The blog is up and running....

And The Humes are up and cycling!!  After a bargain basement breakfast of a giant bacon bap and a bucket of tea, for the princely sum of £2 each, we set off to dump our bags at tonight's hotel and then drive to Penzance to drop off the hire van.  I had to explain to the disbelieving guy at Enterprise that there was a problem with the locking system (shades of NZ all over again) that meant you could only lock the car by locking the boot (which locked all the doors). To get back in again you had to first open the boot (which only opened the boot) use the key to unlock the passenger door (but only if the boot was still open) and finally open the driver's door from inside.......

How I laughed as he unsuccessfully tried to prove I had got it wrong 😂

Anyway we finally got going at about 11.00am and headed for Lizard Point, using little Cornish lanes as much as possible. We had to start on the coast road past St Michael's Mount and we were very glad to escape - wall to wall cars, people, chip shops and cheap tat (or more likely not so cheap tat). We had a few head scratching moments, but eventually got on the straight main road to the Lizard with a tail wind - great while it lasted!!

The Lizard is lovely when you actually get to the lighthouse, the village rather less so. The sun was out and after the obligatory photo stop and look round, we decided to have our lunch in the centre of the village and watch the world go by for a while. However time was marching on and our return route was into the wind so we set off about 2.15. The route I chose was gorgeous (though I say so myself) on empty roads across Goonhilly Down and on to Gweek. More deserted lanes round Sithians Reservoir and an inspired navigational triumph that saw us drop off the lanes into Redruth on quiet roads emerging about 10 yards from the entrance to the hotel. 

We are about to go down and meet the rest of the group, so I will either post again later or leave it until tomorrow - depending on how interesting it all turns out to be