JOGLE Day 15, the penultimate day of our cycle tour always looked like being one of the most challenging days. In the event it certainly lived up to its reputation as we continued to make our way through the Devon and Cornwall hills.

Leaving Sourton Cross Travelodge we left Dartmoor and made our way towards Lifton.

And on towards Launceston.

Our support team, Sarah and Nic, had already arrived and having a look around came upon the mayor officially opening a Victorian market.

We were just entering Cornwall …

Our morning break was taken at The Coffee Pot. The Cornish cream tea was excellent. Unfortunately the loo’s weren’t. It involved a trek to the the other side of town and the official council WC facilities. It was too much for Neil who having left his Garmin behind got a little lost.

We had already decided Launceston wasn’t our favourite place since it involved a stonking climb up a hill to get in to the town. Leaving it  confirmed our thoughts since this proved a challenge too. Dropping down the to the river and then straight up another corker of a climb.

We made our way towards Egloskerry and Slaughter Bridge.

In the meantime the support vehicle took a detour via Trevivian and drove across an airfield. They were really flying to the next stop now!

Having cycled through Davidstow we briefly found ourselves on the busy A39. Thankfully we had reached 1000 feet by now so this section was downhill.

After a tough morning we arrived in Delabole for lunch.

If the morning had seemed tough the afternoon would be even tougher. It started reasonably enough with a few climbs …

…as we made our way to Rock and took the ferry across to Padstow.

  

Once on the other side we first of all found a place that served ice-cream.

Whilst Sarah and Nic might not have been with us (since there journey involved driving the long way around the River Camel) they clearly had the same thing in mind!

Coming out of Padstow however then took us along the Cornish coast road. This involved endless drops in and out of bays.

They took the toll on our team who became more fatigued with each climb. It was slow cycling.

Eventually we reached Perranporth YHA – which of course was up another hill. Thankfully the views across the bay were fantastic!

And we were met by our friend Paul from Stockport Community Cycling Club. This was a welcome smile.

In the evening we were so exhausted that we only just had enough energy to drink our bottles of beer 🙂 . Thankfully we could do that whilst admiring the view.

By the end of the day we had cycled 68 miles and climbed over 5600 feet. You can view our JOGLE Day 15 route from OKehampton to Perranporth below:

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Tomorrow is our final day and after two weeks of cycling we will reach Land’s End. After today’s struggles however we are having a rethink about which route we shall take. Whilst there is the say there is always another hill – the north Cornish coast might just include one climb too many.