The 1000 miles down (are we mad?)

Next April we are planning to cycle the length of mainland Britain from John O'Groats to Lands End to raise money for charity.
We plan to cover these 1000 miles in around 14 days, an average of 70-75 miles a day (about 7 hours in the saddle).

To make this even more eventful - we are doing this on a TANDEM!

We start at the top of Scotland; John O'Groats, were it be very cold and you cant understand a word people say.
Then onto Loch Ness (keeping our eyes peeled), Fort William with views of Ben Nevis, onto the Island of Arran, Dumfries, Carlisle (hello rachael), Ambleside and Kendel to get us some mint cake, Lancaster, BlackpooL, Liverpool (best lock the bike up well!), Chester (woo hollyoaks), Monmouth, The Severn Bridge, Bristol (hello helena), Okehampton, Padstow (for some posh fish and chips), and finally
crossing the finish line at Lands End!! We will be calling on friends along the country for places to stay, as well as hotels and youth hostels.

We will also be organising many other smaller fundraising events leading upto the race and will let you know when these are taking place!

We have chosen to donate all money to The Rainbow Trust, a childrens charity that helps those who have children with life threatening or terminal illness. They have 2 respite homes in England and provide support for over 1000 families a year. Their respite homes provide a break for the family allowing them to spend precious time together. They may also attend hospital appointments with the parents or take a worried sibling out for the day. It really is a wonderful charity that provides hope and empathy for many.
For more information visit www.rainbowtrust.org.uk which has stories from those who have been helped by The Rainbow Trust and makes you realise what an amazing charity it is.

If you do decide to put in a donation however much or little it is, the main thing is it all helps us towards our total of £5000. For the charity this covers the costs for one respite home for a week. Also on top of your donation (if you're one of those
lucky people to be a UK taxpayer) the government will add an extra 28%, how good is that? More a reason to do it eh?

Watch this space to see our progress leading up to event and during the event itself!

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First Post 29/11/07

Well I suppose we better get our bums in gear if we're gonna do this! Up to now, we have been busy planning in the local coffee shop and have finally settled on a route. We've also been 'trying' to boycott the tv to get some reading into the event, to find out every item we're going to need to take with us on the journey. To put it lightly there's loadssss, from bike carrying equipment to all our clothes, we are going to
start getting on to local companies to hopefully drum up support, whatever it may be - it'll all help. Ah, nearly forgot we are on the hunt for a tandem (hmmmm... hint hint), hopefully we can borrow one for the event but that will come clear soon. Ok so in the meantime, keep an eye on here for how we get on as this is just the beginning... how about you be one of the people to say you supported us early on!

Cheers for reading and a big thank you if you have sponsored us :)

H + P

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7/12/07 Spinning begins!

Hey everyone, Thanks to everyone who has donated so far including Mrs Gosling and Mr and Mrs. Cope at the school. All the children now know about the event too so hopefully they can all get involved in someway.

First spinning classes have been painfully completed and Phil was seriously sweaty!! Its all that hair!

Just off to another one now so will update again soon. (maybe even tomorrow)

and once again, BIG THANKS to EVERYONE who has sponsored so far, you are LEGENDS! keep it coming!!!!!

H+P
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08/12/07 Small Update

Second spinning class was different, woman was an absolute nutter- ah well we celebrated it with a healthy chinese buffet in chavvy Burnham.

Thought we would also make a quick mention of our HQ - Picnic cafe (opposite Munchees in central Reading) at the Oracle end of Broad Street, if you come in on a Saturday your guaranteed to see me and Hol working away running  our event from here, supplied by easily the best coffee and food in Reading (sod costa/starbucks etc) 

We starting now to organise where we're gonna stop on the way and are really grateful for people who have offered to put us up along the route. We'll be in contact very soon so hold your word :D- anyone else who has a place we can stay along the route or nearby off the route- let us know!!

ps still on the hunt for a tandem but people have given us contacts to speak too and we should hear something soon

Phil

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20/12/07 Huge thanks to Carwarden House School, pupils and staff!!!

A massive thankyou to Carwarden School (where i work) for the money they have donated so far. The school disco last friday raised £108 which they donated to us and the teachers have done a collection instead of giving christmas cards which has made £40.

Phil had a meeting with the commuter centre at his work (Oracle) and they have offered to help us out with a lots of equipment and things we hadn't thought of before (like bike insurance and a bike maintenance course) Hopefully we might have a tandem lined up aswell, thanks to their contacts too- things are looking up! Also we got in contact with our uni (Aston) and said they would 'love' to get involved- so we have a meeting planned in January with them so we can see how they can help us too.

We recently won an award at the 'Reading Sports Personality' so if you bought the 'Reading Post' last Friday you'd have seen our ugly mugs in there! (we're holding the award in the picture above!)

Once again thanks to everyone who has donated (I know at xmas it can be difficult) and we will keep you updated.

Have a lovely Christmas (we shall be squirreled away at the gym alot of it)

Hollie and Phil.xxx

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08/01/08 - 4 months to go!

Hi everyone and first of all a happy new year, hope you had a good one! First off all that statement above about being at the gym most of the holidays didnt quite happen- I ended up whacking on about 5 pounds just on xmas day but its sort of fell off by itself so cant complain.

Anyways we are now into the final stretch of our mission! We are now up to about 28% of our target thanks to a massive donation by Hols dad (cheers Gary). So please keep them donations coming!

In addition to that we have some ideas for fundraising which we will be sorting soon, including a car boot and hopefully a charity football game at Reading FC.

On the equipment front, we still have no tandem but we have some people who are still chasing around and the CC at Oracle will be getting back to me since we set them with a wish list.

Training wise, we managed to complete 40 miles over the weekend with some round trips to Henley and down to Farley Hill (southwards) to my bros house where a bacon sarnie was waiting on us (top bombing!!). Thanks to Fran (Bro's wife) for an OS of the area so we can start planning the 70 mile trips we are gonna need to be doing by the time the ride comes. Still plenty to do!

Anyways I need to get back to work but please any help pop us a msg on facebook/txt us/ anything!

Cheers
Phil

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30/01/08 - Been 3 Weeks

Hi everyone, I know its been a few weeks since an update- we both been snowed under with work and this thing.

I will provide a more detailed update soon, but we have been racking up the miles aswell as getting help from Aston Uni including a press release and photoshoot in the coming weeks (watch this space-- booyaaaaa)

Talk soon ok ?

Phil

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13/02/08 - Woah some news!

Hello, right have some more news!

Thanks to people at work we have managed to raise 122.81  for the tache growth (it looks funny/stupid/freddie mercury) and James Corrall getting his hair lopped off! This total is still rising thanks to Andy (Mclovin) giving me a pound a day I keep it up. Cheers mate. Also James' shooting club (Reading University Pistol and Rifle Club) have kindly donated a cheque of £___ and the Reading Univerity Photographic Society have donated £23 also- thats mega which also takes us over our 2,000 pound milestone!

Also other great news, the charity got in touch with helping us get accommodation for a  reduced price or even free and amazingly we have had 5 or 6 replies for free accomodation or discounted! Below is our itinerary for where we are stopping and where so if you know anyone that can help to put us up (for where there are gaps or if you wanna just say hello along the way):

Date	Stop	Dist	Staying overnight at (website)
Fri 4th April	John O Groats		http://www.seaviewjohnogroats.co.uk/, KW1 4YR
Sat 5th April	Golspie	66	http://www.golflinkshotel.co.uk, KW10 6TT
Sun 6th April	Foyers	132	http://www.foyersbay.co.uk/, IV2 6YB
Mon 7th April	Connell	208	http://www.fallsoflora.com/ PA37 1PB
Tue 8th April	Lochranza	270	Grandad Gibbons sorting
Wed 9th April	Drumlanrig	346	http://www.gillbank.co.uk/
Thur 10th April	Carlisle	397	Rachael's House-Gilcrux
Fri 11th April	Garstang	476	http://www.croftershotel.co.uk/ , PR3 1PH
Sat 12th April	Delamere	550	http://www.thecourtyardhelsby.com/ , WA6 0AL
Sun 13th April	Bishops Castle	620	http://www.oldbrick.co.uk/
Mon 14th April	Monmouth	691	http://www.myrtleplace.co.uk/ NP25 5DG
Tue 15th April	Cheddar	768	http://www.yha.org.uk
Wed 16th April	Crediton	848	Nicky's house
Thur 17th April	Padstow	923	Terra's brothers house
Fri 18th April	Lands End	1003	Dad sorting
Sat 19th April	Back Home!

Training, Training is going really well- we have really taken on board how fit we have to be for this ride. With the mix of spinning three times a week now (plus joining the advanced class- ow) hol doing pilates, me playing football and riding on weekends. We are busy and usually very tired people hence why any time we have free its usually spent crashed out on the living room floor.

Last weekend we managed to do a 100 miles on road, which took us all round berkshire and into surrey and buckinghamshire. Particular highlight would be us two dieing on a few hills in Cookham and Bourne End - they are monsters.

Also we have learnt a few things since doing long rides:
1. YOU NEED TO EAT ALL THE TIME - its mad, you forget you are exercising constantly for 2 to 3 hours and your body craves everything (specially, when you go past a KFC- oh baby!). We are usually concious of what we eat so when hol handed me a rice cake on Saturday and checked out the kcal - a hip busting 13kcal per cake. I got 2 mins down the road and was yearning for more! (this means I can freely much jaffa cakes all day-score). So from now on and especially on the ride I can live on a diet of burgers and kebabs. (thats another reason to do it!)

2. VASELINE - I wont say anymore but we need it and by the looks of it (yes my booty) - a lot of it.

Also, we have already planned a SECOND ride all be it a lot smaller- Oracle have an annual London to Brighton bike ride (L2B) 56 miles, and not much organising thanks to the Ora people. If you want to get involved - http://www.bhf.org.uk/get_involved/take_part_in_our_events/bike_rides/london_to_brighton_bike_ride.aspx

on the 15th June, day after my birthday and fathers day. o good.

Charity Events coming up.. This weekend I have the Charity Football Match, between Oracle and BMW. 9 a side at Reading FC's Dome facility which is a quality pitch. Thanks to everyone who is playing we should raise about 100 quid and see a clash of the titans (clear winners tho, obviously). Then hopefully the weekend after we are doing a Car Boot if you been near our flat recently we have littered the stairs with clothes and stuff for sale aswell as getting donations from Hols school and members of family. Be nice to get rid of it and generate some more cash.

and finally! I know its been a bit of a rant but its been a while!

WE HAVE (PRETTY MUCH) GOT A TANDEM!
thanks to fred williams cycles in Wolverhampton they have a tandem for us to use. See pics below (if on facebook)

it seems to be a really good bike (except the colour :S)

We are going to see it next Weds when we meet up with Aston Uni to do a press release/photo shoot to publicise the bike ride! Last week we already did an interview with Sarah Tiernan (a friend from Uni who is doing a placement in marketing their) for the Uni Podcast and this meeting next week is to go a bit more public!

More news on that when it happens but seriously big thanks to Aston for what they have done so far and we know they have much more in the pipeline.

Right enough writing from me!

Speak soon
Phil
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19/02/08 - Charity Match Result

Just a quicky!

On Saturday, we had the Oracle vs BMW Charity Match at the Reading FC Dome.

An epic match between two titans, but of course the Oracle boys took it 3-2, with yours truly sticking one away!

Raised £90 on the day so thanks to everyone who played and donated, much appreciated and talks of another game soon!

Thats all, got a fundraising meet at Oracle to promote the charity so shall see how things go there

Cheers
Phil

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5/3/08 The arrival of the tandem!!!

The time has come for the tandem to arrive in Reading (fingers crossed). Good old Gaz (my dad) is meant to be collecting it today from Wolverhampton so thanks to him and also to Fred Williams Cycles!!

We are also doing a car boot this weekend in Farnborough to raise money for the charity. We have a tiny flat with so much crammed in it at the moment so will be good to empty it all out. Thanks to everyone who has given us things to sell, Andrew and Fran, Mrs.Gosling, Mrs Lamb, Gwen and Backie for the table etc.

As far as training goes we cycled 80 miles on Saturday, through basingstoke to Alton and then (begrudgingly) about 60 miles on Sunday. Cant believe we'll be doing that everyday for 14 days!!!

Year 11 at my school are coming upto their staff vs pupils fun run. They are all rushing round getting sponsored for how many laps of the school field they can do and the other year 11 class are providing healthy refreshments, so a huge thanks to all involved at Carwarden.

The cycling jerseys have been sent off to Dot Productions in London who have kindly offered to print all our sponsors on and they will hopefully be here soon. We have also begun buying all our other clothing for the ride and I kept catching Phil looking in the mirror at himself in his new cycling shorts (with bum padding) helmet (hahahaha looks so funny) and his new bike trainers-bless.

Any way will let you know how much we raise at the car boot and how our FIRST EVER practice on the tandem goes on Saturday.

Thanks again everyone-ONE MONTH TO GO!!

Hollie

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12/03/08 Car boot ........ done!!

Hello everyone. Well we did the car boot and raised a massive £190! It was definatly an 'experience'!! My dad owns a pub in Aldershot and found lots of very old (what i thought was junk) antiques and gave it to me and Phil. When we pulled up at the car boot before we'd even got our tables up all these guys were coming over going through our car going mad for the old stuff!!! A huge thanks to my dad who spent all night going through the stuff with me before he had a flight the next morning! Big thanks to everyone at the school who donated things too! Especially Hannah who little girls loved her clothes and Bratz glasses she donated.

My mum has also managed to get us some extra publicity. She is meeting us at Delamere on the ride and hired out a converted 'Stables' for us all to stay at       http://www.thecourtyardhelsby.com

They have said they would like to add us to their website as they would love to cater for those who are doing such events like us. Being half way from John O Groats to Lands End its a perfect place to stay! And it looks gorgeous too! So thanks to Roger and Jill!

This weekend is to be the BIG TANDEM PRACTICE. Well we are doing 70 miles both saturday and sunday on the new tandem!! should be a laugh if nothing more!

Anyway must get on, Thanks again to everyone who has donated and please keep going! we have £2000 to raise in 3 weeks! not much then haha.

Hollie

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20/03/08 Reading Evening Post (newspaper)

Woohoo we finally made it into a newspaper!! Our new photo is the one taken by the papers photographer. Not sure what im doing with my arms!? Trying to look butch I think. A huge thanks to those at the paper especially Chine and the photography desk who gave us a copy of the photo for free!

This weekend we are doing yet another car boot in Farnborough so hopefully raise a bit more money and get us up to our target. We did a weekend of practice on the tandem last week and it was definatly an 'experience'!! It was actually so so fun and alot lot faster!! We went to oxford one day and all over berkshire the other, popping in on Andrew (phils brother) then his nan and then his sis!

Off on a big 3 day ride over easter and will let you know how the car boot goes.

Thanks everyone.

2 weeks to go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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1 WEEK TO GO! - AAAAAAAAAAH!

Well here it is the final straight! This time next week we will be just leaving Inverness to the top of the country and setting off! Ill just write what we been up to recently and latest news:

Well here it is the final straight! This time next week we will be just leaving Inverness to the top of the country and setting off! Ill just write what we been up to recently and latest news:Well here it is the final straight! This time next week we will be just leaving Inverness to the top of the country and setting off! Ill just write what we been up to recently and latest news:Well here it is the final straight! This time next week we will be just leaving Inverness to the top of the country and setting off! Ill just write what we been up to recently and latest news:

- Hollies work - Carwarden School did a Fun Run on Wednesday with Hol dressed as a mouse and raised alot of money which we are yet to find out!

- Our stop at Drumlanrig on the 9th April turns out to be the first day for the film Cowboys for Christ with Christopher Lee and Joan Collins, haha we gonna trail the local bars to find em.

- We have a video camera now, so we are busy filming bits and pieces at the moment pre ride and will take it with us so we can remember the PAIN. Also we got a scrap book to note all the important things down and keep as another momento.

- Our maintenance course is next week (better late then never) so we can get to grips with how a bike works. Yer thats pretty useful.

- Jerseys fingers crossed should be back early next week! (thanks again to www.dot-productions.co.uk for providing these).

Other than that we are just waiting to go and I cant wait, its going to be a physically demanding* two weeks but I feel confident we will do it and take away alot from it too.

* specially if Hollie doesnt keep sitting up acting like a sail.

Wish us luck!!!!

Phil

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02/04/08-2 days til we go!!

So its 2 days til we fly up to John O Groats and things are starting to get very real!! Last night was our bike maintenance course with the lovely 'Adrian'. A huge thanks to him (a wonderful man) who took us around our bike and showed us what to check each morning etc. He even then rushed off for a bike race at 6.30pm and then at 8pm rang and asked if he could come fix some things on our bike for us!!! Big Big thanks to him!

We've got all our bike boxes and bags ready to pack 'Tommy' tandem away and all our equipment has arrived, we are buying new wheels for the bike today (as Adrian advised) and then packing him up.

Carwarden school had a brilliant fun run last wednesday and the children were really well behaved and even joined in with running with the staff. Big thanks to Mrs.Bragg and Mr.Milton-thompson and all the other staff and children that helped out! The staff were in cindrella themed fancy dress much to the childrens amusement, me as a mouse, some as ugly sisters, one as buttons, prince charming, a robin etc thanks to the schools fancy dress box.

We have been informed we were also in the 'Birmingham Mail' recently too so if anyone saw it let us know.

Anyway thanks again to everyone who has helped over the last few months-cant believe its finally here.

Will let you know how it goes......

Bye.xxxxxxxx

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RIGHT WE ARE OFF!

This is probably the last time we will write on here for some time - ALSO I have created a blog, haven't had time to write much but it says I can write to from mobile mms with text and pics so please if you want to follow how we are doing keep up to date with this.

http://1000milesdown.blogspot.com/

thanks everyone!!! bye!!!

Thanks for reading our page and hope you donate to our worthy cause!

Hollie and Phil

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21-April 2008

We did it!!! We arrived at Lands End safe (only just) on Friday18th April. It took us 14 days, 1003 miles, 3 broken spokes, one new bottom bracket, the back wheel to fall off 3 times (the thread had gone).

Will right all about it over the next few days so keep checking.xx