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Home Latest Diary Pictures Equipment Charity |
Day 1, 14th November 2002 Location : Bodmin Miles Today : 65.8 Ride Time : 4hrs24mins Total Milage : 65.8 Av. Speed : 14.9 We got to Lands End at about 10.30am and set off at 11.10. We had a decent tail wind and set off at quite a pace hoping to get to Bodmin before dark, as a friend of Joe's was putting us up for the night there (Thanks Coxie, v. much appreciated). In the end we made by 4pm and the weather was good to us, as was a lovely lady at a burger van on the way who gave us free bacon sarnies. Back to Top Day 2 Location : Taunton Miles Today : 91.9 Ride Time : 7hrs 24mins Total Milage : 157.7 Av. Speed : 12.3 Long day today, set off at 7.25, I managed to fall of the bike twice! Combination of not being use to spds and having paniers on the back. Quite a few hills today including one coming up to the Tavistock juntion on the A30, but there was also a lovely stretch on a B road towards Creviton. we thought we would aim for Tiverton today, but we got there earlier then expected so decide to carry on in the hope that this would enable us to get to Bristol to watch the rugby. We ended up getting to Taunton which wasn't bad. Where we camped in a field. Back to Top Day 3 Location : Bristol Miles Today : 47.8 Ride Time : 3hrs 48mins Total Milage : 207.7 Av. Speed : 13.3 Set off at about 8am, got to bristol at around 1pm, I went to sort out a few things with my bike, like the rack half falling off. Then went to watch the rugby in Clifton Wine Bar, England won 32-31, so all in all it's been a good day. As for the cycling, we'll probably think about that tomorrow. I expect there won't be any more updates for a while. And I know most of the links don't work, will sort that out sometime, if anyone is actually reading this! Back to Top Day 4 Location : Wittanstowe Miles Today : 91.5 Ride Time : 7hrs 13mins Total Milage : 298 Av.Speed : 12.6 Set off from Bristol at 8.30 after a great susage & bacon sarnie. Went over the bridge towards wales, though Tintern with a nice downhill section where we got up to 40mph, the though chepstow, monmouth before coming back out of wales. Encountered a bit of road rage in Herefordshire. Stopped in Ludlow at about 3.30pm, started the search for a friendly pub. In the end camped in Wittanstowe, just past Carven Arms. Unfortunately the pub next to where we were camped did not serve food on Sundays, so it was back to the tent for pot noddles. Back to Top Day 5 Location : Liverpool Miles Today : 76.6 Ride Time : 5hrs 20mins Total Milage : 383.6 Av. Speed : 14.3 Set off at 7.40am, on route we stopped at the best truckers inn in britain, the Midway. At this point we were thinking that we could start to write a good food guide to burger vans on the truckers routes, given the amount we have stopped at! We made it to Liverpool at 3pm and checked into the YHA there. This gave us the chance to air are tent and stuff, so that we could set of dry the next morning. Back to Top Day 6 Location : Yanworth Miles Today : 106.1 Ride Time : 8hrs 14mins Total Milage : 404.1 Av. Speed : 13.3 Started at 7.45am after breakfast at the YHA. We were applauded by some school kids for getting out of Liverpool with our bikes, at least i think that is what they clapped us for! We stopped in Kendal at about 3.30pm and asked in a garage where the next Pub was, we were told about 5 miles away and thought great, but after our experience of no food on Sunday we took the precaution of phoning that pub, and found out they werent doing food... doh! Luckily though the previous night we had noted down some pubs from the good pub guide. Unfortunately they were over a rather big hill 30miles away near Penrith. After a bit of discussion we decided to go for it. We ended up Camping outside the Yanworth Gate Inn, and were greated by very friendly Landlady and Landlord, and also the staff were great as was the food. The Landlady did think we were made camping at this time of year. Oh and Joe also got accepted by the Navy, after a bit of drama. Back to Top Day 7&8 Location : Edinburgh Miles Today : 116.9 Ride Time : 8hrs 49mins Total Milage : 596.5 Av. Speed : 13.2 Very wet and long day, but made possible because we knew we would have a nice warm house to come too and a day off. Staying at Joe's brother's in Edinburgh. Looking forward to getting back in the saddle tomorrow, oh, actually I lie, but should only have 4 or 5 days left and we'll probably stick to 60 odd miles rather then the 100s we've been doing. Day 8 is a day to rest are aching legs and joints and hope that tomorrow we'll be fit to start again. Back to Top Day 9 Location : Pitlochry Miles Today : 75.0 Ride Time : 6hrs 4mins Total Milage : 671.5 Av. Speed : 12.3 Left Edinburgh at 7.40am, negoigated the traffic and crossed the Fourth Bridge. Having crossed the bridge we carried along the mainroad at little too far when we noticed it had turned into a motorway, at this point we quickly made our exit. However, due to my pannier strips coming loose, I had to stop, by which time Joe had cycled off into the distance. My attempt to follow was scuppered by the presence of a workman wearing a bright yellow jacket, much like the one worn by Joe. Assuming this person was Joe I took a left turning at the roundabout dispite thinking I should take a right. This led me down to the workman (who on closer inspection was definately not Joe), however he insisted a cyclist had passed so i carried on. A mile or so later I thought I better ring Joe to see where he had got to (mobile phones prove to be useful for once). Finally I managed to track my way back to him, although, I won't let him forget that I cycled 2 more miles then him! After that the rest of the day went without incident, and we finished just after 3pm. We stayed at the Old Bankhouse Lodge in Pitlochry which is a reasonable backpakers. We ate down the road in a cafe and were in bed by about 9pm, which must be about the earliest I've been in bed on a friday for a long time. Back to Top Day 10 Location : Boat of Garten Miles Today : 63.0 Ride Time : 4hrs 51min Total Milage : 734.6 Av. Speed : 12.9 We left at 9am after going to the local store to get some breakfast, we didn't think we should risk just setting off and hoping for a burger van, they are few and far between in Scotland. Today was a bit of a hard Slog, with the first twenty odd miles being a steady uphill though the caingorms. Both our knees and other joints were really getting painful, the thought of a relatively short day kept us going through it. Once we reached the top of the pass we were expecting a nice ride down for the afternoon, this didn't really materialise and we continued to plod along, all be it at a quicker pace then in the morning. We arrived in Boat of Garten with the sun still shinning which was fairly novel. We stayed at a homely placed own by a friendly guy who went up there a few years back to do some mountain leadership in the 'gorms. The couple were very kind and got up at 6am to cook us a full breakfast before we set off, that was very much appreciated. There was one funny comment over breakfast when discussing the weather, Andy, the owner, suddenly blurted out "So ur' anus is clear this morning", Joe and I looked at each other slightly puzzled as did Andy's wife, then she suddenly clicked and was like "you know the planet Uranus..." oh we thought, it was very funny at the time. Back to Top Day 11 Location : Rogart Miles Today : 81.4 Ride Time : 6hrs 28mins Total Milage : 815.9 Av. Speed : 12.5 "Photo of Train and Joe in Train" So having cycled over 800miles from lands end, finally just 80odd miles from our destination we decided our legs couldn't take it any more so we hopped on a train at Rogart. The only problem was that when we woke up in the morning we found ourselves in the same place, that's British rail for you! Anyway after this experience with the trains we decided that our bikes were the best bet to get to John o'Groats afteral. In fact the page we stayed at was really good Backpakers hostel (sleeperzzz). It was also very warm in the cabins and there was a really good pub just down the road which did a very good roast. Back to Top Day 12 Location : John o'Groats Miles Today : 83.8 Ride Time : 6hrs 16mins Total Milage : 899.7 Av. Speed : 12.3 YEAH!! We made it, today we decided to go straight to John o'Groats, previously we thought we might stop at Wick or even Thurso for accomadation, but in the end we found a reasonable place near to the "End". We also wanted to say we did it is 12 days rather then 13. We had really good weather for this cycle, we set off at about 7.30am after some pot noodles. There was thick mist when we left but as we approached the coast that started to clear. We saw a beautiful sunrise, with the mist clearing the sun shone birghtly on the clouds above and glimmered off the sea, while it itself was blocked by the mist. It was quite an indiscribable sight, but it made the pain of cycling well worth while, especially when the alternative would have been sitting on a train commuting into London. We were wrong in thinking the worst of the hills had gone in the south west, because as we followed the A9 on its coastal path we encountered several very steep hills, in fact on the discent of one we achieved are max speed for the entire trip, and that was with being careful. The hills got so bad in fact that Joe, having cycled 850miles decided that this was the time to fix his gears so that he could use his lowest gear. Thinking that this would take him a while (why would he have waited till now if it was a long job?!) I handed him the tool box and sat down and relaxed. Within seconds he handed it back to me saying it was all fixed! Very strange seeing has he had been complaining about it for a while. As it turned out we had just completed the last hill of note and I don't think he got to test out the lowest cog! We got to John o'Groats at 3pm and headed straight for the first open pub, where we celebrated with a beer and a shot of whiskey. We also saw 4 tornadoes fly over us at about 100ft, it was quite a sight, and those who know Joe will know just how excited he got, it was almost like he had a room full of people who hadn't heard his avalanche story! Unfortunately after we left the pub we had to cycle 4miles back the way we came to get to the B&B we were staying in for the night. The cycle was well worth it, and we got to wake up with a great view of the sunrise safe in the knowledge that we would only have to cycle another 20miles to the train station. Back to Top |