To Lands End

We have had one practice at putting the tandem on the car roof on the horizontal “Mirit” rack that we bought second hand earlier this year. Also Sheila has been making a cover for the tandem. On the rainy evening before departure we rack up the tandem onto the car roof and try on the finished cover. It is difficult to secure effectively even with the draw cord so I have a few trial runs up and down the road to assess the amount of flapping with Sheila watching. It is not too convincing so we take the car out to the Everton bypass for a higher speed test. We are not at all convinced that it will not just flap like crazy and do more harm than good. Back at the house the rain has set in so we decide to give up on the cover and stow the car away in the garage with the bike on top.

I have to sort out my cycling and other gear and pack bags, so while I get on with this Sheila returns home to make sandwiches. Being the organiser of this cycling partnership she will have packed several days ago. When I go in I find a completely shattered rear sign for the bike on the dining table. It has been sitting there happily all week and now at the last minute decides to self-destruct. The acrylic must have been stressed by the bolts that hold on the aluminium bracket and it has finally decided to fracture. Well at least it did not leave it until we had left Lands End. I scour the house for something to make a replacement and eventually find and pull to pieces an aluminium camping stove windshield. I drill this, make and fit a bracket from a piece of aluminium strip and struggle to remove the encapsulated sign from the broken acrylic and mount it onto this new substitute. It is all very last minute and improvised but in fact it performs very well throughout the trip and serves as an invaluable permanent advert on the rear of the tandem.

The next morning, Thursday 20th April, it is grey and drizzly and the weather forecast for the coming bank holiday weekend and the week following is for strong winds and showers with the emphasis very much on the rain rather than any dry interludes. I collect Sheila and then Peter and all of our collective baggage. We seem to have an awful lot. That is the trouble with not being ruthlessly restricted to one pannier apiece. It looks to be drying out as we set off for Cornwall.

We keep an eye on the tandem through the glass of the sunroof and at various fuel or coffee stops I check the bolts on the carrier and the straps on the tandem. We do not travel very far before we reach our first belt of heavy rain.

Making good time we arrive at Lands End in dry weather by lunchtime. At the entrance to the Lands End visitor complex we stop at the barrier where the entrance and car park fee is £5. I remember reading something about charity End to End events being allowed in free and so ask if there is somewhere we can drive to in order to unload the tandem for a charity End to End journey start. We are graciously waved through. So at least some information on the Internet is reliable!

We drive into the building group and park to one side. The first thing to hit us, literally, as we step out is the wind. It is sunny now but the wind is blowing a fair gale. Having unloaded the tandem and lent it against a wall we notice that it is slowly being blown along by the wind. I wheel the tandem around the building in order to find a sheltered spot and then settle down with the tools to fit the rear lamp and last night’s hastily made sign. We also sort out our luggage and fix the bags in place. Finally we take turns to adjourn into the toilets to change out of civvies into cycling kit.

Prologue - Lands End to Ludgvan