Lands End

I was back on the road at first light after an early breakfast. The surfaces were very wet after some huge overnight downpours but the Conti motion/attack front/rear combo makes the FJR a great road holder and all day I had only one rear wheel wobble when accelerating too confidently out of a wet corner full of asphalt sealant - duh! It was quite sobering to remember that the bike's ABS was inop, though, and that tempered my riding style for much of the morning.

First stop was the south coast port of Fowey, then via a short ferry service to the far side of the river and east to Polperro. This is where my heroes Richard and Judy have a holiday home. Just joking - about them being heroes I mean, not about them living there. From Polperro I went north, back to Lostwithiel, completing a triangle, then via St Austell to Truro, stopping for a green tea. Enroute the bike clocked 40,000, just 6 months behind the GS in doing so, and to celebrate I used some empty roads to red-line the engine a few times to incredible sound effects. 3rd gear gets it just into triple figures - I'm going to miss this bike!

After a quick wonder round the cathedral it was on to Penzance and then to Land's End, which was almost deserted and very windy. By 2pm I was in St Ives, checking into a hotel on the outskirts, then into town on foot to explore the Tate museum. This is more Modern than Britain, so the proportion of time spent in the cafe increased somewhat over my original plans. As dusk approached I took a blustery walk on the beaches and up to The Island and St Nicholas's Chapel. Later in the evening I came back down to the harbour for an excellent fish and chips which I ate on a bench by the sea. There were great views of a growing moon in its first quarter, Venus, Jupiter, and the constellation of Orion.

I took lots of photos and will post tomorrow when I get back to my laptop. For now, here's one of me being blown about on the beach.