I left Lands End about 2.30 pm.

A30 for a short distance then turned right on B3315

Turned left through St Buryan where I turned right and re-joned the B3315 to Newlyn and then on and through Penzance

.  Lovely view of Penzance

Took local roads parallel to the A30 through Marazion to the roundabout with the A394. Straight accross onto the B3280 to Leedstown. Stayed on the B3280 until Four Lanes then local roads to Lanner where I turned right onto A393 for a short time before turning left at Gwennap and onto Bissoe and local roads to Truro for the first nights stop.

39 miles covered arriving at B&B at 5.10pm.

 

 

Left Truroand took the A390 to St Austell and followed the A390 towards Liskeard. A couple of long steep climbs along the A390. Just before Liskeard I turned left onto some smaller roads towards Minions (which I was told by the tea-shop owner was the highest village in Cornwall which explaines why I'd felt like I'd been cycling uphill since St Austell!).

 

 

After Minions I head onto the B3254 to Launceston where I tool local roads to Lifton, Lewdown and onto Okehampton.

 

 

From here I took the B3215 to the A3072 to Bow arriving at the B&B at Copplestone at 5.30pm having covered 82 miles in all.

 

 

Left Copplestone and headed along the A377 towards Barnstable for a short distance before turning right towards Morchard Bishop and onto Puddington and Cruwys Morchard before picking up the B3137 to Tiverton. Cycled through Tiverton and local roads to Samford Peverel crossed over teh A361 and stayed on local roads through Westleigh until I joined the A 38 at Samford Arundel. I stayed on the A38 through Taunton and onto Bridgewater.

 

 

The A38, allthough busy, was a decent road so I stayed on there through Highbridge and up and over the Mendip Hills as far as Lower Langford where I turned left to Congresbury and to my B&B at Yatton. 76 miles covered today.

 

  

Left Yatton and headed for Bristol via Clevedon. Eventually managed to find the cycle route to take me over the Avomnouth bridge.

 

 

I worked my way around the outskirts of Bristol and headed off to the old Seven Bridge

 

 

 

Having crossed the bridge I headed through Chepstow and followed the B4228 through St Briavels (very slow steep climb) and onto Coleford

 

 Chepstow Castle

 

 

After Coleford I took the B4432 through Symonds Yat until I picked up the A4137 which then took me onto the A49 towards Hereford.

 

 

I stayed on the A49 to Leominster then took the B4361 to Ludlow where I was stopping that night. 92 miles today.

 

 

Left Ludlow and picked up the A49 which was going to be my friend for most of the day.

Went through Craven Arms (mended my flag pole here) and onto Shrewsbury. Made my way around Shrewsbury on decent cycle paths but had a little misunderstanding at one of the junctions!

 

 That smarted a bit!

 

After shrewsbury stayed on the A49 to Whitchurch.

 

 

After Whitchurch it all got a bit busy as I made my way around Warrington and Wigan. I mainly followed the A49 which wasn't too bad as there were bus/cycle lanes along the way.

I picked up the B5250 at Orrell and headed for my B&B at Eccleston.

 

Today had been a long day with nearly 7 hours of riding I had covered 107 miles.

 

Set off from Eccleston through Leyland (The birthplace of Brithish Leyland!) and made my way accross Preston. Used a strerch of the A6 to Garstang where I then took teh B5272 to pick up the A588 onto Lancaster.

 

 

 

Again the A6 is a busy road but very wide and ok to cycle along.

At Preston my plan had been to branch off right to Kirkby Lonsdale but as I made my way along the A683 the weather was getting worse and looked pretty poor over in that direction so I changed my route and made my way accross country to re-join the A6 to Kendal.

 

 

At Kendal I took shelter from the rain for about 15 minutes but as it did not look like it was going to stop, I headed off up and over Shap Fell.

 

 

 

After Shap I headed for my B&B at Penrith.

 

 

Covered 88 miles today in some tough comditions.

 

Left Penrith and followed the A6 to Carlisle. At Carlilsle I managed to find the new road that runs parallel to the new M6 (which used to be the A74) to Gretna.

At Gretna I headed West towards Annan. I started off on local roads along the coast but again the weather made me change route as the head wind was very strong and not much shelter from the wind and rain along the coast. I headed onto the A75 to Dumfries. At Dumfries I took the A76 all the way to Cumnock where I turned left onto the A70 to my B&B at Coylton.

Did 7 hrs & 35 mins of cycling today and covered 106 miles. The toughest day by far due to the conditions.

 

 

A short day today as I had already planned my stop for tonight at Dunoon.

Left Coylton and headed North to Tarbolton on local roads. Missed out the big towns going between Kilmarnock and Irvine to Kilwinning where I then turned left and headed to the coast at Androssan.

From here I followed teh A78 along the coast through Fairlie & Largs and on to Gourock for the short ferry crossing to Dunoon.

 

 

 

Just 60 miles today!

 

From Dunoon I took the A815 alongside Loch Eck to Loch Fyne to Inveraray picking up the A83 at Cairndow.

 

 

At Inveraray I turned left onto the A819 and headed North to Dalmally arriving there alongside Loch Awe.

 

 

 

Here I turned left onto the A85 and headed off towards Oban.

At Connel, 5 miles before Oban, I turned right onto the A828 towards Appin where I stopped for the night.

 

 

Today I did 85 miles.

 

From Appin I followed the A828 to North Ballachulish where I joined the A82 to Fort William alongside Loch Linnhe.

I stayed on the A82 to Spean Bridge.

 

 

From here I stayed on the A82 through Fort Augustus as far as Drumnadrochit riding alongside Loch Ness passsing Urquhart Castle (No sign of Nessie!)

I then turned left onto the A831 for a short distance before turning right onto the A833 (very steep hill) towards Beauly where I stopped the night.

93 miles covered today.

 

 

Left Beauly and on to Muir of Ord and Dingwall where I soon picked up the A9 which I followed for most of the day except for a few small diversions into towns and villages adjacent to the A9.

 

 

The A9 was to my company for today and I stayed on there until Dunbeath where I took a short detour to my B&B. I covered 85 miles today with nearly 6 hours of cycling.

 

 

A short ride to John o'Groats along the A99 through Lybster and Wick.