"The roads in Cornwall were very loose and stoney, resembling a sea beach rather than a road. I had to walk nearly a mile before Sennen, and was pitched out of the saddle twice before reaching Penzance. I pushed on over Bodmin Moor, which was always in very bad condition, as it was then almost unused ... The road through Okehampton to Exeter was terribly loose, and the heat was intense. So I discarded my coat, and asked my companion A.W. Gamble to send it on the John O'Groats, a foolish proceeding which eventually lost me much time over the northern portion when faced with severe cold during the nights ...
"Later, we had considerable difficulty finding the way, and needed to climb several fingerposts to find it ... Leaving Blair Atholl, 642 miles I encountered the full force of the gale, and was frequently blown clean out of the saddle. It took over four hours to do 23 miles to Dalwhinnie. After losing a lot of time over Meikle ferry, I half dragged and half carried the bicycle over the two miles of road to Clashmore Inn. Over the Ord of Caithness, the wind again took a hand and after being blown off time after time, again took to walking."
His first LEJOG time was 5 days 1 hour 45 minutes (with six hours total sleep!) Bear in mind this was on a very heavy Old Ordinary (Penny-Farthing), with the single fixed gear dictated by the size of the wheel a rider could straddle, between 56 and 60 inches. They were solid tyred, on the appalling roads then, with no brakes. A far cry from smooth tarmac, carbon fibre and aero wheels; you can appreciate why I rate G.P. Mills (George Pilkington - an early George!) as one of the British greats of all time. Besides many road records, G.P. M. won Bordeaux Paris when aged only 18. Hard man, or what?
