runners. I had some nice conversation on the way around, the vegan runners asked me to take a group photo afterward. so I said “after three all shout sausages!” - fortunately it went down well. I’m pretty sure someone shouted falafel instead. One girl was telling me about Henry the hedgehog, so I took a photo of her pretty tattoo. Also thank you for the trio of locals for the photo and the local promotion of Harry’s mission. As promised we stopped at the lake and tried skimming stones. Harry requires a bit more practice, but he was very proud to skip a stone three times. Later on he achieved 4 skips! He can’t wait until the lochs of Scotland for some serious skimming. Two hours later I found myself in bed exhausted lol. Harry on the other hand, went to the local play park with my parents and had a wonderful time. He was hanging off a spinning frame shouting “helicopter, Helicopter.” The next stop for me the TV set, watching the commonwealth games, Harry on the other has was having none of that and went off to Wenchford Forest to play in the shallow streams. He loves that place. Thankful I have been carrying his swimming stuff for the last two weeks. He got all the other children collecting quartz and iron stone - which thankfully stayed there…. Whilst Harry was out playing, I took the liberty to review the rushed route plan. I’m pleased to say I have changed tomorrows route slightly to take in more canals and less hills. I have managed to cut 5 miles off the route and wipe off 1000 feet of elevation. Harry will be so happy when we take shortcuts. All our stuff is washed, Harry’s bike has been serviced. And Tiggy has a new washer. We are all set for tomorrow. Harry View: I want to run a parkrun in the future, because it looks fun. I had a tasty blue lolly, span around until I was dizzy and played in the river. See you tomorrow!

First order of the day was to carry two bikes, luggage and Tiggy down from the last room at the end of the corridor on the top floor of the hotel. This has happened every single time we have had to store the bikes in our room. By the time we are ready to go I am already out of breath. We left the services and waved goodbye to Burger King, an “F” for their burger last night as they got the order wrong and Harry chose not to eat much of it. Btw - I know it sounds bad with all the junk food, however, he is burning quite a few calories and eating less in the day time. He is already looking fitter and healthier even on this diet. Harry has been embracing other food as well. So far this trip we have had have found wild apples, plums, strawberries, Blackberries and Raspberries. All making a nice quite snack in the countryside. By the time we get to Scotland we can have blueberries 🙂 Cycling across the Severn bridge is always a fun thing to do, it’s around 3 miles from start to finish. We started the downhill section, feeling proud that we had broken the speed limit by 5 mph, when in the distance we spotted a woman dancing about waving flags! When Harry got closer he realised to was his great grandmother. She give him a cuddly sheep, a Welsh flag and union flag. Standard entry requirements for crossing the boarder! He was very happy to see her. She told Us she had been waving the flags enthusiastically at all the cyclists- however, most gave her odds looks. We waved goodbye and puffed off up the hill to Chepstow. In town we took photos with the massive stone cheeses - just for Samantha. First stop of the day Chepstow castle. We asked if we could put our bikes just inside the gate and the answer was a firm no, I explained I had valuables in the bag. She pointed rudely and said go use the bike rack down the hill. Welsh castle you have prevented two more English men from breaching your gates! Instead we visited the museum across the road, the staff were lovely, we could leave the bag in Reception and lock our bikes up around back. Harry went on a scavenger hunt and I read about some of the town’s history. I did not learn much as Harry kept on asking me questions every 20 seconds - “daddy have you seen a bell, a Victoria cross, a painting of Chepstow castle”. It was nice in the museum and upon exiting Harry purchased a pack of cards and a ruler covering the last 1000 years worth of kings and queens. So far he has performed two magic tricks to total strangers lol. From the museum it was a short cycle downhill towards the river. At which point we entered England again. The rest of the day is mega hills, which make Cornwall look puny! Half way up the first hill we stopped at Wintour’s leap. If you have read my Offa’s dyke blog you will know that this is where Mr Wintour jumps of the cliff to escape the kings soliders. Pretty awesome views, long way to jump! The next part of the day involves 3 massive hills in the Forest of Dean. The sun was a blazing and we had to push our bikes up at certain times. Many sheep, a couple of refreshment stops later and we arrived my parents cottage. A very rough day, it might have only been 22 miles, but the elevation matched a couple of our 35 mile days. Harry’s immediately wanted an ice lolly and an explanation of Ramsey mathematical Theorem. But the best news is our clothes are in the washing machine. Harry view: I did not like today hills, because they big, brutal and hot. We tried to fix my gears in the local shop and failed. I have just played two rounds of hide and seek with grandma and it’s ham and cheese thin crust pizza for dinner.

Day 9 - Burnham-on-sea to Aust I was sleeping and in my dream there was a noise that I could not identify, it was like I had broken my nose and I could not breathe. At 5am I opened my eyes and I figured out the noise. Sea chickens you are invading my dreams. The dawn chorus was more like a screeching rage. Oh well that’s the seaside for you. The Victoria inn was a lovely pub, with a nice set of locals, Harry and I popped down in the evening and got loads of support - so thank you. In the morning we collected our bikes and got set for a nice simple ride to the Severn bridge. All started swimmingly and we thought we might as well stop at an Animal Park about 4 miles away from our start point. It was a lovely experience and the keepers were so happy to meet Harry. They thought his journey and mission were amazing. Molly was one of the team working on animal experiences and Harry had loads of fun petting snakes, rabbits, alpacas and goats. He even got to hold a super cute tanrec (spiky like a hedgy, but more like a shrew). We left after about 45 minutes as we still had a massive 36 miles to go. We promptly got lost and cycled toward Brean sands. We eventually found the Brean down cycle path. It zigged and zagged, but mainly remained flat. The path eventually leads to a stunning church on a hill. Only if we had more time to explore… The kissing gates on this stretch were annoying, we had to remove Tiggy at each gate and carry it through separately- sow gates are far more trailer friendly… The next stretch was far from enjoyable for me, I kept getting lost in Weston Super-Mare. Harry got plenty of stops and got to say maybe times “daddy have you got us lost again?” He also commented that I had used the word “ridiculous three times in the last hour” We were trying to follow the route markers and kept missing them. When we did find the markers they took through twisting parks and nature areas. All good but my route planning was based on straight lines - so this added 4 miles on the day. Even harry commented on that they should make the paths a little straighter. Upon missing my 10th marker, that Harry spotted, we started to push our bikes up and over to Worle station. Tiggy felt wobbly, luckily we chose to stop for lunch there on the bench. A couple more miles and my entire rear axle might have separated! At this point I was exhausted and we will had 30 miles to go, we powered through the next 10 miles and stopped to refuel at van parked in a lay-by. The ladies at Mealalicious - made up a cheese and bacon burger for Harry. A rating of “B” - I thought it was better than that as it was locally sourced meat in the burger and not a catering patty. “If they would have chopped the bacon, they would have scored higher”. Said Harry. They donated £8 and this pushed our total to exactly £8,000. Harry thanks you all from the bottom of his heart. The next 10 miles involved really long straight roads, the type that suck your soul out! So the only solution, stop at the Cleavdon craft centre. Whilst I was enjoying a snack and a drink, Harry wondered off to the pottery barn. He came back with his eyes alight- “daddy can we buy some pottery?” I joined him in the shop and the lady did say he asked for the smallest and lightest item in the shop. He wanted a cat drinks coaster, and a Scooby snacks jar. We were both feeling flat and dejected that it was 3pm and we still had 20 miles to go, so I said ok to the snacks jar, if he perked up for Devon Radio. The deal was struck and he shone! Another 1kg to the payload! The lady in the shop also gave him a cute cat trinket for free. Incidentally I did not buy the coaster, I opted for a spoon holder, the type you put next to cooker. I know my wife wants one. So that’s a nice gift from Harry. At this point I was actually searching for a hotel closer to us to shorten the day. I asked Harry his opinion and he was firm that he wanted to do the mileage. Thank you Harry for supporting me when I was struggling. The next part I kind of enjoyed, we got to cycle next to the M5, cross over it, Cross under it. If you have driven that road there is a massive flyover overlooking a valley, we got to cycle below that. How cool! We got to visit the car yards at the bottom too. Also very cool! We would cheer each time we bumped into the M5. I could talk about underground railways and fir cones that looked like eggs, however, I’m tired. Instead I will say after 49 miles we reached the services and 30 minutes later the Louise and Charlie arrived with some food. A very nice surprise for Harry. Ps. My trailer is now sooo much lighter! Treasures offloaded. One footnote. We bumped into two young ladies crossing the m5 road bridge on foot. They had walked from John O’Groats. Much respect to you. On foot that is a huge journey. Harry’s View: I am a bit tired to have a full view. The fake hedgehog was nice to hold. It was nice to see mummy and Charlie. They brought me a bath bomb - I’m off to have one now!

Day 8 - Taunton to Burnham-on-Sea https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/hedgyharry Today was a gloriously flat day, but we had a mission to start the day. We needed to get Harry‘s brakes fixed. Fortunately there was a Halfords within 0.3 miles of the hotel. So after a lie in we had a late breakfast and we headed off. We met with the Halfords team, however, there was very little we could do with his gear shifter - they were kind enough to donate two set of brake pads to the cause and off we left feeling a little safer. We wound our way out of the town and crossed the A38, the slip road was closed to all but pedestrians and cyclists so we heaved a sigh of relief. After getting slightly lost we eventually found our way onto the canal path. The canal path is called The Somerset Space Walk and it’s a sculpture trail model of the Solar System, The model uses the towpath of the 22-kilometre (14-mile) Between Taunton and Bridgewater to display a model of the Sun and its planets in their proportionally correct sizes and distances apart. So educational, beautiful and best of all very flat. The first excitement of the day was meeting a grass snake on the path, it danced for us and then slithered off before we could get a photo. A few miles later we bumped into our first LeJoger, he was called Remus. Which I think is a wonderful thing as Remus is a moon in space! Poor chap had fallen off his bike when his folding bike has buckled. He said you are the hedgehog guys! They were talking about you back in Cornwall. He was blown away meeting us. As were we, meeting out first long distance cyclist. We let him know where the Halfords was so that he could buy a new bike. We planned to skim some rocks down the canal, but we ran out of tow path. Harry really wanted to do this as he was telling me that he understood the physics behind it. We carried on down the path and Harry was happily singing, he particularly like to sing - “I love to ride my bicycle” by Queen, he also chimes in with a few others of their greatest hits. We crossed under the M5, circled back and crossed under it again heading towards Glastonbury. We stopped for refreshments at a farmshop and met the a couple who run the Burnham-On-Sea fish monger. We took photos, ate ice cream and then carried on. The only hill of the day came at bawdrip - when the path took us on another disused railway. At this point we met LeJoger number 2. A couple of Dutch gentlemen who were also experiencing mechanical difficulties - a puncture. Both these two and Remus, started 4 days ago. So 4 is the unlucky number of this trip. I asked why they were doing it and one of gentlemen told me about a camper van trip they did 40 years ago in Scotland. They said they moved each day in the van and the next day they saw the old Grey haired man cycling, they talked to him and learnt what he was doing and they vowed when they retired they would do the same. As we cycled with them through the Somerset flats, I laughed and said does this feel like Holland and the answer was a firm yes. On our travels we pass some very eccentric houses - there was one with ridiculously large amounts of mismatched statues, another permanently in Halloween mode and the one we took a photo of is a great example of this. This house owner obviously likes visiting garden centres. Just before the flats ran out - Harry and I fought a duel. We picked a choice bullrush each and battle commenced- Harry dodged left and I dodged right and the brown heads of the bullrushs slapped together! Harry won the battle as mine broke first. About 4 miles from the hotel we popped in and visited Secret World - animal rescue centre. We watched the hedgehog cam and some bat feeding, but we could not really visit the animals due to the avian flu ripping through the county. We donated £20 and rode off feeling happy. Now Burnham-On-Sea has britains smallest pier, it also had something else tiny. The worlds thinest footpath, it was just wide enough to pull the trailer through. I suspect people stole some of the land with thier fence as it was so narrow it was insane. The final run to the hotel was along the sea front - where we saw a couple of arcades - guess what we will be doing later lol. We entered the Victoria Hotel and one of the drinkers said - are you that kid from the telly? And the locals were lovely and supportive and gave Harry £30. Before the arcades I needed to stop at a charity shop and buy some new clothes - my other ones had started to disintegrate. I got a very cool biker t-shirt that made me giggle. Put it on in the shop and threw the other one away. Harry won 1kg of treasures at the arcade include a smart watch, a glass skull mug, a travel chess and drafts set and a squashy banana. I look forward to adding them all to Tiggys payload lol. All in all a wonderful day. 30 miles and loads of fun. Harry’s view: I loved battling daddy, I won! I got some ticket jackpots in the arcade today was a good day it was not that hard. I loved the animal sanctuary, I just wish I could have met the hedgys!

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/hedgyharry My reading of the route map was very questionable in hindsight, I should have concentrated on the elevation and not what the elevation profile looked like. How many 20% gradient hills can you fit in one day? The answer is two! First thing in the morning Harry spoke with Andrew Peach from Radio Berkshire and then caught up with Radio 1’s Greg James. The first interview he was half asleep and a little grumpy, but after a little dancing the second one went well. We stopped for a quick photo outside the Royal Oak pub where we stayed. Lovely place. The burgers and chips Both scored a B+. Sadly the reason why Withypool is a hidden gem, it’s in the bottom of a steep walled valley. So within 0.1 miles we had the first 20% gradient hill….. not funny. After climbing out of the Valley we were back in Exmoor, Harry asked what the cattle grids were for, so I said sheep and horses. Looking at the road and the massive cow pats, almost certainly cows too. I kept quiet. Sadly after about 2 miles we hit Cowageddon, brown beasts standing stupidly in the road staring at cars. We cycled like maniacs past them until our legs burned. Safe! A few hundred metres later we saw a heard of ponies, so we stopped to have a look. All was going well until the cows started heading our way on mass. We left rapidly and and sailed off down to Dulverton. A few new speed records by Harry (which has to now be restricted until his brake pads have been changed). Who ever said Somerset is flat, then they need to come to the parts we were cycling! It was up and down and painful. We had a snack in beautiful Bampton, to discover we were back in Devon! After Another ridiculous hill our spirits started to flag. We were interviewed by CBBC newround and the journalist totally understood that a journey like this had many ups and downs, both physically and emotionally. We stopped for a very late lunch in a village shop. They stopped serving at 2pm, however the lovely ladies opened up for us for a couple of cheese sandwiches. Then off to the play park for Harry. Jumping and running around without a care in the world. Skipping forward 10 miles - I bumped into a guy called Ed, Married to Becki. The very same man I bumped into almost 12 months before, when I last did this trip. The only addition was a baby, which must have been born 2-3 days after i last met them. Wonder what the baby was called :) btw one of their dogs licked Harry and licked him clean. Must be tasty salt. Our next highlight was near Nynehead, a very cool place, a previous owner cut through the hill to create an amazing road to cycle up. The final point of note was the Taunton 400kv sub station. We sat and listened to the electricity flowing through the pylons. Very cool experience - a first for Harry. We arrived at the hotel close to 7pm, 40.9 miles 2900 feet of hills and very tired. Harrys view: Today we found a peacock feather it looks really good I love the shades of blue green I find it really beautiful, so I attached it to Tiggy the trailer, let’s hope it doesn’t come out when we’re going downhill cause we’re going to get it if it does. I broke my speed record and managed to go 35.6 mph. Today was 8/10 for hard, I’m really tired….

Day 5 - Holsworthy to Bideford The day started off with a quick game of table football and some pool (as in the game). Always nice to have a games room as a part of the guest house. This was followed by breakfast, where we learnt something new. We found out that a cooked breakfast is just like a full English, sans mushrooms, tomatoes and black pudding. Let’s see if this holds true in other parts of the country. Tiggy the trailer is starting to get wobbly, I think we have broken a rubber washer and the Devon backroads are to blame. They are rutted, lumpy, bumpy and covered in grass. But on the plus side, there is next to no traffic to worry about. Looking at the route today we have a couple of major hills and then probably the nicest bike trail in the country. The Tarka trail, the only topic of conversation was the volume of cakes we planned to slam down just before the 15km downhill begins. A few miles in a friend sent me a text and said “did you know, there is a photo of Harry in the Mirror newspaper” - so for the rest of the day we were desperate to find a newsagent. I knew about a post office in the town of Sheepwash, so we set out targets on that! On the way we stopped at Pyworthy, so Harry thought it would be worthy of mentioning Pi. 3.14159265358979323846264338627… that’s as far as he could remember. I trust he is right. After cycling over the Holsworthy viaduct, we carried on down a disused railway line called the Emerald line. Harry met a few people and they all generously donated. The track was gravel and we were bumped and thrown about for a few miles. Finally leaving the trail we returned to the main road and bump into some fellow cycling tourists. A boy called Herbie and his mum who were cycling to Lands End from Devon, they were raising money for Asian moon bears - so for a change we donated to their cause. Good luck both, I hope the weather holds off when you set up camp. Just before Sheepwash we passed through a tiny village, consisting of a community hall and a school. Harry said “why does this homelette have a school?” That made me laugh. The Sheepwash post office was closed! (why did I think it would be open on a Sunday). No newspapers for us…. So we resigned ourselves to ordering food at the Half Moon Inn…. It was roast day (which I’m not a fan off). However the turkey was nice, but there were so many vegetables I could have just eaten those and been full. We were about to leave and I got a phone call! It was Good Morning Britain… looks like Harry will be on ITV tomorrow morning. So set your alarm clocks for 6:30ish We pushed up two final hills and much to our joy we had reached the Tarka trail. The first 4 miles were an exhausting incline for 4 miles, but - they had lots of interesting benches to sit on. I just love this kind of addition to a trail. Finally we reached my favourite cafe in the whole world. The Yarde Orchard Cafe. Harry ordered a brownie and vanilla ice cream and I went for a lemon sponge cake. I popped to the toilet and half my cake disappeared. After about a 30 second silence Harry said - “pesky sea chickens”. Given the volume of butter cream around his mouth they must have picked it up and threw it at his mouth. After the food - the downhill came. We stopped at the bike shop and got some spare parks and cruise down the trail at high speed. Bliss! We both love the Tarka trail…. You really should come and cycle it. We finally arrived at the hotel, sodden, muddy and happy. We had a surprise package from Louise. The hedgyharry tops have arrived! Tommorrow, is going to be brutal - Exmoor! Harry’s view: This is verse two of my song. When we reached the county of Devon we thought we would be in Heaven, but, the hills were worse than the first. I can just tell the hills are hell. With all the sweating we are starting to smell. We had some lovely cake and then I experienced the best down hill of my life. We cycled for 15km at 12 miles per hour, how cool is that. The hotel room is nice and I’m waiting for my Bacon, Cheese burger and chips.

Day 4 - Washaway to Holsworthy https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/hedgyharry Before we start on Day 4, let’s talk about dinner on the evening of Day 3. We stopped at a beautiful hotel in Washaway, called Trehellas hotel. Immaculate grounds and a fun little cottage room. The type of place you would take your other Half for a romantic weekend away. We booked dinner early, 6 pm, in order to get the first order of the night in. The restaurant was well presented and had a pleasant farmhouse atmosphere. Harry’s first comment of the evening - “why do I have 3 knives, 3 forks, 2 spoons and two glasses on the table”. I explained what the various knives and forks are were for and how he needed to be on good behaviour. 5 minutes later he was showing off his napkin folding skills to the waiter, Conner (thanks you for the donation and being so nice to Harry). He followed this by balancing three forks linked with a tooth pick on the salt cellar. Harry second observation is priceless. On the wall there were various pictures and painting of wine and he said. “That’s pure marketing, they only place the pictures there to make you drink lots and lots and lots!” Anyway he ordered his CB burger and chips and he rated the triple fried chips an “A”. I opted for something greener and enjoyed a goats cheese salad. Prior to departure Harry and I got to speak to a lovely lady called Lily from the media. She was in charge of stories from social media that had a feel good factor. She managed to hold Harry’s attention for a good 35 minutes before he wondered off to sit in the shower watching videos on extreme table tennis shots. Off we went and it promptly started to rain, jackets on, we soon hit our first dilemma of the day. Do we cycle down the massive hill, ignoring the signs that said road closed at bridge? Or do we follow the detour signs and add a few miles? I let Harry pick, “well daddy it’s a 50% chance we can get through, so let’s risk it, after all that’s what an adventure is about.” Down and down a steep gradient we went. As we approached the Helland bridge (an ancient monument) we saw the road blocked! Massive slabs of concrete blocked the way - for cars only haha we squeezed through. Good call Harry. The next bonus of the Day was getting more of the Camel trail, we had a heated debate about if it was uphill or downhill. This is what Cornwall has done to us, we can’t tell the ups from the downs anymore. Ps. It’s uphill….. The next question of the day was why is it called the camel trail. Our guess is that it’s next to a river called the camel? But if anyone is more knowledgable please post in the comments. The camel trail lend us to the first and only cafe stop of the day. We stopped at the Snails pace cafe and bike hire shop. We met lots of lovely people and Harry handed out flyers left right and centre. Thank you ladies for looking after us and thank you to Nick from the bike hire section for a quick bit of bike maintenance. One of the ladies we spoke to is starting her own JogLe journey soon. Let’s hope we cross over in Scotland somewhere and say hello again. Now came the meaty part of the day. The climb to Bodmin moor, 560 feet of climbing over 2.5 miles. It was long, hard but very satisfying. We looked for the Beast of Bodmin moor, but only saw some terrifying cows. We stopped at the top for a radio interview, huddled behind a stone wall. The next section was really fun and fast. I’m not going to tell you what speeds we hit as mummy would not be happy. Well it was fun until we hit a savage crosswind with horizontal drizzle. Then we turned left and the crosswind turned into a glorious tailwind. We flew down the tracks for miles, we passed by the town of Davidstow, and Harry them spent considerable time telling me the names of cheese he did and did not eat. Cheddar, melted cheddar, mozzarella, mozzarella stick, melted mozzarella, Dutch cheese…….it went on for a while. The conclusion is - yes to all cheese in all forms, just not blue cheese or stinky cheese. We then cycled through the town of Titson, however, this prompted nothing from Harry. Much to my disappointment- still to nice and innocent. The home stretch was very hard, Harry’s previous best distance was 32.6 miles. Today we topped 38 miles (my bad I got lost). Harry got a lively surprise close to the hotel - the Devon signpost. It was then ruined 1 mile later with us returning to Cornwall. “That’s not fair Daddy, I was enjoying Devon.” Thank you to the media for helping to publicise Harry’s mission! The donations today were wonderful. Harry’s view: I spoke to lots of people in the radio and newspapers industry today it was very fun and they were lovely, They all really care about hedgehogs too. Guess what I have a new personal best on my bike, I managed to cycle 33.2 mph. I have started writing a song about our journey he’s the first verse. “ up and down the hills we go, with Cornwall starting very slow. The Sun was blazing, the downhills were amazing and onto Devon next we go.” I will give you verse two tomorrow.

Day 3 - Newquay to Washaway The day started with a close encounter with the sea chicken. We were eating breakfast and said sea chicken decided to intently watch us eat breakfast. I lift a forkful of bacon to my mouth, it head-butts the window, I crunch on some buttery toast, it stares at me. I slurp on some coffee, it starts to screams at us. Harry then asked “why do sea chickens all have ketchup on their beaks?”. “It must be all the chips they steal lol. After breakfast we lug all the gear down stairs and get ready to leave. Houston we have a problem, for some reason the GPS did not charge. Not to worry I have a back up, I turn on my watch, click the button and then curse. My watch decided to run a software upgrade on my heart rate monitor. So we got to enjoy the views of the car park for a further 10 minutes. Today we had a choice of two different routes, either route 32 via Padstow or route 305 via the Goss moor trail. Either way we had around 8 miles to make up our minds. Cornwall did not disappoint, straight from the hotel it was a very sharp uphill. We cruised the main road for a while, and promptly got lost. To get back on the route we had another lovely hill, after summiting it we sped down the other side and missed the turning. Always fun to turn around a cycle back up the hill! I remember this track from last year, but I don’t remember it being this hilly, up and down and up and down in the hot sun. About 3 miles down the trail, I remember there being a lovely country church where they had a wedding going on at the time. I believe it was called Conlan church. I thought it would be nice to explore that church. When we hit the first major hill, Harry started to streak ahead of me. I was there puffing away up the hill and I could just not catch up with him. With the trailer behind me, on sore legs I felt like I was wading through treacle. Then approaching the church I figured out why I was struggling, my trailer had a puncture! Btw - thank you for the suggestions we have named the trailer Tiggy! (Thank you Pam Musgrove). He loves the name and wants to stick googly eyes and a smile on the back! So we got to visit the church, Harry walked around taking photos on my phone, whilst I fixed the problem. His justification was that “photos weigh nothing, so I will take 100!” He really does take some nice photos. Anyway we made it to the junction of decision and met the post gnome of Cornwall. I asked Harry which way he wanted to go. As we did not know, we asked a jogger and he said. “If you go that way there is a giant hill, however, the other way is pretty much the same.” So we followed the jogger, if he is running that way, it must be a better route. He was right about the giant hill, but we made it all the way up. The road lead to the A30, so we crossed it into St Columb Major, stopping briefly at the Coop to buy more fluids, as we had exhausted them on the previous hill. Whilst shopping I left the head mic on and Harry said, you know that woman shouting at her kids, I can hear here across the road, through the glass windows. The audio is actually quite loud, so she gave me a death stare when she heard it. However, Harry was right, be less vile to your kids in public! After leaving St Columb Major, we adapted our plans, we decided to forget about Padstow and head to a little village called Retire. I was going to make some blog jokes about this being a retirement village, however, Harry spotted the sign and said “I think the sign to telling us to quit.” I asked if we should visit the village and he told me it’s just another Cornish village why bother adding two miles. On the second steepest hill of the day, a couple stopped the car and told us it flattened out in a few miles, they were keen cyclists and were quite bemused why we chose not to go the flatter route. But they loved hedgehogs and gave Harry £10 for the cause. The next few hours involved crawling over a landscape that must have been clawed by a giant dragon many eons ago. It was undulating, hot and demoralising. We just wanted an epic downhill. Our wishes were granted - but before we flew down towards Bodmin, we sat and enjoyed the view (whilst munching on Pringles). Bodmin, might be a pretty town, however, we never got to the heart of it, we skirted the centre and headed towards our hotel for the night. We plummeted down from Bodmin and hit a pub called the Borough Arm, that that was the start point of the Camel Trail. I always wanted to ride down that route since I read about it in a book of someone’s experiences of LeJog. However, our hotel was 400-500 straight up the A389! So over a Bun, Pattie, cheese, bacon, bun, no flag burger for Harry and a coronation chicken baguette for me we discussed options. Ps. Dressing on salad makes it tasty, take note weatherspoons (assuming they actually serve anything green other than mushy peas). We agreed to add a few miles to our journey and go down the camel trail - wooop. We then cut up a super steep hill. It was so steep we decided to races hydration tablets down it. Let’s just say the distance travelled before they shattered was rather underwhelming. We reached our lovely country hotel and the first thing I wanted was a drink, but they had no large glasses in the room. “Don’t worry Daddy - I have a pint glass”. He then proceeded to produce a memento from Lands End and two large rocks from Truro from his backpack. No wonder why you shoulders hurt! Final task of the day before dinner, wash our kit. We turned the water a disgusting brown 3 times! Today was a short day only 23 miles, but a similar elevation to yesterdays 32 miles. Let’s hope tomorrows 36 miles is more forgiving. We both hurt, we are burnt and covered in abrasions. Harry’s View: I loved taking photos, the ones from the church are mine. My shoulders hurt where the backpack rubs, my legs are fine. I think I am getting fitter, I only got to hand out 3 flyers today. I said to today, do you think I will get a tan. Daddy said look in the mirror. Please can you ask your friends to share my adventure, with their friends and then to share with their friends, friends. Think of the hedgehogs!

I’m writing this from a nice bath. I am very toasty lobster today after all the glorious sunny that we were blessed with today! The overnight stay was peaceful - we stayed in the Vyvan Arms in Camborne. If you were to judge a town by its shops, the kebab house count was abnormally high. It used to be a thriving mining town, however, the main employer closed down its facilities many years ago. The pub was nice, filled with interesting people, an enormous fish tank and a African grey parrot. The staff and locals were lovely, they let Harry stay for free and also donated £35! We even met a very colourful retired fisherman - called Mad Marty. After breakfast (where Harry, instead of apple juice drank milk with sugar in it). Full English for me - we left on our merry way. Looking at the route, it appears we might have a few hills. In fact 3000 feet or more of hills. If Harry thought Day 0 had terrible, terrible hills, I think i will have to lend him a thesaurus to find the right adjectives to describe todays hills. We travelled down a path adjacent to the Great Lode walk. A landscape dotted with old mine workings and pretty flowers. It was a relaxing start to the day. We reached the outskirts of Redruth and hill number one loomed before us, I let Harry know it was a biggie, but he did not believe me! 1.61 miles uphill with over 400 feet of climbing! Ouchie…. Half way up we met a chap who maintains the National cycle route for the area - he took a photo of us and said he will promote us to his Sustrans friends (Sustrans is a cycle network and not a gender denomination). Summiting the hill rewarded us with 5 miles of downhill, it was truly epic. We entered some rough tracks into the Bissoe valley, it was like entering Mordor! Mine workings and quarries on either side of us. There was one particular point which would have been perfect for an ambush! Cliffs on either side…. Right at the bottom of the hill was a bike hire shop. We stopped for gluten free cupcakes and holistic drinks. Ready and fuelled we got up to suffer up the next set of hills. In fact they were non stop for 20 miles. Up and up and up and down and then up some more. Very proud of Harry making it all the way up the second biggest climb of the day without getting off his bike. By the way we have created our method of getting down the hills, Harry sends me down first and I go full throttle, then on the helmet communication system I let him know the traffic situation. If there are no cars - go Harry go! The next point of interest was Truro Cathedral, but we were not allowed in! Exeter students were graduating, but we did get some stickers. We stuck them onto our trailer. (This needs a name any suggestion?). instead of a mighty cathedral we stopped for tea and cake at the local Methodist church - thank you for the £15 of donations. Incidentally- two people stopped Harry to ask him if he was the little boy on the radio! How nice and kind people are.. The route overall was really pleasant, but testing on the old legs. Especially when I can’t get any lower than 3 gear…. Boooo. We hit 69 miles and Harry said “69 miles - nice!.” I asked him why 69 was a nice number and he said that’s what everyone says on YouTube. Lol We the stopped at a farm shop in the middle of nowhere (well it was in cycle route 32) they were closed on Thursdays but as they loved hedgehogs they invited us in for a couple of cold drinks. Hill, hill, hill and the next stop was Trerice house, a national trust property. It had the most beautiful lavender garden with 1000’s of bees. We did not listen to the history too intently as the cafe was calling us. Though we did have 10 minute talk about an English man called Jeffery Hudson - aka Lord minimus, who suffered from dwarfism, and later on in life had to flee to Africa after killing someone in a dual in France for calling him shorty (illegal there), he was then capture by pirates and held in prison for 25 years. Upon return to England they imprisoned him for another decade. The closing comment from the guide was that - he lived a long time for someone in those times. I took from it that French people were rude in the 1600’s. Two posh apple juices and ice lollies later, we got back to climbing hills. Btw why don’t national trust houses offer a discount on food for card holders? The final four miles brought us to Porth Veor Manor, a hotel ontop of a hill overlooking a massive sandy beach in Newquay. It was a pain taking all our stuff up 2 flights of stairs, but they did not really cater for cyclists or hungry people either. Harry spent two hours in the pool - burning more energy, whilst I wilted and chatted to two lovely families. One family from Sheffield and the others from Sweden. Thank you for the donation btw - we the followed a recommendation and went on the hunt for food. Final stop of the day was the Mermaid pub, Harry and I litter picked the beach and then proceeded to take the short walk across the beach to the pub. It was super busy, but great food… Harry was passing out at the table so we ate quickly and headed home for the night. See you tomorrow for other hilly day. Harry’s view: The hills were very bad, bad, bad and I saw 5 cats. I have a different view on the burgers, The burger was good however I can improve it, they make their burger in the following way: bun, Pattie, bacon, cheese and then bun. I think they should make them: bun, bacon, Pattie, cheese and bun- stabbed with a union flag, just like a sandcastle. Also did I ask for onions, lettuce and tomatoes. No I built my own burger and I did not ask for any of that.