Wednesday June 18
en route to St. Ives

The youth hostel last night was a beautiful big Georgian house & it was the most full hostel I've been at. There were quite a few Canadians from Quebec & New Brunswick; cyclers, too! This morning after doing my chore (you'll never guess... peeling potatoes!) I went down to the bus & train stations again. I found that while the buses are much cheaper, they are slower & they don't take bikes. The trains charge half passenger price for the bike. So I'm on a train at a cost of £9.92 to St. Ives. There is a hostel just down the road at Hayle. I also asked about the train & ferry to Jersey, & if I ride bike to Falmouth, it'll cost another £9.92 from Falmouth to Weymouth then about £17 for return ferry ticket. Expensive, but I think I've got enough for it.

The countryside I'm going through right now looks very flat, beautiful cycling area but of course I just don't have the time to cycle it all the way.

About the bike: I picked it up at noon today & found that the guy had replaced my whole back wheel... free of charge! Apparantly, as he took it apart, he noticed that the gear threads on the hub were faulty & "compressed." I had noticed that the whole gear cluster wobbled slightly all the time & this is what caused it. Also, the extra uneven strain was breaking the spokes. He replaced the wheel free because it's guaranteed by Raleigh & he is a registered Raleigh repairman. What really annoys me is that all the other repairmen who've fixed spokes haven't noticed the fault. I even mentioned the gear wobble to one & he said my axle was slightly bent & not to worry about it! Got to stop, train too bouncy!