Today was brought to you by the letter A and the number 390. Some days it's simply not worth taking the scenic route, instead opting for the fast car express, which on a bike is a pretty miserable experience. Luckily, we had some detours planned, and as we got closer to Callington the fast cars were routed elsewhere and we had the big climbs all to ourselves.

Boy oh boy, were the climbs big! Sitting in our granny gear, we could do nothing but follow the twists and turns up and up, only to then go aaaaalllllllllll the way back down again… and repeat… lots. Once, we made the mistake of looking back at the hazard sign for the cars coming the other way warning them of the 10% hill. We just came up that. No wonder it was hard. At least the view was nice from the top.

We were enthused by the knowledge that today was a 'short' day… short because it was hilly. We planned our routes based on daily elevation gain, aiming for 1000m. Sadly, we are finding that the mapping software we used it about 400m out (in the wrong direction). Still, the short day gave us the opportunity to spend much more time seeing things, starting with Trewithen House, a beautifully romantic 18th Century stately home, perched at the top of a hill.

The main highlight of the day was the Eden Project, where we happily spent a couple of hours wondering through the Biomes. The Rainforest Biome reminded us of Borneo and was almost like being back on honeymoon… if you take out the concrete walkways and the other people. The viewing platform at the top gave an amazing birds-eye view of the plants and waterfall and it would be easy to forget that you're in a giant conservatory when wondering about. The Mediterranean Biome was less exciting, but had a band playing Greek-ish music whilst we were there which added to the atmosphere. We finished it off with a delicious lunch of Cornish pasty (we had to before we left the county!) and salad. However, I discovered that Cornish pasty is not good cycling food… especially when there are hills involved.

Next stop was Restormel Castle, a 13th century keep with great views of the surrounding countryside (which you would hope as we had to cycle up a steep hill to get there!). The castle is well kept and it was interesting wandering about and picturing the different rooms amongst the ruins.

From here it should have been a straight forward 30km cycle to Callington. However, what Google Maps assured me was a conveniently located minor road which would loop us back to the main road was, in fact, about as old as the castle and hadn't been tarmacked yet. Andy looked at his Garmin and concluded that, road or no road, this would be the quickest route and so we ploughed on, pushing our bikes along the track, through the sheep field, up the zigzag forest trail and finally came out on a road! A lovely minor road that rolled along the top of the hills, past the Duchy of Cornwall Nursery (we decided not to stop), before popping out on the main road again and resuming the big ups and downs of the day.

We haven't seen much of Callington as our B&B host, Peter, has lured us to join them for roast chicken and gooseberry tart. Feeling fairly wiped, it was unlikely we were going to venture out until the morning. Instead we passed a pleasant evening swapping stories with the owners, their son recently home from the big smoke and another guest.

Tomorrow we cross into Devon and rather than have lots and lots of ups and downs, we have one very big up, hopefully rewarded by a long down, as we make our way across Dartmoor.

Todays Stats
Distance: 77km / 48 miles (distance to date - 200km / 123 miles)
Elevation: 1,441m
Andy's breakfast score: 5/10 plus a bonus point for home-made chocolate and banana muffins which we happily tucked into for our mid-morning snack.
Food of the day: Pasty and salad at the Eden project

Garmin route: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/194787141