Day eleven

The most spectacular day of the trip.

I'm not sure what James had for breakfast but I'm guessing  rocket fuel or something similar. I spent the whole day riding flat out with James... the ride of our lives.

We set off in light rain which soon passed. Continuing up the west side of Loch Lomond with the Loch to our right, hills to our left, under a canopy of bright green trees. The roads were not flat, but gentle undulations made for some impressive speed. With 25 miles knocked off in an hour and a half we stopped for tea and cake, meeting up with Mary at the Green Welly Cafe.

With a bit of bike tinkering going on, the riders left the cafe at different times... Lizzie first, then James, Chris and tom then finally Yorky, Andrew and myself. (I'm always last to leave!)  The remainder of the hill took us to the highest point of the day, and the first proper view of what was to come... Glencoe.

A breathtaking view demanded a photograph so five of us stopped and faffed about with a camera for a few minutes. Keen to catch James, I set off before everyone else. A gentle downhill slope allowed me to run between 30 and 35mph for what felt like forever. I was riding as hard as I could, but so was James and it took me about 30 mins to catch him. When I caught him, he didn't let up the pace.

"James, what the Hell have you had for breakfast?" I asked... "nothing special, I'm just inspired by the views" he replied. I'm convinced he would have failed a drugs test, it was all a bit 'Floyd Landis' - amazing pace from nowhere. Free from his knee support for the first time in a few days, James was well up for it. We were pedalling hard, the others surely left for dead. The pace was the fastest of the trip. I was letting James ride at the front, let him maintain that inspiration. Occasionally I'd pull alongside "what are we doing? Are we planning to let the others catch up?" James would just say "dont know, but I'm loving it..." and we would both burst into laughter. This type of riding was unheard of.

James had been on this road before, whilst driving through the area. He kept telling me... "wait till we drop back down into the valley". We motored on, through open moorland, bright greens, browns everywhere snow topped peaks on the Grampian Mountains up in the clouds, bluebells providing the only splash of colour. Eventually the valley came, at about the same time the heavens opened. The rain was falling hard but took nothing from the ride. The landscape down in the valley was spectacular... really quite incredible. The pace was still electric, the riding was scintillating.... beautiful views.

If anyone is looking for a bike ride in the UK, this is it. Loch Lomond to Fort William. I would rather do it in bright sunshine .... maybe I'll come back...

James and I pressed on, heading for Fort William for a pit stop. We stopped briefly to take on food. Was quite surprised to see Yorky pull up alongside us (how fast had he been going to catch us?!) The three of us pushed on, meeting Mary again for tea. The other four arrived just as we had finished food and drink. The seven riders finished the last ten miles to Spean Bridge, where we found our very well deserved bed for the night.

We had covered 80 miles, in a little over 4 hours. The power of cake had got me through. The legs will be weary in the morning. Just a short day tomorrow, 65 miles to Dingwall, traversing over to the east side of the country. We'll be riding along Loch Ness... I'll be on the lookout for the fabled monster, unless I've got my head down trying to catch James again...

Day 12 - Inverbeg to Spean Bridge

What a day! I think you can tell from the blog posts below that the 82 miles we covered today was something quite special.

Google Maps Link

I must say that I started the day feeling pretty low - it was raining, (again!), it was cold, I was aching, and I'd left behind a very comfy bed. Cycling along the side of Loch Lomond soon raised my spirits, especially as the rain eased off. We were making really good progress too, and rewarded ourselves with a food stop at the Green Welly - including polishing off all the cakes kindly given to us by Cat...




An hour later, all fueled up for the 48 mile trek to the next sizable town, we set off again. After a bit of a climb, we were greeted by some quite incredible views, and long open roads. Me, Tom, Lizzie and Deano fell a little behind at this point since we kept feeling compelled to stop and take photos (well, Deano didn't so much but we made him stop anyway!)




I also took a short video, but this in no way does the ride justice....

With the pace we were maintaining, despite all the photo stops, we soon made it into the Highlands, which called for another photo stop to feature Tom, Lizzie, Lizzie, Deano and me....



Not long after this, we met up with Mary again for a well deserved scotch pancake (thanks Caz and Si!)




Tom and Deano then proceeded to chase Mary down the mountain, managing to keep up surprisingly well with the car for most of the way down!

It wasn't long before the heavens soon opened again, and then it was a long slog for the last 15 odd miles through Fort William and onto Spean Bridge.

Quite a day - definitely up there with Dartmoor and South Lancashire as one of the most memorable.

Only 2.5 days of cycling left now.... and hopefully more of what we experienced today (minus the rain!)

Location:Spean Bridge,United Kingdom

A ride i shall not forget!

I awoke this morning feeling mentally tired and my legs completely lethargic but i didn't know what was about to happen next.......

From the moment my legs hit the pedal I could sense today would be no ordinary day. The views around Loch Lomond were quite inspiring and the roads were conducive to speed. After a brief stop in Tyndrum after 25 miles we headed for the highlands.

What happened next can only be described as a 48 mile adrenaline rush the views and the atmosphere sent my body into overdrive i went as fast as i could for as long as possible and we (nige, yorkie and I) got to Fort William in roughly two and a half hours. It was the best ride of my life and probably one of the best moments too! AWESOME : )

Ride of our lives...

So far, today has been EPIC!

There's a storm brewing...

... and for once, its not in the sky. The weather is holding up for us. I knew it would if I wore my shorts. We are moving so fast today we're leaving a whirlwind behind us. That must be the fastest 25 miles we've covered all trip. We're at the Green Welly cafe between Loch Lomond and Fort William. Possibly the last sight of civilisation for 40 miles.

Time to fuel up. I have three cakes in front of me.

Reception is becoming intermittent so blog updates are not going to be so easy...

Photos!

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150256918150663.367475.648885662&l=44c1b954a8

I've just realised i still don't know what a nipple tool is....

Cycling by the loch

Thankfully the clouds cleared at the end of the day, giving us some amazing views as we cycled by the Loch. There were lots of trees to avoid, as they had all been blown over by the previous day's wind (the same wind which tried but failed to stop 7 hardy cyclists reaching Glasgow).

Some sensible people got off their bikes and walked round them. Others tried to ride through them, which was more fun :o)

Day 11 - Crawford to Inverbeg

Short entry for today as I'm rather tired - but want to keep up my record of blogging at least once a day!

Also no google maps link as the hotel wifi here seems to have a problem with the site I use to generate the link - rubbish!

But we made it as far as Loch Lomond today, and are staying in a rather lovely hotel - again not the place we had originally booked, which had no power still after the storms yesterday. The thought of staying somewhere where I couldn't charge my iPhone was too awful to entertain. Oh - and no showers would be bad too!

As well as a lovely hotel, we also had the pleasure of meeting up with Caroline and Simon, with the added surprise bonus of Cat, who had driven over 2 hours from St Andrews to see us!



Was a lovely end to what was another tiring day - so thanks to you all for making the trip across :-)




I'll hopefully write more tomorrow when I'm less tired.... although we have another long slog ahead of us I believe.... but almost there now!!



(final quick photo showing what we had to deal with across some of the cycle paths today in the aftermath of yesterdays high winds!)

Location:Loch Lomond

Eye of the Tiger

Woke up this morning to the Rocky soundtrack. Feel really pumped up... in the mood for bashing chunks of meat, running up and down steps, and chasing chickens!

Thanks James, let's ride!

Days nine and ten

Double update because I fell asleep writing day nine, and we don't have any reception at our day ten hotel.

Day nine...

Yuck.

Much of today's events already covered. This morning was awful, simply not safe. We were heading west and the wind was coming up from the south, straight off the Irish Sea, where ferry crossings had been cancelled. So, it was hitting us perpendicularly. My neck was aching from forcing it to my left, just to keep my head upright. I felt like I was turning a hard left the whole time just to keep in a straight line. Every now and then the wind would just pick you up and dump you in the middle of the road. With the rain as well it was just a stupid time to be out on a bike. Just wind or just rain, and it would have been manageable, but both at the same time, to that extreme, was not good.

When we stopped I was all for plan B, a train to Ayr. But some bright spark, who happened to be celebrating his birthday, devised plan C...

We wanted to wait for the rain to stop, so this allowed for a quick bike shop visit. Tom and I went and whilst we were there I overheard Tom chatting to the guy about how to get to the new destination. All I really heard was "highest village in Scotland" and "category one climb" (cat one being the second hardest type of climb you find in a pro cycling race). These words concerned me slightly, but fortunately they never materialised. I guess he was telling us which routes to avoid.

The route here was actually really quiet... running parallel to a motorway. A never ending road with dull grey concrete stretched out in from of office, traffic was light, almost non existent. There wasn't much to do except get the head down and pedal hard. The wind was fierce, but often when its behind you it's not noticeable. At one point, I was a couple of hundred metres ahead of the pack, and approaching a roundabout. Thought I would do some laps to let the others catch up (you can often find me racing round and round in circles). As I got halfway round, I was at 90 degrees to the wind and just could not turn anymore. The invisible power of the wind was immense. I had to straighten up and just carry on...

Day ten takes us through Glasgow and up to Loch Lomond. Hopefully with the wind behind us...

Day ten...

A really tough day.

As I was thrashing Bianca down the main road on the west side of Loch Lomond, I couldn't help but laugh to myself. I was chasing the bunch after a navigation error. I'd spent the whole day either driving hard into the wind, chasing people at flat out speed, or chasing people at flat out speed, whilst cycling directly into the wind! My legs were feeling it, my thighs seem to be ripping themselves apart with every turn.

An extra 30 minutes in a Glasgow bike shop had already left Yorky and I with plenty of ground to make up. We rode hard on the main road west out of Glasgow, along the Clyde to catch the other guys. Frustrated by the amount of traffic lights. We knew the rest would be slower through the traffic... eventually we caught them before the Erskine Bridge, which is where tbe road starts to turn a wind friendly North up towards the Loch.

The morning was equally tough. We left our truckers hotel, continuing on the same quiet road that brought us there. Up hills and straight into the wind, our speed was sub 10mph. The road took us into the suburbs of Glasgow... a couple of punctures delaying us further.

In other news:

James is now winning the race to take the most painkillers. A change of strategy by Tom has put him on 'long lasting effect' tablets, whereas James is still eating them like Wine Gums.

Yorky managed two days without going shopping.

The cake count is sky high (i just had one for breakfast)

The weather is not looking good for the rest of the week, and a couple of heads are dropping as a result. I am insisting on wearing my shorts which almost certainly guarantees sunshine. And James is defiant. "we can do this guys, F### the weather!" he proclaimed at breakfast... turning a few heads from the other diners.

Today takes us to Fort William... according to all the guides, one of the most picturesque days of cycling...

700 miles down, 300 to go.

Day 10 - Gretna to Crawford

The best laid plans....

Google Maps Link

So this evening we were meant to be staying in Ayr. However, the weather has been against us somewhat, so instead of following our planned route we are now in a small town called Crawford.

The day started early - breakfast at 6am, leaving before 7am. The weather was horrendous! Heavy rain, and already strong winds. Not at all pleasant. Still, we ploughed on, with a planned 85 miles to cover.

However, after most of us had the unpleasant experience of being blown into the middle of the road, it became clear that it was simply too dangerous to continue. So after 25 miles covered, we hunkered down in a Little Chef to come up with a cunning plan!



I must admit that the option of taking a train to Ayr was discussed. But we soon dismissed that thought, and instead found some alternative accommodation a more manageable 35 miles away (as opposed to 60 miles away!)

3.5 hrs (and a Little Chef breakfast, lunch and lots of tea) later, we headed off again to brave the elements. It had finally stopped raining, so we only had the wind to deal with.

As it happened, the route we ended up taking was between two large hills, so we were somewhat sheltered from the worst of the wind. For short stints, we even had it behind us - which was an awesome boost for tired legs! We got to our alternative lodgings at a relatively early 3pm - phew!

We still have some strong winds (and more rain!) forecast for tomorrow, but hopefully we're through the worst of it. And having just seen on BBC News that the winds of up to 100mph here have sadly claimed someones life today, I feel very relieved that we're all heading to bed in one piece this evening.

Location:Carlisle Rd,,United Kingdom

Happy Birthday Tom!

Location:Crawford

Blown off course

We set off this morning at 6:40 hoping to get to Ayr from Gretna Green however we've ended up somewhere completely different!

Within the first 10 mins of riding we were all completely drenched and were being blown all over the road by the howling winds. It really was bitter, i found myslef singing the hit classic 'American Pie' over and over again whilst riding in order to keep the internal spirits high. Thankfully no one heard as the wind drowned out any musical tunes!

We continued for a brave 25 miles Then we decided to head for shelter in the Little Chef. After ringing out our clothes and drying our socks via the hand dryer in the disabled toilets we decided to replan our travel arrangements over a few cups of tea. We were now going to head to Crawford, 40 miles south of Glasgow thanks to some useful iphone work by Chris. This way we would not be fighting the wind as much.

We arrived in Crawford a few hours later. I can only describe it as a local town for local people, so looking forward to heading north tomorrow!

Starting to count down the days now : ) !

P.s it's navigator Tom's birthday today, so happy birthday to him!!!

Ride like the wind

Thanks to those of you sending messages of concern. The rain has stopped so we are pushing forwards. Our new destination has put the wind directly behind us.

Now then, the guy in the bike shop said something about a category one climb.... must be coming up here somewhere..

Weather woes

The weather is abysmal. Typical Scotland.

We've cycled 25 miles west to Dumfries. It's the worst weather I've ever been in out on a bike.

We needed a plan B so we pulled up in a Little Chef (why do they always smell of pi$$?)  and debated several plans. Right now its just not safe outside. Treacherous conditions.
We've considered trains planes and automobiles, but everyone is determined to cycle the whole way, so the answer is still the bike.

We've rejigged our accommodation and will wait for the rain to die down. Then its direct North to Crawford, just south of Abington. In 40mph winds... at least, that's the plan....

Day 9 - Kirkby Lonsdale to Gretna

We made it to Scotland!!!

Google Maps Link

The day started off horribly. During breakfast, there was a large hail storm, and I don't think anyone was particularly looking forward to getting back in the saddle. We waited till the hail ended and the rain eased off, then set off. And about 2 mins later the rain started again!

It wasn't long before we were drenched, cycling into cold rain which then turned back to hail. Ouch! Not at all pleasant.

But we kept on pedaling, and made it to Penrith for lunch. And as it happened, the place we stopped at had free wifi so I could watch the last 20 laps of the Spanish GP whilst I ate! Just a shame Hamilton couldn't make it past Vettel for the win.

Back on the road, and the rain started again. Bah! But there were blue skies ahead! The two photos below were taken at exactly the same spot to try to demonstrate this.... the first, looking backwards:







The second, looking forwards:





However, whilst the rain stopped, the wind got progressively worse. Despite this, we powered along a very straight Roman road into Carlisle, tiring out Deano and Yorky in the process....







Within spitting distance of Scotland, we ploughed on until we saw the welcome sign we had all been waiting for!




(we took this using a very cool iPhone app called PhotoSynth, from Microsoft, which allowed us to use some trickery to get us all in one shot. Very cool!)

Not far into Gretna, we found our accommodation for the night - but I plodded on just a little further to find the place where my little sis got married not so long ago....





Very early start tomorrow to try to avoid the 70mph winds which are forecast. Yuck. Will also be raining again. Bah! And worst of all.... due to the early start, we're all going to be missing out on our cooked breakfasts :-( The sacrifices we make.....!

Location:Sarkside,Gretna,United Kingdom

Day eight

Into the land of the enemy.

Things are starting to get a little spicy, and not just because of last night's curry. Over breakfast we watched hail hit the fields outside. As we departed the rain started to fall and persisted in doing so until lunch time. The wind grew fiercer the further North we travelled.

Our morning was spent threading through twisty, treacherous lanes. Wind, rain and sometimes hail stinging our faces. Eventually we climbed up over Shap, a long slow incline to the summit. With the low grey clouds everything looked bleak and miserable. Two of the riders had walked coast to coast last year, 192 miles in total. This was about the point where their west-east walk and south-north ride crossed.

Despite the relentless weather, all 7 riders where determined to press on. Not one complaint from anyone.

Lunch was delightful. A chance for me to change my rather sodden socks and dry the shoes a little. On my table of three we had five cakes between us. As we departed the sun started to peek out at us, and indeed, by the end of the day, skies were blue and clothes were drying in the sunshine. The route from lunch led us straight into a 100 metre climb. Normally not a problem, but not ideal with lunch still sitting in the stomach!

After the climb, some nice easy downhills and long open flat sections brightened up the day. Bianca was able to open up for ten miles or so, despite a tricky side wind. Running comfortably at about 22mph for twenty minutes or so seemed so unlikely in the morning.

The road led us all the way into Scotland, and Gretna. We spent about ten minutes looking for a "welcome to Scotland" sign, only to find it was 50 metres further down the road.

Tomorrow could be hellish. Amber weather warnings. 70 mph gusts of winds. More rain. We've plumped for an early start, trying to  beat the wind. I could be running on gels tomorrow because I don't think I'll have time to eat.

So... time to sleep.

I've cycled to Scotland... can't believe it :)

Pictures, for blogs sake

Had a morning of washing, shopping (for one is a lot easier & cheaper than for 8!), getting a temporary fix 3 hours after reporting a dead phone line, doing a Blue Peter job on my rear view mirror and getting a call from Andrew who was cycling down a hill and couldn't talk but just wanted to thank me for the top i found for him. Couldn't keep away from driving and headed to Crystal Palace. They only offered roasts so after a wander round the bric-a-brac shops (no shakes or bike related items) we turned around and went to Dulwich for a fish pie jacket potato. As odd as it sounds!

My blogging after today would be repetitive and boring but thought i'd add some pictures:

The riders headed as far west as possible from the lands end sign.

Andrew started the week looking happy on a hill

My favourite picture from day 1

Cake munching on Dartmoor

Wild horses on Dartmoor

Hilly Dartmoor riding

Nige didn't realise when he asked for chicken he needed to specify it should be dead

View from the highest waterfall in England

Needed to turn round in Crediton - very randomly was in this road

Yorky finds a new way of riding for the day

The boys get ready to spend a night in Paradise

Superlambananas in Liverpool

View from the rest day cottage

Mary arrives!

Cross dressing

A miserable morning, started with us watching a hail storm through the window whilst eating breakfast. We had to set off through some very persistent rain.

Just as you think it could not get worse we take a puncture, on Andrew's Trek bike. As he takes the wheel of to check the tyre he has a startling realisation that its not his tyre and its not even his wheel. For the first 25 miles of the morning he'd been running Lizzie's back wheel... crazy! Normally wouldn't make much difference but they have different rear cassettes. No wonder both of them were complaining that their gears were mashing up a fair bit.

A quick change and we're off again, thankfully into some rare sunshine.

Rest Day

Rest and recouperation mean different things to different people.

Chris spent the day relaxing, a short walk and some time being creative on the iPhone.

James spent the day either in the pharmacy or icing his knee.

Tom ran some errands and spent a few hours tinkering with bikes.

Lizzie did about 13 loads of washing for us all (muchas gracias), ferried people to and from train stations, and cooked curry for 8.

Andrew dozed for the morning, frazzled Bacon for lunch (mmmm) and made some essential weight saving changes to his bike. He's currently fiddling with an unusual looking lump on the side of his knee.

Yorky ran 17 miles.

I rode down to Lancaster, the heavens opening as I departed. I bought a sausage roll and a muffin. I fell off my bike. I walked into a bike shop looking like a drowning cat washed up on the beach and asked "do you sell waterproofs?" "Not really," they said. "Oh... drat." I zoomed back, gave Bianca a clean and washed all my cycling gear. Then I put my feet up and battered a pack of digestives.

There was another significant event today, the ceremonious passing of the car keys from Kim to new-comer Mary. Kim has supported us for the first week with exceptional patience, now Mary picks up the baton till John O'Groats. Hopefully she'll be able to put up with us. We seem to be getting more demanding as the days go by. Mary already had a new tyre express delivered to her place in London which she had to bring with her. "8 pairs of brake pads, please", "we need more milk than you can imagine", "I need smokey Bacon crisps" and "we need cream for the strudel" are some of the other requests being thrown up.

Without Kim and Mary, this ride would be a million times harder, and a million times less fun, so we thank them both.

The other job for today was to get the final days mapped out. Routemaster Tom got to work on Google Maps and plotted the final 495 miles up to the North East of Scotland. He then got to work with the ice bag on his own knee, with James in the foreground, in a rather bizarre Yoga inspired stretch/knee icing position.

Tomorrow will see us cross the border, with a 75 mile jaunt to Gretna. We'll be skirting around the East side of the Lake District but some of the hills are unavoidable.

Time to sleep, then let's get riding.