"Awesome" Lands End to John O'Groats (LEJOG) Cycle Ride

The Diary - Part Twelve

2006-11-22T14:06:00.000Z

Day 12 - Thursday 13th July

Today, like many before it, started with a visit to the bike mechanics. Both Doug and Matt's bikes needed attention this morning, so off we trundled to Oban Cycles.

Unfortunately, the owner of Oban cycles was not in quite as much of a hurry as we were, so by the time he turned up to work at 9.45am, we we already over an hour behind our intended schedule with two bike repairs still to be carried out! However, the mechanic set about helping us swiftly and efficiently and, after purchasing much junk food from the local Tesco, we finally left Oban at 11.15am.

Well, we tried to leave Oban at 11.15. Matt decided that he really needed to go back to the Youth Hostel because he had left his pasty in the fridge.

The first bit of cycling was unneccessarily arduous - a massive steep hill out of Oban got the blood circulating in the legs before we headed north towards Connell and over the bridge there (with some fantastic views)before reaching another bridge at Ballaculish.

Before today we had only met three JOGLErs - and that was by prior engagement down in Bristol. Just two days away from John O'Groats and we finally met up with some fellow LEJOGers at Ballaculish Bridge. We mistook the bandy-legged teenager and his mate for a couple of schoolkids out killing another day in the summer holidays. In fact, they had been completing the 1,000 mile end-to-end journey over the same time as we had. But they did it on BMXs.

The race was on. Each time we stopped for a breather, they caught us up. Each time they stopped to fix a puncture, we cycled on past. Soon enough the seven of us caught up with a second group of LEJOGers. For a brief moment, ten bikes took charge of the roads of Scotland.

A late lunch was had in the gardens at Fort William (at the foot of Ben Nevis) before cracking on past Loch Lochy and Loch Oich (great names - great views) to Fort Augustus at the south-western edge of Loch Ness. Here we stocked up on frozen lasagnes and oven chips and watched in awe as the locals placed bets at their annual plastic duck race down the river.

By now we were getting tired and, thanks to the particularly late start, it was beginning to get dark. Doug had developed a problem with his achilles tendon and we were all anxious to reach the Youth Hostel to get rested and fed for the night. The photo opportunity at Invermoriston was therefore pretty brief.

Just after 8pm, we arrived at Loch Ness SYHA and, after the robot on reception had checked us in, we decamped and set about cooking our lasagne. Later that evening, a young lad doing a solo JOGLE checked in to the hostel. He had set off from John O'Groats that morning, covering about 170 miles. Nutter.

Day: 12, Distance: 89.9miles, Cycling Time: 6 hrs 02 mins, Ave Speed: 14.9mph, Max Speed: 36.1mph.

The Diary - Part Eleven

2006-09-27T13:24:00.000+01:00

Day 11 - Wednesday 12th July

By now we've got these early starts off to a tee. Of course, it helps when you've got breakfast to attend to before 8.30 and a ferry to catch which, if missed, could mean being 3 hours behind schedule before the day has even begun.

Our massive cooked breakfast was wolfed down super-quick as the ferry departure time was looming rapidly. With indigestion nearly crippling us, we legged it down to the ferry terminal to find, er, nothing. The ferry was somewhere back towards the mainland, still on its way to Lochranza. We could have savoured that breakfast after all (a point I'm still bitter about, by the way!).

If we thought Lochranza was a quiet backwater kind of place, then nothing could have prepared us for Claonaig ferry terminal. To say that there was nothing there would be speaking literally. Just a ramp for the ferry and a bit of tarmac for the cars to park on. Oh, and a lot of rain.

With the wind and aforementioned rain at our faces we undulated our way up the Kintyre peninsula (cue: terrible rendition of Wings song) towards Oban. The cycling itself was pretty uneventful to be honest (which makes writing today's diary entry that little bit trickier!).

As we arrived in Oban the sun began to shine. Somehow Matt and Martin got separated from the rest of us as they raced through Oban (presumably in a bid to ensure they "baggsied" the best beds in the dorm). We finally rocked up at Oban Youth Hostel just before 6pm.

Dinner once again consisted of mountains of pasta (at Piazza on the North Pier at Oban, on the recommendation of Babs at Garvins) followed by a quick pint in the Harbour bar.

When we got back to the Youth Hostel, there was someone already asleep in the boys' dorm, so we were especially quiet not to wake him. It's a pity the 4 lads who came in about two hours later weren't quite so considerate. It was even more frustrating when we found out that the reason the first chap had gone to bed so early was that he was getting up at 4.30am. Not quite the uninterrupted night's sleep we were hoping for!

Day: 11, Distance: 64.4miles, Cycling Time: 4 hrs 55 mins, Ave Speed: 13.1mph, Max Speed: 38.4mph.

The Diary - Part Ten

2006-09-26T13:48:00.000+01:00

Day 10 - Tuesday 11th July

Today had been planned with military precision and the start was executed to perfection. Bacon and Egg rolls were served in the officers mess and the squadron were kitted out and on parade at 9am sharp.

Having read the last nine days' diary entries (you have haven't you?) you'll know that to expect everything to have gone smoothly would just be wishful thinking. There was a sense of inevitablity when Helen's chain slipped between two chainrings and somehow got mangled. We had made it just 10 yards down the road.

We returned to the Youth Hostel where it became apparent that the Hostel warden was a significantly more experienced bike mechanic with much better tools with him than any of us. Just how underprepared we were for this trip became apparent when the chap asked us how many spare chains we were carrying. Our answer? - "Less than one".

Having removed two links from Helen's chain (they come in pairs, y'know!) and re-joined it, we set off again. There was now a real danger that we'd miss the 3.15 ferry from Ardrossan to Brodick (on the Isle of Arran) and end up with a very late finish.

We cycled like demons for 60 miles, somehow making the ferry with just minutes to spare. Time to kick back with a bag of monster munch and a can of Irn Bru... On arrival at Brodick, we found a bike shop and left Helen's bike to have the chain replaced and new brake blocks fitted while we wandered off to buy ice-cream.

Having spend the morning pushing hard, it was a pleasant change to spend the afternoon at a more leisurely pace. The next seven miles were also quite relaxed, being a flat coastal road up the eastern edge of Arran. However, we didn't quite get it all our way as, rather inconsiderately we felt, someone had put a mountain between us and Lochranza Youth Hostel - our destination for the night.

Lochranza is a small town, and also the home of the Primrose family (Doug P being a Punter Southall colleague of ours). These two facts meant it wasn't long before we bumped into someone who knew them - George, the barman at the Lochranza Hotel. The steak and ale pie and pint of Guinness I ordered felt well deserved.

After catching up on Lost in the Hostel's TV room, we retired to bed. A short while later the coachloads of school kids from Buxton also called it a night and were sent to their dorms by their rather stressed-looking teachers.

Day: 10, Distance: 73.3miles, Cycling Time: 5 hrs 40 mins, Ave Speed: 12.9mph, Max Speed: 40.6mph.

The Diary - Part Nine

2006-09-06T13:43:00.000+01:00

Day 9 - Monday 10th July
Having unlocked the bikes and loaded up, we left Carlisle at 10.30am, heading North. An hour and a half later, we were in Bonnie Scotland.

We posed for a couple of photos (for about an hour). The picture you see on the left here is the third time Doug and Martin crossed the border from England to Scotland as they felt the moment deserved a decent photo. They also swore the air was suddenly smelling sweeter. I detected the faintest whiff of deep-fried mars bars.

After a bit of food-shopping in Gretna we got back on the road to Dumfries - ignoring the chap who shouted to us about the dragon up ahead (at least, that what I think he said, I still haven't quite grasped the language). We actually bumped into him again as we lunched in Dumfries but failed to get an explanation of the dragon, instead getting a warning of "the longest hill in South-West Scotland" up ahead. He wasn't wrong.

Eventually we reached Moniaive, a small town with a pub, a shop and a picnic table. We took advantage of two of the three.

The rest of the day was spent in the pouring rain cycling up long hills and down the other side, negotiating more and more cattle grids along the way - one of which tried to swallow Helen's bike.

Eventually, at around 7pm, we arrived at our accomodation for the evening. A shed in the middle of nowhere (Kendoon Youth Hostel, near Castle Douglas). The welcome was warming enough, it's just a pity the radiators weren't!

Still, it was a bed for the night and somewhere to get a hot cup of tea and some food. And also somewhere where french schoolkids can start out from on their way to getting lost in the Southern Uplands, or so it would seem.

Day: 9, Distance: 70.1miles, Cycling Time: 5 hrs 8 mins, Ave Speed: 13.6mph, Max Speed: 30.2mph.

The Diary - Part Eight

2006-09-04T13:04:00.000+01:00

Day 8 - Sunday 9th July

The weather at the start of day 8 was little different to that at the end of day 7. Our kit barely had time to dry before we were climbing back onto the bikes in the pouring rain and heading off into the Forest of Bowland.

The terrain hadn't changed much either. It started hilly and then got hillier and then positively mountainous. After negotiating several cattle grids we happened across High Bentham where we stocked up on supplies and tried to shelter from the rain. It was a bit confusing to find that High Bentham is in Yorkshire, but this was to be a fleeting visit to the county.

We continued to climb. For every downhill there seemed to be two, steeper uphills to follow. It was hard going and we knew that when the proper descent came it would have to be a good one! We ploughed on through Kirkby Lonsdale and towards Cumbria stopping in a garage at Ings (via the nicest cycle path in the world on the side of the A591) where we stocked up on the obligatory Kendal Mint Cake to power us up into the Cumbrian Mountains.

More climbing later and we were becoming downbeat. It had been a struggle and we were barely more than half way through the day. It was cold, it was wet. And there was no Kendal Mint Cake Left.

We had reached the top of the Kirkstone Pass at 1,500 feet above sea level and had nothing left. Doug and Matt popped their head round the door of the Kirkstone Pass Inn to see if we could cheekily fill our water bottles. They came back with squash, chocolate and a £10 donation to our charities! John and Gail Jennings had made our day.

Suddenly we were reminded why we're doing this and our gloom miraculously lifted, just as the weather did too. And to top it all off, the next 6 miles was all down hill to Ullswater!

At the bottom, we met a man from Glasgow and his son doing a charity ride from Glasgow to Brighton and heard his story of how he tried (and failed) to do his bit for Anglo-Scottish relations over a couple of meat pies. The poor lad didn't look as if he wanted to be "made a man of", but probably had little choice in the matter.

Martin by now was getting anxious that he should miss the world cup final. To be fair, he had successfully managed not to miss every other match to date, so to fail at this late stage would be disappointing. The logistics, however, weren't on Martin's side. With an hour until kick-off, we were still some 26 miles from Carlisle - our final destination.

So Martin decided to go it alone, diverting to Penrith to watch the match, while the rest of us cycled on to Carlisle over some thankfully flat terrain.

On arrival at Carlisle, we (eventually) found our digs - which were student halls of residence doubling as a Youth Hostel for the summer holidays. We caught the last half an hour of the Cup Final in the TV room and then found our rooms in the student halls, before sending out for a Chinese take-away.

By the time Martin turned up, I was already in bed nodding off to sleep. He had cycled the 20 miles from Penrith to Carlisle in the dark (the match had gone into extra time) and without a puncture repair kit or tools of any description. It was midnight.

He likes his football does Martin.

Day: 8, Distance: 87.7 miles, Cycling Time: 7hr 34min, Ave Speed: 11.6mph, Max Speed: 39.3mph

Ten Thousand Up

2006-09-01T09:03:00.000+01:00

We did it!!

An honorary mention to Iain Fitzgerald of Garvins as being the sponsor to take us over the £10,000 threshold. His donation to Cancer Research UK means our total now stands at a staggering...

Sponsorship Latest

2006-08-31T13:38:00.000+01:00

Wow! What a truly generous lot you are!

We'd all like to thank you so much for your donations and pledges to support our two charities - The Meningitis Research Foundation and Cancer Research UK.

And, as sign of our gratitude, we will be giving away an autographed promotional bottle of 10-year old malt whisky kindly donated by the Glenlivet distillery to one lucky sponsor. For each £5 you pledged, you’ll get a raffle ticket – names will be drawn out of the hat this weekend (2nd / 3rd September).

Don’t panic if you haven’t sponsored us yet – there’s still a little more time! To make a dontation to the Meningitis Research Foundation, click here. To make a donation to Cancer Research UK, click here.

So, how have we done? Online, we have raised £4,180 for Cancer Research and £2,070 for Meningitis Research, together with Gift Aid of £1,090 and £530 respectivley. Added to this is the £1,000 in matching sponsorship from Garvins and SIAS as well as some mammoth individual direct donations from Punter Southall and PSolve staff totalling £1,125.

This means our grand total as of 8pm on 31 August is....

The Diary - Part Seven

2006-08-30T14:00:00.000+01:00

Day - Saturday 8th July

Breakfast this morning was stood up outside the delightful Spar shop in Chester admiring the pages and pages of "Chavs who are barred from this shop" stuck up in the window. After scoffing much milkshake and sausage rolls, we were on our way at 9.45am.

The morning's ride was pretty uneventful, and thankfully flat. Much of the route was on main roads and navigation was easy. The miles were clocking up thick and fast.

Then we happened on a town called Lymm (near Warrington in Cheshire). The whole town seemed to have been dug up (take that as you will: the local residents looked like they had recently been disinterred and the roads had been carted off in skips) just in time for their annual festival. I have never seen anything like it. How a town no bigger than, say, Yeovil, can have a dozen or more town criers, I'll never know. Bizarre.

We left quickly.

Soon we reached our lunchtime destination - Leigh. If Chester was chav-tastic, then Leigh is by far and away chav capital of England (and possibly the entire universe). So much burberry, shell suits and bling in one place cannot be healthy. There was no balance. No nice bits to off-set the sprawling Matalan / McDonalds retail parks. In an effort to fit in, we bought our lunch from a Bargain Booze off-license, not letting one another out of sight for a minute...

Humour isn't up to much in Leigh either - as we cycled through a young lad clearly impressed his equally intellectual mates by shouting "huh huh. Tour De France!" several times.

Heading on towards Chorley, following Doug's instructions (thankfully the pressure was off me in that respect) we ventured back out into the countryside. Doug's instruction of "in 5.5 miles turn right onto Grimeford Lane" was dutifully ignored as we cycled 7 miles along that road, before I could catch Martin and Doug to gloat that my mileometer had said 5.5 miles at the exact place we should have turned right. They didn't believe me.

From Chorley onwards, we encountered different terrain and different weather. The hills got steep again, and the drizzle started to soak us through. I was struggling and so let Matt, Doug and Martin carry on at their pace, while Helen and I follwed on at our slightly slower one.

The descents became dangerous in the conditions, although I still managed a respectable 46.6mph at one point. We arrived at Slaidburn Youth Hostel drenched to the bone at 7.45pm, and after showers etc, rewarded ourselves with a fantastic meal at the Hark to Bounty Inn.

Kerry (acting as vehicular support for the day) and I sneaked off to enjoy a bit more comfort in a nearby hotel while the others arranged to go back to the pub for breakfast in the morning. One week done, one to go!

Day: 7, Distance: 90.6 miles, Cycling Time: 7hr 14min, Ave Speed: 12.5mph, Max Speed: 46.6mph

The Diary - Part Six

2006-08-29T14:04:00.000+01:00

Day 6 - Friday 7th July

Most people would be more than just a little annoyed to get a phone call from their boss half way through their holiday. Other than the issue of him waking me up at 7am after the late finish last night, I was actually pleased when Robert Garvin phoned to say he'd be joining us for the day's ride from Stourbridge to Chester.

Kerry left early for work and so I set about turning our kitchen into a bombsite whilst preparing breakfast for the others. It wasn't quite up to the standard of Penyclawdd Farm, but still immensely satisfying (even if I do say so myself!). As we finished, Robert and his wife Linda arrived - right on cue.

This morning my bike was demanding our mechanical attentions, as last nights front derailieur problems needed fixing. However, even with Robert's bike know-how, we couldn't seem to get the blasted thing fixed. After three-quarters of an hour adjusting screws this way and that, tightening cables here and there, and swearing every which way but loose, we gave up and I headed round the corner to Race Co Cycles (which we ought to have done from the start!). When I explained what we were doing, the top chap there fixed the problem in a jiffy and didn't even charge me.

By now it was 11am - yet another late start. We headed off towards Bridgnorth with me explaining how the next 15 or so miles was part of my training route and was pretty flat.

Places feel so much hillier when you've got a tonne of luggage on the back of your bike. In Bridgnorth we successfully climbed Cartway (a steep cobbled street which is actuall oneway - down the hill!) and decided to make up some time by pressing on towards Ironbridge.

Just outside ironbridge, the mechanical curse of LEJOG06 struck again as the bracket holding Robert's handlebar-bag in place broke. Unable to fix it, we cycled the last half-mile into Ironbridge to meet Linda and Dfor (their dog) with Robert carrying the bag under his arm. Thankfully Linda was able to save the day while the rest of us enjoyed the delicious home-made pizza that Helen's mum dropped round the night before.

**I owe an apology to Helen at this point for forgetting in my diary of yesterday that her parents visited us in Stourbridge and brought with them a feast of goodies for us to picnic on the next day - good show! and thanks again to Mr & Mrs Smith!**

Despite the journey from Ironbrdge onwards being flat, it still hurt. I think this was the point where I hit my personal "wall" (disappointly close to Lands End and not anywhere near enough to John O'Groats!). Thankfully the others didn't and that spurred me on.

We stopped later in the day at Ellesmere where some of us fed the ducks (and Dfor) - although I must admit my Bakewell tart was just too tasty to share with animals.

After a final push we arrived at the Hotel in Chester. Once again, my map measurements were awry - my notes suggested 69 miles, in reality it was 82 - but the team were getting used to this by now. Some Czech girls who were also staying at the hotel wandered through the carpark and started giggling, pointing in our direction
and then heading over. Martin began to think wearing his Irn Bru t-shirt was finally paying dividends (Irn Bru being very popular in the Czech Republic I'm told). Unfortunatley, the girls were more interested in Dfor.

We said goodbye to the Garvinator (his new nickname on account of being an unstoppable cycling machine, particularly compared to the likes of me who by now was already feeling the strain) and Linda and Dfor and went to our rooms to shower before heading out to find somewhere to eat.

Friday night in Chester is, er, not the nicest time to hit the city. However, we found a pleasant Italian restaurant away from all the hullaballoo who, oddly, weren't surprised when we ordered our 5 bowls of pasta and then added two large pizzas as a side order!

Totally sated by our gigantic meal, we braved Chester's roads to walk back to the hotel.

Day: 6, Dist: 82.5 miles, Cycling time: 6hr 16mins, Ave Speed: 13.1mph, Max Speed: 41.4mph

The Diary - Part Five

2006-08-28T21:45:00.000+01:00

Day 5 - Thursday 6th July

Many things have kept me awake at night over the years, but last night was the first time I had lost sleep thanks to a sheep. One of John and Ann's hand-reared lambs wanted the world to know that it was hungry right underneath the window of the room Doug and I were in. In my dazed and over-tired state, it took me some time to work out that shutting the double-glazed window would shut out the noise.

Despite that, we all had a fantastic night's sleep and were well-rested when we went downstairs to an awesome full "Welsh" breakfast. It truly was luxury after 4 nights in Youth Hostels.

After getting ready, we went to load up the bikes. To our astonishment, Matt's back wheel was ****ed again! A broken spoke had gone unnoticed over the final few miles and his rear wheel was starting to buckle again. We knew that the route today took us to some remote parts of Herefordshire and Worcestershire, making it unlikely that we'd have any chance encounters with bike-shops. John-superman-Davies came to the rescue and drove Matt and Doug into Abergavenny to get it fixed.

This gave the rest of us a chance to drink tea, write our journals for the first few days of the trip and catch up on the local goings-on in Abergavenny.

By the time Doug and Matt got back from Abergavenny and we packed up again and said our good-byes and thank-yous, it was Midday. Still, we thought, it's only 66 miles to Stourbridge, so we can afford to take it steady. In a fit of irony, I mocked the pair of sign-posts within 100 yards of each other outside Abergavenny that between them thought Skillett was either 12 miles or 9 miles away.

We stopped for some food when we reached Skenfrith Castle on the Welsh-English border , just as the weather returned to the hot and sunny conditions we had been "enjoying" back down in Cornwall, Devon and Somerset.

We headed for Ross-on-Wye where, once again, our directions didn't quite match the route we took (I'm still not sure which was actually wrong). Matt circumnavigated a roundabout several times while the rest of us worked out how to get back on track.

As we zipped through hilly Herefordshire and onto undulating Worcestershire, we clocked up some stonking speeds - exceeding 50 mph at one point near Upper Sapey in Herefordshire. However, it soon became apparent that my map-measuring skills even fell short of those of Abergavenny's road-sign makers. It clearly wasn't 66 miles from Abergavenny to Stourbridge. It was more like 86. The gang took the news, er, well, continuing with their deliberate mixing up of local towns (particularly Stourton and Stourbridge).

I began to get even more tetchy when my front mech started playing up which meant I couldn't use the largest chain-ring. I knew we just didn't have the time to carry out the fiddly task of re-adjusting so I just had to put up with it.

We were approaching Kidderminster when the sun started to set. We were all getting tired and disheartened that the miles didn't seem to be sliding by as quickly as they had been on previous days. Every turn of the pedal began to hurt. It was a thankful sight to see Kerry arrive with provisions and, just as importantly, a car to carry the lead-lined bags we'd been dragging for the last 80 miles.

I have pinpointed this as the exact moment that Doug's love-affair with the Rocky bar started.

With renewed vigour (but with legs that didn't seem to quite get that point) we completed the last few miles, arriving at my gaffe in time to watch the last dregs of sunlight disappear beneath the horizon. It was 10pm. Our latest finish yet.

The day ended as it had started with a sumptuous feast. This time lasagne, potato wedges, garlic bread and finally ice-cream rewarded our hard work. As the others trundled off to bed, I washed the cycling kit and hung it to dry before retiring myself at 1am.

Day: 5, Dist: 86.4 miles, Cycling time: 6hr 59min, Ave speed: 12.3mph, Max Speed 50.8mph!!

The Diary - Part Four

2006-08-28T17:53:00.000+01:00

Day 4 - Wednesday 5th July

We awoke to glorious Somerset sunshine streaming through the dorm windows. Pretty, but annoying when you really need that sleep.

A hearty cooked breakfast was just the tonic to set us up for the day before we somehow contrived to spend an hour washing up and loading the bikes. Nevertheless we were on the road at 10am and heading toward Matt's home town, Wells, where we viewed the many tourist attractions that the city offers. (Strictly, that's not true. We stood outside Tescos in the drizzling rain eating bananas whilst I bemoaned having forgotten to bring a raincoat. Then we set off again.)

The mendips provided a bit of a challenge for us as we headed on towards Bristol. We tried to take our minds off the endless climbing by telling some poor jokes. Ask Doug to tell the one about his visit to the zoo with no animals...

On the way, Doug and Matt made contact with some fellow nutters / friends of theirs who were doing the JOGLE cycle (i.e. backwards) and it transpired that our paths would cross at Barrow Gurney. We met them briefly at the Prince's Motto pub, but with most of our cycling still not done (unlike the others who had made a ridiculously early start and were nearly finished), we reluctantly declined the invitation to join them for lunch, instead heading towards the Clifton suspension bridge.

Crossing the bridge was uneventful save for the spectacular views across the Avon gorge. We then climbed up onto Clifton Downs where we were briefly halted by incorrect directions. Once we worked out where we were going, we journeyed on in the rain towards the old Severn Bridge.

The wind blowing down the Severn Estuary made crossing the bridge tricky, but we soon reached the second country of our tour - Wales. Disappointingly, the "Croeso I Gymru" sign was on the opposite side of the dual carriageway to the cycle path, so a photo opportunity went begging.

It was, once again, getting late in the day. We still had a fair whack of cycling to do before we got to Abergavenny, so we agreed to push ahead. When we reached Llangwm, we stopped for lunch and I phoned that night's B&B to let them know we were running a touch late. As we set off, Helen repeated my effort of Day 0 and took a tumble off her bike - it looked worryingly painful, but she did herself surprisingly little damage.

We headed to Usk and then onto Aberystwyth. As we got within a few miles of our destination at Llanvihangel Crucorney, our direction of travel swung us round into a headwind making the last half-hour somewhat arduous. We finally arrived at Penyclawdd Farm at 7.30pm, to be greeted by Ann and John Davies, the owners of the B&B.

Ann and John were incredibly welcoming to us. After we had showered, tea and cake was laid on and John ferried all of us to the local pub for dinner. All of us, that is, except for Martin "can't-miss-a-minute" Hunter who declined coming for food just in case the pub didn't have a TV showing the football (it did).

Day: 4, Dist: 81.4miles, Cycling time: 6hrs 49min, Ave Spd: 11.9mph, Max Spd: 34.5mph

The Diary - Part Three

2006-08-25T17:15:00.000+01:00

Day 3 - Tuesday 4th July

Strangely enough, despite the stresses of the first two days, there was a renewed sense of optimism about today. We were still alive, we had beans on toast for breakfast and the sun was shining. What more could you want?

We set off early enough and planned to stop in Exeter to see if we could find a competent bike mechanic to true up Matt's wheel (or, alternatively, a shop that would sell him a replacement). And that we did.

After a spot of shopping in Tescos for lunch and snacks we were on our merry way. Even though it was after 1pm by the time we left Exeter and we still had about 50 miles left to cycle, we maintained the cheery spirit that we had woken with at Steps Bridge.

The hills were becoming longer and more sweeping (as opposed to the short, steep ones we encountered frequently in Cornwall) as we progressed through Devon towards Somerset. The type of road started to vary enormously from the busy A-roads (occasionally, but rarely dual carriageway) to the country lanes that were barely wide enough to accomodate a bike let alone a car or tractor.

At Talaton, we stopped for a late lunch and "enjoyed" a local resident's music which he/she had felt it necessary to share with the entire village. To be fair, it sounded pretty good.

Late in the afternoon, and much to our relief, we hit the Somerset levels. Finally, a decent stretch of flat where we could really get some speed up with minimal effort! And, as if the beautiful countryside and hill-less journeying weren't buoying enough to our spirits, we even had first-hand proof that the milk of human kindness flows thick and fast in Barrington when we were invited into a complete stranger's home to fill up our drinks bottles.

Having passed by some of my boyhood haunts in Shepton Beauchamp, we stopped for another swift break in West Lambrook before pressing on again to Somerton, and the return of a few unwelcome hills - including the very steep and long one leading up to our resting place for the evening - Street Youth Hostel (complete with [insert politically correct term for gypsies, whatever that might be] camped on the other side of the road).

Shock horror! - we actually finished the day's cycling before sunset!

In fact, we had finished so early that we had time to get cleaned up and head down into Street to eat and to purchase provisions for the next morning's breakfast. Everyone had neglected to mention that it was a 2 mile walk - exercise none of us felt we needed. Apart from Martin who, in a bid to ensure that he didn't miss a single minute of the World Cup, ran it. Little did we know this was a portent of things to come.

Dinner in Wetherspoons was, er, just like all other Wetherspoons. Tasty enough after a day's cycling and Doug clearly thought so when he bought his invisible friend a meal too. After a swift Guinness (for me that is - strangely, I failed to make a note of what the others drank that night), we caught a taxi back to the Youth Hostel to bed.

That night I slept happy in the knowledge that, for the first time, things had pretty much gone to plan today.

Day: 3, Miles: 70.8, Cycling time: 5hr 44mins, Ave Speed: 12.4mph, Max Speed: 42.0mph

Postcard from Penyclawdd Farm

2006-08-24T17:54:00.000+01:00

The day we finished in Abergavenny, we had the absolute pleasure of staying with John and Ann Davies at Penyclawdd Farm B&B. They made us feel incredibly welcome, looked after us really well and even taxied us around to get bikes fixed.

So we sent them a postcard from John O'Groats to say thank you, and got this in reply:

The Diary - Part Two

2006-08-24T16:37:00.000+01:00

Day 2 - Monday 3rd July

If Day 1 was a trial for us, then Day 2 turned out to be full of tribulations.

My dodgy knee was causing me a whole host of problems, although I found that dosing myself up on Ibuprofen and keeping the knee directly above my ankle whilst riding kept the pain down to a bearable level.

We got on the road nice and early, as planned, and headed from Golant Youth Hostel down to the Brodinnick ferry. So far so good. After disembarking, we made swift progress to Looe where we stopped for a 10 minute breather (and Martin's obligatory Irn Bru) before climbing the hill out of the town towards Torpoint.

And then it happened. Doug picked up a puncture - his second of the trip so far (we had fixed one on the sie of the road somewhere in the Cornish Lanes on Sunday). A bit unlucky to have a second, we though, but fixed it nonetheless. 100 yards along the road, it went again. Clearly there was a major problem here.

That problem turned out to be not just the state of Doug's tyre, but the fact that not one of us had bought a spare along (at this stage we were ignorant of the existence of folding tyres) - only inner tubes. Standing in a gateway being eaten alive by horseflies and all manner of other flying insects, we discussed what to do next. Matt, Helen and Martin were already 4 miles up the road.

With the nearest bike shop some 14 miles away, it was clear we had a major logistical problem in replacing Doug's tyre, so we decided to bodge it. I had packed some electricians tape in my panniers especially for such emergencies and we layered it on the inside of Doug's delapidated tyre. But, would it do the trick? We got back on the bikes and waved goodbye to the gathered masses of flies, wasps and bees.

A few miles on, tyre still intact, we found Helen and the other lads lounging in the shade of a tree. Matt's brakes were starting to rub against his wheel rims and so he was busy adjusting them.

Doug, worried about the tyre, decided to press on towards Torpoint and perhaps Plymouth, hoping to be able to find a bike shop and get a replacement tyre on his bike before we could catch him. As Doug cycled off into the midday sun, the remaining four of us agreed to pair off and meet in Torpoint. Helen and I set off first expecting my knee to slow us down, while Martin waited for Matt to put his bike back together.

Helen and I made good progress and were nearing Hessenford when I glanced back to see if I could see Matt and Martin. Unfortunately I could only see one. It transpired that Martin and Matt had become briefly separated at exactly the wrong moment. A quick call to Matt's mobile confirmed the worst. He had taken a wrong turning and was heading towards Plymouth - but the long way round. So now we were down to three.

We three pushed on to Torpoint where we thought our luck was starting to turn (little did we know). Right on our route down to the Torpoint/Plymouth ferry was a bike shop and outside was Doug, putting the wheel back on his bike, complete with brand spanking new tyre! Phew! We boarded the ferry and phoned to see how Matt was progressing.

Matt's little detour was almost at an end and he was entering Plymouth. However, he had another problem. His brakes weren't at fault for the earlier rubbing - it was his wheel starting to buckle and it was getting worse. Time for the second bike shop visit of the day!

The famous five were finally reunited in the cafe of a Morrisons supermarket somewhere in Plymouth. But, by this stage it was around 4pm and we still had to cycle across Dartmoor. We were getting concerned that we might not make it as far as Steps Bridge.

As we reached Yelverton, some 10 miles further on, Matt's wheel began buckling again. The shop in Plymouth clearly hadn't done anything to fix the problem. Matt removed his mudguard and slackened off the brakes to give the warped wheel room to manoevre whilst Doug once again powered ahead to see if he could find somewhere to buy our dinner in Princetown.

He did. Doug managed to persuade a local shopkeeper to open her shop to let him purchase a selection of supernoodles. Doug also had time to find out that his bike tool had a spoke key on it and so when the rest of us caught up, Matt tightened his spokes to stop the wheel buckling further. Worryingly, the sun was beginning to set.

Dartmoor at dusk is a beautiful place. Unless you're a short-sighted sheep who cannot see Matt Claisse in full flight on his bike. From where I was sitting it looked like the said sheep deliberately threw himself in front of Matt. How both managed to escape relatively injury free, goodness only knows.

As we descended off Dartmoor, the failing light and surrounding trees made it pretty much impossible to see where we were going. Nonetheless, a feast of supernoodles (and, as it turns out, a couple of frozen pizzas found for us by the Youth Hostel warden) awaited and so when we finally arrived at Steps Bridge at 9.45pm, it was with relief that the day was finally over.

Surely things could only get better....

Day: 2, Miles: 67.2, Cycling time: 5hrs 45min, Ave Speed: 11.3mph, Max speed: 47.8mph

The Diary - Part One

2006-08-24T14:09:00.000+01:00

So here it is, part one of the diary they've all been waiting for. Ty explains the goings-on on tour from his viewpoint (usually towards the back...).

Day 0 - Saturday 1st July

Last night was manic. The plan was to have had everything packed days ago and get the train down to London after work to spend the evening at Dave's stag do (and then meet the others first thing Saturday morning to train it down to Penzance). It didn't happen - too much to sort out at the last minute. Thankfully Kerry offered to drive me straight to Penzance - what a star!

The journey down in the glorious sunshine was a little less fraught once I had established that the other four had safely boarded the train at Marylebone. Kicking back in the passenger seat of Kerry's car, I began to look forward to two weeks exploring the British countryside on a bike.

On arriving at Penzance station to meet the others, I couldn't help but stare in amazement at the amount of stuff Matt had managed to bring! As it turns out, he forgot the spare wheel, but was prepared for most other eventualities.

And so, the prologue began. A quick 10 mile sprint down to Lands End to warm up, get the photos done and meet my Dad (who, by complete coincidence, was setting off for John O Groats the same time as us, but aiming to finish in 8 days!).

After posing for the myriad of cameras down at Lands End (well, three) we headed into the Ship Inn to watch England vs Portugal. Oh, how Martin laughed. It wasn't the best of starts to my holiday - but nonetheless it was soon forgotten as we crossed the famous start line and headed back towards Penzance.

And it was just 4 miles from Lands End (yes, that's right, 4 miles!) that we had our first accident. I'm ashamed to say that it was me that takes the honour of being first faller. I learned to be a touch quicker at unclipping my pedal cleats after that.

So, 10 miles in to the journey we arrived at our first stop-over - Penznace Youth Hostel. With bikes safely stored and paperwork sorted, we headed down to the seafront for a feat of fish and chips and battered mars bars (I thought they were a Scottish delicacy?). A quick pint and then off to bed in preparation for the first full day.

Day: 0, Miles: 9.50, Time: 40 mins, Ave Speed: 14.2mph, Max Speed: 39.3mph

Day 1 - Sunday 2nd July

The start was early. Especially when we were supposed to be on holiday!

We set off in earnest ready to tackle whatever Cornwall could throw at us. As it turned out, it was quite hilly and we ended up having to sit out a thunder storm in a bus shelter in Peranwell Station.

However, a roast lamb lunch at The Roseland Inn at Philleigh (tel: 01872 580254) was awesome enough to help us forget all that. However, we quickly came to the conclusion that snacking throughout the day was much better than gorging for lunch as we tried to cycle our over-full bellies up the the next mountain.

The afternoon was spent lost in the lanes of the Cornish "outback", adding several miles onto trek - as if it wasn't long enough already! We finally made an unplanned descent down to Portmellon in the late afternoon. A bit of confusion over whether we were cyclists or in fact heavy goods vehicle meant that we ditched the 100 yard flat route out of the village, opting instead to cycle 1.5 miles up one side of a very steep hill and down the other. The locals stared in disbelief. We rewarded our stupidity with clotted cream fudge from a shop in Mevagissey.

By this stage it was getting late and, as we approached St Austell, it was clear that Sunday trading had ceased several hours before. Undeterred, we pushed on towards Par. But this undeterred-ness was shortlived as the road to Par was closed. Somebody had kindly dug it up.

A helpful local pointed out that cyclists could still get through, although she didn't point out that the cycle path was a little "cross-country". A successful piece of navigation later, and we were in Par. And then we found our Oasis - a Spar - and it was actually open. A Spar. In Par. Par Spar. How we joked about that (for approximately the next eight days). Midly more amusing was the poster in the window showing some recent staff fundraising efforts - they were described as Stars. You can guess what happened next.

We purchased sausages and pasta, got three sets of directions to Golant and opted to take the steepest.

On turning off the road at Golant onto the gravel driveway, my bike slipped underneath me and my knee twisted sickenly. I didn't say so at the time, but I really thought the adventure was over before it had even begun.

At 9pm we decamped into the Youth Hostel and Matt amazed us with his awesome Cheffing skills. Sausage and pasta followed by sticky toffee pudding. Mmmmm...

Day: 1, Miles: 65.4, Time: 5hr 58mins, Ave Speed: 10.9mph, Max Speed: 38.1mph

The Stats

2006-07-19T14:16:00.000+01:00

Although there was a continuous debate over the accuracy of my bike computer (as it consistently recorded a marginally greater distance each day compared with every one else in the team), here are my final stats for each stage. I'm particularly pleased that I managed to top 50mph just after passing through Upper Sapey in Herefordshire.

We made it!

2006-07-17T13:00:00.000+01:00

At 8.30pm on Saturday (15th July) the five of us crossed the finish line at John O'Groats following a mammoth 107-mile ride. This was despite having two broken spokes in the space of 24 hours!

A full and frank blow-by-blow account of what happened over the two weeks will appear on this site shortly, as well as details of how the fund-raising efforts went. Watch this space!

Nessie-Spotting

2006-07-13T23:03:00.000+01:00

90 miles chalked up today by the "awesome" LEJOGers - cycling around some of Britain's most beautiful countryside and ending up here at the Scottish Youth Hostel on the banks of Loch Ness.

Having only previously met up with three JOGLErs (doing it the wrong way round!) by prior arrangement earlier last week, today we encountered some felow LEJOGers - six in total. We beat them all to Fort Augustus - not that it's a race you understand!

Tomorrow we head off for Carbisdale Castle.

Now, where did I put that midge spray?...

Three Days to go

2006-07-12T22:40:00.000+01:00

We've been enjoying the balmy scottish summer over the past few days - hence the lack of updates on the website. Look out for the pictures of us sunning ourselves on the deck of the Arran ferry when we get back.

Tonight we arrived in Oban having completed a somewhat hilly journey. You'll be glad to hear that we're still on track and, all being well, will arrive in John O'Groats on Saturday evening.

Watch this space for more updates soon - as well as pictures of some awesome tan lines :o)

We're still going!

2006-07-07T09:54:00.000+01:00

Hello "Awesome Lejog" fans!

You may be wondering why my promise to update this site daily has not actually materialised. Well, in truth, it's that we just haven't had the time! We're still on track and have arrived successfully at all our planned stop-overs, we've had a few bike problems (and run over the odd sheep and sparrow) on the way. This has meant a few late finishes - last night we finsihed the 86 mile ride from Abergavenny to Stourbridge at 10pm.

Anyway, here are couple of photos to keep you going. I will try to find time soon to divulge more detail of our adventures...

Sponsorship update

2006-06-22T11:49:00.000+01:00

A big "thank you" to everyone who has already donated or pledged. There are some truly generous people out there! So far we have raised over £2,000 in online donations, plus £600 "offline" and up to £1,000 in matching sponsorship. Keep them coming please!

If you know of anyone who wishes to sponsor us but is unwilling or unable to do so online, then let one of us know as there are plenty of other ways to donate!

And don't forget word of mouth is the best medium of all - so tell all your friends and family what we're doing!

For further details on how to sponsor us, click here or scroll down...

Training in Oxfordshire

2006-06-22T11:26:00.000+01:00

On Sunday (18 June) the five of us got together for our first (and probably only) joint training session before the big off in ten days' time.

The official circular tour started and finished in Henley-on-Thames, but we tagged an extra 8 or so miles onto the route by meeting in nearby Twyford. We covered just over 50 miles and rewarded ourselves with a delicious curry buffet at the Hawelli Restaurant when we returned to Twyford later in the day.

For more pictures of us in training, visit my flickr site.

Shop to help raise more cash!

2006-05-26T12:49:00.000+01:00

Why not raise even more money for our two worthwhile charities by doing a spot of online shopping? Click the logo above and wiggle will give us a percentage of any money you spend on sports gear (cycling, running, skiing, walking, swimming, snowboarding....) on their website.

Wiggle say, "we guarantee that you'll be satisfied with wiggle!

wiggle is an independant company, run by a dedicated team. We aim to be the kind of company that we'd want to deal with if we were you. You have our absolute commitment as fellow active sports enthusiasts, internet users and hard-working people that you'll be satisfied with wiggle. If you're not, let us know and we'll sort it out!"

So far, we've found them true to their word!

Our Route

2006-05-03T16:43:00.000+01:00

And so, here is the grand plan. We have made some minor modifications since the initial plan, but we now intend to complete the 14 stages (and 1 mini-stage) listed below. We are staying in many different types of accomodation - from Youth Hostels to B&Bs, my house to Scottish castles and the odd hotel for good measure.

(All dates in July, mileages approximate)
Sat 1st: Lands End to Penzance (11 miles)
Sun 2nd: Penzance to Golant (58 m)
Mon 3rd: Golant to Steps Bridge (67 m)
Tue 4th: Steps Bridge to Street (Nr Glastonbury) (69 m)
Wed 5th: Street to Abergavenny (80 m)
Thu 6th: Abergavenny to Stourbridge (66 m)
Fri 7th: Stourbridge to Chester (69 m)
Sat 8th: Chester to Slaidburn (Lancs) (74 m)
Sun 9th: Slaidburn to Carlisle (91 m)
Mon 10th: Carlisle to Kendoon (Nr Dalry, Castle Douglas) (67 m)
Tue 11th: Kendoon to Lochranza (Isle of Arran) (70* m)
Wed 12th: Lochranza to Oban (62** m)
Thu 13th: Oban to Loch Ness (86 m)
Fri 14th: Loch Ness to Carbisdale Castle (Nr Culrain) (64 m)
Sat 15th: Carbisdale Castle to John O'Groats (95 m)

Total: 1,029 miles

*plus 13 mile ferry crossing
**plus 4.5 mile ferry crossing

Our Chosen Charities

2006-04-27T14:13:00.000+01:00

We have chosen to raise money for two charities dedicated to researching potentially lethal diseases here in the UK. All five of us have been unfortunate to have had friends and family affected by Cancer or Meningitis in the past and this ride is our way of helping to make sure the good work of these charities continues.

We are not going to decide how to split the money we raise between the two charities. Instead, we are leaving that decision to you. If you cannot decide (and, let's face it, they're both extremely worthwhile causes) then why not donate to both?

To sponsor us in aid of Cancer Research UK, click here.

To sponsor us in aid of the Meningitis Research Foundation, click here.

Thankyou for visiting our site, and thankyou for your generosity. Don't forget to keep visiting between now and the end of July to keep track of our progress with fundraising, training and the ride itself.