Max Wall & the Lycra Tree Frog

We gathered at the sacred signpost and posed for our souvenir photo. After more than a little messing about and silliness we were ready to start.
I said to Morris "Well this is Lands End, I wonder what John O'Groats is like?".
"Dunno" he replied.
"Shall we find out?" I asked him.
"Okay" he said, sounding just a bit timorous and after a little pause added rather sheepishly "but what about my bottom?"
I looked into his little face, "Don't worry" I  reassured him, "You'll be alright, just keep taking those tablets".
And off we went. Like Don Quixote and Sancho Panza (or Laurel & Hardy maybe?)

A couple of hours later he turned into a crazed lunatic, racing the locals on their carbon fibre bikes and rapidly developing an unhealthly obsession with road kill. It could have been the pain killers, that and the hemp-energy bars a lady kindly gave us at Land End.

She'd been part of the support team for a bunch of guys having their photo done before us. It was obviously an emotional moment. They had just reached Lands End, having run from John O'Groats in about a fortnight, around 60 miles a day! More information here if you're interested. We inherited about 30 9-Bars from those guys.

We'd driven down to Hayle and bunked up in the local Premier Inn with Sophie & Katie (our support vehicle drivers) before driving the last few miles to the Lands End complex. They let you park for free if you're doing an End to End for charity. Several others had already cycled off into a fresh sunny morning, heading North (well, more East to start with). We had seen what I think were a small group of fellow End to Enders whilst driving down to Cornwall the previous day. They were on a grass verge, didn't look too good (one was laying down on the grass, but appeared to be still breathing). Not for the faint hearted this kind of thing. And you need the right kit, even if it makes you look ridiculous - like Max Wall or a Lycra tree frog.

We got straight onto the A30 and zoomed around Penzance, back past Hayle and onwards. In high spirits, glad to be on our way after so many months of planning and preparation. Places normally only visited on family holidays now came and went as we kept up a reasonable pace. Yes, it's hilly in Cornwall, but the the dual-carriageway smooths them down, so no sharp climbs to deal with. Unfortunately our day was slightly marred at the end by zooming straight past the Bodmin turnoff, necessitating that we double back through the town and locate the hotel, adding extra miles and a few more climbs to our first day.

Some facts for the day:
Left Lands End 10.30am, reached Bodmin around 4.30pm.
Distance covered: 65 miles
Average speed: just over 14mph
Max speed: 39mph
Road Casualties seen: 1 Badger, 7 Rabbits, 1 Stoat (or weasle or something), 1 Owl, 1 Chaffinch, 1 hedge hog (more hedge than hog I'm afraid to say) and about 6 cucumbers (vegetarian road kill?)