Meeting the MS Team

July 13 This morning was hectic. We had to take the car rental vehicle bake to Penzance and mail our bike bags to Inverness, Scotland. Riding back to Penzance from Lands End (7 miles) made me a little apprehensive. The road was extremely narrow and lined with hedgerows that scraped the sides of our SUV when we met other cars coming in the opposite direction. Tomorrow I’ll be biking this road and many more like it. Penzance was hopping. Shoppers and tourists crowded the streets. It was a far cry from the deserted town we experienced the night before. Mailing our large bike bags was much simpler and cheaper than I had expected. We were able to do things so quickly that we had time to eat a pasty, meat pies that are famous in Cornwall. It was a meal that the local miners took into the copper and silver mines many years ago. After shopping at the Pound Stretcher, England’s equivalent to our Dollar General, we headed back to Lands End to meet the people that we would be riding with. We are a team of young and old. I’m the oldest but there are four or five riders in their 60’s. William, our only British rider is 19 years old. All of the other riders are Americans. Our leaders are all from England. James Whateley and James Kelly are friends from last year’s ride across the US. I know they are very capable leaders. I will be introducing the rides throughout my blog posts. After a thorough orientation the team headed down to the shore for a team picture and then a fun short evening at a local pub where we began to get to know each other. 

At this point, I’m one day behind on my blog. Internet service has been very spotty even when we have it. I hope to catch up tomorrow morning.