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however, as we wanted to have covered a respectable distance. We joined the A30 just
after the village of Lelant, and aimed to get to Camborne before dark. It was 7.30pm on
a Sunday, and we had the entire A30 to ourselves. Not that you need both lanes of a dual
carriageway when you are on a bike.
WereachedthetownofCamborneingoodtime.Itwasstilllightandtherewasplentyof
activity inthetowncentre.Byactivity,Imeanthereweregroupsofpeoplehangingaround
outside shops and loitering on street corners. Camborne was once the centre of the Cornish
mining industry and one of the richest mining areas in the world. It has recently been the
target of a huge regeneration project to breathe new life into the town.
We decided to try and find somewhere to stay first, and received two rejections in quick
succession from a hotel and then a pub.
'I suppose we had better start looking for a barn,' said Ben dejectedly.
'We've only been trying for ten minutes,' I said. 'We knew this wasn't going to be easy.
I'm sure we can find somewhere to sleep. Besides, I don't think they tend to have barns in
town centres.'
'That's true. I guess it doesn't matter too much where we end up. At least I've got a
sleeping bag now.'
'YOU'VE got a sleeping bag?' I asked angrily. 'I thought it was both of ours.'
'Well we can't really both use it and I have been carrying it all day.'
'Fine, whatever. You have it, Mr Selfish.'
AmanswiggingacanofSpecialBrewstartedlaughingatourpinkbike.Heswayedand
dribbled as he spoke.
'Noice boike,' he spluttered.
'Thanks,' I said. 'Do you know anywhere we could stay tonight for free?'
'There's a pub up there called the Veeeeervan Aaaarms,' he said, pointing in three dif-
ferent directions. 'They have cheap rooo… ooo… ooms.'
'Unfortunately we can't spend ANY money at all. We're on a challenge to get to John
O'Groats without spending anything.'
'Oh,' he said. 'That sounds stupid. Well, you could ask at the Veeeeervan Aaaarms any-
way. Tell them Big… ig… ig… Mick sent you.'
The Vyvyan Arms was a big corner building on a junction at the top end of town, and
we wheeled our newly acquired bikes around to the car park at the back. This was the first
timewewouldhavetoleavethemunattended,andwesuddenlyrealisedthatsecuritywasa
slightconcern.TheBMXandscooterthatwe'dhadbeforeweren'tworthstealing,yetthey
had been stolen. Now we had bikes that were worth stealing.
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