After a less than perfect night's sleep (due to the inexplicable presence of a particularly noisy fridge in my room) and a tasty full english breakfast, I set off just before 9am. First off was a descent into Truro, past the impressive cathedral and back up out the other side of the town.My route then followed lots of very quiet country lanes (often coinciding with NCN 32) through some attractive wooded areas. At one point a very friendly small dog decided to follow me for a short distance, rolling over and begging to have his tummy tickled, so I obliged until his owner arrived to retrieve him.
After a while came a long but gradual climb up onto the St. Breock Downs, where a large standing stone nestled amongst the turbines of a wind-farm. Then a fast descent into Wadebridge, where I bought some lunch for later on. I left Wadebridge by the B3314, which was a very busy winding road. Thankfully, after a couple of miles I was back on quiet lanes. I stopped for lunch half-way up a long climb. The route then re-joined the B3314 for the rest of the climb, although it was a lot straighter and less busy than near Wadebridge. I again switched back to country lanes for the descent to Tintagel. Rather worryingly, the turning I took was marked "Warning - satnav error" and directed traffic to continue on the B3314! I soon discovered the reason - after a nice gradual descent, the last hundred metres was breathtakingly steep, and I was forced to walk down, and partway back up the other side...
Tintagel itself was a rather tacky-looking town, filled with Merlin- and Crystal Cave-related businesses. I stopped for a fantastic view of the castle from the bottom of a car-park, but didn't fancy the long walk to visit the castle itself, as I was getting tired by this time.
The final leg was the (unclassified) coastal road to Bude. Whilst offering some great views, this really sapped my energy, as every long steep climb was immediately followed by a steep descent, usually back down to sea-level. One particularly big hill went up to 250m, and several gradients were marked as 30%! On the last couple of these I was exhausted and reduced to pushing the bike. The final couple of miles to Bude were thankfully more gentle, and I finally rolled up at the B&B at 5:45pm. Had a quick meal at a nearby pub, and then sank exhausted back to my room (luckily fridge-free this time!)
Distance: 61.6 miles
Total ascent: 2163m
Cumulative distance: 106.3 miles
Interactive route map and profile: http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1730
