Day 14 Looe to Princetown
Depart: Hannaforte Point Hotel Looe
Destination: The Cherrybrook, Two Bridges, Yelverton, PL20 6SP (Princetown)
Distance: 44.1 mi. 70.6 km
Planned ascent: 3,100 feet
Planned decent: 1,936 feet
Actuals: See Raloh’a Strava
Route: https://www.cycling4charity.org.uk/august-14
“Broken record start”… a gorgeous sunny morning with the sea in front of our breakfast table glistening below.
All was good. Then I looked at the ride profile:
Next I called Sue at the Cherrybrook BnB in Two Bridges to warn her that we would be a late arrival and to upgrade our reservations to two rooms which were now available.
Remember that “check your brakes” sign going into Looe yesterday… well on the other side of the bridge in Looe, we started our climb up. It is an “A” road so except for the very steep part at the beginning… I was ok until we got out of town on the secondary ones.
The ride profile was nothing but “scary”. Ralph’s greatest joy in this project is planning the routes, executing them, and then updating them after the ride. Other than my STRONG input that yes, I can cycle 100 miles in a day, and have done so many, many times, it is a VERY different question with panniers and hills and doing it day after day. I agreed to an average of 50 miles a day. Today is 44, which meets that criteria, but the last 24 miles are a continuous uphill. I didn’t
know the gradient. If I am walking 24 miles at 2 mph pushing a heavy bike…. I think I arrive at tonight’s accommodation sometime tomorrow afternoon .
After the climb up Looe Hill Road we were treated to a flat run along a plateau with beautiful views of the countryside and another reservoir.
A long descent in a cool shady forest and the hill opened to a view of beach umbrellas, surfers, kayakers and swimmers on a lovely sand beach by a holiday town.
The ferry at Torpoint to Plymouth was waiting for us and I took the opportunity to ask a gentleman, with a bike on his car roof, if he had a bike pump AND was he in a rush. The rush part really was irrelevant because we were both on a ferry that hadn ‘t left the dock yet. My new friend jumped out of his car, started taking things out of his packed trunk - which was full of the family’s vacation bags, and triumphantly produced a bike pump. Our tires were pumped to 75 pounds pressure and we were ready to go before we got to the Plymouth side of the estuary.
Thank you!
For those of you who have read all my blogs, you may remember that we passed through Plymouth a few days ago on our way down to Land’s End. This time we went along the busy, bustling waterfront. Everyone was enjoying the Sunday sunshine! We were back in Devon …. Away from the Cornwall hills and that was enough of a reason to have Devon vanilla ice cream topped with Devon Double Clotted cream!
The Hoe Collinade and the Timside Lido swimming pool probably make the best people watching places. The Tinsise Lido has been restored to its 1935 Art Deco glory. It looked inviting.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinside_Lido
Smeaton’s Tower also stands out along the Hoe.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smeaton%27s_Tower
I would have loved to spend the day in the pool, visiting the aquarium or just walking the promenade, but it was 2:30 and we weren’t at the halfway mileage point yet. The afternoon hills were on my mind.
The afternoon turned out to be a treat. We found NCN #27 which included the Plym Valley trail and the Drakes Trail.
We met a young cyclist, Paul from Paris, who has his panniers full and is just cycling where the path takes him. We saw him several times as we all wound our way around Plymouth and onto the trail. I asked
him if he thought his mother knew he wasn’t wearing his helmet. He unclipped it from the back of his bike, opened it accordian style and strapped it on his head. I have never seen one like it. It looked absolutely sturdy when worn.
Paved Plym Valley rail
Trail and Drakes Trail are rail trails that took us into Yelverton. The slope was pretty well continuous uphill but at a grade a train could handle…. and so could we. It was lovely!
Complete with a tunnel! My front trail lignt lit it up quite nicely…. my Garmin didn’t seem to like being underground.
The landscape changed suddenly and dramatically at Yelverton into open moor with yellow gorse bushes blooming and sheep, ponies and cattle grazing on literally no pasture. The drougnt has caused the turf to dry up and the ponds had no water in them. Hopefully there will be rain tomorrow or the next day.
It was a delight for me to be back on the moors. In May I had so enjoyed hiking over the one up north along Wainwright's Coast to Coast walk.
Our last signtseeing stop was the Darrmoor Prison in Princetown. It is a stone biulding behind a massive stone wall. It looks to me like aMedieval fortress. It didn’t have a moat… at least not on the side we were on. There is a museum which was closed but Ralph and I ignored the signs and wandered about as we passed cctv warning signs. I decided to continue the last 5 miles or so to Two Bridges and headed out leaving Ralph to explore. I met some locals and asked if it was open for tours like Alcatraz is in California. They laughed when I said I wanted to go in. It seems it is an operational prison with 600 inmates. It was scheduled to close in 2024 but the Conservative government has extended its life for ten more years. I expect the prison brings a lot to the economy of the area.
The signpost to the Cherrybrook BnB was a lovely sight. Sue and Chris are a very welcoming couple as are their dogs of various sizes. Our bikes are secure in a “Shed” renovated to be a jazz bar.
Chris and Sue played jazz on Disney Cruise ships for six years before buying the BnB. I am truly disappointed that tonight isn’t Friday Pizza and jazz. I will just have to come back! My room is a cozy delight and the thick walls, dark wood floors and art pieces hanging in this 200 year old farmhouse make it all a perfect place to stop.
I can’t wait for the breakfast the hens outside my window are going to provide!
Photo in the very comfortable bar at Cherrybrook BnB
Safe cycling
Lorraine
PS We were settled in our rooms by 7:30 pm! The potential afternoon bike-hiking turned out to be minimal- yay!