Day 1 - Lands End

We started out our first day brimming with energy and excitement pointing out all of the prospective lejoggers beginning their own journey, notably two lads on their bikes in rather garish orange t-shirts with backpacks.

12km out of Lands end, disaster, my bikes derailleur snapped off. My brand new Bianchi! A quick call to Andy our support and I was back on my way with the rest of the guys within the hour.

The route we were following took us down every valley and up over every hill. From speaking to some ‘end to enders’ about the ride beforehand, they told me that the first couple of days were the worst due to all of the steep hill climbs.

Reaching Dartmoor was a milestone for us. We had stayed the previous night in a farm there on the way down to Lands End and aimed to conclude our first day of cycling there.

Dartmoor didn’t have hedges like the first part of the day to shelter us from the wind, it is a pretty bleak place. The wind was relentless here and gave everyone a hard time getting up the hills. We also lost John there. John had got cramp in both legs and had to walk up one of the final hills. The rest of us waited for him at the top for a while before calling Andy to see if he could make sure that John was alright. John took a wrong turn and ended up at a restaurant where he was able to call Dawn (his other half) before she managed to call one of us. Needless to say we found John thanks to Dawn but not before he had to cycle up a 1 in 5 hill, with cramp in both legs.

The pub dinner was welcomed that night before we settled down for the night to begin day 2.