Finished!

Well, 10 days after we set off we are at John O Groats after 880 odd miles...

We left Golspie this morning under light cloud and calm winds . During the day the wind increased from the south and the sun came out.

The steepest hill of the trip was on the route but it was just a mere pimple after all the miles we have done.

The team has got fitter , but probably not slimmer during the 10 days. It could be a result of having tried the local delicacy of deep fried Mars Bars...

Some were emotional at the end and some were on their knees...

The obligatory photos ensued, but only after a moment to reflect on why we had done the ride and the cause we were all riding for. Howard tried to show off his Charles Atlas pose by holding his bike with one hand...

Glyn had a tear in his eye. We thought it was sadness at the end of the ride or the fact that he had asked Simon to come along as he is usually more accident prone than Glyn. 

Glyn fell off twice and Simon appears to have kicked his curse of self harming. All of us were uninjured which was a relief to all..

Many thanks to all who supported us , especially our sponsors. If you have not yet (you know who you are!) there is a link at the top of the page.

A special mention must go out to Steve the van driver who helped make our lives a lot easier throughout the ride.

Thanks also to Chris Roberts for for his loan of the van and loan of his sister Fiona for her help in Cornwall. Quite how our arteries coped with clotted cream on ice creams we don't know.

Final thanks to all our families who have put up with us through the training rides and our time away and general bike bore obsession for 6 months!

What lessons have we taken from this experience? 

Many, but the one that stands out was the realisation that you should not apply chamois cream with the same hand that you have used for deep heat.

On that note, until next time...

Day 10 route- last day!

Day 9 ...nearly there!

We awoke to a biblical flood today about 6am. Everyone turned over and went back to sleep except Simon who was on the floor for the night.  It was that or share a double with Steve!

After a slow start Steve accepted the Captains armband from Foz in the comfort of the garage.

Off we set on Nessie watch along the banks of Loch Ness. Nothing seen so we could only imagine the rumble from our high speed kept the monster at bay.

Steve shows just what too much energy drink does to your eyes...

We managed 16.2 mph average over the 93.75 miles today which is our highest, helped in no part by the strong south westerly breeze.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/38863856

Strong enough to make life difficult crossing the bridge at Inverness.

As we were warned off earlier about misuse of the side of the road by the Dumfries police , we ventured further off the road where Matt was sure to obey the signage.

A quick pop into the Glemorangie Distillery lifted our spirits, but not by downing theirs.

A long drag into Golspie brought to an end our penultimate day with a sprint into the village , hotly contested by Terry and Simon with Glyn being the lead out man.  Simon managed to fend off a spirited fight back by Terry who is battling with knee issues.

The chaps have managed to avoid major problems like saddle sores or multiple knee issues. The worst so far is Terry who has 1 dodgy knee , but of more concern is the palm blister he has picked up after so many days away from home.

 

Only 72 miles to go on Friday before the finish of what has been a great tour so far. It is planned for an easy day , just like the Tour de France last day. Just without the glamour, prize money, pretty birds giving you a kiss on arrival...

Day 9 route

Day 8 update

Day 8 started in the best possible way. No wind , great views across Loch Lomond and sunshine. All led to our fastest average speed day at 15.3 mph

A late breakfast of 0730 was a relief to those of us who are a tad behind the 8 ball in the mornings.

Foz took over the Captains armband from Steve...

Off we set at a lick at 0900 along the shores of the Loch, for 2 miles before Steve had the first puncture.
As you will see from the photo, Foz was the first in his yellow helmet to give assistance.

Loch Lomond road (A82) was fab with a good speed from the team but the signs were sometimes a bit suspect, some might say backward.

Off we set for Glen Coe via Rannoch Moor where we officially entered the Highlands. We all agreed it was really special to cycle through the area and take in the views.

The descent through to Fort William was fast and furious, if you were in a car... fast "free miles" on a coasting descent on a bike. Foz had time to stop for his Rocky Balboa pose. That or He-Man!

We showed Foz how to frame using a camera but he pointed out he was a police man and had made his career out of it!

Fort William Morrisons saw us fundraising and applying chamois cream to our important bits. Some have bigger tubs of it than others.... No conclusion to draw there!

Meanwhile Terry was busy getting cash off some of the local ladies.

We then went to the memorial that remembers the Commandos from the Second World War that looks towards Ben Nevis. A poignant time especially with the wreaths for those recently fallen.

We ride generally in 2 groups of 4 to let traffic get in between to overtake. No names such as lead group , group A , A team, first choice, winners etc....  Honest.

Simon led out the team behind in the team pursuit with Foz, Howard and Steve in his train... As we swept along the shore past the losing group, sorry non PC, they upped their game and after 90 miles an all out sprint fest ensued.

Boy did we need beer afterwards. A sign though that we are getting fitter that we can even contemplate 26 mph on the flat. 

The Invergarry hotel was great and we were very well looked after so thank you ladies for the great hospitality and food.

101 miles today.

Only 160 miles to do , the end is in sight...!

Day 8 route

Day 7 update

Scotland continues to welcome us in it's own special way.

Last night our driver Steve got a knock on his door at 10pm. Thinking it was one of us he confronted the knocker stark naked.

An eyeful for sure for the female manager who had the police with her asking to speak to him!

He was asked about whether he had paid for his fuel at the garage next door, which of course he had and produced receipts.

Today, a couple of the chaps were caught short on a quiet road with no traffic apart from a passing policeman who "told them off".

Strike 2 Dumfries Police.

Steve was Captain of the Road today and took over the armband from Simon who had put the safety pin tucks back in that the previous users had used.

Someone had told us that Scottish roads were worth the wait. Hmmm....Parts of the B7076 made a cattle grid crossing attractive.

With grit and heads down pedalling we fought our first nasty headwind and into a services. Here Howard prepared himself for the journey through Glasgow by putting on his stab vest.

Glyn fell off again, this time by not applying brakes at a junction until too late and being unable to unclip. Thankfully only pride and his camera were hurt.

Having being beaten through Glasgow by a fat chap on a mountain bike who was using cut through cycle lanes (jealousy is a green eyed monster) we made it to Morrisons in Dumbarton where we were met by the manager Jacqui Stewart and her team and the press. The papparazzi are increasingly difficult to evade at this stage.

Thanks to Morrisons for their fundraising and for our free run through the cafe doing a supermarket sweep with Terry being Dale Winton.

We then had 8 miles to Culag Guest House on the shore of Loch Lomond .  Quite how this turned into 13 is beyond me and led to a few long faces. They brightened after thy arrived as it was idyllic. Simon and Peter swam whilst Glyn got his ankles wet which was very brave indeed.

Glyns chums (the last apparently) Nigel & Yvonne joined us for diner in Luss before the chaps retired to the Loch to talk rubbish, drink beer and evade the police.

600 miles down, 3 days left... Big day on Wed. The end is looking attractively close...

Day 7 route

Day 6 update

Day 6 started better than expected. Day 5 ended with the van key in 2 bits and the AA called out.

When the man arrived and he said we would have to wait until morning for a lift to the locksmith.

At this point Peter turned into Mr Nasty and mentioned the Sun would be informed. 45 minutes later a mobile locksmith arrived in Kendal from Manchester. He waived his fee and so did the AA and they gave it to our charity Help for Heroes.

When we kicked off Simon was Captain of the Road and begrudgingly got on 1 knee to accept the armband from Glyn.

Then up Shap Fell, 1400 feet up. A nice start to the day in a sick way.

Then we donned coats for a sweeping descent into Penrith. No one crashed on the whizz down which was very good news indeed.

If we saw a bike shop Peter had to feed his thirst for bike parts. Eventually we found one that had the bits and he is now salivating at having his wheel back.

Steve got a right old pace on when he realised he was close to his beloved Bonny Scotland. He sold it to us and we duly followed on behind like ducks in a row.

Steve can obviously sell snow to eskimos as only 1 mile into the Saltire flying country it was hosing down with rain. How we leapt for joy as we donned our coats for the first time on the trip.

Foz "fine weather" Foskett was a bit down in the dumps and it took all our effort to stop him sheltering under motorway bridges as we sped up the B7076 to Lockerbie. Howard has kindly pointed out that all roads have a system and round these parts they start with a 7. He has agreed to get out more.

"Power train" Matt (self proclaimed) was on fire towards the end of the ride but we changed his name to "Daisy Chain " Matt over dinner. He spluttered then sulked uncontrollably.

After a very average meal in our motorway services on the M74 the gentlemen retired to Costa Coffee for coffee and port.

It was shut and that sums up Annandale services.

522 miles down , 350 ish to go...

We are all for a Sun dance now, in the rain.

Day 6 route

Day 5 Update

Much to our relief we came downstairs to find the hubcaps on the van in Warrington.

Cycle trauma for the day - 2 new tyres and gear cable damage. The only people so far unscathed are Simon & Howard. That has of course jinxed us...

Glyn was Captain of the Road with his brother in law Mark and his friend Chris in attendance as guest riders.

We set off towards Leyland and somehow managed to give the wrong meeting point to Keith & Jerry, who managed to catch us up. Not difficult as we were particularly slow through the throbbing metropolis of Wigan.

First stop was at Leyland Golf Club where we gorged on anything we could find as breakfast was porridge in the room. Nice.

The Kendal Travelodge, run by Norman Bates from the Alfred Hitchcock film Psycho.

It was frustrating for the first two thirds of the day for myself as it was stop-start, lots of traffic and built up with no scenery. From Lancaster it was great with super views. 4 of the chaps went ahead as they wanted to watch the "mighty" England team play.

The wise ones stayed and paced themselves. Glyn led Matt and Terry and his mate Mike to the hotel. The long way...  They ended up traversing a field of sheep, carrying bikes across a dual carriageway and getting to the hotel when England were 2-1 down. That obviously jinxed England as I am sure you are painfully aware.

With a relatively easy day the team settled down to a bike cleaning session. Simon found this a shock as he usually buys a new bike when they get dirty.

Foz spent 3 hours cleaning his steed. We thought this was OCD but realised Terry has a worse case in that he has been wearing a watch with no batteries for the past 5 days. He missed wearing one he said!

Glyn had a friend meet us at the hotel . Frank was roped into driving Glyn and Steve to Kendal where they bought a job lot of pizzas for our impromptu bike cleaning party. Life is a ball on the road...

Frank left early to clean his car out as it now stank of pizza and chips. Lucky lad.

When we get to the Premier Travel Inn at a motorway services on Monday I will upload the latest photos for today. We know we are spoilt when we are looking forward to trading up from a Travelodge!

So far, 438 miles down so halfway. Just a little climb up Shap Fell to kick the day off tomorrow. Strong southerly breeze to help us up. Bliss.

Day 5 route

Day 4 - Demolition Derby

Day 4 saw Ross Telfer and Rob Hill join us in Ludlow for the ride to our hotel in Warrington. Brave from Ross as his wife is due to give birth to their second child today! We wish them well.

After the customary handing over of the ceremonial armband from Matt to Peter, we set off for an 88 mile jaunt in sunny conditions. The gods were shining on us again with a following wind and clear skies, if not a tad warm! There was a slight pause in proceedings as it looked like Peter might not make it back up.

A relatively flat day with only about 2400' of climbing. we bumped into a chap Ian Frewin who was cycling from Mid Wales to Whitchurch.

He spotted Steve's tyre was bulging and about to burst as frayed so thankfully Peter managed to change that before major harm was done.

Lunch was at Tescos in Whitchurch where we had great success with donations; Karl O'Higgins gave £50, coupled with many more generous donations from others.

After that the major trauma of the day. Ross, a fairly large lad, dented the road by coming out of his cleats and grazing his arm and knee on the gravel. Alas he did not cry like a girl so I have no juicy video to put up.

Whilst Foz tended to the wounds with neat TCP (still no tears) Peter found that the aftershock of Ross hitting the tarmac had broken his spoke of Peter's bike so had to ride Simon's spare wheel.

When we set off again we had a fairly high pace with much time for me to dash ahead and take piccies as they flew past...

Glyn had his mate Peter Clemenson and a friend of his join us from Manchester... they then had to cycle the 20 miles home which was a good effort.

Warrington welcomed us, where we were met by Ross and Rob's families and the honourable Jon Brown who had organised our evening Chinese which was spot on. Filling and dirt cheap.

Now it is dark we dare not venture out as it's too scary around the "hotel"...

365 miles down, 515 to go.

Yummy...

Day 4 route

Day 3 update...

Another day without any shade...  getting a bit of a pain putting on factor 50 in an English (and Welsh today) summer.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/38137843

Matt was captain for the day.

The ride was hot, hard and slow today but enjoyable. We struggled up a big hill before Leominster only to be overtaken by what looked like a mountain bike doing 20 mph. Simon was all up for chasing it down , with the exuberance of youth , before Howard wisely pointed out it was an electric hybrid!

95 miles today from Weston super Mare to Ludlow, over the Clifton suspension bridge in Bristol.
Terry was a tad nervous as he does not do heights. We cajoled him into it with matey support as you can imagine.

Then a quick jaunt over to Monmouthshire (some call it Wales) via the Severn bridge. Along for the ride today was Rob Williams, Howard's mate and Headmaster at Yateley Manor School. Pictured below are he two of them with a prime benefactor to the school (pays fees!) Matt.

A cracking climb, honest I said that, followed by a great descent into Monmouth was followed by a van lunch provided by Asda and Steve the support driver. The glamour of this is huge, matched by the views...

When we pulled into the stop near Ludlow we were met by Jo & Claire, Simon & Steve's wives with signs and cheering and lager. A fitting end to the day.

270 miles down, 600 to go.

Cracked it?