Wales to Cornwall - The End of the Beginning

After a three hour nap in the Port of Dublin, I boarded a Holyhead bound Stena Line ferry across the Irish Sea. Drifting off again for some of the crossing, I was lucky to wake up in time to catch the sunrise over Wales.

The Welsh Coastline on approach to Holyhead

After disembarking and navigating my way out of the winding port, I pulled over and proceeded to enter my final destination into Google Maps. Trabarwith Strand, Cornwall. The 350 mile journey was expected to take roughly 7 hours. Diligently following the outline of the letter S, I took the A55 to Chester before dropping down the A51 to join the M6 southbound. Whilst driving through North Wales, I stopped a couple of times to enjoy the views of the Menai Strait.

The Menai Strait – North Wales

Once on the M6, it was relatively plain sailing around Birmingham to the M5, then all the way down passed Exeter to the A30 and North Cornwall.

As I entered Cornwall and drove towards the coast, I recalled fond memories of my teenage years. A simpler time. Long summer days spent working in a Surf Shop and surfing at Trebarwith Strand. With these memories top-of-mind, and the sun still shining, I took great pleasure descending the winding roads towards the beach.

After 1522 kms and over 30 hours on the road, I was grateful to be in a beautiful, familiar setting to end Stage One of the Last European Tour. Scrambling up the rocks to greet the much anticipated Atlantic view, I looked down and checked my GPS Log. There it was, in all it’s glory… the end of the beginning.