Day 11 - It's All Over!!!

Today was it. Our final push for the finish line was upon us. 48 miles down the road was Lands End, marking the completion of our End to End ride. 

As it was our final day of 'punishment' (!) we allowed ourselves a nice lie in...getting up at 6am as opposed to 5.30am!! I was feeling quite positive despite the fact that I knew it would be a tough 48 miles. My Achilles had swollen during the night and my knee wasn't great either. From the previous day's ride I was pretty sure no amount of saddle adjusting was going to make any difference anymore - it was gonna be a case of biting my lip and soldiering through. We went to leave at 7.23am only for Pete to find his back tyre down a bit. He went back to the van, pumped it up properly and we got going just before half past 7. At once the pain hit. Those first few miles were by far the hardest, trying to get my Achilles used to moving in a pedalling motion again. It had obviously siezed up good and proper in the night. We took the A39 straight down to the A30 which would lead us all the way to Lands End. Being a fast road we decided this was our best chance - I could get some terrific speeds up on the huge sweeping downhills and use the momentum to get part way up the next hill!! It worked. Once on the A30 we were flying. Our average which had been as low as 12.3 mph on the grinding start, where I was fighting to get my foot moving properly, steadily got higher and higher rising above 13, then 14 and then 15mph. After the first hour we stopped for a rest. I put some more deep heat on my Achilles, not that it was really doing much but at least I felt i was doing something to help it!! (not cycling 48 miles on it would have helped, but hey!!) After guzzling a kitkat chunky we set off once more. Getting going again proved really hard. I was finding that every time I stopped pedalling for a bit, be it for a downhill or a pit stop, once I started pedalling again the pain was excruciating! Once I'd been pedalling for a minute or so it would settle down a bit. So although the downhills were great and I made the most of them, it didn't half hurt getting going up the next hill. One particular downhill stretched out for miles below me and I was determined to get the most out of it. Down on the tri bars I quickly picked up speed, feeling the air whoosing past my ears! A quick glance down at my speedo said I was going over 44 mph! 'Ahhh' I thought to myself!! Fastest I've ever been (for the 3rd time in 2 days!) I quickly flicked my eyes back to the road and just concentrated on making it down the hill in a straight line. At the bottom Pete pulled over. 'How fast were you going down there?' he said? I flicked through the screens on my speedo to 'max speed'. '47.3mph!!!' Blimey!! Pete had maxed at 50.3 and couldn't quite believe it himself! Eeek! Further down the road we stopped just gone 2 hours and had our second break. Our average was up to 16mph by this point, helped by the good tail wind we were getting. It was pretty hot too, again with a blue sky! We were now only 14 miles from Lands End and I was eager to get going again to reach the finish. Pushing on we maintained our 16mph average. Approaching Penzance our support vehicle came past  and blinked it's lights, cheering us on! We overtook them in the traffic a bit further down, giving them the chance to do another drive by!! Coming out past Penzance we hit some steep hills. The A30 had now reduced to a single carriageway and wound it's way up a series of climbs before evening out a bit and rewarding us with a big long descent. I stopped pedalling and we both glided down for about a mile and a half, again on the tri bars to get the most out of the downhill! Just past a roundabout was a sign for Lands End reading 9 miles. That gave me a boost. We were now under the tens and I was counting down! Adrenaline seemed to take over and I wasn't noticing my achilles so much. Pete was infront and was being conscious not to set too high a pace for me, but as we got nearer I had to keep calling to him to speed up and get pedalling! I was getting good momentum along the flats and was trying to go into the hills with as much speed as I could, so I didn't want to be braking behind him!! We saw some great views, rolling hills, more buzzards, and now the sea!! We were so close! Again the A30 got smaller, turning almost to a country lane as it wound up and down the small hills and out towards the sea. We flew through the little seaside town of Sennon. Further on I heard Pete shout 'Right, Right!' I looked ahead and there was a sign marked Lands End youth hostel!! 'No!!' I shouted back and continued flying down the A30! Pete and navigation dont mix!!! I started to get excited now, knowing that we really were going to make it! For the last few days, I honestly didn't know if I'd hold out and be able to complete what we'd started. We rolled down the long straight reach to Lands End and crossed the finish line at 10.45am, clocking in at 48.77 miles. Our total mileage for the ride has worked at 938.8 miles, topping our original planned mileage by almost 20 miles! We had lots of photos taken by Steve at the finish line and at the famous sign post, before having a brief look around the souvenir shop and driving to Kelynack Campsite. Pete cycled it - I myself decided I'd done quite enough cycling for 11 days!! 

This ride has proved to be the hardest thing I've ever done. There were days where I was so exhausted both mentally and physically that each push of the pedals was a huge effort! Other days we seemed to breeze, still feeling fresh the other side! We've had plenty of sun, plenty of wind, not much rain (although day 9 probably made up for that in abundance!!) I've probably injured more parts of me than I care to remember! First my hand and wrist, then battled with a horribly stiff neck and shoulder, then on crept the knee trouble and finally the Achilles!! I currently have a set of ridiculous looking tan lines: I have white hands where my cycle gloves have been, brown arms up to my sleeve marks, then white feet, dark tanned shins, slightly tanned knees and white thighs!! Pete says I look like a Fruit Pastels lollie!!! My favourite part of the trip was most definitley Scotland. That first day skirting the north coast of Scotland was so idyllic, and then coming down through the highlands past Loch Neave, seeing so much wildlife it was incredible. Cycling up the Glencoe Valley was just awesome. I've been down it several times in a car but had never appreciated it so much as going at cycling speed, being able to gaze up at the monstous mountains looming above and really appreciate how magnificent they are. The Scottish people we also found the friendliest. So many of them were so interested in what were doing and helped us along the way (thanks again to the lovely campsite owner at Woodend!).

I think if we were to do it again we'd take touring bikes as opposed to racing bikes. Although they were great for speed they were not great for tackling bad road surfaces, of which we encountered many!! We also had no panniers so if we wore our jackets for the cold early morning start, we were stuck with them for the boiling hot afternoon finish!! Having said that, nothing broke, I had no punctures (Pete had one) so all in all they did us proud!

I do feel a great sense of achievement having done this ride. Pete was great company, even when I wasn't ( I may have got a little grizzly at times...kirkstone pass possibly??!!!) and kept me going throughout. Thanks Pete! His parents were also amazing in supporting us throughout the trip, keeping us fed, with clean cycle gear and being our backup whenever we needed them. A huge thank you! And thanks also to the massive number of people who have sponsored the ride and made it really worthwhile. I've raised a tremendous amount for the Brittle Bones Society and it's going up even as I write! Im sure my cousin Robert would be well pleased :o) 

Day 10 - They Think Its All Over!!!

Woke up this morning feeling pretty achey but more upbeat about things. The worst definitely felt behind us and I felt that after yesterday's horrendous riding conditions and huge mileage it could only get better! We had been promised more rain for today, albeit light rain, but looking out the tent it was just misty. Smothering a tonne of deep heat on my knee once more and dosing up again on ibuprofen, we got going at 6.58am. I was wearing different cycling shoes today as my ones from yesterday were still really wet. Starting off down the road my saddle didn't feel right. It was way too high and was making my hips rock uncomfortably. I figured with the different shoes the height from saddle to foot might be different. We pulled over and lowered it a bit. My knee was really hurting though and so another mile or so I had to stop again and readjust it. I got it to a point where it was ok for my knee, but I started feeling a pulling in my Achilles. This got worse and worse and it felt that I wasn't being able to move my foot properly as I was cycling. I was wearing overshoes due to the threat of rain and these were quite tight over my shoes, so I removed them and tried again. It felt no better and got worse. I tried adjustig my cleats on the bottom of my shoes but nothing made any difference. My Achilles was being stretched really badly and was deteriorating quickly. I lowered my saddle more which made it more bearable for my Achilles, but worse for my knee! I was getting really frustrated. We'd been going for about 2 hours and had only covered 18 miles. We phoned Pete's Dad and arranged for them to come and find us as soon as possible on the A30 where we were heading, so I could get my normal cycling shoes. They said it would be over an hour before they could reach us so we plodded on. We continued along the small country lanes, climbing steep hills and going down narrow bumpy overgrown roads. The A30 couldn't come soon enough! We had changed our route from our previously planned route and had decided to take the A30 for much of the day as it was more direct and would avoid the smaller unpredictable roads/tracks!! So Pete's satnav didn't have a set mapped route to follow and we going more by a traditional paper map! However Pete decided to route us to the A30 using the garmin and it decided to take us towards Exceter down the A3124. When we reached the A30 we found the road we were on didn't actually join the A30 but just crossed over it! We followed a country road which paralleled it hoping it would join further up but it didn't. Soon we
reached a bridge where the road crossed over the A30 and continued alongside it on the other side. Pete had the idea of jumping over the fence at the end of the bridge, wheeling the bikes down the bank and getting onto the A30 that way! After such slow progress on what should be a short day this seemed highly appealing so we threw the bikes over and got down to the barriers, popped the bikes over the barriers and got cycling. We were flying at long last! It was a great smooth road surface and so easy to get a good speed up. It felt great to finally be going at 25mph after the early morning crawl. However it wasn't to last and 10 minutes onto the A30 Pete punctured! Doh! Another frustration! He whipped out the inner tube and stuck a new one in, not bothering to waste time patching the punctured one! We were about half a mile from Okehampton and had covered 23 miles. We phoned Petes folks again to see where they were and they said they were approaching Exceter so wouldn't be long. We woofed down some kitkat chunkies and got pedalling again. My Achilles was getting really dire now. I couldn't keep my foot clipped in to my cleats as it was hurting too much. The next few miles before the support vehicle found us really dragged for me. Each push of the pedals I was willing my comfy shoes to swing by! Soon my wish came true and they hurtled past cheerily tooting us! We caught them at the next layby. Steve gave me my shoes and opened the side door of the van just as one of our precious Magners ciders rolled out and smashed all over the concrete!! Noooo!!! This was not turning into a good morning!! Pete got the floor pump out the van and pumped up his rear tyre properly (the little hand pump couldn't really pump the tyre up hard enough for road riding after the puncture incident). Once my footwear was exchanged we got on our way again. My normal shoes did feel so much better but the damage done already was evident as the pain came creeping back. Luckily the earlier threat of rain seemed a myth as we were bathed in bright sunlight and blue skies! We were greeted into Cornwall by a huge sign at the side of the road and suddenly started seeing lorries flying past for Cornish Clotted Cream. Yep, we'd definitely arrived in Cornwall!! It was a shame my knee and Achilles were hurting so much because aside from that I really enjoyed the days stretch along the A30. It took us over Bodmin Moor where the road swept up and down in huge long hills. You could get such a good speed up on the downhills. I cracked my speed record twice hitting first 41.3 mph and then on the next descent 42.3mph!! I had my tri bars on the bike so I could get down really low in the aero position and absolutely bomb it down!! The uphills weren't too bad either. They were at such a gradient that you could just sit on the bike and steadily twiddle away to get up them. From what we saw of Bodmin Moor it did look beautiful, but I'm sure it would look tonnes better getting off a busy dual carriageway and going right into the moor. We passed Colliford Lake which looked really lovely and we saw another buzzard soaring overhead. Approaching Bodmin I started really struggling with my knee again. The pain had been bearable since the earlier part of the day but was now getting to the agony stage. What was worse is that my achilles was tightening up more and more too. With 15 miles to go I tried to struggle on knowing it was only another hour of pedalling. It got too much though and I had to stop numerous times over the next mile or so, making more adjustments to the saddle to ease the pain. I decided to rest it a little bit so we took a 10 minute break and I walked up and down the lay-by trying to loosen it up a bit. I smothered more deep heat on it too. It hurt to even touch it now. Back on the bike my new seat position was better. It was higher and further forward. I twiddled away up the hills and saved myself on the downhills making the most of the freewheeling. Soon we hit our turning off for Roach and followed the B3274, crossing over the A30 and striking a minor road down through the little village of Belowda. Luckily this minor road was actually a road and not a few bits of stone, concrete, mud and cowpats strew down a path!! It also seemed to go largely downhill so I could just sit and freewheel for the most part which was a blessing! We eventually hit a roundabout and just the otherside was the campsite!! Hurrah! We'd made it!! It was 2pm on the dot and we'd covered 77.96 miles. It had taken us 7 hrs but only 5hrs 20mins of that was cycling - the rest was faffing stops!! We'd averaged 14.7mph. To our relief, camp was all set up and we were greeted with sandwiches, kitkat chunkies and tea. I spotted one of the campsite owners up by the shower block and went to ask her if there was anywhere I could get some ice to put on my knee. She kindly went and got me a proper ice pack so I spent the next half hour lying on the grass with my legs up alternating the pack on my knee and Achilles. There was also a swimming pool on site which was free so we went and made use of that before hitting the showers and drinking more tea! 

Tomorrow is the finale of this mammoth adventure!! We have 47 odd miles to complete down to Lands End. Our newly planned route is to follow the A30 the entire way down taking the most direct route! Im not sure how much more mileage my body will take!! So far we've clocked up 890 miles making our finishing total nearer 940 miles, not the originally planned 920!! Nothing like making life easy for oneself!!      

Day 9 - To Hell and Back!!!

Thank God today is over!! Last night and this morning I really wasn't convinced my body was gonna make today. I had been battling bad knee problems all day yesterday and felt so shattered after yesterdays ride I couldn't even finish yesterdays lunch or dinner. Bearing in mind we're burning around 5500 calories a day, not eating much food is not a good thing!! So I woke up this morning feeling pretty down in the dumps about everything. We had close to 98 miles to cover, our biggest day yet. I felt physically and mentally exhausted. My knee ached and it was tipping it down with rain, and was forecast to rain all day. I smothered my knee in deep heat, sank a couple of ibuprofen tablets, and donned my wet weather gear. This consisted of overshoes, waterproof jacket and marigold gloves!! The rain was a real concern to me, not because I didn't want to get wet but because getting cold makes you much more susceptible to injury, and all I had covering my already knackered knee was some lycra! Pete adjusted my saddle before we left, raising the height of it. Being a repetitive injury our tactic was to keep adjusting the saddle throughout the day to vary the movement in the knee. This seemed to work as miraculously for the first 60 miles I had next to no pain at all! We set off at 6.52am and got quickly onto the A38 which was to be our route for much of the day. It was raining a fair amount when we left. I was so wrapped up in layers though that I was soon pretty cooking and my sunglasses (with light yellow lenses) kept steaming up!! I don't really remember much of the first few miles. I went into a sort of trance, cycling behind Pete's back wheel. My legs were pedalling but my brain was elsewhere, so knackered that I felt kind of detached about what was going on around me. Hitting Bristol made me wake up a bit. It was rush hour and it was so busy I felt like I was on my morning London commute. It was the first time out of our entire ride that we had other cyclists over taking us! We'd been overtaking tonnes of others over the last few days but had never had anyone else pass us!! This really seemed to nark Pete off (I was too gone to care anymore!!) especially since some of them looked pretty unfit and were riding really crap bikes!! He started racing them between traffic lights which was quite amusing!! It took us a while to navigate through Bristol and get out the other side, meaning our first pit stop wasn't until 27 miles into the ride, at 1hr 50 mins. Carrying on we followed the A38 once more following signs to Bridgwater and Taunton. My energy levels felt really low even after the first break and I had to have an energy gel after a particularly long and arduous climb. The rain got really really hard at points, hurting your face as it hit. I gave up wearing sunglasses. I couldn't see anything, either from all the spray or from them steaming up! At one point I got a bit close to Pete's rear wheel in a torrential downpour and got a full facefull of water kicking up from his tyre!! The rain made the pot holes harder to see and waking me from my trance I suddenly heard Pete shout 'HOLE, HOLE!!!' He had ploughed straight over a huge crater in the road and, having no time to react, I then flew into it too! Amazingly my bike was ok. I half expected to see the front wheel damaged from the impact but all seemed fine. My poor wrists had taken a right battering once again though and felt really jarred. Back in the saddle we ploughed on slowly clocking up the miles. We stopped again at about 45 miles, about 5 or 6 minutes past our 3 hour mark, having tried in vain to find somewhere dry to shelter for a bit. I got even more depressed realising we weren't even half way, and I already felt I had nothing left in me. The next few miles were just a daze to me, trying to keep my legs pedalling and to keep up a good pace. I didn't want to end up going really slowly as with 98 miles to cover, even at a good 15mph average that would mean almost 7 hours in the saddle plus another hour for breaks. Go much slower and the ride would drag horrendously and our energy levels would suffer more and more with each hour. We managed to maintain a 14.6/14.7 average for much of it which was amazing considering everything that was thrown at us. Hiting 60 miles my knee woke up and started complaining. This was what I'd been dreading for the last 36 hours! We pulled over, Pete got his bike tool out and raised my saddle further. It felt better after this and we continued on. It was a pretty silent ride, neither of us saying much. Pete tried to make conversation a few times but I felt so dead I could only manage a word or grunt in reply!! We still hadn't seen our support vehicle pass us. We'd been expecting them since entering Somerset after receiving a message saying they had turned off the M5 and were coming up behind us on the A38. We passed turnings for Glastonbury, giving a brief cheer as we'll both be attending the festival in a couple of weeks! Eventually we hit Bridgwater which was a really nice little town with it's own castle. We were having to stop more regularly now to adjust my saddle more. The frequent torrential downpours meant I was getting quite cold and my knee was starting to seize up more. We passed through Taunton getting a bit lost as the gps, true to form, kept sending us down little one way streets the wrong way!! In our effort to get out of Taunton we hit a series of steep hills before getting back on the A38. We weren't on it for long before we took a minor road leading us up towards Whitnage.  The road was actually more like a rough farm track and was horrendously pot holed and bumpy with big clumps of mud everywhere and big stones. To top it off it soon got incredibly steep, winding up and up at a gradient worse than that of Kirkstone Pass. We were 16 miles from the campsite and I was running on empty. Our support vehicle had missed us and were already at the camspite, and there were no shops or petrol stations in sight for us to get more chocolate bars. I could see another repeat of Day 4 unravelling before me, with terrible roads, painfully slow progress and gradually getting so depleted of energy that we'd wouldn't be able to continue without our support coming out with food for us. I got quite upset. We'd slowed to about 6-8 mph meaning 16 miles would take over 2 hours. Pete said that his satnav said the hill was nearly over and that there a small village about 2 miles up ahead where we could get food. We struggled on and slowly the roads got better and we hit the small village of Whitnage...with not a shop to be seen. We did however pass a pub so Pete went in and to my relief came out with 2 mars bars. Good job he did too because the last 14 miles only got harder. We made good progress up to the last 8 miles where we hit a succession of incredibly steep climbs that seemed to go on forever. I don't know how my body found the energy to get up them but it did, climbing each one steadily without stopping. The second time this ride a Mars Bar has saved my bacon! My knee was holding up too! After the last knackering assault we hit a level run leading us to a farm, where the satnav promptly stopped navigating and sung us a jubilant song informing us we had arrived at our destination. Unfortunately it was just a random farm with no mention or sight of any camping. Feeling a bit past it and defeated we rang Pete's parents who gave us a postcode. I typed this into my iPhone and it told us we were standing right on that postcode!! Pants! Glancing down the road on the map I spotted West Middlewick Farm, the name of the camspite! We turned left out the farm we were at and cycled a few hundred yards down the road to see Steve, Pete's Dad waiting for us! We made our way to the campervan utterly drenched through, exhausted and for myself a little shocked that I'd actually made it. We'd covered 97.56 miles at a 14mph average. It was 3.20pm when we arrived making it an 8.5 hour day including breaks (cycling time 6hrs 58mins). 

We gobbled down some chicken rolls, biscuits and tea and headed for the showers to warm up whilst Pete's Mum threw all our sopping wet gear in the tumble dryers! 

I've been reading Mark Beaumonts account of how he cycled round the world in 195 days and after today I've come to conclusion he has to be insane! In his travles he had to tackle all the problems we've had (extreme fatigue, horrendous roads, very long consecutive days, knee trouble, bad weather) except on a much larger scale. He had all the world climates to contend with, carried 30kg of stuff on his bike, had to cope with illness along the way and had numerous technical bike problems and breakages to overcome. Plus he did it alone and covered 18000 miles over 195 days! I've got to the point where Day 11 (or Lands End Day) can't come soon enough! The thought of having to do another 186 days of this would have me running for the hills! I couldn't have done today without Pete either who somehow managed to stay remarkably cheery throughout and chivvied me on along each gruelling mile. Cycling around the world alone must be an unimaginably hard thing to do. Hats off to the Mark Beaumont! I think he's incredible!

Tomorrow is only 72 miles long, taking us down near Newquay, North Cornwall. The weather is looking to be somewhat wet again although not quite a heavy as today. Psychologically I feel much better having conquered today. It's only 2 days to go, and the last day is only 45 or so miles!! :o) The end is in sight!                      

Day 8 finitoed!

Today we had a slightly shorter distance to cover, 88 miles, taking us down into Gloucestershire. We set off at our latest time to date at 7.02am, luckily to a dry morning. We had been expecting it to be a bit rainy. We had a morning of some hilly climbs, two of which took us up to about 700ft. Compared to what we'd tackled over the last few days they weren't too bad and we made pretty good progress. We had our first stop at 1hr 30mins at about 23 miles and then again at 3hrs (45 miles). Most of the climbing was done and dusted by the time we'd reached about 30 miles and at the summit of the final big climb we had a spectacular clear view over all the hills and trees below. We wound our way down towards Worcester along pretty easy roads, where we stopped in the town centre for a bit of shopping! Pete's camera, which we were using to film the ride on, had run out of memory so we had to get a new memory stick. Whilst i was waiting for Pete outside the shop a man came up to me and offered to sponsor us! He'd read the sign on my back! At first i thought he was one of those annoying people who try and sign you up for stuff!! We also needed a new bottle cage and bottle and some energy gels from the local bike shop but had a few issues finding it, ending up taking a road out of Worcester before realising it was back in town! So we had to double back the last mile or so before we eventually found it! Once we got on our way again it was about half 11 and we still had about 38 miles to cover. We travelled down into Gloucestershire and through Gloucester which seemed like a dump!! I'd always imagined it to be quite a nice area (maybe from the children's nursery rhymes) but everywhere seemed really run down. The last few miles dragged quite a bit as we were getting very tired and having to stop more frequently. It was spitting with rain for much of the last 30 miles but it never got too heavy and was quite refreshing. We eventually hit the small village of Cambridge (no not the 'Oxford and Cambridge' Cambridge!!) at about 14.50 and we stopped at The George pub about 2 miles from the campsite. We thought we'd have a nice pub lunch before toodling down the road to the campsite! We both filled up on garlic bread, curry and some cider! I was so full by the time we left I really did just have to roll the bike to get down to the campsite!! We arrived to find Pete's parents with the campervan and quickly passed out on the grass!! It was about half 4 by this time and we were shattered!! The rain started getting up a bit so we quickly put up camp before relaxing with a cup of tea! In total we had covered 90.3miles due to our bike shop diversions! We'd averaged about 14.3mph. 

Tomorrow is looking to be a hard day as we've got over 97 miles to cover in the rain :o( Not quite looking forward to it at the mo!!       

Day 7 down, 4 more to go!!

We were both slightly dreading today! I think we'd both imagined that as the ride went on things would get easier; our legs would get stronger, we'd get accustomed to the early starts, the pace and the mileage. But the last couple of days, despite being short in terms of mileage, had really taken it out of us and it felt that our task was getting harder with each stage! I really struggled to get up at 5.30am this morning and had to drag myself out of bed for my giant muesli bowl and cup of tea! We got going at 6.49am, dressed today in bib shorts, cycle top, and rain jacket. It wasn't yet raining but was very foggy so the air was quite damp and cold. Not long having set off from the campsite we were whizzing down a hill when Pete hit a huge pot hole and both water bottles on the back of his bike flew out and hit the ground. One had smashed at the lid and lost some of the drink. The impact had also broken the bottle cage! It was just about able to hold he bottle so we put it back on and carried on, intending to find a bike shop en route to get a new bottle and cage. The first few miles down through Blackburn and towards Bolton were vey slow going. I for one was really feeling knackered from the start, and the terrain was very hilly, forcing us to constantly climb small but steep gradients. We just couldn't get a good pace going and our average speed was sitting at around 12.6mph. We were getting a bit worried as we had 92 miles to cover, and at that pace we'd be spending 8 hours in the saddle, not including breaks. Fortunately after our first break at 22miles things got much better. The ground evened out and the hills became more like gradual inclines so that we could climb them at a good pace and get some good strong speeds up along the flats and downhills. Our average started climbing and we got some good fast miles under our belt. The days route took us through a series of town centres and at each one the satnav kept sending us the wrong way round roundabouts and the wrong way down one way streets!! Needless to say there was a lot of pavement cycling and going through pedestrian precincts!! Luckily beig early on a Sunday morning there wasn't anyone around, and certainly no policemen to be seen!! :o) Coming out of Warrington we struck the A49 which was to take us right down to near the campsite. Passing through Cheshire things got a bit more scenic as we got out from all the built up town centres and into the countryside. It was still a nice cool temperature so we were able to ride feeling quite refreshed. As the ride went on we made sure to stop at more regular intervals to keep up our energy levels. Approaching our 60mile break we suddenly had a fighter jet flying right over us. It kept on banking round and doing flyovers with barrel rolls! We could see the bright orange glow from the burners as it banked round, and the white vapour streaming off the wings. We stopped and watched this amazing sight. It had such an immense sound especially when it's burners were facing us! At one point we both waved as it came over for another flyover and it did another barrel roll for us before turning and heading for home! After this entertaining pit stop we carried on in high spirits knowing we now had just over 30 miles to do and our pace was good. At Whitchurch we stopped and phoned our 'support team' to see if they'd be passing us anytime soon! It was getting quite warm now and we were hoping they might relieve us of our rain jackets! We were amazed they hadn't already overtaken us! Apparently they were just approaching Whitchurch so we carried on cycling fully expecting them to pass us at any minute. We had 16 miles to cover to Church Farm campsite and we made it in under an hour, arriving just as they had!! As if on cue the rain started as soon as we'd arrived! We had a quick rush to get the camp set up so we could relax in the dry and have sandwiches, muffins and tea!

Our dreaded day had turned out really well and given us a much needed psycological boost. We had really picked up our speed during the course of the day so that our finishing average was 15.2mph and our total time cycling was under 6 hours. The total mileage clocked in at 92.1 miles. My legs felt much better today and thanks to Pete jiggling with my gears the night before, they worked flawlessly making me a much happier bunny!! Tomorrow we have a slightly shorter day of around 88 miles taking us down to Cambridge in Gloucester by the River Severn. Hopefully we might actually manage to pick up a new water bottle and cage too!         

Day 6 all done and dusted!!

Today was down to be our shortest day of the ride so far, but it definitely wasn't the easiest!! We set out from camp at 6.49am to another brilliant sunny day. We skirted around the norh side of Ullswater which looked absolutely beautiful. There was hardly any wind and the lake was almost like a mirror. The mountains surrounding the lake were all different shades of blue in the morning haze. We took our time, taking in the scenery (and maybe trying to put off the huge looming ascent of Kirkstone Pass!)  After about 12 miles we were reminded of this by a sign post warning us of the steep gradient we were fast approaching! We could see the road winding steeply up between the mountains and started on the ascent. It was really tough going with a very steep gradient right from the start. At places it evened out just enough for us to catch our breath before the next onslaught. My gears were giving me terrible trouble once again, slipping my chain on the low gears so that I couldn't get a steady rhythm going. We were trying to do the ascent in one go and I thought we had made it, only to reach the top of one grind to see the road winding up and over another! At that point my legs gave up and I had to stop, fighting to prevent myself hyperventilating! In actual fact we were very near the top and if it hadn't been for my gears messing around we'd have made it. At the top, an altitude of 1500ft, we stopped briefly for a photo by the sign warning cars of going down the pass. It had written on it 'The Struggle' which just about said it all really!! On the plus side we had a huge descent down the other side and for about 3 miles didn't have to pedal at all!! We zoomed down to Windermere whereas had a much needed energy refuel at about 18 miles. My legs really did feel bad after that climb and I was really in need of a boost! They didn't really recover though for the rest of the day and the next few miles were a real struggle as our route took us along a very hilly road with frequent steep climbs which made my already knackered legs feel like jelly!! This was the first time on the ride my legs had actually ached at all so I found it really frustrating that I was feeling so held back on the hills now. It didn't help that I was now having to go right down to the low gears for each hill and these were precisely the ones that didn't work!! :o( We got briefly lost in Kendal around one way systems and continued out on the A65 before taking a minor road up through Keasden and climbing up and over Callow Fell, a mountain in the Lancashire Forest. I had spent most of the miles since Kirkstone Pass dreading this second climb as I knew it was around another 1400ft of ascent. With the way my legs felt it wasn't the most joyous of prospects!! Luckily the gradient wasn't as steep as the Pass but it was still hard going and very long. We had great views as we were going up, and met some rather stubborn sheep and cows that seemed intent on getting run over!! We kept passing lots of 'Hells Angels' too on their big 'tractor bikes' which was mildly amusing! We eventually reached the top, and were informed by Pete's garmin that we'd climbed 1388ft. Bombing it down the other side was a bit scary. It was incredibly steep and very easy to pick up uncomfortably high speeds! As usual Pete disappeared down it in a matter of seconds! I was struggling rather to maintain a controlled speed, trying to squeeze the brakes with my increasingly weakened left hand! We both reached the bottom safe and sound, if a little windswept! We passed the amazing Stocks Reservoir which was just like a mirror, it was so still and surrounded by hills and trees. Our average picked up a bit over the next few miles as we flew down and up the hills, with a general downhill trend. Soon we were seeing signs to Clitheroe and we found ourselves in the town centre where the sat nav route promptly stopped, with no campsite in sight!! Unfortunately we didnt know the name of the campsite either! A local man stopped to give us directions to a large campsite but after his elaborate 10 minute description of where to go we were both thoroughly confused so said thank you and moved on! I eventually managed to phone Pete's Dad and got a postcode which I put into my iPhone and navigated with that. The last bit to the site was up a huge hill, which just about finished us off given the days huge ascents! We arrived at 2.02pm completing just over 76 miles at a 13.4 average. The huge hills had really knocked our speeds down over the course of the day! In total we had climbed over 6000ft!! We both felt shattered and the intense heat didn't help with our afternoons recovery. We did however find comfort in the fact that we were now over half way to Lands End!! 

Tomorrow we have a long day of 92 miles and the threat of rain so it could be an interesting one! We've got the marigolds at the ready!!!     

Day 5 in the bag!

After yesterdays beating I was feeling a bit nervous about today's ride. My confidence had taken a bit of a battering yesterday so I was glad when we got back on the bikes at  6.48am and started to make some good progress. We had about 84 miles to cover to reach Ullswater in the Lake District. The road surface out of Abington started off a bit pants again but improved fairly quickly so that we were getting a 16mph average. Again we had a headwind to battle against which got stronger as we worked our way down to Carlisle. We had beautiful weather again, clear skies and hot sunshine, although my bright red nose was possibly in need of a little less sun!! We stopped after the first 25 miles and again at 50 miles and refueled on kitkat chunkies, mars bars and flapjacks. We passed out from Scotland and into Cumbria just before our 50 mile break and stopped to pose by the sign for a picture! The road took us through some picturesque little villages (Ecclefechan, Gretna Green and Plumpton) and we had great views of the rolling hills surrounding us. Soon we started to see the mountains of Cumbria off in the distance telling us we were approaching our destination. We'd arranged to meet Pete's parents at Carlisle to stock up on more food etc. and we found them in the biggest Morrissons I've ever been in my life! After filling Pete's Mum's trolley with cider and some tasty food (no pasta - had such an overdose this week we both felt we might turn into pasta shapes!) we restocked with cereal bars and made our way back on the road for the final 25 or so miles. I'd managed to get a proper tubigrip for my hand which would hopefully give it a bit more support. All the rough roads certainly hadn't helped it over the past few days! It was now gone half 11 and getting very hot so we breaked every 10 miles for a breather and food. The constant ups and downs along the A6 coupled with strong headwinds made for slow progress and our average went down to about 14.8mph. We took it in turns tailing each other to conserve energy and eventually reached Penrith at around 13.30pm. For the second time in 2 days we managed to get slightly lost before cracking out the iPhone and navigating our way out towards Pooley Bridge where we were to stay. The mountains were starting to surround us now as we took a minor road leading us down to Pooley Bridge. We arrived at Park Foot campsite at just gone 2pm. We couldn't see the campervan anywhere and had to serch the entire site (which was huge!) before finding out that there was a whole other part to the campsite further down the road. We eventually found 'base camp' and were greeted to sausage sandwiches and tea! We both felt drained from the heat but I felt much better that today had gone well in comparison to yesterday! The total mileage worked out at 85.03 miles, averaging 14.6mph.

Tomorrow we have the daunting task of climbing Kirkstone Pass out of the Lake District! We're hoping to get it out the way early before the temperature gets up as another hot day is in store! Still, with only 75 odd miles to do, it should be a short-ish day!! :o)       

Day 4 Complete

Today was our 4th day of the ride and was the day that I 'hit the wall' so to speak!! We set off at 6.38am with bright blue skies, and midges trying to bite every inch of us!! We got a good speed up straight away as there was virtually no wind and pretty good roads. We travelled the length of Loch Lomand along the A82 again. The Loch looked stunning. There was very little wind so there were clear reflections of the surrounding mountains on the water. We travelled through the small town of Alexandria and followed the route down towards Glasgow. We were getting a good average of about 16mph until we found ourselves a little lost, with the Garmin Sat Nav saying we were off route. We crossed the Erskine Bridge over the River Clyde and had to again check the maps and iPhone gps to find our way onto our originally planned route. We were then slowed down even more by the numerous traffic lights every couple of hundred meters (felt like my daily London commute to work!!) The road surfaces got absolutely appalling. There were so many craters and the surface was so rough that all the jolting was really hurting my bad hand and arm. I was having to cycle a lot just with my right hand on the handlebars. My left shoulder and neck were also completely ceasing up!! We finally got out of Glasgow and on our way down the A726 towards Strathaven. Our average had gone down to around 15.2mph and the road surfaces certainly didn't improve! It was about 10ish and had got really hot. We were both wearing a winter base layer, a cycling t shirt, rain jacket, 3/4 length cycling shorts, overshoes and 2 layers of gloves! At 6.30am that was fine but I now felt like an oven and was really overheating!! I took off a load of layers but had nowhere to stash my rain jacket so had to keep wearing it. We got out into the scenic countryside and the surroundings became much flatter than the mountainous surroundings of the early morning. At 11am, our 60 mile point, we stopped for our 2nd break and had a much needed flapjack. We were both feeling the strain of the awful road surfaces, which were slowing us down terribly and making everything hurt!! The road wound up and down a lot and going up some of the hills we were slowed right down to about 8mph. This meant that instead of reaching the campsite by about half 1 as we'd expected, we were still over an hour away. I started feeling really lacking in energy and we had no food left. We stopped at 70 miles for a quick breather then soldiered on. 4 miles before the campsite I couldnt go any further without an energy boost. I was completely out and was feeling really shakey and dizzy, snaking around on my bike! We stopped and called our support vehicle and Pete's Dad came out with some much needed ham rolls, mars bars and more drink. We sat and recovered for a bit before cycling the last few miles to Abington, finally making the campsite at 3pm!! We'd cycled 88.77 miles - Our shortest day and yet it took us 8hrs 38mins! Our average was 14.4mph which considering the palava of the day, we thought was pretty good! We had a load of pasta too back at campsite and I had a special sports recovery drink. 

During the afternoon we had a rethink of our days planning and decided we needed to schedule our breaks around time cycled instead of mileage, and take more food with us to keep us going. We also arranged with Pete's folks for them to come and find us towards the last 10 miles or so of each days ride to check we were ok and drop off any more food that we might need. And finally we decided that far less clothing was needed now we were quite far south! 

Hopefully tomorrow will turn out better and more enjoyable! Today was by far the toughest day and a huge endurance test. An early night is needed methinks!          

Day 3 accomplished!

Day 3 and 93.4 miles to Inverarnan.

Today was always the day I was not looking forward to, mainly as it was originally planned to be 106 miles long, but also because 3 days into the ride I knew we'd be starting to seriously ache!! (I was also rather worried about how my hand was going to perform after straining it the day before.) Luckily the first issue was made a lot better as the mileage was now set at 93 miles. They were however 93 very long and arduous miles!! From the elevation we'd seen of the route the first 55 miles looked to be relatively flat. It actually turned out to be rather up and down with a very strong head wind much of the way!! It was very slow progress, and we were achieving only a 14.5 mph average. The views however more than made up for the effort! The route took us down the rest of the length of Loch Ness, through Fort William, and along the side of Loch Linnhe. The mountains skirting the Loch were amazing and got even more impressive as we rounded past Ballachulish and up into the Glencoe Valley. Here we were expecting a steep climb but instead the road gently inclined to 1142 ft. We had mountains towering on either side completely dwarfing us. We saw some climbers that looked like little specks! We cycled past 2 of the mountains that I'd climbed back in January on my moutaineering trip! They looked a lot less snowy than back then but were still just as impressive. Some of them still had patches of snow high up in the ravines. Once we'd climbed to 1142ft the terrain evened out and we cycled for another 10 miles or so over what was like a giant plateau with mountain peaks rising up on all sides and tarns dotted everywhere. We saw an Eagle soaring up above us too! The wind came and went but got really strong at points enough to almost stop you in your tracks! At about 82 miles we started descending down to the Bridge of Orchy and through Tyndrum. It was a chance to finally get some speed up after the days slow ride and I reached over 33mph. The wind still slowed me down a lot though. We rounded one sharp bend and got taken by some fierce crosswinds which made my bike start snaking! The last few miles were hard work, going up and down and constantly battling the wind. Past Crianlarich we kept on the A82 and finally arrived at our campsite at Inverarnan at about 13.40 with an average speed of 15mph. Unfortunately we'd once again beaten the campervan so had to buy some crisps and mars bars from the shop at the site to refuel ourselves before they arrived! Thankfully my left hand had held up during the day. I had to avoid changing gears with it though and instead had to reach my right hand across to do it which made for ligh entertainment. I managed to throw my chain off during a particularly clumsy gear change!! 

Tomorrow we have a slightly shorter day at around 89miles, taking us down past Glasgow to Abington. The weather is looking to get warmer and sunnier too! Hurray!! :o)


     

Stage 2 complete! No sign of Nesse...

Day 2 and 77 miles to cover to reach Drumnadrochit on Loch Ness.

It started raining as we got up so we had to adorn rain jackets again, overshoes and, more importantly, our marigold gloves!!! We set off at 6.38am along the same rough and pot holed road from the day before. The wind felt stronger today and again was blowing across us making it hard work. Thankfully though the rain had stopped. The first part of the journey took us along undulating terrain up fairly high in the mountains. We then had a long decent down towards Bonar Bridge. We kept on the A836 going through Tain and following the coast round to Cromarty Firth. The scenery was not as impressive as the previous day. We'd left the mountains behind and everything became very flat. The grey skies probably didn't help either! We had our first break at our usual 30 mile mark, refueling on kitkat chunkies. By half 9 the rain started again. It never got very heavy and was actually more refreshing than an annoyance. At 55 miles we stopped just past Dingwall for our chocolate oak cake break, and sheltered in a bus stop for a bit. We got chatting to a local Scottish lady about the ride and she very kindly gave us some sponsorship! We continued on through Muir of Ord and Beauly where we started a very long and steep ascent up the side of Carn A Bhodaich. My gears were once again playing up (story of my life!) and true to form it was the one gear that was really perfect for the steep climbs that wouldn't work!! This made it even harder work as I had to use a higher gear than I wanted to. I was already flagging a bit, feeling the need for more food to give me energy. We had 9 miles to the campsite, and as the road went on and on going up and up and up it felt like the longest 9 miles ever!! To our relief Pete's folks passed us in the campervan on the ascent so at least we knew there would be food waiting for us the other end!! The climb was definitely worth it though - once up on the mountain the scenery greatly improved and the downhill down the other side was incredible! Pete reached 40.4mph going down! I maxed at 32.7mph and got scared so sat heavily on the brakes for most of the descent. The road was pretty terrible being rough and pot holed with hair pin bends. It was so steep that going round the bends you felt the bike was going to go over the handlebars when you braked!! I was seriously wondering how much longer I could keep squeezing the brakes hard enough!! The end came rather suddenly, round a sharp bend and ending in a t-junction where I found Pete waiting at the bottom. The campsite was only a mile or so down the road and we arrived at 12.04 to find that it was little more than a car park by some horse stables!! The ground was concrete and there was no way for us to peg an awning out. It was completely unsuitable and rather resmbled a gypsy camp!! After quick deliberation we decided to go back into the village to the tourist info place and find a different campsite. The nearest was the Loch Ness Caravan Park down in Invermoriston, some 11 miles away we were told. This actually turned out to be 15 miles, taking Pete and I another hour to cycle down. It was a bit of a struggle as we had prepared ourselves for finishing the ride at 77 miles, so to have to go on another hour was a bit disheartening! The road went right down the side of Loch Ness which was absolutely beautiful! By this time the sun had come out making it even more stunning. It was pretty hilly and again the strong wind and poor road surface slowed us down a lot. 2 miles from the campsite I tried to change my gears to the big chainring to find I couldn't! The fingers in my right hand had gone really weak and I didn't physically have the strength in the hand to change them. I think the huge descent hanging on to the breaks so tight had really strained my hand. We arrived at the campsite at 13.48 making our journey 7 hours 10 mins including breaks and campsite faffing!! Total mileage was 92.4 miles. This campsite was amazing, being right on the Loch side with stunning views of Loch Ness and the surrounding mountains. 

We now only have around 92 miles to cover tomorrow instead of the originally planned 106 due to our new campsite arrangements, so we're feeling rather relieved about that! Now, time for a gigantic dinner to replace the 5000 calories I've burnt today!! :o)     

Stage 1 complete!!

We awoke at 5.30am to fabulous weather. Clear blue skies and only light winds. It was pretty cold being so early in the morning (and of course being in the topmost part of Scotland! So we donned our thick base layers and cycle jackets and walked down from the campsite to The Last House where we were to start our ride. After many a photo we set off at 6.52am, a little later than planned! We took the A836 along the top of Scotland, meandering along the coastline. The views were spectacular and we saw so many different birds including Oyster Catchers, Linnets, Buzzards and Cuckoos! The road was pretty flat for the first part, stretching out for miles infront. On reaching Betty Hill we had a very long climb ascending over 500m. We then turned away from the coast inland, cycling down towards Altnaharra. All of a sudden the road surface became really bad, being very rough and full of potholes. In addition we now had a strong wind to battle into. We had been successfully maintaining a 16.4mph average and this soon was diminshed to 15.5. We stopped after 60 miles to have a refuel in the form of a chocolate oat cake. Despite the hard going on the road we were amply rewarded by the stunning surroundings, particularly down the side of the Naver Loch. We saw more buzzards, one of which was directly above us sitting on a telegraph wire! After about 75 miles we had another long ascent which although being easier than the early morning climbs was rather more tiring due to our waning energy levels. Our drink supplies were also running out fast. Wearing the rain jackets was obviously a mistake as they were acting like roasting bags in the bright sun! Thankfully from about Crask Inn onwards it was downhill all the way! I was on my tri bars for most of it, picking up some good speed to make up for the earlier slowness! We finally hit the Woodend Campsite at 13.53 making our 95 mile journey in 7 hours 1 minute. To our surprise we had beaten our 'support vehicle' (Pete's Mum and Dad!) to the campsite which was rather annoying as they had the food! We were starving! After a brief phone call and finding out they were over 45 mins away, the lovely campsite owner came and invited us into her house for ham rolls, cake, biscuits and tea! She was literally a God send!! When the cavalry did arrive we fuelled up again on pasta, kitkat chunkies, apples and tea! According to the bike Garmin we'd burnt over 5000 calories!! That's 2.5 days worth of food!!

Tomorrow should be a bit shorter, 77.3 miles. One very big climb to contend with though and the likelihood of rain....

Arrived in John O'Groats!

After 2 days of driving we finally arrived in John O'Groats at around 18.45 today. Our campsite is situated right next to The Last House with a spectacular view straight across to the Orkney Islands! We enjoyed a lovely sunset earlier and are now about to get our heads down for an early start tomorrow. We'll be setting off at 6.30am from The Last House, cycling around 95 miles down to Lairg. Hopefully the big evening meal of curry and pasta, complete with Naomi's homemade flapjacks will see us through!! Forecast is for a clear dry day with a following wind! Hurray!! :o)

Check out the routes of each stage of our ride!

View stage 1:

View stage 2:

View stage 3:

View stage 4:

View stage 5:

View stage 6:

View stage 7:

View stage 8:

View stage 9:

View stage 10:

View stage 11:

Naomi gets her 2nd win!!

On Saturday 22nd May I competed in the Farnham RC 10 mile time trial. Conditions were very sunny and blisteringly hot, yet very windy making it a tough 10 mile race! Even so I managed to finish in first place with a time of 25mins 52 seconds, exactly the same time as my last 10 mile time trial which I also won!! Must be a pattern emerging here!!

So...this time next week we will have completed the first day of the JOGLE ride and will be camping by Loch Shin. Go here to see a route of stage 1.



I'll be posting a map of each days ride up during the course of this week so that you can see where we'll be heading on each stage of the ride, and what mammoth hills / mountains we'll be dragging ourselves up!! :o)

Naomi competes in her first 25 mile Time Trial

On Sunday 16th I competed in the Worthing Excelsior 25 mile Time Trial. The course ran from Crawley, down the A246 and A24, taking in 24 roundabouts over the 25 mile course!!! Thanks to the well signposted route I managed not to veer off course and finished with a respectable time of 1:08:08, putting me in 3rd place for the ladies. We had a brilliant morning for it with clear skies and warm temperatures. Hopefully we'll be treated to equally good weather for this Saturday's 10 mile time trial up at Farnham...!

In other news, I am currently top fund raiser on the Just Giving Website, currently raising more money than any other fundraiser on the site! The total is almost up to £2500!! :o)

For those of you based in East Sussex, the Seaford Gazette have run a story about my ride in this weeks paper! Grab yourself a copy and have a nosey!

50 mile time trial

On Sunday 9th May I completed the Charlotteville 50 mile time trial down near Farnham. The course ran up and down the A31 for 3 gruelling laps. The conditions weren't great with a Northerly wind blowing straight down the length of the course, and a drizzling of rain for much of the duration of the race. Even so I managed to finish in 2hrs 20mins 34seconds, putting me 6/13 for the ladies and 85/130 overall. Go here for more pictures of the event: http://www.pbase.com/blinkmanphotos/charlotteville_50

The sponsorship has now shot over the £2000 mark which is fantastic! And it keeps rising! :o) Thank you again to all who have contributed. Only 3 weeks till the ride!

Naomi finishes 1st Lady in 10 mile Time Trial!

Today I competed in my 2nd time trialling event, the Sussex Cycling Associations 10 mile TT down at Steyning, and finished with a speedy time of 25m52s!! I managed to shave a whole 1m30s off my personal best for a 10m TT and landed first prize for the ladies!

The rest of the bank holiday weekend should see some longer distance training, hoping to squeeze in a couple of 80 mile rides Sunday and Monday. No rest for the wicked! :o)

One month to go!

In exactly one month from now, I will be on day 1 of my 11 day mission to cycle from John O'Groats to Lands End. I'm raising money for the Brittle Bones Society in memory of my cousin Robert Dandridge, who died from Brittle Bones on 9th April 2010, aged 31.

Currently my sponsorship is up to £1530 which is amazing, so a huge thank you to all who have contributed. But with still one month to go, there's time to raise much more!

Please go to http://www.justgiving.com/robertdandridge to donate and to learn more about how the Brittle Bones Society helps people like Robert have a better quality of life.

:o)