Day 14: Friday 22nd August
Boo-hoo... long drive home on a bank holiday for Ad & I. Lucky people are on the train. See you all soon. B
Day 13: Thursday 21st August
We did it!!! True to form it rained just at the end but this failed to
dampen the spirits... in fact we're just about to top them up!!! The
grand total is 934.6 miles but for those that sponsored us per mile
we'll add the car's mileage (well over 2,000) and round the lot up to
the nearest thousand! Generous, lovely people... thank you very much!!!
Quite a lot of climbing today on some steeply rolling terrain for the
first half of the day with some very fast descents then it flattened
out towards the end. We staggered the start so we all met in Thurso for
lunch. Team leasure set off first (Lady Dave, Roy & Ian) followed
by team invalid (Adam & Will), team pleasure went next (need you
ask...!) and finally the remaining member of team attack (Matt) left 3
hours after us but still beat us to the first water stop! John provided
his final offering in a supermarket car park... beautifully buttered
rolls as ever... thank you! We then rolled along the final 20 miles to
John O Groats together as the rain began to add its own special charm
to the final fling.
We all agree it has been a very special two weeks... one of those
once-in-a-lifetime experiences that can only happen when everyone is
game for it and mucks in to make it happen. We all got from the start
to the finish together which was our main objective and hopefully had
our own rewarding experiences along the way. We laughed a lot and we're
still speaking to each other so that can't be bad either! Thanks to
Sara & Gordon for riding with us for a while and to all those who
visited us to cheer us on.
62 miles, 6,500ft of climbing
Check out the sign post...
Day 12: Wednesday 20th August
48 miles, 4000ft of climbing
A
beautiful and very short day! We took the A836 all the way although it
wasn't really an A road by southern standards. We had a single track
road for almost all, with passing points now and again! The landscape
got more baren, with barely a house, people or even sheep and wildlife
for most of the day. Still, the scenery was beautiful and we had to
keep riding without much stopping just to avoid getting bitten to death
by the midgies. Arriving at 1.30pm and way before the youth hostel
opened everyone headed for coffee and cake and a bit of sun bathing
then down the pub for a few games of pool. We saw many jet planes
practicing above and the occasional bird of pray. Will has now
completed his catch up 25 miles but some other people are suffering
with knee problems and looking forward to finishing.
Perhaps there'll be a race to the finish line tomorrow?!...
Day 11: Tuesday 19th August
68 miles, 19,500ft of climbing (I think the Satmap is telling porkies now!),
Wet,
cold, head-wind all the way up two thirds of Loch Ness (surprisingly
long!) to Drumnadrochit before turning north up a very steep climb out
of Milton (15% for about half a mile) and on to Dingwall for lunch,
then on again through the drizzle to Alness before turning north
towards Bonnar Bridge for the night. It didn't stop drizzling 'till we
reached the viewpoint above Bonnar Bridge where we enjoyed a fantastic
view over the sea inlet below and sailed down at high speeds, getting
dry with the wind. Will has been catching up on the 25 miles he missed
on day 5 by setting out earlier and doing an extra 5 or 10 miles the
last few mornings. Fantastic bistro restaurant in Bonnar bridge,
amazing high quality food and probably the best meal yet- so we all had
three courses and coffee! The lady at the B&B was a perfectionist
though, telling us off for adjusting the telly angle slightly and
opening the cereal containers the wrong way!! We thought it'd be funny
to adjust the angle on her cat ornament positioning slightly
before leaving!
Day 10: Monday 18th August
100 miles, 18,648ft of climbing, av. speed 14.0mph, max speed 41.3mph.
Long
day today, lots of sore bums! Sadly we said goodbye to Sara in Fort
William... thanks for the tea and cakes! Was nice having you with us
for a few days... will miss you.
We left Inverary a little
earlier than usual to allow for the extra mileage and the massive
amount of climbing... hard to believe there was so much but that's what
the Satmap says we did! 13% climb straight out of the youth hostel then
up... down... up... down all day. Many lochs today... again the scenery
was stunning although thankfully the day was generally cooler and no
rain. The wind seemed to be in our faces for a large portion of the day
too, particularly for the last 30 miles up the great glen to Fort
Augustus on that rough road surface. The chalet park is very
comfortable so we went to the pub for a couple then had a night in with
fish and chips! Helen & I had some fun with a bat flying around the
living room tonight... I phoned Roy while she phoned Paul to find out
what to do... we managed to persuade it to fly out the patio doors
having turned out all the lights and closed all the other doors.
Still
no punctures in Scotland!!! Think Sara must have been our lucky
no-puncture charm! Hope that doesn't mean they'll start again
tomorrow...
Day 9: Sunday 17th August
I
think everyone, certainly everyone in team "Leisure" thought this has
been the best day of the trip so far... the pictures tell the story! We
started in Kilmarnock travel lodge and it being a sunday morning with
no traffic we stuck to the main roads to the coast just north of
Stevenston. That's where the fun and the quality time wasting began. It
was a stunning, sunny day... the blue skies, the high clouds and the
beautiful blue sea conspired to make our day enormously enjoyable, and
it kept getting better as the day progressed. We toddled up the coast
to Largs for an early lunch where the ladies enjoyed a coffee and
chocolate eclaire morning and we all danced along by the sea then on to
Gourock for the Dunoon ferry. Ian's friend Gordon joined us just before
the ferry crossing for the remainder of the day. The tandem (meals on
wheels) went off to find coffee for everyone before the crossing and
skilfully rode back carrying back six! The crossing was once again
breath-taking. Dave suffered a wasp sting but generally everyone had a
sunbathe and relax during the crossing.
Riding north took us by
loch Eck before a nice descent to loch Fyne where we spent a large
period of the afternoon on the stony beach enjoying the hot sunny
weather, the cool water and the wildlife. It's not often you get the
opportunity to watch a seal and a basking shark fishing for afternoon
tea together. Helen and lady Dave couldn't resist a swim in loch Fyne
while the sun was out! A good couple of hours later we decided the only
way we were going to make Inverary that day was to get back on the
bikes so we rode off 'round the loch to our destination. While all this
leisure was going on team attack took the Hunter's quay crossing
instead, a slighly different route and arrived at 2.30pm, ate cake and
drank whisky until the hostel opened! A fantastic meal at the George
hotel finished off an amazing day that would be difficult to recreate.
Another
one for the lads...
John & Ian enjoying a private
moment together in Largs.
Ladies
only!!!
Gordon
spent the day with us... nice to see you Gordon!
Idylic...
No... a shark?
Dinner
at the George Inn, Inverary.
...!
83.6 miles, 6,551ft of climbing, av. speed 15.4mph, max speed 38mph.
Day 8: Saturday 16th August
Now well past half way, we entered Scotland this morning and enjoyed a
nice sunny ride through Gretna to Dumfries then up the A76 via some
beautiful countryside, Thornhill, Sanquar, lunch just short of Cumnock
then on into Kilmarnock for the night.
Quite long today but we laughed most of the way up anyway... Matt broke
the land speed record again and arrived before the rest of us set off,
no punctures!!! Sanquar gala day... Ad thought he had arrived in the
middle of a hunt. We have all decided we are coming back to Kilmarnock
for our holidays...not! Sara joined us and will be with us 'till
Gourock tomorrow. My mum, Elaine & the kids met us for lunch with a
big box of tablet... thanks... kept us going for a while. Helen & I
conspired to give Sam a nice big lump on the back of his head... sorry
pal... was an accident.
92 miles, 5,500ft of climbing, av. speed 16.7mph, 38.6mph.
Scotland!!!
Day 7: Friday 15th August
Brilliant day today, Chorley to Preston, pit stop in Carnforth, mint
cake in Kendal, up over Shap where we had lunch then downhill into
Carlisle. Nice and sunny most of the way, bit of rain at the top of
Shap.
Kendal mint cake incident, guy mowing the lawn in his PJs, cows, Adam
got today's puncture, crash in Kendal, Paul decided to lose his map
doing exactly the speed limit past Sean, breakfast in room 11, Sara
arrived today just in time for our first curry. The group has settled
into two main teams: team "attack"- cor members being Matt and Will and
team "leisure" - cor members being Dave and Ian! Only Adam and the
Tandem have maps so they have been sharing the responsibility of taking
care of team leisure even though they'd prefer to stick with the fast
team attack. Roy has been a star supporting the slow team leisure all
the way!
92.2 miles, 4,780ft of climbing, av. speed 16.6mph, max speed 43.7 (tandem).
3 little ducks.
Setting off from Chorley... nice sunny morning for
a change.
Roy gets his leg over... again!
post massage!
We all went for a curry while...
Matt finished
today's stage...
Day 6: Thursday 14th August
Long flat day today from Shrewsbury, through Shropshire, Cheshire and
into Lancashire for the night just north of Chorley. The weather was
beautiful all day which made us all feel happy and take our time. We
set off late (about 10.30) after breakfast at Dobbie's garden centre
and rode through some nice countryside before negotiating Warrington -
it was impossible to avoid at least one large town at this stage but it
was interesting seeing all the canals and bridges from the bygone
industrial age of this area.
79.4 miles, 2,411ft of climbing, av. speed 14.8mph, max speed 40.7mph (tandem).
Our hero today was Paul. The tandem has been limping along for the past
two days a spoke short on the rear wheel and unfortunately Mavic Aksium
spokes are hard to come by. He visited 2 cycle shops in Shrewsbury, 1
in Chester and 1 in Shotton before locating the right spoke for us but
now it's back in one piece thanks to his efforts. He has also promised
to wash all our underwear as he did Helen's the night before!
Matt managed a pee in the car park before even leaving the hotel, Ian
and the tandem managed a puncture each, there are many cycle paths in
Shrewsbury of which we managed to use none, the drivers in Wigan were
especially inconsiderate, we stopped at a cycle shope in Wem where we
met a lovely lady on a bike who wanted to come with us... particularly
with Roy, we saw the red lorry again... the same one that tried to run
us off the road these past couple of days, ferrets for sale, Lamas and
goats just lounging around as usual, we saw a sign for Tiverton (where
we stayed a few days ago... thought we had gone in circles for a
moment), Will is feeling like a new man, Ian is also flying again and
ready to resume his role as part time stunt-man and finally Roy was
further developing his art of mouthing off at lady pensioner drivers
that insist on cutting him up (no-one else seems to be affected by
this!). Beers... for those interested we have sampled a few local
beers... so far Butcombe, Tetleys, Lees, Wadworths & Sharps... all
very nice!
Helen with her mouth full...
again.
Day 5: Wednesday 13th August
Up Wye Valley, Monmouth to Hereford, Leintwarden for lunch, nice quick and quiet B4385 then A49 for last stretch to Shrewsbury.
74.9 miles, 5,104ft of climbing, av. speed 13.8mph, max speed 44.5mph (tandem).
After the usual hearty breakfast we looked outside to find absolutely
torrential rain. There was discussion about leaving an hour later to
try to avoid it but the forecast wasn't promising either so we set off,
trying to go back down the 1 1/4 miles of steep downhill carefully
without skidding. Then it continued to rain, rain and rain again. We
could barely see where we were going!
Bad day for the tandem - adjusting breaks then a puncture and broken
spoke. Will also struggled and had to give up at lunch after 50 odd
miles with a knee injury. A visit to the physio later, where the first
thing he was told was to "drop his trousers and bend over" and he
seemed cheery in the pub. Fingers crossed for him tomorrow.
Lots of support today. Stuart Essenhigh, his wife Mercy and daughter
Sophie turned up in the morning break with bananas and
chocolate and this evening Helen's Paul turned up to do her
washing for her! Ah!
Boo hoo hoo...my bike's dirty!
Smile!
In the pub in Shrewsbury.
Helen has fallen asleep, Paul
can't stand up & Roy can open only one eye.
Day 4: Tuesday 12th August
The first really long day today, over 90 miles on the fast A38 for a
while through Taunton and Bridgewater before lunch in Barrow Gurney,
then some farm lanes before negotiating the cycle paths leading to the
Avon bridge (M5) and the Severn bridge (M48), then North up the Wye
valley through Tintern to St. Briavels' King John's hunting lodge.
96.0 miles, 8,779ft of climbing, av. riding speed 13.3mph, max speed 41.7 (tandem).
Ian had a duff day today, must have eaten something that didn't agree
with him last night. We waited for him at the lunch stop then he spent
a few miles on the back of the tandem. He recovered well though and
finished the day back on his own bike. Adam was a star, selflessly
sacrificing his day to look after the majority... nice one!
We started the day seperated, Helen, Brian and Matt had a great run for
the first 36 miles (refilling stop) then Will & Matt sped off
closely followed by the tandem again. We did the first 30 miles in 1hr,
40mins and got through Taunton without having to stop at any lights.
Then it pissed down! Soaked again...! Ian had 2 punctures, we all got
blown sideways across the severn bridge in gale force winds, Matt
moaned about the mudbath we had to ride through after lunch in Barrow
Gurney and we met another couple of blokes doing Lejog just before
crossing the Avon bridge (John & Nigel). The funniest thing that
happened was just as we finished lunch, where we had effectively camped
out for a couple of hours between sittings, a lady came out from the
house next door and gave us an almighty bollocking for "loitering
outside for a few hours" and depositing a bag of rubbish in her
neighbour's bin. "I've had my eye on you lot for the past couple of
hours... who do you think you are?" she gurned... Welcome to
Barrow Gurney. We should have asked her to sponsor us!!
Matt crashed... doing about 5mph somewhere between the grass verge and
the pavement kerb. I suppose you had to be there...! Helen & I had
a good laugh anyway.
Amusing 15 mph speed limit for cyclists across the river Avon and then
the Severn bridge but we couldn't manage anything near that- the winds
were so strong we were all leaning all our weight over to one side just
to try not to fall off. We successfully crossed and narrowly avoided
hitting the family of pedestrians coming the other way. After Bristol
airport we sailed down an 8% gradient just when the sun came out to see
glorious views over the city for miles! At the very end of the day we
saw a sign for 1 1/4 miles to St Briavels, fantastic we thought, almost
there! But that last 1 1/4 miles was absolutely all up a very steep,
lowest gear gradient! Phew. Great to arrive at the top to find the
youth hostel was a medieval castle with a pub attached. What more could
you ask for?
Somerset (North, South, East & West), Wales & Gloucestershire...
Day 3: Monday 11th August
Long hilly day today up over Dartmoor. The weather closed in and soaked
us on the way up but it brightened up later. Fantastic descents down
the other side meant all that climbing was well worth the effort.
65.7 miles, over 10,000ft of climbing, av. riding speed 12.6mph, max speed 49.8mph (Adam's).
Adam got today's puncture 8 miles from home then replaced the tyre with
a very gay-looking white-stripped number, we all did some sheep dodging
over Dartmoor, lunch was most welcome up top at 30 miles in... but the
biggest news today was Roy's departure from the group! He decided that
it would be better to spend most of the day alone... he went off ahead
of the "slow" group and failed to turn left up the top of Dartmoor so
from that point on we didn't see him again 'till we got to the
guesthouse in Tiverton. John went off to find him after feeding us but
couldn't find him... he was ok though since he had a map in his sport
Billy bag. He ended up doing an additional 10 miles but it could have
been worse...!
We crossed the Tamar after gazing down over Plymouth for a short while
and waved goodbuy to Cornwall. Devon greeted us a little while later
with a good soaking! Amazing views today, especially coming off the far
side of Dartmoor. The descents were amazing too, long and very fast.
In Tavistock we met John to refill water bottles and were greeted by a
beautiful local lady called "Rosie". She took our picture with her
mobile phone which she had difficulty holding steady... she was an
elderly lady with a bit of a shaky hand. She loved the fact we were all
on bikes and insisted her son would love to see a picture of us when he
returned from court... not sure why he was there! Then... she spotted
Roy... "...and how old are you?" Naturally we all pissed ourselves
laughing... took me 10 minutes to stop Helen from losing it before
getting back on the tandem... which she fell off a short time later!
Not sure how it happened but just after lunch we set off up a small
gradient... then my phone rang... it was Lady Dave from about 20 yards
up ahead. She had left her gloves in Sean (the van)... in the small
time it took for me to retrieve my phone Helen managed to collapse off
to the right and took me and the tandem with her... she ended up flat
on her back (?!) with the tandem on top. More laughter...! Then she
fell off again... no joke, and only a couple of minutes later too... I
tried to set off without issuing the customary "ready, steady..." and
we ended up on the floor again. More laughing!
Ian lost his glasses for a second time and Matt averaged 2-3 toilet breaks per hour!
"And how old are you....?"
More hills... you're havin' a laugh...!
After
emptying one receptical behind that church, Helen refills!
Matt has fallen asleep.
Will was pissed
off that Roy helped himself to an extra 10 miles.
Day 2: Sunday 10th August
Didn't
feel as bad as we imagined it would, lots of hills but lots of long
downhills too, with a fantastic south-westerly breeze on our backs.
62.8 miles, 6,778ft of climbing, av. riding speed 14.6mph, max speed 46.8mph (Tandem).
Helen
(aka Dave...?) disappeared today! We lost her...! Helen, Brian &
Ian arrived last at the B&B to find everyone else there except
Dave. She was ahead of us by quite a long way since we had to fix a
puncture on Ian's bike but we never saw her again. And she didn't have
her phone with her!!! So... John went out in Sean to find her, Brian
& Helen went for a ride around Liskeard and the others showed
little interest! Dave was cool as a cucumber... she was chatting up
some bloke in a hotel and managed to persuade him to log onto our
website to find the address of our digs before gently waltzing around
the corner with a big smile on her face just as John & Sean were
about to go out looking for a second time.
Congratulations to Ian for getting the first puncture!
Helen
(Dave) enjoyed a very scenic toilet break, top of a big hill with a
Cornish vista, lunch was fantastic and much appreciated after about 40
miles of ups and downs, we had the first ever windy moment on the
tandem (Comet) today... thanks Helen! Roy assumed his role as team
doctor when Brian was stung by a wasp on the shoulder, administering
copious amounts of cream to the affected area.
We went for a Chinese meal tonight and the fortune cookies produced
some very appropriate advice and insight... Lady Dave's read "your
confusion of the past will disappear in a day or two" and Helen's even
more appropriately read "you have a strong appeal to the opposite sex!"
How about that...!!!
At
the youth hostel before setting off.
Helen & Helen
enjoying our lunch break.
The
one you all wanted lads!!!
"You what....?"
Helen
& Brian on "Comet". John enjoying the
pain on our faces & providing much appreciated support.
Day 1: Saturday 9th August
We're off!!!
As you can see it was rather wet!
A
long journey down, the lucky ones got the train at Paddington at 9am
then had lunch in Penzance while John, Ian & Brian parked Sean (our
back-up vehicle) on the M5 for a few hours... We all met at the youth
hostel in time to set off at 6 for the 10 mile ride to Lands End in the
heavy rain.
Poor Helen (Dave) was on the receiving end of the first prank... this
morning we had to take one pedal off her bike to get it onto the back
of Sean without it breaking the window, so when it came to ride time we
were all watching with baited breath for her to discover the missing
pedal... but she never did! As she clicked into the one that was there
we all pissed ourselves laughing as Adam pointed out she may actually
fall off while trying to set off unaware of the missing item.
Ian performed the first stunt of the trip - his back
wheel jumped out as he piled on the pressure at the bottom of a steep
climb... lucky not to do some damage to himself and the bike... there
will be many more stunts like this though knowing him!
We had a
nice meal in a fish restaurant later on, lots of laughing, not too much
wine, then squeezed ourselves into our cramped bunk beds and dreamt of
the hilly day to come.
Thursday 31st July
Thanks
to Matt, Helen, Adam & Helen Scarbrough for coming up to Sandy for
a long day out. We did nearly 60 miles in the morning, lunch, then a
further (nearly) 40 to make a total of 96.5 miles. Granted it's quite
flat up here but we did climb the odd hill. Was good to do a long day
that resembles a full day of the ride itself. No casualties and
everyone felt pretty fine afterwards, think we might just be ready!
Adam changed a puncture in record time near the end of the ride, law of
averages says it's the turn of one of the girls next!!! Can't wait! B
July 23rd - 26th
Cardiff!
Went down a day early this time and pitched the tent in the blazing
sunshine for a change. Adam, Helen, Roy, Will & I got some
brilliant rides in - thanks to Will for sorting out some great routes,
lots of climbing! Twas my turn to have the piss taken out of me while
changing a tube! We did 40-50 miles each day with some pretty stiff
climbing. The funniest thing that happened was that some brave person
let the bass boys' tyres down after a concert while they were
rehydrating. Very brave! B
Monday 14th July, 2008
No
pictures today... good ride though, thanks to Roy for planning a hilly
course through the Surrey hills. Fantastic weather, nice and sunny for
the 60-odd miles we did, including a tea & cake stop before
climbing back up over the downs about 10 miles from home. Adam, Roy,
Matt, Helen & I set off at about 7.45 once we established that Will
was once again late! Very late... in fact he didn't bother turning up
this time - poor show, developing quite a reputation for some
phantasmagoric behaviour. "Where's Will" might become a regular feature
if this keeps up. "The phantom Willie", "The phantom fat bloke on a
posh bike", perhaps you should have bought a fast car instead of a fast
bike! B
Monday 7th July, 2008
Today
we uped the distance again to over 60 miles, albeit on fairly flat
Essex terrain but it was still enough to make Helen look this fresh!
A
good turn-out with 5 of us, Helen, Adam, Will, Matt and me. We had
decided to meet, ready to ride, by 8am however Will decided that was
too early and turned up 30mins late! Then... he decided to puncture and
make us wait again for about 15mins while he fumbled around with his
back wheel before a pathetic attempt at pumping it up again. I think he
managed about 15psi before we stopped taking the piss. Take a good look
at his new bike by the way...'cos it won't be around for long given his
recent record. B...
Thursday 26th June, 2008
Helen, Roy, Ad & I rode out from Oxted yesterday in the blazing
sunshine. 50-odd miles later this was the result... We had the first
crash too, thank you Roy for the entertainment, a nice dive to the left
after a bit of a wobble. Helen... where do I start? "Knees apart
you can't fault me," I should qualify this instantly with the fact that
we've been having trouble with her knees hitting the bars. More later... B