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I have decided to support  Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance  and all proceeds from the trip will go to the charity. Thankfully I have never been in need  of Air Ambulance and I hope I never will,  but any one of us may have to place our lives in their hands one day. Receiving no Government funding, they have to rely on donations and sponsorship to continue to operate, so please, please help me to raise £1,000  towards these costs. 

Well we all have those mad moments don't we and mine was sometime in July last year when I woke one morning thinking what a great idea it would be to cycle from Lands End to John O'Groats. The idea continued to grow and I started to realise what I had let myself in for when I actually opened a road map to discover that it would probably entail cycling over 1,000 miles. Considering my usual cycle rides consisted of an occasional 20 mile ride with my sons and my 2 mile commute to work, some serious training was required. Firstly I needed to source a bike as I knew my poor old commuter was not up to the job.  

After lots of research, (what a minefield) I decided on a Dawes Galaxy and started riding more often. This took some getting used to as it was more of a road bike and I had only owned mountain bikes or city bikes before, but the training progressed and I found I could climb hills a little easier and the distance increased to 30+ miles. Thankfully the winter was not too cold and icy. Unfortunately things then started going downhill  and I had problems with my neck and shoulder, meaning each ride ended up in pain and completely put me off riding any distance.  I have since found out that the stretch to my handlebars was too long! I have now managed to source another bike with a shorter  top tube and more comfy handlebars. (anybody want to buy a Dawes Galaxy!) The training now has to begin in earnest and the plan is to cycle at least 100 miles a week. The hardest part of this task is the time needed. 

The original idea of Lands End to John O' Groats has now been turned upside down due to having to book the train 12 weeks in advance and being easier to get the long journey out of the way first. The other reason of course is travelling from North to South means it's downhill all the way!!

The train up to Scotland has now been booked, so it's official. I travel up from London to Inverness on the Caledonian Sleeper on Tuesday 29th July arriving in Inverness at 8.30am on the Wednesday feeling refreshed and raring to go (so it says on the internet). Then it's a 4 hour, slow but scenic, rail journey up through the highlands to Thurso ending in a 17 mile  cycle ride to the start point at John O'Groats, where I will set up camp. The actual ride will then begin on Thursday 31st July 2014. 

This is to be a solo challenge, (couldn't find anyone else mad enough) and I will be heavily loaded up as I intend to camp each night due to the financial restraints. Mind you if the weather is really awful for any length of time, I could be persuaded to the odd B & B.  I am lucky enough to have up to 4 weeks to complete this challenge, which makes it much easier than most people who have to complete in 2 weeks. My average mileage will be between 40 and 50 miles a day. At this point in time, I know I can complete 40 to 50 miles a day, but doing it day after day is a different matter altogether. I have been advised to take lots of sudocream, I wonder why?  Apparently, the first week is the worst and then you become stronger, so by the time I reach week 4, notoriously hilly Devon and Cornwall will be a breeze. I will let you know.  

30th May 2014

Training is going well and I am almost keeping up the 100 miles a week regime. Today however, I reached my first milestone and completed a metric hundred - that's 100km or in plain English 64 miles. I didn't feel too bad at the end of it either, just a few muscles grumbling about all the extra work they were having to do. The worst however was the results from the new Brooks leather saddle which is not yet broken in. Ouch! It was definitely the right decision to get a different bike and I am thoroughly enjoying the Dawes replacement which is a shiny red Thorn Sherpa. Brilliant bike. 

I have to try and come up with a name for my bike as it is said that if you name your bike it will look after you well. I am stumped at the moment because I thought seeing as the bike is a rugged expedition style bike it should have a male name. The problem is I can't think of one that suits the bike and a name that keeps cropping up is 'Rosie' (due to the colour) and due to the fact that for some unexplained reason I will often find myself singing the tune from the children's TV programme 'Rosie and Jim, Rosie and Jim, bobbing along on the old Rag Doll'. It's amazing the things you do to pass the time or to chivvy yourself up when you are sat on a bike for 6 hours at a time.  So unless I get a sudden inspiration, then 'Rosie' it is. 

19th June 2014 

Managed to complete 130 miles last week including a 70 mile ride around the Dorset Cycleway on Sunday. I really must remember to take the camera with me as it was a lovely run through Sturminster Newton, then the tough climb up towards Milton Abbas, down to Blandford then through the Tarrants up to Farnham and Ashmore, before descending zig zag hill to Shaftesbury and finishing via Motcombe. I really struggled as I reached the 50 - 60 mile mark, but then found the wind behind me and flew along the last 10 miles home. I also managed to climb Spreadeagle Hill last week for the first time. It's great at the moment as the road is closed at the bottom of the hill due to a landslide and traffic is diverted, leaving the hill beautifully quiet. It's very stressful trying to push really hard up a steep hill, with the bike wobbling dangerously and a huge artic lorry trying to overtake!! 

I have also been frantically trying to plot my route. It takes so long. I intend to keep off as many main roads as possible and in some places I will be going off road to do this (the Great Glen Way around Fort William for instance to keep away from a horribly busy A82)  It is a constant juggling game trying to find small roads or cycle paths that go roughly in the right direction without meandering too far off course and adding too many miles to the total. It looks like the total miles will be around 1,100 altogether. 

The new bike has been superb and has now covered 560 miles in the 5 and a half weeks I have had it. After having a birthday this week and receiving some very generous presents, I am now able to purchase my front panniers and maybe some good quality cycling shorts. (I also received a very large pot of vaseline as a joke) Apart from some spare inner tubes, and a good front light, I am almost fully kitted out. I never realised quite how expensive a hobby cycling is. 

17th October 2014

I DID IT. 

It has taken me a long time to update this site, mainly due to not having any internet for the last 7 weeks or so. I completed the John O Groats to Lands End trip on the 23rd of August totalling 1,170 miles , averaging 50 miles a day. What a fantastic experience it was, cycling through some stunning scenery and meeting some amazing people along the way. The weather was a very mixed bag with some lovely warm sunshine, a fair bit of the wet stuff and even a hurricane thrown in for good measure. The bike was perfect for the trip and proved to be pretty comfortable for the long days in the saddle and coped beautifully with the off road sections making these the best parts of the trip. 

The first 3 days were were pretty tough, especially as I was suffering with a painful left knee after the end of the second day and was getting worried by then that I may not be able to complete the challenge. The saddle was also making its presence known at the end of each day as well.  However things seemed to calm down from Day 4 onwards,  the knee became less painful, saddle sores were kept at bay and I settled nicely into the daily routine of cycling and camping. 

Scotland was beautiful, with the first day travelling along the hilly North Coast to Bettyhill, then travelling South via the Strathnaver road on Day 2. This was a very quiet single track road following the river to Loch Naver then up and over the moorland to the famous Crask Inn and on to the camp site at Lairg. 

Day 3 was a tough day physically and I found my legs tired very quickly despite the terrain being much flatter around the Chromarty Firth. Fortunately I met up with a local mountain bike rider who rode with me for almost 20 miles. This gave me a great boost and I found I  only had 6 miles left to travel to Dingwall when he left me at Evanton. The camp site at Dingwall is excellent and the wardens made me a cup of coffee as soon as I arrived and then gave me a sheltered pitch as  heavy rain and strong winds were forecast for that night. I also met up with friends from work here as they were travelling up to Ullapool for their holiday. It was great to see some familiar faces.  The rain began soon after they left and lasted all night. This is when I found out my tent had a leak!

Day 4 - I had to put wet cycling shorts and socks on this morning as I had not managed to get them dry (yuk!)  I started climbing almost immediately out of Dingwall and made for Kessock Bridge where I would cross into Inverness. The cycle path runs alongside the dual carriageway and is quite  unnerving as the path is narrow and looking down whilst cycling is not advised if you suffer from heights. I made a couple of navigational errors trying to get through Inverness but thankfully it is not too big an area and soon managed to get myself back on track and head towards Loch Ness. The mountains soon started to loom up ahead of me and then spent a great afternoon cycling along the side of Loch Ness - no sign of Nessie though.   Camped at a site in Foyers which was a new site and the facilities were out of this world with hotel standard showers, laundry, picnic tables and a great indoor area for backpackers for when the weather is not so good. Intended to spend the evening by the side of the loch with my little wood stove to make a brew and a book to read, unfortunately the midges had other ideas and I had to beat a hasty retreat.