The final day was always going to be tough. It was a planned 141 miles with some evil hills. Added to this Nick had not been able to walk properly since Kendal. He was having to cycle with his left foot pointing down all the time to minimise movement of his Achilles tendon which was in a pretty poor state. Dave was also carrying a niggly achilles and sandpaper knees and Steve – well he had his ego to drag along. 
Dave planned the route in his head about 3 mins before we left and we knew we were in good hands when he declared he didn’t know where to go in Oakhampton. Never mind I have a map says Dave. Only trouble is it was a map of Cornwall and we were in Devon! After some supportive team spirit and muttered we love you Dave comments we decided to wing it for a bit on Daves best guesses. When we got a mobile signal nick was able to confirm with the GPS maps on his N95 that all was well and Dave did not need to be tortured. Yet.
About 10 miles later we had a splendid egg sandwich, In a place I can’t recall, before heading into Launceston. Then Dave had another blank expression so we found a News Agent and had a butchers at a map of Devon. It was more revealing than the one of Cornwall so we headed back the way we came for a bit of a battering on the A30.
From here on in though Dave got it all spot on and we had a tough ride into headwinds and ridiculous Cornish hills untill we ended up in Portreath at Dave’s In-Laws, Dawn and Graham. We had a fine reception there from the whole family and were served some very tasty tea and cake before heading down the last 35ish miles to Lands End. Dave had opted for the longer and hillier coastal route which we all initially thought was a bad idea however, Dave got it right, the scenery was spectacular and it made for a beautiful ride in to the finish.
We reached the Finish at 21-15ish and were greeted like superstars by Claire’s (Daves better half’s) family. There was a ribbon across the line and streamers and champagne and even beer! Great stuff and a huge thankyou to the Marks family for making the finish so memorable.
After photos etc we headed back to dawn and Grahams for a shower and a feast fit for royalty. A wonderful end to this fantastic trip.
30/06/08
Terrific stuff. Well done lads!
Ma and Pa R xxxx
Dear Nick, A big belated congratulations on completing the big cycle ride despite being in pain. We are so pleased you did it. love from Mum and Dad in law
Well done all. Fantastic acheivement. We are due to ride on July 20th 2008 in aid of cancer research, we are currently at £9k of our £10k target so really ready to do it and so very excited especially when reading all about your exploits. Well done on such a great acheivement, well done on keeping such a good blog. You must be very proud of yourselves and what a memory!!!.
Well done.
Damo from the Smiley Milers Team
(www.smileymilers.blogspot.com or http://www.justgiving.com\smileymilers)