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28th June

2 days to go and final preparations (rest and eating!) are being made for the epic journey.  I will update this page everyday highlighting the ups and downs as the ride progresses.

 

3rd July

Apologies but first chance to update you all. Each day is pretty manic but settling into the routine now!  320 miles under our belts.  Bobby and I are still talking dispite his snoring.  He must have been putting in a lot of pre-ride training as he's looking really strong.

Rode up through Bristol today and over the Severn Bridge.  Spending the night in a lovely pub in Ludlow that has just served us Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pud. 

Sun tans are coming on and the winds have been favourable. Cant believe this weather is going to continue all week!!!!!!

 

4th July

Another scorcher on the 90 mile run from Ludlow to Altrincham. Took it steady today but we were helped again by yet another favourable tailwind.  There is a real sense that we are making significant progress up the country. 

Bob has developed a very amusing love/hate relationship with his Garmin (our cycling satnav) and spent a large part of the day complaining about the state of the roads in Cheshire!

We're staying with some good friends of Bob's about 5 miles from Old Trafford.  The area is very 'Footballers' Wives' with Bentleys and Lambourginis aplenty.

We keep meaning to get away in the morning by 8.00am but never seem to manage it.  9.30am seems to be our favoured depart time but we've got a long stage tomorrow (110 miles) so the nearer we get to an 8.00am start the better!  We tend to finish by around 6pm most days.

Tomorrow night we'll arrive in the Lake District which marks the halfway point.  We're taking things a day at a time but we're both still feeling pretty fit.  No serious saddle sore yet. 

Bob and I will be spending our last night sharing a room (no comment!) as from what I understand and hope, we'll have separate rooms from here on in (hurray!)

Accommodation to date has been brilliant with great hosts, food and comfortable surroundings.  I can assure you, we haven't been slumming it.  Also, met some interesting people along the way. 

T-shirt tans continue to develop nicely! 

 

5th July 2011

After leaving Altrincham our next target was Ambleside in the Lake District.  The weather remained fine as we weaved our way through the morning traffic into the Cheshire Countryside.  Our journey took us to Nantwich, Chorley and Preston before arriving in Lancaster as the weather began to turn.  Bob needed his front wheel looking at so we went to a bike shop for some minor running repairs.

Bob's parents met us here and due to the increasingly heavy rain we took the opportunity to don our wet weather gear.  We then set off for Ambleside in the rain.

After some time spent bombing along an A road, followed by a pit stop for a sausage sandwich in a truckers' service station, we diverted to cycle the rest of the route through the rolling hills of the Lake District. It was a great decision as it was very scenic and there were hardly any cars.

It seemed as if we were making good time and expected to be at our B&B by 6.30pm.   However, our accommodation was in fact 3 miles outside of Ambleside and proved very difficult to find. 

Eventually, having got soaked through cycling around the area looking for the address we called Bob's Dad who picked us up and drove us to where we were staying.  It was 7.30pm but the consolation was that it was a great B&B.  Much needed hot bath, meal and bed.  

 

6th July 2011

We awoke to heavy rain!  Bob had been having problems with his gears the previous day and we decided to cycle into Ambleside to see if a bike shop could have a look at them.  We set off in our rain gear and found a shop but we had to leave it with them for a couple of hours.  Therefore, we retired to the next door cafe for a cappuccino and tried to dry off. 

By the time the bike was fixed it was 11.30am but the rain had eased off.  We got on our bikes and headed North!

After an initial few miles on a long wet drag out of Ambleside on a busy A road we took the rural route to Carlisle through some very atmospheric Cumbrian countryside.

After lunch in McDonalds Carlisle we left for Scotland and crossed the border into Gretna at about 5pm.

Due to the fact we had lost about 3 hours in the morning we were in danger of finishing along way from our overnight stop.  Therefore, we powered on trying to get as close as possible.  In the end we manage to cycle until 9pm but finished about 25 miles short of our where we wanted to be.

Bob's Dad had to collect us but we knew it would mean driving back in the morning to where we had finished, which would be a 45 minute drive.  We would then have to make up that 25 miles over the next couple of days. 

 

7th July 2011

 

At 9am having been dropped off in the car we set off for Fort William. We didn't know it at the time but this would be an epic stage!

The journey would take us around the outside of Glasgow, across the Erskine Bridge and into the vast countryside.

However, the rain was heavy and as we cycled over the bridge we both got wet through.  We continued on our way making steady progress but by 3pm our spirits were lowering and we decided we needed to stop for a late lunch.

Over pizza and 2 pints of Peroni we discussed the fact that we still needed to cycle about 85 miles to reach Fort William and unless we got somewhere near this, we may need to take another day to complete the ride.  Neither of us wanted this so having taken 2 hours over lunch we emerged into the pouring rain at 5pm with a mission to cycle for as long and as hard as possible.

We rode alongside Loch Lomond and into Glencoe, finishing the day at 10pm having covered 70 miles.  We were really pleased with this despite having not managed to get to Fort William.  Alicia, Bob's wife, was waiting for us and drove us to our overnight stop at Spean Bridge. We had cycled 128 miles.

 

8th July 2011

We had another long day in the saddle as we had to drive back to Glencoe and start from there.  Frustratingly we had to cycle through Fort William and Spean Bridge before making real progress on the day.   

Fortunately, the weather was kind as it remained dry despite the fact it looked like we would get hit by rain at any minute.  We encountered the hardest climb of the whole trip today which was badly timed straight after a lunch stop!

  We didn't realise it at the time but we would do almost identical mileage to the previous day, arriving in Bonar Bridge at 8pm.   

 

9th July 2011

The final day!!  The feeling this morning was different to previous ones.  Even though we had 90 miles to do the destination was John O'Groat's and that felt great.

The ride took us along the east coast so we had the North Sea in view nearly all day which was a nice change as most of the journey had been inland and without sea views.

It rained a lot today but the sun came out on the approach to the finale.  In fact, there was a sting in the tail as the last couple of miles were uphill and seemed to go on forever.

It was 5pm and we had arrived in John O'Groat's after 978 miles!

A huge thanks to Bob's parents and Alicia whose support throughout the whole trip made the journey a lot easier than it otherwise would have been.

What an amazing experience!