clairedavieswriter

An important omission from the day 3 blog: yesterday my sponsorship total passed £1,000, so I wanted to say a massive thank you to everyone who has supported me so far – with your help, I’m making fantastic progress towards my target, and it’s definitely helping to keep the pedals turning

There are some snacks that no true cyclist should ever be without. And if your banana is too big for your bar bag then you find another way. Webbo joined me for the first few miles – strangely the hills got steeper after that but I’m sure that’s not the reason she turned back. There…

Today was a glorious day of cycling. Starting before 8 to avoid the heat, I shared the South Coast path from Penzance to Marazion with joggers, dog walkers and wild swimmers returning home invigorated from their morning dip. Heading inland, I parted clouds of swallows gathered on the road, preparing to head south. At 10k…

I had thought that the famous Land’s End signpost was a public thing that anyone could bowl up to and have their picture taken in front of. How naive! Turns out it’s a commercial operation, run by the same family since 1957. For a fee, they take a photo and let you put your own…

Once I’d got the hang of GWR’s surprisingly neat bike storage arrangements, the Reading to Penzance leg was a doddle. Penzance was Riviera-hot and St Michael’s Mount barely visible through the heat haze when I arrived at lunchtime. I stopped to get my bearings and a man walking by volunteered directions: an early benefit of…

As ready as I’ll ever be, yes and yes. It’s fair to say that I haven’t gone overboard on the training. Not due to any over-confidence in my fitness but because it’s only a few weeks since a vague notion to do a long ride coalesced into a firm plan to do Lejog, so there…

On my training ride today, I found myself looking at the passing scenery with fresh eyes, thanks to what I’ve learned so far from Wilding – Isabella Tree’s story of how she and her husband Charlie Burrell are returning their Knepp estate in Sussex to nature. I’m lucky enough to be able to ride straight…

The great thing about this trip is that it instantly converts leisure rides into ‘training’, and cake into ‘essential fuel’. Like any dedicated athlete, I take both training and nutrition seriously. Ideally, I try to combine the two by riding via a nice cafe, like Gilbert White’s in Selbourne, which offers a good lemon drizzle…