One of my cycle batteries did not charge overnight so it had about one and a half hours charge in the morning, when we made a proper connection, and showed about two thirds full. So I started with the full battery. We started from Truro to do 58 miles to Launceston on the Devon borders. Through Truro and up a steep hill which my Freego Hawk took well, and I was overtaking cyclists in our party, doing about 12 mph. Rain was forecast for about 4.pm so we were anxious to get near our destination. We were aiming for St Columb Major about 17 miles away. The ride went well with magnificent views and several descents and climbs; one was particularly steep and I stopped on the hill and found it too steep to start again. I had to push my bike uphill (only about 20 yards) to where the hill eased off and I could get going again. The several climbs were quite a drain on the battery, and when I reached St Columb Major for elevenses I had to consider what to do about the battery. In the end, I decided to exchange batteries for the next part of the ride, for 21 miles to St. Tudy
St. Columb Major is a small country town, built on hill, and we stopped at a car park at the top, and the church is at the bottom of the hill at the end of a vicious one way street system. Tom and I set off to St Tudy, up a long hill on a main road and then we turned off and went over high moorland and down to Wadebridge at the South end of the Camel estuary. A long rapid descent, Wadebridge is full of holiday makers, and we were glad to escape, cycling up a main road along the Camel valley, until we turned off to go up a long hill, towards St. Tudy. The village was called after a 6th century French saint who travelled as a missionary, and presumably encouraged the natives to stay firm in their faith, because Cornwall remained Christian after the Romans left. The church is fourteenth century has granite pillars in the nave and a lot of slate monuments of the 16th and 17th century.
We got there in time for lunch at about 1.30 and it was just beginning to rain By the time we left it was raining heavily and so we put on our rain gear: anoraks, overtrousers and puttees, changed the batteries for the half empty one and set out. Down to a valley over a bridge with a fast running stream and then up a very long hill which became very steep and the battery indicated said that the battery had no power left in it. When we got to the top we cycled across a flat open moor, part of which had been an aerodrome, and the battery recovered. It would have been beautiful but for the rain. On and on for 20 miles down and up, and the battery held out with a tiny quantity of electricity in it when we arrived at our destination a few miles short of Launceston, at a golf club hotel.