Finished at last!

Finished at last!
The whole team plus Paul who had just walked it in 66 days!

White Horse Riders

White Horse Riders
John O'Groats here we come!

Tuesday 21 September 2010

Homeward bound - Inverness to Southwater via Maplehurst!

It's now Tuesday and we are back home, safe and sound. Sunday evening was a great chance to get together over a delicious Indian meal in Inverness. We were all pretty tired for one reason or another. The cyclists had 857 reasons to be a bit tired. Our supporters had made a marathon effort to get up to the edge of nowhere (John O'Groats). None the less we enjoyed a companionable evening before heading back for a relatively early night. Except Beth, of course! She had to update her blog and seems to find late night the best time to do so.
Here's a snap of the crowd in the bar at our Inverness hotel. (Now I am home my pc seems to be allowing uploading of photos in text which it didn't whilst we were away).
We were up at our usual time for breakfast but not dolled up in lyra and leggings today! Beth, John and I were to travel home in the campervan with the bikes and luggage. Alex, David and Simon had a rainy morning in Inverness to endure before their flight home. Chris, Alex, Roxanne and Jo were heading off at 6.30am for the long drive south from their hostel round the corner from us. So we said goodbye to the guys, tucked ourselves up in our van and headed off for the 12hour trip. Beth and I enjoyed recognising various points from our previous couple of days cycling. Great to see it from the warmth and speed of the van. After we de-toured from our route John and I spotted various highlights from his trip last year! I am very pleased that John and I will both have an End-to-End certificate. Who'd have thought that I would accomplish a physical feat to match his? Ok, so he did it quicker but it still counts! His 'n' hers certs, how sweet!
Not much to say about the drive home. John did his usual 'in the zone' trick where he prefers to do all the driving himself. Beth and I dozed, read and generally chilled out for what turned out to be 11 hours. Soon we were rolling into Maplehurst and Beth and I wondered would the pub have put up a celebratory balloon for us? Shame on us for even doubting them! Anne had made a fabulous banner welcoming the whole team and the pub was decorated with 'Welcome Home' balloons.

Lots of regulars came along to say hello and welcome back. Alex brought over Finn to make a fuss of us before he went back to spend one last night at Yew Cottage.  Once I saw the massive map of the UK that they had on the wall with markers for each leg of our journey it kind of started to really hit home what we had achieved. And what incredible support we'd had along the way. Aw, thanks guys!
John gave Alex, Beth and David their belongings from the van and we had a couple of drinks before heading home in a taxi. We left the party to continue and hear that a great time was had by all.
Oh it was good to be back in my own bed, so good! And the bonus is that I don't seem to be too sore, achey or stiff....just a little tired but that is to be expected.
It has been one heck of an adventure from the first thought that I'd like to do it, right through the training and then the awesome ride itself. I will write a retrospective in a week or so once I have unpacked and had chance to settle in again.
I want to once again thank all of you who have read this blog, commented, sent lovely emails and texts and voicemails. Especial thanks to those who felt they wanted to donate to the Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team over in Snowdonia. Whatever we might have achieved this past fortnight, these women and men really are unsung heroes. They work day and night to help people in difficulty on the mountain all without pay. If you haven't already, please donate whatever you can via the justgiving page (www.justgiving.com/le-jog-blog) or by calling me on 07917 861604.
Thanks again for popping by.......hugs to all x

Sunday 19 September 2010

Day 16 Wick to John O'Groats 16 miles!!!!!

Last night we had a lovely meal in Mackays Hotel (like Agent Alex's surname!) which is on the shortest road in the world apparently. Ebenezer Street. We repaired to the bar for a modest couple of drams to set us up for the last push this morning. We were all eager to get going so we left early for the first time ever I believe. We had a lovely meandering ride up to JOG, waving and cheering all the hardy souls just setting out on their own journey to Lands End.  The scenery combined with the weather was just spectacular. Huge skies and desolate farmland. Amazing. Only Alex had a camera with him during this part of the trip so he had full responsibility for the capturing of the beauty. I think he did us proud. All of us but Beth were keeping an eye out for Simon going past in a hire car. She had no idea he was joining us. I saw him and when I mentioned to Trusty I had spotted him he said it couldn't be him because John had said 'they' were already at JOG. I was a bit nonplussed but assumed it wasn't Chris or Alex as they had phoned me last night from the Lintot pub in Southwater.
Anyway we had a couple of 'upflats' to negotiate and I can honestly say I think none of us really felt them! We arrived at the first sign of John O'Groats so quickly and stopped for a photo op. None of us seemed keen to hurtle into the finish straight, just ambling along enjoying the delicious feeling of finishing our epic trip. But we arrived soon enough to be met by John. No sooner had he taken our photos than I turned around to see Chris, Alex, Roxanne and Jo! They had driven up from home to meet us! Wow! What a fantastic surprise. And there was one for Beth too when she saw Simon coming across the carpark. So there was much celebrating, photographing and happiness abounding. John surprised us all with trophies for each of us!
I have never had a trophy before and am dead chuffed! Had a quick coffee and headie off as it was cold. Beth, David and Simon gave a lift to fellow LeJogger Paul who had walked the whole way! We got to Inverness in a couple of hours and here we are! Going out for dinner tonight. I will blog more in the next day or two when I get home. Thanks once again to all the good wishes. We are hoping to be in the White Horse tommoro evening if you are in the area!

Saturday 18 September 2010

Day 15 - Golspie to Wick 50miles

For anybody reading both Beth's and my blogs I would like to point out a) I wrote my blog yesterday afternoon before we hit the bar! And b) I went to bed way before everyone else after a moderate alcohol intake!!!! Seems I missed a good time tho. I am just not as able to cycle when 'fragile' as the rest of the team! It didn't stop everyone being up and at 'em early and Trusty discovered my tyre had a slow puncture. So himself and John wrangled with that for a while. John took off in the van determined to join us for the last leg of today's ride. We had some dastardly plans to take a different route from him so we wouldn't have to try and keep up with him on the last leg. But that wouldn't have been nice, would it? So we tootled off and did have a couple of lumps to climb. The first was a long long slow climb which took me about 20mins. I could have gone quicker but I wanted to do it and not be out of breath. Which I accomplished. This new saddle is working a treat. The Spiderflex was just not up to the job in hand and I should have just bitten the bullet and trained with the normal one. Hindsight is great isn't it? Maybe for our next ride? Trip across America has been mooted for anyone thinking of joining us! Oh and my new big ring is helping. (Thanks for your comment Col, Slack Alice is no more!).
So we then came across a real sharp climb (13%) leading to a long draggy up bit. But poley poley won the day and the views on the way up were worth it. We'd way over ridden our usual coffee break stop so we made a pit stop at a Spar shop for a snack though I couldn't eat. Which made the next few miles hard work for me. It is important to keep re-fuelling on trips like this and today I didn't and it showed! Luckily we hadn't far to go to catch up with John where he'd parked up at a hotel. We had a nice lunch and then took off with John in front, as is his way on these legs! Not surprisingly the last  15miles sped by! Before long we were freewheeling into Wick with only 18 miles left to cover tommoro. And, in theory, this should be  a breeze.

Friday 17 September 2010

Day 14 Beauly to Golspie 49miles

It was fab to see James, Cathy, lovely smiley Kiera and visiting twitcher Gayle last night. And just as we were saying goodbye to them a bagpipe and drum band marched doon the road! It was like it was arranged just for the tourists! Fabulous.
We set off today at a fine pace, no great climbs to anticipate. Just the busy road and occasional head on winds to slow us down. But we cracked on and in no time at all (it seemed) made it to Tain, home of Glenmorangie Whiskey. We stopped in a lovely cafe for lunch and John hot-pedalled it from Golspie to meet us. Although we love to see him, it does strike a note of trepidation in some hearts as he has very fresh very capable leg muscles and pushes us on at a rate and a half! We are a much tighter bunch of cyclists after two weeks of riding together. Good road sense (most of the time!), drafting when the need arises. Anticipating when those amongst us need to pee/photograph/get off new saddle! After we left Tain we headed straight out into the head wind for a while. Phew, it is simply exhausting riding into a wind. I couldn't keep up with John to draft even at 8mph. Luckily we were soon over that bit and a lot of down hill followed. We made it here to the hotel by 2.30pm which sounds like we did nothing all day! But it is great to have a break. Penultimate day tommoro! Can't quite get my head around it!

Thursday 16 September 2010

Day 13 - Spean Bridge - Beauly 52miles

This morning we spent some time chatting to the local Highlanders (see photo). They appreciated our left over breakfast toast! So we set off after the photo call and I was in fine form! Brad has had a complete overhaul including getting rid of the 'miracle' saddle! I am now riding on the more normal version which takes some getting used to but didn't slow me down. Trusty had kindly 'degunked' all the bikes so we had no excuses. And we sped along, compared to alot of the other days. The weather held out, light showers, not too much wind, sunny spells. And that glorious scenery at every twist and turn in the road. Wow, Scotland knows how to do scenery! We stopped at the little town at the head of Loch Ness, whose name completely escapes me now (6hours later). We watched the boats negotiating the lock. Had a coffee and then set off at a pace again. We were heading for the biggest climb we have left which was Dromnadrochit. It was coloured purple on our map which is higher than any we have climbed so far. We took a short break at the bottom before girding our loins for the ascent. I girded as much as I could on the new saddle but it still wasn't enough to push me up the final 100yrds! Ran out of puff and had to push Brad the rest of the way. But hey ho! Can't be helped. Alex took a break half way and when he got back on his gears locked and he fell off! Trusty did his usual good egg routine of encouraging us all (he wasn't a Captain in the military for nothing you know!). Beth slogged it up with just a brief breather on the way. Finally we were all there and relieved that....that is it! The last big hill of our entire trip. Whoppppeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!. And it was all the way downhill after that. We virtually coasted all the way down into Beauly. Found Coach who had spent the day trying to reconcile his accounts. Yes, on top of everything else he keeps all the accounts and they have been causing him some concern over the past few days. So many kitties to keep track of! But all done now.  We are now all showered and relaxing in the hotel lounge waiting for James, Cathy and baby Keira to join us for the evening. A real sense of almost there now. And so many stories to tell that haven't made it to these pages. Lots of fun, the odd fractious moment but generally very good humoured.
So today we did 52 happy miles and made it to 11mph!

Wednesday 15 September 2010

Day 12- Crianlarich - Spean Bridge 62 (very windy) miles

Oh my, I am sooooooo tired, just hope I can stay awake long enough to blog this.
Had a great nights sleep with the window open listening to the howling wind and horizontal rain on and off. Not comforted by the idea of having to cycle in it but comfortably tucked up. We got up and wrapped up like mummys for the days weather which forecast rain and high winds. Are we mad? Well, I think we all know the answer to that one already! After 3miles I had to stop and strip off a layer as I was overheating! We cycled along awhile before we came across some lovely scenery again and photo stops were aplenty. We were delighted when a mammoth stag hopped over a fence, skipped across the road, turned to stare at us before leaping over another fence and heading off. One time we didn't have cameras at the ready. Anyway we started to hit some wind at about 15m in and it really did blow. Wind has to be the most  debilitating condition to cycle in. You feel like you are getting nowhere fast and mostly are! We were kind of expecting a coffee break that didn't come. I was desperate for a loo break and so cycled ahead whilst the others stopped to marvel at another amazing view. I turned the corner and saw John in the van which was a very welcome sight. He pointed us to a hotel down the road a ways and we stopped for panini, coffee and much photographing of the cheeky tame deer in the grounds. Then off we went again into the driving wind. It was one time when I would happily have given in if I'd been allowed. Luckily my cycle mates are made of sterner stuff and Trusty did a sterling job keeping us all drafting behind him. Trying to get us up to about 8miles an hour if we could! We battled on until the road eased off and we had the most amazing downhill section out of Glencoe. Incredible majestic mountains all around. We were all pretty awestruck. Pretty soon we had the wind out of the way and made good time down to Fort William where John had arranged for Brad (my bike) to get a seeing to. The gearing was playing up. I had no big ring and the other gears were dodgy. We left it with the guy in the cycle shop whilst we repaired to McD's again. An hour later and we were tackling the final 12 m to Spean Bridge. We are in a b n b, have been down to the village for a meal and are tucked up in bed and its only 9pm. In fact I did take a nap in the pub and I expect the photographic evidence will be posted on Beths blog sometime tonight!
Our next 3 days mileages are around the 50m so a big reduction to the final push into J O'G on Sunday of 17m. Wow, I can't believe it's nearly all over! Meeting up with James, Cathy and baby Keira tommoro hopefully. It'll be lovely to see them, just hope I can keep awake!
Thanks for the comments from all. I really am too tired tonight to reply but they are muchly appreciated. Specially you Chris and thanks for the donation via justgiving. Love to all x

Tuesday 14 September 2010

Day 11 - Glasgow to Crianlarich 43miles

I am sitting in a warm, toasty lounge looking overlooking the Trossachs National Park after a remarkable cycle alongside Loch Lomond for 20+ miles. We set off from our hotel this morning by van as John was depositing us where he collected us yesterday evening. Weather forecast for more of the same. Luckily we had all managed to hang our wet gear over radiators and dry them off overnight. John then had the job of going back to the hotel, collecting all our bags (and Trusty alone has 6!), driving back 20 or so miles to where the tyre fixers were going to supply him with a new spare for the van. Meanwhile we headed off, wrapped up and wondering what today had in store. The terrain was flat as we cycled along the Loch for most of the day. Marvellous views, despite frequent showers. We stopped at a nice hotel for a sandwich and a cuppa then took off again. All afternoon we were chasing rainbows that were forming, fading, teasing us to stop, dig out our cameras from assorted plastic bags and try and capture their beauty! Uh oh! Alex did say the scenery makes you want to get lyrical and I think it's happened! I've gone all Rabbie Burns!!!! Anyway we soon came across John who had thoughtfully pulled into a lovely hotel in Crianlarich to lead us the mile to this lovely cosy comfy b n b. So we had coffee at the hotel then came here. We have had a relaxing hour or so catching up with every thing. And this place even has a drying room so all our sodden gear is upstairs cooking away. Amazing what small things give such joy on a trip like this.
We have someone from the local hotel coming to collect us soon so we can go and eat there. Such friendly locals!
John was given a donation yesterday to my charity from the man who was in the tyre repair centre! Just in case anybody reading this would like to donate a little do go to www.justgiving.com/le-jog-blog In the meantime thanks so much again for reading this and all the texts that are coming in daily. Well done Dave A on your Sportive. We will join you for one in the autumn maybe! Hi Sal, I know you are reading even if you don't comment. Love to all there.
Well, gotta go and get myself ready for going out. Take care x

Monday 13 September 2010

Day 10 Moffat to Glasgow 64 (very wet) miles....

Hey, did anyone happen to see the weather forecast for today over NW Scotland? Did you notice that hugmungous rain cloud? Yes? Well, welcome to our wet world today!!!! We started early - for some reason I can't fathom....but anyway we did. 8am on the road and a steady 3mile climb out of Moffat. (Which, by the way is a very nice town, worth a visit) Me- my usual slow-to-get-going self but hey, got going eventually. It was wet but not lashing at this stage. But we were hampered by the horrible road surface. Bone rattling stuff that has my miracle saddle (in so far as its a miracle the damn thing is still on the bike) loose and rattly. We made it 17miles to Abington to meet John at the services. Soaked to the skin but pleased to be stopping. I needed to refuel as I had thrown up my breakfast. I know...too much information. But you need to know the trials of life on the road! We then set off again heading in the general direction of Glasgow. I must say, if Cornwall can do hills then Scotland is all about the rain. And we got it in bucketloads today. We stopped at a McD's in Hamilton and the staff took such pity on us poor charity cyclists that we got free desserts! yay! Makes up a bit for all the thickshakes we had at the McD's at Buck Barn during our training! Then it was on to tackle Glasgow. My saddle exploded AGAIN. But luckily John had equipped us with the spare bolt and it got bolted in rapid quick time and we were on our way. Rubbish, rubbish road surface all through the city. Interesting architecture though. Anyway, to cut a long, wet and tiring story short we crossed through and out of the city accompanied by calls from John explaining the route. And still we overshot our turnoff. We ended up huddled in a bus shelter awaiting rescue. John duly turned up with his own tale of woe. The camper van had a puncture which was ok because we carry a spare. But not ok because the supplied jack was not enough to jack such a huge vehicle! Lots of wet too-ing and fro-ing for JP and eventually it was sorted. So we all arrived at our hotel for the night a bit jaded but in fine good spirits because....that is another 64 miles we don't have to do again! Well not the same 64 anyway.
Just want to say a big thank you to all who are commenting and sending lovely texts to encourage us on our way. It is a huge thing for us and it's good to know other people are interested in this madcap journey. Thanks so much. Hugs to all xxx

Sunday 12 September 2010

Day 9 Penrith to Moffat (?) 60miles

As you can see from the photos we arrived in Scotland today. Un-be-lievable!!! We had a very flat ride but against a really strong north westerly wind which made the going seem very slow. Did a lot of 'drafting' to make this easier with David upfront. Thanks Trusty! We met John for coffee the other side of Carlisle and he pointed out the road we needed to take to get to Gretna. Just as well as it was difficult to find! Then we legged it to Gretna and stopped for the photo ops and found the leprachaun awaiting us!  John then headed off to Moffat and we cycled slowly on to Lockerbie where we stopped for a lovely lunch in the town centre. When we finished John was waiting for us on his bike! God, that man gets around! He then proceeded to up the ante and put us through our paces for the remaining 15miles which we did in about an hour and twelve minutes!!! We formed what we have fondly named a 'pelotonini' ie, a small peloton! I can only say that I am rather glad that John isn't setting the pace for the whole ride. Alex didn't even get a chance for a pee stop!! However it did get us to the hotel by 4.30pm. An early finish for once. So I am showered and ready for some serious chillin'. Covered 60miles today in five and a half hours.

Saturday 11 September 2010

Day 8 Preson to Penrith 64miles

Really really heavy rain overnight and this morning. So after the best porridge I've ever had (did I mention this hotel is lovely?) we had the usual dithering with what to wear. We have wet weather gear but any slight incline and its just too hot to bear it. The boys go for the bare wet leg look but Beth and I donned the waterproof trews. We got a bit wet alright but were going so well on the non-hilly terrain that it didn't seem to matter. John headed off to do the laundry....what a great guy he is. True support spending time at the launderette for us all. We met up with him at lunchtime in Kendal so we could all re-fuel for the long hike up to Shap. This is a bit of upflat that climbs to about 1400feet I think. So off came the wet weather gear. All unnecessary kit left in the van and off we went. But we hadn't even negotiated Kendal town before Alex got a puncture on one of his indestructible 'armadillo' tyres. David suggested that Beth and I carry on up to Shap and we'd wait for them there. It was about a 15mile trip to get up there. Not all uphill but a long slow slow slow drag for most of it. Made up for by the amazing views. So we wended our way. It wasn't as steep as we'd feared. But then anything after Day 2 is never as steep as we fear! David caught up with me just before we got to John waiting at the top. Beth pipped us to the summit and many a congratulatory photo was taken! Then it was a great downhill trip and onwards to Penrith. We are at a nice B n B. Have just had an Italian meal in a very lively restaurant and now all of us have retired early to our rooms. The weather was great today with fantastic cloud formations over the Cumbrian hills. Hard to believe we are over halfway through our marathon trek.

Day 7 Whitchurch to Preston 70miles

Writing this on day 8 as too exhausted to make use of the wi-fi at the hotel last night. The Raven Arms at Whitchurch is definitely a place to be avoided if you want a relaxing, clean overnight stop! Our room was fine and quiet as it was away from the main hotel. We went to eat at a nearby Indian restaurant. and were joined by Beths friends Caroline and Amy. A pleasant evening and the usual early night. At about midnight we had a text from Beth to say the party from hell was going on in the room next to hers and she didn't feel safe. So she hotfooted it out of there and slept in the camper van for the night. Where she was very cosy indeed. And John made sure the hotel did not charge her for the room. We couldn't bring ourselves to wait for breakfast there. Not that it was dirty but John was worried that when Caroline brought Jade her dog in to the bar that the dog would be velcroed to the carpet! Anyway after a nice breakfast at the truckers cafe next door (!) us cyclists headed off north. We had a lovely flat days riding ahead of us and all was going swimmingly. Until I got held up at some traffic lights. The guys waited up the road and as I started pedalling they also set off. Suddenly my saddle exploded! Well, the whole kitkaboodle just leapt off the bike! Beth just happened to see it happen and came back to help and pick up the pieces. It seems that a bolt had just sheared off causing the seeming exploding saddle! It was fortunate it happened when I was not riding at speed, I reakon. So there was no fixing it at roadside, though David tried hard. We had to call John back - unfortunately he was the other side of Wigan at this stage. But come back he did and put a new post on. It made my miracle saddle tilt somewhat but was fine as a stopgap. So this made us a bit behind schedule so we didn't stop for a long lunch. We pushed on around Warrington and Wigan. Very urban compared to a few days ago and quiet mentally exhausting. Still is was flat terrain which is a bonus! We had a stop at a lovely deli outside Preston somewhere and then tackled Preston itself. Eventually after 70 miles we ended up at a fabbo hotel outside Preston called Barton Hall. If ever you feel the need to go to Preston, stay there! Fantastic value. Fab food, great staff, excellent rooms. All in all, a right nice way to spend our 27th wedding anniversay!

Wednesday 8 September 2010

Day 5 Bristol to Leominster 72miles (yes, thats right -72)

Well, it's pretty late for me tonight, it must be past 10pm! It's been a very long day in the saddle for us. We had a fab evening at Colliters last night. Simon produced a fantastic bbq and it was lovely to catch up with family and friends. Tho we cyclists were all tucked up early for today's adventure. And what an adventure it was.
We left Colliters at about 9ish and wended our way to the Severn Bridge. This was a good trip through the docks and industrial areas. Very flat and we paced ourselves. We took a coffee break with John just before the bridge then took ages to get across it because of all the photo opportunities. It is beautiful and the weather was fine. Unlike some parts of the country we hear! We cycled through the Wye Valley. Wow! How incredibly beautiful. And Tintern Abbey is stunning. We had lunch in Monmouth which is a very pretty town. John caught up with us at one point and gave us his usual 'good news'. Most of which I forget now but involved lots of talk of downhills. Am learning to take no notice of him in this regard! We then spent a couple of hours getting here to the lovely Inn we are staying in. It was further than even John thought and we were all just exhausted on arrival. Though feeling pretty blessed that the weather had been great and the scenery so incredible. So apart from being saddle sore and weary of limb, sure, what have we to complain about? As David said, beats doing the payroll at work!
I had a bit of a prob with my small cog which seems to be ok for now but will need some attention in the longer term. Alex had 9 pee stops. I know this is probably of limited interest to anyone but Beth and I are counting! Trusty ate too much last night and suffered a bit today but seemed better this evening. We have some great photos. Some of which I will try and download now so watch this space. Anyone want to leave us a comment? Go on. Angie seems able to work out how! Go to comments and click. Write your message. Tick 'anonymous' in the box marked 'post as' and send post. That should work. It' d be great to hear from you!
So we were riding for 7 hours today. Phew.

Tuesday 7 September 2010

Day4 Taunton to Bristol

Here we are, a quarter of the way through! We had such a lovely meal and relax last night in a lovely Inn near Taunton. Today the weather was much better (thanks Angie!) and we set off at a right old pace with only the Somerset levels to contend with. A short day scheduled which was still 40miles but felt almost like a day off. We were welcomed on the roadside at a pub (where else?) by Simon, John, Chris and Roxanne. Felt like celebrities we did. Then after a lunch we headed the 400yrds to our accommodation at Colliters Brook Farm (see last weeks entry). Where we have been joined by Annie and Mudger. They are all outside watching Simon put the bbq on. We are all in various states of relaxation, laundering, showering and hanging on to this internet connection! Can't write much more as its definitely frustrating!. So I will wish you all well and head back to the bbq. #
I have lots of photos to upload and post but the connection is too poor for that. Just know that 90% of them seem to involve Alex answering the call of nature in front of some spectacular views!!

Monday 6 September 2010

Day 2 St Austell to Moretonhampstead and Day 3 Moretonhampstead to Taunton

Golly, I barely know where to start, what tone to adopt or what details to include! I will start with the bald statement that I have decided I cannot forgive Cornwall its hills. Cornwall is a b*****!
We set off from our hotel yesterday and almost immediately faced a 10% climb. I am not sure what the 10% stands for but it was flippin steep. Well pleased with ourselves we were and met by John at the top for a high five all round. If I had realised then that we would be earning high fives all day long without respite I may have just gone back down the hill and rested up another day or two! But luckily John decided to keep ahead of us with pasties and pointers to lunch. There isn't really much to say about the rest of the morning other than its a bit like childbirth......painful and you'd rather forget the details as soon as possible! And it got more so as the day wore on and we climbed up onto Dartmoor. Which is incredibly beautiful with pretty sheep, churlish ponies, cute foals and remarkable rock formations. All of which I would love to go back and re visit when I have the use of a car.
Trusty was an absolute star today. He kept us all motivated and moving.....mostly. I must confess to getting off just before one particular summit and pushing my bike up the last 150yrds or so. It was no easier but I was using a different set of muscles! And my team mates didn't hold it against me. By gum the moors go on a bit.
John drove ahead and rode back to join us about 10miles from where we were finishing. It was getting quite late by this stage and we were all pretty exhausted, tired and emotional. John took the decision to go and fetch the van and meet us in Moretonhampstead to ferry us up to the b n b (it involved a 2 mile climb). So he was a hero too. Cycling all those hills just to face a very grumpy me (and tired co-cyclists), then hurtling back to the b n b and meeting us in the town. It was gone 8pm by this time and a Sunday evening in a sleepy Devon town. Worried that we might not be fed we were rescued by none other than the local White Horse! So the bikes were secured in and on the van and we repaired to the pub for pizza and chat. But not for long as we were dead on our feet. We did a pretty illegal trip with five of us in the van up to the bnb. And were greeted by owls hooting madly which was lovely. Quick shower, no signal or energy to blog and sleep! We cycled 55miles today in 6hours 53minutes. What a day! Average speed 7.9mph. Did I mention that it was hilly?

This morning we had to go back to Moretonhampstead and face the climb back up to the bnb to say we had covered every mile by cycle. Trouble was it was pouring rain so we faffed about for a while or two. Finally we had to face the fact that it was set in for the day and so off we went. The climb wasn't too bad actually (even on sore quads) and the downhills quite treacherous due to the rain. But we made it. We had another climb or two before we made it to Exeter absolutely soaked through. The thing is, once you're wet, you're....well....wet! There is no getting wetter! So we amused a few locals in a pub and had a coffee outside in their shelter then made our way through the city. From here on in the journey was reasonable regarding hills but the rain didn't really let up at all. We met John again at a services for coffee and pastries then we hotfooted (wetfooted more like) the next 16miles to our bnb. We are in the middle of the Somerset countryside in a local hostelry for the night. Showered, warm at last and looking forward to a relaxing meal and an early night. Today we cycled for 4 and a half hours and covered 45.7 miles. Average speed about 10 or 11 I think.
If anyone hasn't checked out Beths blog, do! It'll give a different account of the same trip so you will get an all round picture of the days events. She is at http://www.le2jog.wordpress.com/

Saturday 4 September 2010

Lands End to St Austell (about 58miles)

Well, the day dawned misty and not too bright. We had breakfast and met up with Alex, Deirdre and Alex's mum Diana out at Lands End where there was a flurry of riders all going in the same direction as us. All with various support crew, raising money for a number of different causes. It felt good to think we weren't the only lunatics in the area!
After more preparation and form signing and photo ops we were finally away and it felt sooooo good to be actually starting this ride. So many months of training, planning and organising - all leading to this moment.Even though we know that the first 3 days are going to be amongst the toughest. Cornwall does hills! But I can almost forgive Cornwall its hills as it is so beautiful and I am constantly taken back to all the holidays we've had here over the years. Lovely memories and ones to cling on to as we were going up yet another blasted hill.
Alex decided today was the day to start using his cleats for the first time. And anyone who has read Beth's blog (http://www.le2jog.wordpress.com/) will know the falls she endured til she got the hang of them. Which is the reason I have never tried them. I am such a cissy! But Alex didn't let us down, he had a couple of falls alright. He now has the skimmed knees of a 7 year old. But is undeterred and determined to master the cleat!
John devised an 'incident' sheet which is Beth's responsibility to fill in each day. It includes things such as 'answering the call of nature outside' and 'navigation hitches' and we all get ticks beside our names if we commit any of the incidents. Not sure what will happen with the statistics but I hear there are quite a few patrons of a certain White Horse who are keen to know!
We stopped for lunch at about 38 miles which meant only a short ride this afternoon. In theory. There are no short rides in Cornwall with the wind against you and those dratted hills! At one point even tho I could see the hill going downwards in front of me I actually felt like I was cycling uphill!
John met us just outside St Austell and kept us company to the hotel where we are tonight. Very nice rooms. We are all suitable tired but pretty pleased to get the first day under our collective (hi vis) belts. Here we are looking pleased with ourselves!
So that's 58miles in about 5hr30 cycling time. But a lot longer with rest breaks and photo ops of course.

Friday 3 September 2010

12hrs to go

What more can I say? I am the first to come up to my bed and it's partly because I am feeling slightly sick with anticipation. Weather should be good tomorrow. Penzance has been spectacularly lovely this afternoon. Wish us luck, won't you?

Thursday 2 September 2010

Once upon a time in the West (Country)

Once upon a time, not so very long ago, a lone cyclist was just coming to the end of a day's riding in the wind and the rain. Up and down valleys and hills he had ridden, all alone, for over 100 miles. Only the thought of a hot shower and a nourishing meal kept him going. Unbeknownst to him his poor demented wife had failed in finding a place to park their humble van for the night. Nor could she persuade a local hotel to let them have so much as an outbuilding in which to rest their weary heads. She was about to despair when she spotted a sign saying 'Colliters Brook Farm' (http://www.collitersbrookfarm.co.uk/ !). Almost without hope the wife entered the courtyard, expecting to be turned away yet again. But there appeared the warmest West Country welcome a poor, bedraggled pair could ever wish for in the shape of Ali and Rich of Colliters Brook Farm (.co.uk!).
Oooh, don't you love a story with a happy ending? We count ourselves very lucky to have happened past the lovely farmhouse BnB, beautiful apartment and the aforementioned amazing hospitality of Alison and Richard. This is them waving good-bye to John on his next leg towards Lands End.
So when it looked likely that I was going to have to go through with this daft ride (?) we decided to make good on our promise of popping in to see Ali and Rich again. So here we are! I am relaxing in our lovely room, John is relaxing outside in the sun with the newspaper. We have had a lovely tour of the new dutch barn that the guys have finished for guests. It's great with four double beds all with own loos and a lovely communal area. There is even table football! This is where we will stay next Tues on day four of our epic ride. We are already planning a bbq!
Tomorrow morning we head off to Newquay airport to collect Trusty who is flying in. Haha.....he is flying from Gatwick to Newquay (via Plymouth International Airport) with Nepal Airlines! Seriously! Let's hope they don't make a detour via Kathmandu....it's a long cycle home from there.
I will post some more photos soon.......

WATCH THIS SPACE!

Yippeeeeee! John and I are off in an hour down country to get ready for our big start on Saturday. Can't believe its all happening and we are all nervous and excited. Beth too I assume. She is about 35,000 feet up over the Atlantic at the moment winging her way home from US.
So I will blog tonight when we get to Dundry hopefully. And then as we go along. Thanks to all who have called and emailed privately to sponsor me. Muchly appreciated and I will do my best to finish! Please try and leave comments below as we go along.
We need the encouragement!
Ciao!