St. Austell to Helston

On Thursday we spent an extra day in St. Austell and it was well worth it. We researched our train trip to central England to meet up with Anne and Steadroy Henry, went to the Charlestown shipwreck museum and witnessed a special event at the Charlestown harbor. We met a German family who was catching a train at the station with their bicycles and they told us their experiences on the English trains. We watched them load and depart and are prepared now. The special event at the harbor was a tall sailing ship leaving the inner harbor. The boat must be maneuvered by ropes to turn all the corners since the inner harbor entrance is at a right angle to the outer harbor. The inner harbor entrance is on the left hand side of the picture below. Dave got a video of the event, but we are unable to post it.


On Friday we left St. Austell on the National Bicycle Network route 3. The first 7 miles were off road on a gravel walking path. That was fine until we had to climb over a hill and then it was very challenging and slow. We passed through Mevigissey and Portmellon the next two towns on the coast.


We had to push the bikes up very steep grades after each town. It started to rain after Portmellon and a little further down the road we saw this sight through the mist.


It's a castle you can rent for a vacation! There were also small buildings on the estate for rent (gatehouse, gamekeeper's cottage, etc.). Here is a view of the headlands we came across in the morning.


The next town, Veryan, had these unusual round houses. They reminded us of the Italian trulli and the French windmill houses. The legend attached to the round shape is that the devil can't hide in the corner if there are no corners.


We stopped in Philleigh after 22 very challenging and damp miles. On Saturday we left Philleigh and within a short time were on the 12th ferry ride of our trip. Cornwall has many significant rivers draining to the coast and has utilized ferries to cross them rather than build a lot of bridges.


The ride to Helston got easier as the day progressed. We had left the bicycle route and had selected roads that had reasonable grades. We had lunch in this charming pub in Stithians.


As we were leaving the pub, we met some people who asked where we were going. When we said Helston, we were given a hearty recommendation to try the Stingo ales at the Blue Anchor. Cornwall has many thatched cottages and this one particularly caught our eye.


We reached Helston and checked into the oldest hotel in town, The Angel, which has been in operation since the 1500's. We are going to spend a couple of days here exploring the Lizard peninsula and Helford river estuary with unloaded bikes.

Tavistock to St. Austell

On Sunday we left Tavistock as the sun was breaking out after early morning rain showers. We had an ambitious plan to get to St. Austell, but knew the plan was open to modification based on the hills. We had several climbs and steep descents. The countryside continued to be beautiful.


We decided to end the day in Liskeard a little early in order to get accomodations and some new brake pads. That was a good decision and we got a room in the 6th establishment on the list at the tourism office because all the other places were full. There was a nice couple from Australia at our B&B and we ended up having a great dinner together. They had been traveling for 9 weeks and we compared highlights of our trips to date. On Monday we left Liskeard and about 5 miles down the road and stopped at the Duloe stone ring.


This is one of the many Neolithic sites in Great Britain that may have been used as a seasonal clock, a ritual ground or a tomb. We checked the orientation of the largest rocks and they all matched the 4 points of the compass exactly. A little further down the road we had to take a ferry across the Fowey river (11th ferry ride during the trip).


We ate lunch and watched all sorts of small boat traffic in the port. This large boat headed out just before we left.


We got to St. Austell and decided that the fatigue in our legs called for a rest day. We had covered over 160 miles of challenging topography in 6 days. We found a nice B&B, cleaned up and headed to Charlestown harbor for dinner. It is a very unusual harbor with an outer harbor, subject to tidal change, and an inner harbor with a lock retaining the water.





St. Austell is known for it's brewery. It is the largest brewery in Cornwall and one of the top 25 in the country. We had a great tour today, Wednesday, and learned some new facts about brewing beer. One of the most interesting facts we learned was about a yeast bank where the brewers send samples of their proprietary yeasts. This ensures that if they lose their yeast at the brewery, by accident or disaster, that they can get a replacement culture of the exact same yeast. We wondered whether American brewers have this safeguard. St. Austell ales are the best beer we have had in England and they are available at many pubs in Cornwall.


Flower gardens appear to be at their peak just now in this area.


Before sightseeing today we replaced the brake pads on Belinda's bike and lubed both chains so we are all ready to head out tomorrow. We have downloaded software from the National Bicycle Network that has maps of bike routes and works with the GPS in our iPad. We'll try a section of Route 3 tomorrow and see how it goes.

The Moor

Sunday morning was windy and the clouds were on the horizon. We headed west and soon came to Bovey Castle, a large English manor house.


The golf course next to the house had a challenging rough, your ball would be lost in a thicket of ferns or blackberries. A little farther down the road was a miniature horse farm.


We had several challenging climbs (well actually pushes of the bike) before we got up above the trees into the moor. We came around a corner and saw a herd of Dartmoor cattle. This fellow was right next to the road.


We've seen a lot of wildlife in the park including the fallow deer and the famed wild Dartmoor ponies. This mother and foal were spooked by our bicycles.


The flowers on the moor were small, but everywhere.


We had several rain showers during the day and a strong headwind all afternoon. The sky was dramatic and the landscape kept our attention.


At the end of the day we descended off the moor into Tavistock. We canvassed the town but there were no rooms to be had. All five B&Bs and the one hotel were full. Rain was coming. The owner of the last B&B we tried knew of a B&B 3.5 miles outside of town and kindly called for us. They had a room. We booked the room and then had dinner at a restaurant in town before riding out to our B&B. We arrived in the rain and got a very warm welcome from our hosts, Tony and Jane. Tomorrow we ride towards the coast again and hope to get as far as St. Austell, we'll just have to see what the bicycling gods have in store for us.

Entering Dartmoor National Park

We left Exeter this morning climbing a 13% grade for two miles. Then we climbed into Dartmoor National Park. The scenery was drop-dead gorgeous and though the sky was ever changing, we did not get rained on. We will begin to modify our earlier condemnation of the weather in England.


Dartmoor National Park is not like the national parks in the States. It is not wilderness. 80% of the park is held privately, most used as grazing land.


We faced significant challenges on the way into the park.


We crossed Steps Bridge, an 18th century bridge.


Belinda made a beautiful friend.





When we reached the town of Moretonhampstead we could not find any place to stay, but a quarter mile out of town we found a room in this B&B, Moorcote.


After settling into our room and cleaning up we walked back into town to eat dinner at The Union Inn.


This was clearly the town's social center. We have been enjoying the pub scene in England very much. It is the place to meet and greet. The locals are generously friendly and curious about us travelers. This evening we learned much about how football (soccer) leagues are organized, player salary structures, etc. from one couple and later had a conversation with a man who was largely responsible for the early administration of Dartmoor National Park. It was a interesting evening and ended with this view from our bedroom window.

England So Far

On Wednesday we took the ferry to Weymouth and here is our last view of the castle in the harbor of Jersey.


Weymouth is one of the southcoast beach scenes and reminded us of Santa Cruz. There were all sorts of amusements, ice cream parlors, a merry go round, and games, along the beach. The picture below is from the beachfront in Weymouth.


We got a room in a guesthouse along the strand (beach), The Gloucester House run by Geoff and Chris, who treated us very well.


Thursday morning we awoke to rain, but we loaded up the bikes and were praised by the other guests as being very intrepid. It was a new country for us and each country has required a period of time to learn the type of roads that work best for cycling, the typical business hours, and work out a daily general plan for our trip. This adjustment period has not been pleasant for any of the countries we have entered. When we went from Greece to Italy we felt like going back to Greece, but then we caught on to how things worked and began to enjoy ourselves. Similarly, when we entered France, for a few days we said to one another "let's go back to Italy". In the end France spoiled us with great cycling. We now are in this adjustment period in England. We hope we don't get too whiney, BUT, the roads suck, the traffic sucks, and the weather sucks! However the scenery has been gorgeous, and the beer and the pubs have been fun, so there's hope.

Later in the day on Thursday as the rain let up and the sky lightened, we got this photo looking back the way we came.


The riding has been very difficult since the English roads don't have any switchbacks. The area southwest of Weymouth is called the Jurassic Coast from the geological time that formed the land. The area has many small steep hills and the English roads just go straight up to the top. From Weymouth we rode to Seaton on Thursday and here are some of the hills.





On Friday we left Seaton and climbed out of the town on a road with a 10%+ grade. That was just a warmup for two hills later in the day, one a climb and one a descent, with grades of 20%. We adjusted our mileage expectation for the day and, with cow pies in our tire tread, we parked our bikes in a hotel room in Exeter. We'll rework a plan for tomorrow.

Jersey

Jersey is one of the Channel Islands, a group of islands close to the French coast, but part of Britain. We got off the ferry from St. Malo on Monday morning and went right to a diner and had an English breakfast. We had left the hotel so early that we missed petit dejeuner (French breakfast). Then it was off to exchange our euros for pounds and go to the tourist office. We have become fans of the tourist offices in Europe for several reasons. They can provide detailed maps of the towns, lists of accomodations, availability of rooms, and will even help you get a room. This is very helpful to bicycle tourists who are tired and do not want to ride around looking for accomodations. We checked into a hotel and then went exploring the town. We stopped for a beer and met two wonderful young men, Neil and Tom.


They are Jersey locals and we discussed many things, local and international. It was a great time and we learned many things about Jersey. It has one of the largest tidal changes in the world at 40 ft., is world renowned for the products from it's Jersey cows, and is the warmest place in Britain.


After saying goodbye to Neil and Tom, we went to Liberation square. The sculpture behind Belinda represents the islanders raising up the Union Jack in May 1945 after 5 years of occupation by the Germans. The evening low tide was quite apparent in the harbor.


This morning, Tuesday, we went sightseeing around the island on our bikes. There are bike paths/trails on the quiet roads passing by the major sights on the island.


This sculpture is to commemorate the rescue of all 307 passengers and crew of a shipwreck in 1995 just off the lighthouse.


We ended our sightseeing at a winery that produces excellent wine, apple brandy, and Jersey black butter (carmelised apple butter). Tomorrow we take the ferry to Weymouth, England and begin the last leg of our trip across Europe.

St. Malo, au revoir France

We left Pontorson on Sunday and had one last look at Mont St. Michel over the salt grass marshes. The road to St. Malo was easy and filled with roadside stands for local vegetables (especially garlic) and the famous oysters from the isle of Cancale in the bay of Mont St. Michel.


The wheat harvest has been in high gear in this region with large harvesters going up and down the road all day. We greatly admired this delightful haybale artwork in a field along the road.


We got to St. Malo and headed to the old city near the ferry terminal to the Channel islands of Britain. The old town was destroyed in 1944, but rebuilt with the same plan and style of buildings. The cathedral was not seriously damaged and is similar to the cathedral at Mont St. Michel is a combination of styles. It has Norman, Gothic, and Renaissance elements.





St. Malo is a beach town and the beaches are right outside the fortified walls.





The pool area shown above is a way to retain a swimming area when the tide goes out. The tidal change is quite large and one can walk all the way to the far island when the tide is out. The high tides fill the pool every day. St. Malo had a great assortment of shops, restaurants and bars. One could really have a swinging good time at this bar!


This morning we caught the 8:00 am ferry to Jersey and have left France. France is a beautiful country and we enjoyed traveling through it very much. We also met and made some great friends. Thanks to Leo and Steph for wonderful hospitality and advice. A special thanks to Bernard and Helene for their hospitality and a much needed respite from the rigors of the road.