Day 12 - And the Heavens Opened..

The Golspie Inn was very welcoming with a good menu which Rob would have enjoyed more had he not had a bag of chips on his arrival in the village!
I did not partake of the food for obvious reasons.
Today we woke up with rain lashing against the window. I believe the South enjoyed this weather on Sunday.
We set off up the coastal road (A9) into a Northerly wind laced with chilled water. Mmm nice !  Within 20 minutes we were all soaked to the skin. We stopped at Helmsdale at a roadside cafe to drip dry a little and warm up with teas and coffees.

The proprietor gave Martin his best offer of the day when mopping up our drips on the floor, he asked her if she could mop us down as well to which she replied: "get your kit off then !!"
We pressed on up the coast and almost stopped at Dunbeath but didn't because when you stop you loose all your heat. Unfortunately the bloke with the buckets of water at the side of the road had been to Halfords and had armed himself with a new pressure washer which he was having great fun with, much to our annoyance.
Wick was very, very welcome, some 52 miles of cycling through the wind and rain later.
We booked in to our B&B and showered and tried to dry our cycle clothes a bit. At about 6:45pm once it had stopped raining, we all donned our partially wet gear and set off for the last 17 miles to John O'Groats.  The wind this time was the thing to deal with, gusting 30mph from the North. Oh whoop-ee!
We eventually arrived at 8:30pm. They had taken the sign down and the wind freshened to about a force eight, making some of the cycling somewhat comical.
Martin & I had ordered a taxi to take us & the bikes back to Wick. I'd have put money on Rob joining us but he chose to ride back instead !
So there we have it. End to end in 12 days on bicycles ( and a little bit of train for me when I was sick)

Looking forward to being back home tomorrow night with my family.

Day 11 - The World falls out of my Bottom

I dreamt last night that we had set off on the bikes, only for me to have to dive in to the local hospital for treatment. I woke up, it was 4am and I had been projectile vommitting everywhere. What's more, both ends had lost any decorrum.  I was then faced with having to rush to the loo every half hour or so amidst trying to clear up the mess as best I could, which as anyone will tell you is not easy given you're not feeling well. It didn't help that I'd had the Tomato soup to start....
Breakfast consisted of 1/4 slice of toast and a pint of water with Dioralyte thanks to the landlady who was very helpful.
The 3 of us then trawled through all the options available to us.  There was no way I was going to be able to cycle today. Even without the loo rush problem, cycling when dehydrated does not work and could make matters even worse.
We all have to be back at work on Wednesday so our options are very limited. I didn't want to stop the other two from finishing their goals.
Martin, bless 'im paid for my room for another night and I've spent most of the day asleep. Rob left me a message to say that the Aviemore climb is a gradual one, but I now have less than 44 hours to cover the remaining 170 miles feeling like death. I've chosen to catch the other two up by train to Golspie.
You will appreciate that this isn't an easy call after 10 days of slog.
In truth, I'm gutted.
So there you have it , Im now traveling from Lands End to John O'Groats, 11/12ths by cycle and 1/12th by Train.  :O(

Day 10 - Into the Highlands

Hats off to our friend John and his culinary skills. Full Scottish breakfast was on offer and was enjoyed tremendously,

And so to the hills, or rather Ben as they call them round here.
We went from Auchterarder to Creif which has a 1 in 4 upwards high street and then Amulree and on to Aberfeldy. Martin had got his usual man of the mountains spurt on but today phone coverage was scant so were unable to contact him nor him us apart from phone messages that arrived long after the event
Rob & I decided we needed a coffee and found a top class establishment called the Watermill. It has a coffee shop, and fruit cake to die for.
It turned out Martin had gone on to Pitlochry whereas Rob followed my route over the hills to Glen Garry. Rob was staying close to me because he discovered that he had bent his frame yesterday in the crash and must be very weakened. I needed to be able to get help as required should the worst happen.

We then all followed the A9 to our overnight stop on Kingussie.
That sounds easy, but with a fresh Northerly wind laced with cold drizzle, it certainly wasn't. Martin reckons it was his toughest day thus far.

We went out for food to the Tipsy Laird Bar Restaurant in the town. It turned out to be the biggest mistake of my trip.  I had the Vennison medallions which smelt a bit odd when it arrived ,but not being a Vennison conosoire I got on with it and Joked to Martin on the way home that when I'm up all night its thanks to dodgy Vennison.

Day 9 - Pear Shaped, Just for a mo..

The day started so well, I cooked Martin & I Bacon, eggs and toast for breakfast (watch out Jamie Oliver), but Rob was having none of it and insisted on the B&Q approach. I even washed up!
We cycled to Queensferry and could see the iconic Forth Bridge as we approached. Luckily Rob had packed his megaphone which he used to shout at me to stop going down the A9 which was banned to cyclists from that point.
Unfortunately this meant we had to squeeze down a narrow cycle path and when Martin chose to stop to take a photo, Rob chose to weigh up the full aesthetics of the shot by eyes-righting and promptly rode into the back of Martin. The subsequent arc that Rob's bike made in  the air with Rob still attached was impressive. Luckily Rob didn't break anything of his own but managed to shear off Martin's derailieur. I can't say much else about it as I saw it in full and await a letter from Martin's Solicitors...

Whilst Martin went to find a cycle shop over the fourth, Rob & I cycled over the road bridge and then along to Stirling.
We cycled right in to the quad at Craigforth.
I then visited a few work colleagues dressed in my rediculous garb and Rob did likewise.
We then tried to visit an old mutual friend in causewayhead, who had obviously got word of our arrival and went out!

Undeterred we headed off through Bridge of Allan and then Dunblane and round the back of Gleneagles before arriving at Auchterarder. Here we met back up with Martin.

We all stayed with an old friend of ours and his wife in their stunning house. I'm well jealous and am currently working out how to get a work transfer to Stirling. Ok so the rest of my family are allergic to rain and don't speak the local lingo but there must be ways round that?
We had a lovely evening with the now health food of choice, chicken curry & naans washed down with red wine & cider.
Great evening.

Day 8 - Edinburgh gains 3 Tourists

Fantastic breakfast again ! The hotel was posh enough to have the manager walking round the restaurant, greeting guests and chatting to each table. She offered us a voucher for tea for two at the hotel for a charitable donation.
We all set off up the A703 on the Edinburgh road. Martin stopped to don his wet weather gear because the man who chucks buckets of water at you when riding in Scotland had started again! I carried on for a bit only to get a phone call from Rob who had had to turn back to go and find his gloves which he'd left at the Hotel !!
Gel gloves were essential for this particular ride because in places it was like riding at speed over crushed building rubble. On high pressure skinny tyres it can shake your teeth out!
Martin & I had hot drinks in a French cafe in Penicuik until Rob caught up. We then all rode in to Edinburgh together. I did nearly cause an RTA by spilling my blood monitoring meter into the middle of the road for the 2nd time this week. The car only skidded for a small distance....

When we arrived at Martin's work's office, I discovered I'd also shed at some stage one of my two flip flops. This meant I had to click my way round Edinburgh in cleats until I found some new flip flops. You get some odd looks from people because when they turn round they expect to be being followed by someone in stillettos!
Martin went off to get a power nap whilst Rob & I walked up the Golden mile to the Castle.
Hopefully this will be a good break before we enter the final third tomorrow when we set off for Stirling and then Gleneagles.

Day 7's pic

Here we are, going in to Scotland.

Day 7 - Bonny Scotland

We were all ready to set off in reasonable time from Carlisle only for Rob to throw a spanner in the works and tell us that he needed to mend his rear 'tub'.  For those not in the know, that's a type of tubeless bike tyre that gets stuck to the wheel. He needed a high pressure bike pump to do this. As our luck with local locations seems to be this week, there was one located 200 yards down the road! We finally set off at 10:15am.
Alas the first signpost to Edinburgh gave it as 92 miles and not 73 as had been given on the internet. With the late start as well it was then unlikely we'd make it that day.
We made good progress early on and were soon cycling over the border. Sure enough, within 10 minutes of being in Scotland, the heavens opened and we got soaked!
I was apprehensive about the special 'scenic' route through Escdalemuir Martin had chosen for us and I was very close to not joining them and going up the main road. This would have been a big mistake. Some of the scenery was beautiful. Once again my lungs weren't up to some of the big climbs forcing me to take a time out, but some of the decents were fantistic fun and generally the road surface was superb.
As ever, the two fit blokes (physical, not the other meaning) left me at the back and we agreed to stop for a late lunch in the next village which turned out to have about 6 houses, a phone box, and a church. No pub/cafe at all and no sign of the lads. I then got a bizzare call from Martin saying they were in the next Buddhist Temple , but to make sure I chose the right one !!
This was the first Buddhist temple in the UK and has a coffee shop. We sat in there and warmed up and eat some food. Rob was in his veggie element, all chick peas and lentils! I suffered a chocolate pastry thing.
We left once we could all feel our toes.
After lunch was more hills and decents and stunning scenary. Then on to Peebles by which stage I was completely bushed, some of which was a 2.8 blood sugar.  Rob and I overuled Martin and we stayed at a smashing oldy worldy hotel where the average age of the residents was 87! Our bathroom was approximately 8 times the floor area of the Ibis 'pod' we had the previous night.
We went out for an upmarket curry which was even better than the one in Taunton. Martin and I finished off the night with the now standard night caps of Red wine and cider in the local inn !!!

Day 6 Canal Ride and Shap

Today has been a real mixed bag. We had only done about 15 miles by 2pm and yet still managed to do 74 miles total including the 1400ft ascent over Shap.
Two reasons for the poor start:
1) We had agreed to meet Martin for a 7:30am breakfast, which was precisely the time when Rob & I roused from our beauty sleep (which still hadn't worked). It took a good half hour to do the stuff men do in the mornings before going to breakfast!
2) Rob managed to loose the key to his padlock which had all 3 bikes cabled together.
Rob had poo-pooed the notion of a key fob as that would have been far too heavy. Luckily, just as I was heading off to turn over our room to find it, and Martin got ready to throttle Rob, he found it in his loose change pocket, which at that stage resembled a penny arcade slot machine trough after the big win !!

It started to rain, but I felt the best early morning health that I have yet on the trip and shot off to Lancaster arriving first.
I found a fantastic purveyor of tea and Coffee but alas it was only in packets and not in cups.
When I saw Martin he was on a mission to find a chemist for an ankle support for a new achiles problem. This could prove to be a game over scenario for Martin so we all wish him well.
Bizarely my highlight of the day then came next, Martin detoured down the Lancaster to Carnforth canal cycle path, which was perfectly flat in macro scale, but rather unsuited to Rob and My specialist road bikes in micro scale terms. It was a completely different world to say the A30 from Day1.  I was very tempted to shove Rob & his bike in to the canal as Martin was videoing it and the £250 you've been framed money would have helped the sponsorship total!
It started to chuck it down so Rob decided he would shelter under a bridge. I was in two minds whether to go on with Martin or stay with Rob. I stayed with Rob in the end and we spent a good 40 minutes waiting for the rain to stop.
We didn't meet up with Martin again until Kendal.
We then set off on the BIG climb up Shap Fell. Martin insists he was only using one foot, but I don't believe him judging on the rate he shot by me.  I had to keep stopping to avoid expelling both lungs out of my mouth !
I took a picture at the top.
The ride down gave me my first chance to spin my 16th gear, doing about 40mph. 
I met up with Rob at Shap, and we sat in the sun outside a pub feeling very proud of ourselves. 
Martin, phoned me from Penrith to say he wanted to push on to Carlisle making a total of about another 28 miles from where we were and it was 5:30pm by then. I agreed and we managed to get there by 7:30pm.
Martin had managed to get us rooms at the Ibis hotel.
As luck would have it there was an all-you-can-eat Chinease Buffet right next door.  We each had at least 3 plate fills and Rob had 4 !  We reckon their business plan should include banning end to enders.
Martin and I then went to sample Wetherspoons to check if they're the same as down South.  They are.
The plan now for tomorrow is get to Edinburgh where we could get to have a day off exploring the City on Thursday as we've done so well thus far.
My LEJOG book reckons we've done 547 miles in 6 days :O) and my crutch now would concurr!

Day 5 Tights or No Tights ?

It was a much more leisurely start from Whitchurch this morning. We didn't leave until 10am. I immediately through Rob off the scent because I had decided not to buy a new rear tyre but assume I've just been really unlucky.  Rob went straight to the cycle shop where as Martin and I cycled out of Town! He caught us up eventually.
Lots of rolling Cheshire countryside ensued. There were some smashing countryside pubs and houses. We also rode past a polo field and Oulton Park motor racing circuit. Rob had put in a request to lunch at a nice country pub, Martin said fine so long as we'd reached Warrington. However we decided in the end that the first one would do. Unfortunately Rob found one right after a busy road junction with the M56 and was suprised when we didn't see him because we were fending for our lives on the roundabout.  We eventually came upon a great pub South of Warrington on the canal.
As my feet and legs were then frozen, I decided to don my tights. This single act ensured glorious sunshine for much of the afternoon and I was constantly wanting to take them off again. Unfortunately because they are 'bibbed' I'd have had to strip down into just my bibbed shorts in public and they don't deserve that. My daughter refers to these as my man-kini !
The trip through Wigan ( I always here the voice of Eddie Warring when I see that name) was memorable for nothing other than justleing for position with juggernaughts on motorway roundabouts.  One stupid juggernaught driver gave Martin and I about 2 feet of room to which Martin indicated in sign language that he should consider shaking marraccas, or at least I think that's what he was trying to say?!

Preston was instantly forgettable and I'm glad we continued North for a further 15 miles to Garstang where we're now staying in the Royal Oak Hotel.
I've had the best food of the week thus far, home cooked and even a very non-diabetic Sticky toffee pudding! Well I am packing carbs. Bloods are now off the scale. Whoops!

Day 4 - Wet, Wet, Wet

We all woke up this morning feeling the effects of yesterday. I knew when I tried walking to the bathroom that I was in trouble. My legs had been filled with concrete whilst I was asleep!
The Travelodge continental was a welcome change from non stop Full Englishes ,especially as it included a Muffin. Imagine that, cake for breakfast!
I'd like to forget the first session to Leominster. My 'Blue Circle' legs meant I had to stop loads of times to get my breath back, and to check my bloods (blood sugars) as I'm an insulin dependant diabetic. However I did manage to overtake a car on a fast sweeping downhill stretch.
It had been raining all morning so I was frozen when we stopped. Concrete legs stop you spinning the pedals quick enough to generate any body heat. My left arm was shaking all of its own.
I insisted on getting a coffee to warm up, much to the other two's annoyance because they wanted to get going. In the end they set off without me and said they'd meet up on the road. Unfortunately I got lost trying to get out of the town so decided it was probably best for me to go at my own, snail like, pace.
Martin had gone on ahead to Ludlow, Rob waited for me and we rode in to Ludlow together. It's a beautiful town.
The next session was probably my best of the day through the rain 17 miles up the A49 to lunch. My motivation was to imagine a hot bowl of soup and wedges of granary bread waiting for me. Sure enough I found a cafe/bakery that did just that.
Then on to Shrewsbury, another lovely old English town. Alas I had my 3rd puncture in 4 days on the way to it.
After a welcome top up of Assos, an absolute essential anti-friction cream that means I can still sit down for dinner in the evening, Rob and I eat up the 20 miles to Witchurch in good time. Martin had managed to find us some rooms in a hotel by the time we arrived, and they've let us store our bikes in the function suite.
What I must now decide is whether to search out the local cycle shop and buy a new rear 'Armidillo' tyre to reduce the annoying punctures?

Day 3 - Maxed Out

I'm sat writing this with a mixture of joy at the 94 miles we did today and sawness in the gusset area ! We set off from Taunton woith me on a foul mood, I had had no time to stretch because Martin wanted to be off like the clappers. But then Rob was a star and provided me with a wind tow/shelter as we rode up through Bridgewater at cracking pace.
The trip before Bristol was awful, hill upon coronary hill. The only amusement was an old geezer on a mountain bike who we kept overtaking and being passed by. The 42mph decent into Bristol finally put pay to him.  Avonmouth is the worst area we've been through.  Industrial estate with 25mph headwinds. The Severn Bridge was exciting because of the cross winds and then on in to the Land of the Leak! The 17 miles from Chepstow to Monmouth were the highlight of the trip thus far. Perfect, newly laid road surface and stunning scenary. Ironically the closest we've come to having a crash was when Rob said " this doesn't get any better than this, look at that lavendar and as I did so, nearly colided with him with Martin in our slipstream.
The trip from Monmouth to Hereford I'd like to forget. It hurt, it hurt some more and it hurt again. My legs wouldn't work, and we stopped at every B&B to see if they had room for 3 smelly blokes. Travelodge Hertford in the end gave us a family room, despite telling me on the phone that they couldn't help. Rob went in to Hereford and back looking for accomodation.
Smashing rump steak dinner with local scrumpy made everything seem right with the world again. Special thanks must go to the Claires who started trying to find us accomodation on the internet and phone whilst we struggled up the hills with no legs!.
94 miles is the most I've ever ridden.

Day 2, Up and Down like the Assyrian Empire

Flippin' eck Devon has some serious hills. Makes Redlands Road, Reading seem like a walk in the park. We've had it tough today. Thanks must go to the cycle shop owner in Launceston, who recognised us as being 'End to Enders' and let me borrow his proper pump to get my rear back up to 100 psi. Alas it was short lived because I had my second puncture of the trip, climbing up the hill out of Crediton.

Once we got to Tiverton things got much flatter (we're talking relative here ) and we did 40 of our 70 miles in the last 3 hrs.
We're now in Taunton, home of Cider, but as my luck would have it, our Hotel has run out of it !!!
We had a smashing curry tonight though :O)

Day -1 post script

I think we're in for some hard graft tomorrow if the 9 miles from Penzance tonight is anything to go by. Luckily I'm not wearing my heart rate monitor but I think I may have maxed out on a couple of hills.
The b&b gets top marks because he chauffeured us to the nearest pub, and then collected us at closing time. Top-Man !
7:30 Full English at the start of day 1 awaits. Let's hope Rob's legendary snoring is all hear-say?

Day -1

Here we go then. I'm typing this on the train to Penzance. I have to say, packing up our caravan on the day I'm due to set off on such a logistical nightmare was one of my most cretinous ideas ever! It was getting a bit tight when the van was still in the road with less than 2 hrs to go to the train.
Still, at least I was at the station before Rob. Those of you who know him will know that's not suprising, even with my ability to be late. He managed to loose the key to his padlock!!

Here we are on the train..

Day -2

My two riding chums will be pleased all our respective teams will be in the Championship next season. I had a great day out at Wembley yesterday, only thwarted by two dodgy penalty decisions.
I have the bike prep all to do today. I've been finding lots of other things to do because its been Pimms O'clock !!
As luck would have it the wind is changing direction for the West Country and we're going to have headwinds for the first few days at least.
Boooooo!

Day -7

Well, only one more day of work to go for me now before the big event next week :O)  I'm off work on Tuesday to pack in some quality time with the family before I slot in to selfish mode! I had a go at packing my bags tonight and I have no idea how Rob will manage because I have 3 times his capacity! He will argue that my 4 pairs of socks and 3 of pants is excessive, but I won't have to be widow twanky every night! I'll be cleaning and lubricating the bike over the weekend. Getting rather close now....

Day -8

Why oh why did I agree to play golf yesterday? I now have to get everything sorted in much less time. In our typical non-communicado way, Rob has set up another blog! It's www.rcm-lejog.blogspot.com . I'm off tonight to a cycle maintenance course, well better late than never!

Introduction

Hi there and welcome to my Blog.  I have set this up in an attempt to have somewhere where Family, Friends and Colleagues can read about how I and my two mates are getting on in our attempt to cycle the entire length of the British mainland,  yes the classic Lands End to John O'Groats cycle ride!

'We' are Chris, (aka Milky), Martin, and Rob,(aka Bo for some reason?!) and we all started work at around the same time together some 23 years ago now so we have plenty of previous form!

Rob and Martin did the London to Brighton ride a couple of years ago and then agreed, in a drunken haze whilst on holiday last year, that they should try LEJOG.  I found out about this at New Year (despite having been on the same holiday!).  I thought it would be a great way to get fit and give me an aim so asked to join in.

Now here we are at day -10 in the count down to the off.  Day1 will be Thursday June 2nd 2011.

Once I've learnt how to use this thing I hope to post a few pics, locations, progress stories, perhaps the odd anecdote etc. But I must first walk before I can run (or should that be ride with stabilisers before wobbling along solo?).

As is customary for these challenges, we thought we'd take the opportunity to collect for some worthy causes.  Here are the links to our just giving pages.  If you have yet to sponsor one of us then if you think we deserve the encouragement please dig deep and thanks if you do.

Milky's Berkshire MS Therapy Centre Page

Martin's Leukaemia and Lymphoma Page

Rob's Cancer Research UK Page

                                                            The three of us.

Strewth is that the time !  - I must get some shut-eye.....