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Day 0 - The Beginning - Wickford – Land’s End
Weather – Terrible, rain then sleet and really windy.
Dr Pepper – Good to cheap, lowest 45p.
Terrain – Massive Hills, everywhere.
Campsite – Highly recommended: Cardinney Caravan and Camping Park, Crows-An-Wra, Penzance, TR196HX, Cornwall, Tel: +44 (0)1736 810880 or
Internet Site.
Not the best start to the trip as we missed our train despite being there and waiting for it on the platform. We arrived in plenty of time, carried the bikes over the footbridge at Wickford station and held a brief discussion with the only other person on the platform, a railway employee, about just how stupid it was to rename the train operator ‘One’ instead of ‘Great Eastern’. Now I don’t know whose idea this was but as Lister would say I think they deserve a slap, especially after hearing the automated announcement – “Platform one for the One service to London Liverpool Street”. Despite this madness the train arrived on time, however our railway expert Martin was expecting just four carriages and there turned out to be eight. Knowing we wanted the space at the back of the train to put the bikes, we ran down to where it stopped only to hear the beeps for doors closing and the train pulled out. We were less than impressed with this especially since Martin and I had rode the train to school for six years and knew how long the doors normally open for (longer than that).
With no other option we were forced to take some pointless photos while we waited for the next train in forty minutes time. At this point I should tell you that for an unknown reason we had decided to take a tin of Dr Pepper with us all the way on our journey and photograph it at all the county signs, probably just to be different. So at scouts the night before we purchased said can and had it signed on the bottom, then covered it in the masking tape visible in the pictures to protect the signatures. Here is the Dr Pepper posing for its first picture in front of the station clock.
Finally we caught the next train despite having to run again because it was only four carriages long. Should have consulted Sod’s law on that one. The problem we now had was that our tickets and bike reservations for the Paddington – Penzance train were only valid on that specific train and if we missed it we’d be in trouble. Having allowed and hour and a half to cycle across London we now only had fifty minutes so we didn’t hang around when the train finally got to Liverpool Street. Credit to the man at the gate who checked our tickets, but we really wanted to get going. In our highly organised way we had printed off a London street map (thanks ordnancesurvey.co.uk) which we used to semi successfully navigate to Paddington via King’s Cross St Pancras (see you in two weeks). We managed to irritate several cabbies along the way by occupying their bus lane and forcing them in with the other traffic. It was further than we thought and we arrived at Paddington with only ten minutes before the train was to leave. Reasonably helpful station staff told us to take the bikes to the front of the train, which was another kilometre away since the train seemed to go on forever. In the guard’s van there was enough room for the bikes and even Velcro things to tie them up, then we got in the next carriage quickly and the train left. So much for taking a look round and buying some lunch.
The train was surprisingly busy and for the next five hours we amused ourselves by exhausting our supply of card games, venturing to the bar and laughing at the prices, and watching Martin trying to eat all of his massive lunch. The ticket inspector on the train didn’t seem too bothered whether we had tickets at all let alone whether we had the railcards to go with them. Two hours in and we were at Exeter trying to work out how it would take another three to get to Penzance, but it did and by the time we got out and retrieved the bikes it was raining nicely. Near to the station was a Spa and we bought our dinner and breakfast and prepared to cycle down to the campsite.
I say ‘down to the campsite’ but in fact our first task was to walk up this massive hill (and no we don’t know the cyclist in the picture) and get on the A30. It was a bit worrying to find that as we cycled the 6 miles or so to the campsite at Crows-An-Wra it was so hilly we had to walk on two separate occasions. The rain eased off and finding the campsite was not a problem as contrary to Ordnance Survey’s predictions it was right on the main road. We were met by a friendly man we think from Newcastle who welcomed us and said we could pitch anywhere, and then wandered off. We found a place and put up the tent in the gale that was still blowing, put all the stuff in and went to find the man to pay. He didn’t seem at all sure how much it was and eventually settled on £10 after various mumblings. We had a brief conversation with him mainly in English, then just as we were about to leave he said “the bar opens at eight”. Really we said, might see you there then! Leaving all the stuff in the tent we then set off for Land’s End in order to give ourselves a head start for tomorrow. Without the heavy bags cycling was much easier although into the wind and it was annoying to say the least to have to cycle down the hills as well as up the wind was so strong.
Land’s End itself is a place I would not recommend to visit, it has been badly commercialised and it even costs to park the car. There was a man anxious to charge £7.50 for a photo with the sign, no thanks I’ll take my own from behind the barriers! Turning around I put the camera on the barrier on the timer to take this photo of all of us (left-right) Richard, Me and Martin. Just after that (and just before it started raining) here is Martin trying to demonstrate how windy it was. I can honestly say it was a struggle to stand up!
Unfortunately it started raining then and we dived in the only gift shop open. Did I say raining? It was pelting it down with enormous hailstones coming in sideways because of the wind. In the shop we bought a few bits including a couple of nougat bars which ended up accompanying us for the duration, and something else which had a Land’s End sticker on it which was transferred to the Dr Pepper and can be seen in some of the photos. When the hail stopped we set off back to the campsite in the rain and got absolutely soaked because we left the waterproofs in the tent. Fortunately the campsite came to the rescue and we found excellent toilet facilities, a dryer for 20p, a games room and, the bar. We thought he was selling a few cans of coke from a fridge but in fact he had a full blown bar with everything on tap. Making a mental note to be back by opening time we returned to the tent and cooked dinner on the stove. One problem that we had was the gale was trying to blow the tent down and it was getting wet inside owing to our decision to leave some of the pegs at home to save weight. Over at the bar at 8o’clock we found the owner on his own, with a pint. He had all sorts of useful stuff too and we bought the extra tent pegs from him for 19p each – cheaper than Camping + General back home. Drinks were a good price too so we sat there all night playing cards. The owner was drinking all night too and was joined by a friend later. Nobody else showed up and we did wonder since he didn’t know we were going to come whether he sits there every night regardless. In any case this was our best private campsite of the whole trip and we can’t recommend it highly enough. Each pitch was surrounded by its own hedges and had electric, water and a bin, so if you’re staying near Land’s End this is the place to go. Here is a ‘view from the bar’ towards the rest of the site.
