Day 10 - Tain to John O'Groats

Oh thank God for that. Arrived in JOG in the rain, appropriately I suppose, to find that they’d taken the signpost down because people have been nicking it if it’s left up overnight. Bit of a disappointment after 1000 miles but hey ho…we’re finished! Rain cleared up and we were treated to a religious sort of sunset – as though God was about to select us for some mission or other (luckily he didn’t, I don’t think I’ve got the energy). Then we went to the one and only local hotel in JOG and had a celebratory beer and slap up meal.

The day overall was a good one to finish on…it was pretty flat with a few nasty exceptions (nothing as we haven’t seen before though), but the real bugger of the day was a wind in our faces which sucked up all our remaining energy (mine anyway I probably shouldn’t speak for Dave – he seemed to have a bit more left in the tank) – I had to just get my head down and slowly wobble along a couple of patches (passed at one point by a couple of ultra-fit chaps who zoomed by with a smile and the sort of encouraging remark that makes you realise you look like you’re about to collapse). But the A9 runs along the coast all the way on this final stretch and the views were great. Sea, sky, tarmac – lovely. We got some good bits of sun too. After Wick we knew we were nearly there and the inevitable result was that it seemed to take forever to actually get there. There’s a hill just before you get to JOG and the heather on it was wiped out by fire a few weeks ago so it was completely black and you could smell the charred remains for a good few miles before you got there – it was a bit like approaching Mordor.

Well, it’s all over and now all that remains is to enjoy the train ride home… 

Day 9 - Spean Bridge to Tain

A good start along Loch Lochie – fairly flat going and it’s a lovely little pond. We kept up a nice brisk pace and got a good bit of mileage under our belts. I’d been looking forward to Loch Ness but in the end it was a bit dull really and got more uppy-downy which I didn’t like much either.

We decided to go via Inverness in order to miss a very nasty hill that we felt our legs could do without, but we regretted it because the A9 at Inverness is the worst bit of road we’ve been on for traffic – incredibly fast (particularly over the bridge, which we realised too late we shouldn’t have been on!) and we got beeped by almost everything that went past us (one enormous timber lorry honked just as he went passed and almost knocked us off our bikes).

Anyway, after a drawn out (as usual) last 10 miles or so we arrived at the best B&B so far – with a sea view and run by a lovely, friendly woman who recommended a nice pub where we had some good grub. Tain is where they make Glenmorangie whisky, in fact we stayed on Morangie Road – I wish we had more time to sample the delights…

We’re now within 100 miles of John O’Groats!!

Day 8 - Dumbarton to Spean Bridge 10/16/12

Back to the rain!! A very long, very wet day that almost did for me. A long slow climb after Loch Lomond took us up into the Highlands, where there was some fantastic scenery – some of it we could even see through the rain – the vast craggy hills around Glencoe were a highlight and probably the most breath-taking part of the trip so far. We had a burger in Tyndrum at a café full of soggy, less-than-full-of-the-joys-of-spring holidaymakers.

We’ve started singing to stave off boredom and to take our minds off sore bums (Scottish roads still causing uncalled for grief – either supersmooth or like cobblestones). Dave seems to favour The Proclaimers, I’ve been leaning towards Paul McCartney, particularly The Mull Of Kintyre.

I only just made it up the last section towards Spean Bridge after Fort William, got very dizzy and felt rather sick from too many energy gels (also not sure that Chinese last night has done me any favours). The technical term for this is “bonking”, but I didn’t quite bonk – we got to the hotel just in time.

Not a hugely welcoming place, they seemed rather put out that we wanted something to eat towards the end of their serving time – run by a Scouser with a Hitler complex. I wouldn’t recommend it. Unfortunately it’s the only hotel in Spean Bridge.

Day 9 tomorrow, we’re getting closer…

Day 7 - Dumfries to Dumbarton 09/06/12

This is more like it! A good night’s sleep in Dumfries and some decent weather. We had everything from the beautiful, rolling hills of Galloway to the fast A76 to the grimy cityscapes of Glasgow’s various hard core districts – and we even got a weird little ferry across the Clyde (slightly confused when we found there was no bridge at the point Garmin had led us to, and relieved that we were not too late for the ferry…more slight under-planning perhaps?)

The wind has not been too bad and often not in our face today and although the terrain had some ups and downs it was nothing too extreme. We finished up at a fairly basic but very comfortable hotel in Dumbarton, where we have ordered out for a Chinese. A Scottish Chinese. Much like an English one.

Tomorrow…the Highlands!! 

Day 6 - Sedburgh to Dumfries 08/06/12

Into Scotland! A long and very difficult day. It is very hilly between Sedburgh and Carlisle – much more so than expected (I remember planning to avoid the Lake District and assuming it would be fairly flat around here…wrong again!). My legs have not got as much in them as they did a few days ago and as we wound our way around the M6 (?) on little roads that looked so innocent on the map I began to feel fairly depressed again, especially as we have now left the families behind again.

It flattened out after Carlisle and the rain settled in – I spend a lot of time behind Dave (in fact the sight of his bottom going up and down is going to be one of my enduring memories of this trip, which is nice) and today on the A… I tried to stay in his slipstream but in order to do so had to accept a constant spray of muddy water in my face.

Gretna Green was a bit of a disappointment, although it was good to get the obligatory photos and it’s great to be in Scotland finally. The road surfaces get noticeably more crappy when you’ve crossed into Scotland and they were pretty hard on the bum for the last part of the day. However, we’ve got a lovely posh B&B in Dumfries and we’ve just enjoyed some very acceptable Scottish fish and chips (much like English ones actually). Now, bed.

600 down, 400 to go…and I hear the weather might not be TOO bad tomorrow, we’re getting there!

Day 5 - Northwich to Sedburgh 07/06/12

I don't know why this post is highlighted in white, it's very annoying...


Very happy to get away from Northwich. We had a bit of trouble finding our way out but when the GPS finally picked up our route we got our heads down on another grizzly drizzly day and rode north through the North West on winding but mercifully flat roads. We zigzagged around most of the built up areas, although we went through Wigan and Preston - both of which were...nice. The day was far more enjoyable than yesterday mostly because a) we didn't have any breakdowns and b) we've arranged to meet our families in Sedburgh tonight. I am flagging spirits-wise and more than ready to have an evening with Ellie and Sarah; and I'm sure Dave feels the same about Lynn and their kids. We got to Lancaster in the rain (surprise, surprise) and then crossed the M6 for a very hilly last 10-15 miles or so, which we should have expected as we knew we were heading into the Pennines...but didn't.
We got to Sedburgh tired and (apparently) looking like shadows of our former selves. For some reason the skin on my face glows red when I've finished a day's cycling and the skin around my eyes swells up. It's not very attractive, but at least it makes Dave laugh.
We had a lovely meal with the wives and kids. And now I don't really want to go to sleep because tomorrow it all starts again.

Day 4 - Eardisland to Northwich 06/06/12

Today was definitely the hardest day yet and quite frankly not one that is going to rank as one of my favourites for reasons that will become clear. It all started out quite well in decent weather as we headed up into an area we didn't know but were fairly confident would be nice and flat - all the nasty hills were behind us now surely...hmm. Turns out Shropshire has hills too. I'm starting to think we should have researched our country's topography a bit more thoroughly. Anyway, we headed roughly due north, the drizzle started and we soon found ourselves in the middle of nowhere and pushing our bikes along sheep tracks among other things. The scenery was great around here actually and things went pretty well all in all . Finally we got to the end of the hills and we saw a beautiful flat landscape open up in front of us (photo above)...we rocketed down one of the longest downhills so far - The Long Mynd as its apparently called - and Dave recorded something like 45mph on Garmin. Good, hairy fun.
And then, on an innocuous little slope, out of nowhere, Dave's whole gear system snapped, almost pulling his back wheel off and (we thought) bending his bike frame in the process. We're prepared for punctures, chain repairs and the other minor things you might expect - well, we've watched the DVD that came free with Total Bike anyway - but this was in a different league altogether and we had absolutely no idea how to get ourselves out of the mess we suddenly realised we were in... I sort of seized up a bit actually - I think my brain went into shutdown because I just couldn't think how we were going to get any further. I stared at the broken bike blankly as Dave said things like "I don't know what we're going to do" and "Mate, you're not saying anything". The game was up. The show was over. The Fat Lady was singing.
However...we were lucky in that it all happened near a pub which happened to have a very friendly landlord and a chap working for him who had a van and was willing to take us the 10 miles to Shrewsbury, where he dropped us off outside a bike shop. Salt of the Earth is the phrase, I think. Anyway, to cut a long story short we finally got the bike fixed in a different shop on the other side of town and about two hours later we were ready for the off. I was deeply depressed by this time (depression is something no one had warned me about but it was around now that I found out about the mental challenge that LeJog presents) and I honestly wanted Dave's bike to be unrepairable so that we could go home. But Dave took the bull by the horns and was determined to pull us through the afternoon - which he did, but it was a looooooong afternoon. The GPS let us down and we ended up going way off course and back into Wales, through Wrexham. I'm not a fan of Wrexham.
Tired and emotional, we got into a Happy Eater Motel near Northwich at about 9pm after a final 20 miles that was fraught but thankfully fairly flat.
Had to call out for pizza because we were too late for anything else and the traffic kept us awake, but the beds were soft and warm and that was all that mattered.
Dreamed about roads and fast lorries.

Day 3 - Axbridge to Eardisland 05/06/12

A long slog in the rain. In fact the word slog is starting to take a rather new meaning. A fairly steep climb out of Cheddar was followed by A-roads with cars and lorries zooming past at breakneck speed and then GPS problems in Bristol ( I had a feeling there would be - for some reason Garmin, although fantastic in some respects, insists on causing problems in places where you could really do without it - and always on a pissy day!). We kept it together through some of our most stressful moments so far, which I'm pleased about. You've got to be good friends for this sort of lark, I now realize, and you've got to know each others' strengths and weaknesses otherwise there would be arguments all over the place.
The Severn Bridge (when we finally got to it) was a bit of a treat - I'd been looking forward to it because Philip Gross's poetry collection "The Water Table" is all about the Severn Estuary and its shifting, sliding flats and you could really see them as we rode over this huge great structure... wonderful stuff.
Wales and Herefordshire are, I'm sure, lovely but we couldn't see them because of mist and rain so all I will really have as memories of them are some hillbitchmothers like the 25%-er up to Arthur's Seat right at the end of the day. I'm not ashamed to say that I didn't even attempt this one. Even Hillmaster Dave was beaten here, but he made a valiant attempt and got about two thirds of the way up before being whupped into submission.
We are now in a pleasant-ish little family-run tearoom-cum-B&B after a lasagne at the local pub (the White Swan - with the nicest landlord in the world, he even offered me some Radox) which we just made it in time for. I'm very happy to be in bed - and I've taken a photo of myself to illustrate just how bad you can look after only three days of LEJOG...

Day 2 - Bude to Axbridge 04/06/12

O0f. 10 hours in the saddle!! Devon is ridiculous. Some of the hills can only be described as tarmacked walls; one sign said 25% and it just seemed to go on and on. This was less than 2 miles out of Bude - it started steep but manageable, then upped things a bit, then seemed to get a little easier as it turned a corner, then...wall. My bike stopped and I had to get off. It was either get off or fall off because all of my weight on the pedal didn't seem to do anything. My first failed hill...never mind, I think it was inevitable.
Dave made it up in true Come On! style and waited for me at the top.
We had lunch in South Molton and soon after that things started to flatten out and the second half of the ride was a bit more sensible - although we had a couple of little spikes we could have done without when we were around the 95 mile mark. Having seen no Jubilee parties all day we arrived in Axbridge at about 8.30 in the middle of a huge bash complete with live rock music and a village square full of drunken revellers. Wondering what kind of night's sleep we'll get in our hotel facing the village square...
We were kept half-awake that night by music until 1ish I think and thereafter various drunken villagers shouting or sobbing to their mates. But we were too tired from the ride to be hugely bothered by it.

Day 1 - Land's End to Bude 03/06/12

Due to a mixture of technical incompetence, exhaustion and lack of internet access I couldn't do the blog as we went along - but I did write notes in my phone so I will copy them out here just in case the world is interested: Blimey! Cornwall is very up and down! We had a good morning of passing tin mines and old men on motorbikes and sidecars, and the coast was suitably rugged around the northern tip of the peninsula to St Ives. We hit a couple of incredible hills, the first of which Dave steamed up and I all but ground to a halt, and the second of which just went on and on and on...and on. We had a pub lunch just outside Newquay and then gritted our teeth through 40 miles of the A38 in the rain. Somewhere along the line a car whizzed past me a whacked my elbow with its wing mirror; the wing mirror flew off but I didn't come off my bike and the car just whizzed on by as though nothing had happened. The wind was behind us thank God and now we're in the Globe Hotel in Bude, warm and fed. My bum's already sore, I'm starting to realize this is going to be a bit of a slog...

Training.

We did about a year's training, from buying our bikes  and starting out on 20-30 mile rides, building up to 100 milers and finally getting in a back-to-back 100 miler and a 100 on the Chiltern course the "Big Dipper" - we fit this one in because we live in Cambridge and so we wanted to get in a few hills (this proved vital as our route was very hilly - I'm pretty sure any LEJOG route is going to have it's fair share but I think we chose ourselves a stinker in some ways). We also joined gyms and I started a Spinning class, both of which were important in building up the strength we needed for the day after day slog. I'm not sure I believe anyone who says they did not need to train for LEJOG - if it's true I can only guess that they started off a lot fitter than I did!

What this blog is

On the 2nd June 2012 I'll be setting off on a cycle ride over ten days from Lands End to John O'Groats along with my friend Dave. I'm going to keep a record of the trip on this blog page both as a diary and possibly as a resource for people who may wish to do the ride in the future and are looking for previous experiences to help them prepare.
We're doing the ride in memory of my son Charlie who lived for a brief six months in 2009 and was looked after for a lot of this time by the dedicated and marvelous staff of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge. This blog, I hope, will also serve to interest people in donating to the Addenbrooke's NICU through this link.