LAND’S END

A friend of mine is currently cycling from Land’s End to John o’ Groats. Hats off to him, I say! That’s a journey of about 900 miles, which turns out to be about 897 miles more than I reckon I could manage.

I’ve been to Land’s End. It’s nice; the great wide Atlantic stretches out from the rocky coastline, blue and bold, where its waves crash in plumes of white spray. There’s something wondrous about standing on the very edge of something, knowing that from here, you can go no further.

I guess it’s similar at the other end too - the wild North Sea at John O’ Groats rolling onto Scottish shores where this island ends and the ocean begins. I’d like to go someday - though I can’t imagine I’d cycle there!

Excitingly (for me) I do get to track Nathan live on Strava. It’s pretty cool watching his progress. He’s gone through Penzance, and right now he’s cycling through a place called Hayle, which is where I once slept on somebody’s floor in a suit. It’s a long story: someone got married, I got locked out, long story…

Anyway, Nathan is inching his way across those Cornish hills, hopefully enjoying the first day of his epic trip. My guess is that Cornwall’s a bit of a psychological barrier to get out of, and it will take what seems like a long and arduous effort to reach the Tamar. Thankfully, Devon is famously flat, like a pancake.*

The other thing about this journey is that it’s all very inland. I like the sea, but on this quest I don’t think Nathan will see much of the sea until he arrives at the other end. If it were me, I think I’d prefer to do, say, the South West Coast Path, or maybe a route along from Bournemouth to Eastbourne or something.

I mean I’d still collapse about a mile along Bournemouth seafront of course, but the intention would be there. And I’d have the sea on my right the whole way! Beautiful.

Anyway, hats off to Nathan. And I really like being the ‘guy in the chair’ with a map on a screen, seeing him beep up the country. There is something really cool about a road trip, and some might say, even cooler about taking one without actually having to be there.

*Don’t write in. It’s a joke.