And They're Off!

I hit the end of the south coast of Britain at Land's End this past week and have begun heading north. Riding from Land's End to John O' Groats at the northern tip of Scotland is a popular bicycle touring route here, so there were a number of other cyclists there when I arrived. Everybody gets a quick photo taken before heading off to nearby campgrounds -- or into Penzance for the night -- and then resuming their journey northward the next day. It's a little like the start of the Dakar rally.

I don't see the other riders much on the road, however. Unlike the U.S. Pacific Coast trail where all cyclists took Highway 101 and we'd spot each other every day, there's so many different route choices here. I myself have chosen to wander inland to Bath to visit a friend from university and see Stonehenge, but other riders have their own agendas.

The guys in the picture were credit-card cyclists, which is the term for riders who stay in hotels rather than camp. They left before me, but I ended up passing two of them on the road 10 minutes later when they stopped to look for the third guy. He'd fallen behind and taken a different road, and they had to find him because he was the only one who knew where their hotel reservation was!