Day 2 done: Mawgen Porth to Bridgestowe

Right, straight to the important stuff. We have made two important refinements to the beer challenge. Firstly the beer challenge has been renamed to the Richard Finn Beer Appreciation Trophy. Thank you to Richard for rewarding our efforts with a beer at the end of the first couple of days. Secondly we have improved the format. We have decided to take the best beer from each county into a national final. As we have crossed into Devon this afternoon This means Betty Stoggs goes forward as the Cornish champion.

So for the first Devon contenders.
- first up the Jail Ale, brewed a couple of miles away on Dartnoor. Very smooth and rich. A solid 8.
- second an otter ale. Brewed in Exeter using water from the Otter River. My favourite but the boys are pulling me back to a 7.75.
On reflection, maybe we are getting into this a little too much.

A suggestion from Dr Mawdsley was to also think about our regional food. So the local food consumed so far and scores are:
- Cornish pas tie in the heart of Cornwall. Spot on when needing calories. The size of a small baby and a 8.5 out of 10.
- the hog pudding in our Cornish brekkie was a decent effort at a twist on the Lancastrian black pud but obviously not as good. An average 6.5.
- the arrival to Devon and our home baked Devon scones and clotted cream was just spectacular. Made from the 5th generation of owners of the 200acre farm. We have decided it is an 8.

Ok. So now to the secondary stuff - the cycling. In summary a really good day.

We started out at a fairly late 9.30. Mainly due to our landlords being out at the Boardmasters festival until the wee small hours. Ian managed to confuse our hungover host. When asked who we were raising money for he got a little confused about Paul's charity and I quote, 'yeh, I am raising money for a local hospice, dicky for the Ben Trend Society and Paul for the homophobia association'. I quickly corrected him to Haemophila Society.

Our hosts also told us to expect a gentle ride down into Padstow. Well, the resting heart reached 150bpm within 200yards. Padstow was reached by 10 on the button. It was great to see Sue and Alastair waiting for us on the quay. Unfortunately as we were saying hi the ferry pulled in. Only time for a brief conversation and we were quickly on our way. sorry Sue and Al but you still take the prize as our 1st official supporters.

We then had a fabulous couple of hours weaving our way through some beautiful Cornish countryside. Rolling hills and babbling brooks were the order of the day and only a couple of testing inclines. Ian'S map reading was fantastic taking through the unmarked roads as if they were major routes.

By the time we reached Launceston we were ready for a shandy and a bite to eat. Everyone on top form. Then we hit the A388 (4 times to be precise). The first time was a gentle hill out of the town. Ian decided it was not the right way and instead took us up a 15% incline past The castle. After catching breathe we carried on up the 2nd A388. Ian was now confident we were on the right track. Paul and I got a funny feeling something wasn't quite right when he started to take us up the slip road to the A30. A recalculation and we were heading back to the A388. After the 3rd crossing of the A30 we did finally find the correct A388 and we were off and running again. Unfortunately Ian,s sense of humour did not get back on track until after we had crossed the county boundary 10 miles further on. To Ian's credit, we did retrace our steps and for some reason there really are 4 A388s in and around Launceston. The only question left to asks is why we had to cycle along all four.

After our fun and games in Launceston, we then had the final 20 miles to ride into Okehampton. A tough few hills as we skirted Dartmoor bur again some amazing countryside. A final couple of hills and we arrived at Week Farm. John and Margaret we waiting to welcome us for cream Tea and scones.

A beautiful English summers evening was had at the White Heart where we rated the Devon ales (see above). Paul won the darts with a text book 75 checkout (double 2, followed by double top and then double 16). We were a bit worried about the 1.5 mile walk up the hill but a quick phone call home and John was down to pick us up in his red land rover. Now that is hospitality.

Just finishing watching MOTD2 before another early night. We are Already looking forward to the ride to Taunton tomorrow. Hopefully we will be rating the cider.

Finally our stats (with Steve Cushings suggested additions):
- 60 miles done
- 1 county boundary crossed
- 1 fall (PR failed to unclip)
- 4 pints consumed per rider (after our finish)
- best comedy place names fo to Splat and Camp.

TTFN
#LEJOG blog