Fowey- Falmouth- The Lizard- Porthlevan

Waking up to the sounds of the high frequency emergency radio crackling in and out of use was a novel experience. We had slept the night on the floor of Fowey RNLI station's "crew room".

We packed the bikes and headed out for breakfast from the local deli- a croissant and slice of cake... Why not eh?

The long hill climb out of Fowey made us temporarily regret our decision to stuff our mouths but soon enough we were cruising along the top of the country lanes and making progress on the 45km that lay between us and our next stop- Falmouth. We only stopped twice, once to enjoy a few roadside blackberries and the second time to catch the passenger ferry from St. Mawes to Falmouth. While waiting for the ferry we bumped into and old friend of our, with whom we had stacked the shelves of London's finest dept store 10 years ago- Charlie London- or the Jammy Dodger as he is more commonly known for his in depth knowledge of Fortnum & Mason jam collection.

a brief rest for some blackberry picking

Charlie 'jammy dodger' London and Rad in St. Mawes

The ferry crossing sparked some interesting conversations with fellow passengers and a few more donations into the collection boxes (little RNLI money boxes strapped to our bikes). But we soon arrived at the other side and headed to the lifeboat station- which was again closed and no sign of activity- I guess a good thing but we aren't having the best of luck so far, finding open stations with a kettle and a biscuit tin!

A photo outside and a spot of lunch followed and within the hour we were heading west to The Lizard. Country roads lead us to Helford Passage, where Nick frequented as a boy. In fact he even saw the father of the family he stayed with at the time drive past us. Despite some frantic waving he failed to recognise us as we sped past in the opposite direction.

The road to The Lizard flattened off somewhat ans provided us the chance to get our speed up- which was a welcome change from the incessant hills of Devon. We arrived at the most beautiful lifeboat station, tucked away at the bottom of a country lane surrounded by cliffs and in sheltered cove. A few people were swimming and enjoying the weather. We soon found out that this was in fact the old RNLI station, now a house, and the new one was just around the corner.

The old RNLI station that is now a house with an incredible view

The new RNLI station (currently under construction)

After a brief but very pleasant swim, we cycled up the hill and back down another track where we saw the new station - so new that parts were still a construction site. After the station photo, we headed in to the village of The Lizard for a look around- we ate ice creams while walking around the classic cars that had parked up as part of a rally.

By about 5pm we decided to do one last push and get to Porthlevan, where we were greeted by Blades and Heather, university friends of Nick. We were kindly invited to stay for one night of their romantic week's holiday.

They had laid on a beautiful spread of food for which we were both very grateful and we drank beers as the sun set over Penzance. A brief trip to the local followed and after a pint of doombar, we walked back to the house, accompanied by the harmonics of a Cornish sea shanty band singing in one of the bars. We were definitely in Cornwall!

Heather, our host.

Captain Rad

Salcombe- Plymouth- Looe- Fowey

We woke after an excellent night's sleep at the Willis' wonderful home, feeling fresh as a daisy... Little did we know at this point what lay in store for us during the day ahead. A cracking breakfast and our best send off yet, and we were on our way.

Enjoying a beer on the terrace at The Willis'

Nick on the Salcombe-West Portlemouth Ferry with Steve behind

After a free lift on the passenger boat to Salcombe (with famed boatman Steve, who is renowned for his epic pedallo adventures), we took a couple of photos outside the closed Salcombe station, before getting underway.

Salcombe Lifeboat

The view looking back at Salcombe

The route which Rad took us on out of Salcombe was, quite frankly a joke- one of the steepest hills either of us have seen, and a tiny moss covered lane shaded by trees which was unbelievably slippery and consequently made cycling impossible... Our tyres simply had no traction at all on the phenomenally steep and slippery lane, and we just ended up wheel spinning and, quite literally, going backwards.... The only option was to push the bikes, all the way to the top... Off to a strong start then!

hills out of Salcombe

The next two hours involved endless steep hill climbs and infuriatingly slow descents due to the pot holes, loose gravel and wet slippery roads. We eventually arrived in Plymouth and made our way through the town (which Rad described as an industrial wasteland- something between Holyhead and Southampton!) to the lifeboat station- a small and rather beautiful stone tower in a bizarre setting- surrounded by rough gravel car parks, and a large housing development- all of which were like a ghost town. During the 10 minutes we were there taking photos, we saw no- one, and left asap!!

Stopping for half an hour at an 'old school' Chippie on the way out of Plymouth for a good ol' Cod 'n' chips, we boarded the chain ferry across the estuary, and were soon back in the rural hills.

The route on to Looe was again unbelievably hilly, but had some stunning cliff top views. Rad got huge amusement from strapping his ridiculous new digital video camera to my helmet (no idea why I drew the short straw!), making me look utterly ridiculous (see below)! but which hopefully provided some good video footage.

Nick rocking the headcam

A quick stop at the lifeboat station at Looe, where we had an ice cream (in the rain), and a rather lengthy discussion with a chap at the station about the best route to Fowey, and we were off (if only we had taken his advice!).

While Rad had taken us on some rather dubious routes earlier in the day, this did not even compare with what was to come...

We cycled over numerous extremely steep hills until we dropped down to a small and very beautiful bay. We cannot remember the name but watch this space and we will update. It was at this point that I spotted a chap wading out of the sea with some serious harpooning kit and two very good sea bass. We quickly managed to corner him when he reached his car to find out more. It turned out that he was a rather modest and quiet (for once!) South African who had been out free diving for 6 hours with two harpoon guns, a camouflaged 5mm wetsuit, enormous free diving fins and a small dinghy and flag which he dragged around to load his catch onto. He had with him two 3lb+ sea bass which he had harpooned, but had also seen Pollack, place, dogfish, crab and eels during the day whilst exploring some under water caves. An absolute legend!

Soon, we were on our way again, on the 'direct route' which Rad had planned (and programmed into his GPS) to get us to Fowey! This involved one of the steepest inclines I have seen, on a three foot wide tarmac pedestrian footpath, 75% of which had eroded by rainwater to form huge potholes and ruts. Other great features of this route include steep 10 ft banks on either side, and the path being heavily over shadowed by trees and bushes so that any tarmac remaining was wet and covered in moss!

It is without a doubt a physical impossibility to cycle up this on a touring bike!! We were starting to get pretty good at pushing fully laden bikes up hills! Let this be a lesson- think twice before asking Rad to do directions!!

After several more monumental hills we arrived in Fowey, where the deputy coxswain, Nick kindly, showed us around the fantastic station where they were putting us up for the night. After a quick shower and kit wash we headed up Fowey high street for supper. A really stunning seaside town in an incredible setting at the mouth of the estuary- we both immediately fell in love with the place. Some whitebait, calamari and pasta at a little bistro seemed to hit the spot and we headed back to the RNLI station (which dept. Coxswain Nick Beard had given us a key for), fairly exhausted, to settle in for a good night's sleep.

Fowey Lifeboat