Day 50 – Looe to Plymouth

 

Date: Wednesday 23^rd June 2010   Distance: 18.11 Miles

 

 

In the morning, after reclaiming our bike, an old salt, a lovely man, but stereotype of a fisherman nonetheless, congratulated us on our mode of transport for the Cornish terrain and said if we got lost on the way to Plymouth he would come and get us and take us there by his boat. Very Tempting!!

 

Another scorcher of a day with a very long hill out of Looe but not arrowed this time. Pat’s water was still in the fridge in the room and so we stopped at a farm shop to buy some more. It was here we turned off the main road at the top into the pretty lanes that were at last more down than up and well turfed in the middle from lack of vehicles.

 

 We could see Looe through gaps in the hedges for a long while until we came into Seaton. The sand here was grey and fine and we sat on a bench and looked out to sea. No dolphins or seals!! There was a long climb, the longest for quite a while but then it was more undulating and we managed a 32 mile per hour. An impatient driver overtook us on a bend and Pat closed her eyes waiting for the crash then luckily the oncoming driver stopped, just in time. The more dangerous the roads,it seems , the less careful the drivers. We saw more cyclists today than any other maybe because the hills are less.

 

We ate at Anthony but unfortunately it was stale beer and home cooked from packet frozen food- disappointing as our last meal in Cornwall. The National Trust property, Anthony was lovely. It was full to bursting with portraits and fine furniture but it wasn’t so “hands off” as in many stately homes. Pat was perturbed to think that we had the current owner’s bedroom on the tour which could have done with some open windows! There were Alice in Wonderland features since the recent film located there.

Bob ate his first (bought here )ice cream in over 20 years – made sugar free.

 

We left for the ferry at Torpoint. The road was busier and with signs of outer city sprawl. The ferry was huge and one of 3 continuously running. Bikes and cyclists were free. Chatted to cyclist who travelled across every day. He said a lot of young men went out for the night and having a bit much to drink ended up going back and forth on the ferry while they slept it off. He had a wife on the Wirral but he worked in Plymouth during the week.

 

It wasn’t far to Enterprise Car Hire and our waiting Corsa. By 4 pm we were on our way home over 2 days earlier than expected and 276 miles further along our route. The World Cup match, when England wasn’t doing so bad and won 1-0, thinned out the traffic on the roads and we made the journey in really good time.