Day Ten

Departing From – Tain

ETD – 7.00am                     ATD – 8.02am – combo of faffing around and Heppie getting a puncture before we even pushed off!

Destination – John O’Groats – yee haa!

 ETA – 4.30pm                                   

ATA -  5.35pm

Today’s Sponsor – today is all about thanks!

Thanks to Rosco – for letting me crash his challenge, I’ve had a fantastic 10 days with you, what a bloody laugh we’ve had!

Thanks to Dad – we couldn’t have done this without you, all the support, buying the food when we ‘ordered’ it, finding the safe places to stop, playing cat and mouse to keep us laughing, being the sleep monitor for the power nap and having the whole team descend on his house for the last 2 days!

Thanks to Heppie, for putting up with me for the last 5 months, I’ve lived this challenge every day since the beginning of the year……and had to do a lot of training to make it as enjoyable as it has been.

Thanks to all my pals, you know who you are, for watching the boys, sending the messages of support via text, FB and Twitter and putting up with me in general!

Mileage                87                           Ascent                  3474        feet

Calories Burnt – my polar finally gave up today, it had been on low battery since last Wednesday, glad it lasted this long. I was burning 80% less calories than Heppie by lunchtime (I’m so fit now!) based on that I burnt 4448.

Food Eaten – 4 bits wholemeal toast and honey, ¼ of a fruit cake (large one leftover from Christmas!), 2 chicken and salad rolls, packet of crisps, apple, stoats bar, jelly tots (Heppie brought them along!), 300g chopped melon, 5 marmite rice cakes, water, juice the usual….then at the finish (yes we did finish) half a bottle of Lanson! Went down a treat! More champers at dad’s, then curry and beer in Tain, some red wine when we got back to the house and I crashed about 1am!

Day Ten……woke up, peeked out the curtains….blue skies with whispy clouds! My spirits instantly lifted. A great day to finish this great challenge. Gave Heppie a nudge and got up…….big breakfast required! As usual we faffed about getting ready, Linda got up to be official photographer for the final push off.

Heppie was joining us for the last 87 miles, Rosco kidded about letting down the tyres on his bike; to slow him down…..Heppie frowned, and asked ‘did you?’ – ‘No, I was just kidding’, we all looked at Hippie’s bike – he had a puncture! Start the clock………wee while later and we finally pushed off! This was it – the last day…..I felt magic, all the exhaustion had been locked away at the back of my brain, I was SO going to enjoy the last day!

Within 6 miles we’d stopped 3 times, to pee, take photos and stuff like that. Heppie soon realised why we average 10 miles per hour……! We were due to meet ‘Linda the cha’ at 10am in Brora for our first coffee stop. The weather was beautiful, lovely and sunny, so glad I put on sun cream, unlike my bro! More on that later! The scenery up here is lovely, great views over the North Sea.

Met Linda who had all the goodies out for us to eat, the four of us attacked the fruit cake leftover from Christmas (all wrapped up hadn’t been opened, it was decorated with nuts) and we demolished it – enough for at least 20 normal folk! Agreed the lunchtime meeting place would be Dunbeath……after Helmsdale and Berridale!

We’ve cycled up 10%, 15% and 20% hills so far, climbed over 30,000 feet, so how hard could these last 2 wee hills be? Ha! Helmsdale was first. Rosco had done it as part of training, he said, ‘it’s not too steep but quite long’. As we cycled through Helmsdale we had a couple of quite steep hills, that were quite long….I was thinking…easy peasey! We then got to the roundabout at the north of the town and I looked left….OMG….this long winding road on a hill that disappeared into the horizon. To be honest, right up my street, you know me by now; I’m a sit back in the saddle and grind type of girl.  And that’s what I did. It was like Soutra but steeper and it felt shorter. There’s a lay-by about 80% up, we stopped there, had a wee chat and stuff on sweeties. Dad appeared and pulled over for a chat, wishing us luck for the next biggie….Berridale. Onwards we went, finished the climb and spun out the legs in anticipation of the next one.

Today was in 2 clear sections for me – getting these 2 hills done and then the spin to the finish. I was apprehensive about Berridale, Rosco put my mind at ease – ‘it’s not anything we’ve not done already, shorter than Cheddar Gorge, but steeper’ I could do that. With all hills ‘what goes up must come down’ (well most hills anyway), so we got the down into Berridale first,  I topped 40 miles per hour, saw the polar reading 63.5kph, but couldn’t glance at it for long, the road had bends in it, just had to fire down it – following the 2 boys in front. I kept my distance, easier to get your own speed up with some space. Feels safer too, if one of them crash and burn- I can take avoidance measures!

The road quickly ascends round a right hand corner, I kept my head down, dropped into granny gear and decided just to focus on the road 10 m ahead – ‘don’t look up’ was going over and over in my mind. Suddenly a red ‘thing’ caught my eye, I looked up the sign said ‘stop here when red light shows’ – I looked up  Heppie was about 15m ahead of me, through the traffic lights, which were at red. I couldn’t stop now, it’s a 13% hill and I was in a rhythm, so I shot the light and took the switch back, a really tight turn at full 13%, there was an Esso fuel tanker coming down to take the switchback at same time! Plenty room for us both, but gave me the adrenalin rush I needed to climb on, and on, and on, the blooming hill goes on forever. Rosco was nowhere to be seen, he’d taken the hill very aggressively, and Heppie was just in front of me, ploughing on. Still out the saddle I finally got to the top…… the end of my LeJog was in sight now – no more monster hills, just steady riding to the finish! Yee haa!

We found another road sign….47 miles to go! Took more pictures, and had a brief chat with a lady on her bike, laden with panniers. She was most dismissive that we were being supported, if only she’d seen us at our next stop – 2 supporters and 2 cars, she would have frowned!

We met at Dunbeath with the support team, had a great lunch, took us a while to find Linda, we’d forgotten to tell her, where we agree to stop, we stop at the first lay-by just before that town. She was outside the Spar, enjoying the sunshine.

There were just 39 miles to go, so we headed off full of excitement. After about 2 miles we got thirsty! And for the first time all trip we stopped for a pint! I had a half, the boys a whole! It was great, so refreshing. Spurred on, we pushed on, soon hearing a tremendous roaring engine coming up behind us. It was JJ and Claudine; they’d driven up from Inverness for the finish. Actually JJ and Claudine had come all the way from Singapore (for my challenge  finish… oh and a friend is getting married in Scotland next week or something! Hee hee) They zoomed past in the Porsche tooting like mad. Couple of lay-bys later they were out cheering us on as we flew past ! I shouted for them to stop at the loch 7 miles north of Wick, the final break stop.

Heppie’s pump fell off his bike as we went through Wick, he found it very hard for his legs to function as he got off his bike and ran back to pick it up. Bit like how a triathlon transition feels!….We cracked on, into the wind, we’d had a head wind most of the day, but thankfully with Heppie so full of beans he lead and we could draft the worst of it! We got about 2 miles of wind behind us, which made us feel good.

Met the whole gang at Westerloch, 3 cars and 4 supporters – the old wifey would have really frowned! I ate marmite rice crackers and a whole tub of chopped melon.

Rosco has been promising to cross the finish line in a mankini for weeks, to raise extra cash for his charity. JJ had spent hours in Inverness trying to find it for him. It was bright lime green……couldn’t wait to see Rosco in it!

So the end was at our finger tips, 11 miles to go…..off we set to massive cheers and car horns tooting us away……heads down we just pedalled on. It’s actually quite a climb up to JoG, we just kept on pedalling. About 3 miles out Heppie pulled away in front of us and left us to finish the challenge together. I started to feel a bit nervous; apprehensive….it was quite weird. The road was quiet, so we cycled along together, reminiscing about what we had achieved, it was a really great moment, took our feet out the clips and swung them around like kids…..anyway…..got into JoG and followed our noses to the finish. We turned the last corner and could see the sign, and the gang all lined up with cameras ready – we’d arrived! The road curved to the right and took us straight through a car park! Nipping between the cars and bumping up over the pavement we got to the sign, dumped the bikes and started jumping around like mad, well I did! I jumped on Rosco, he managed to not fall over and we yelped a bit, punching the air….you get the picture.

So it was over, a few pics with the bikes, with products we got for free, with family, with Dad and so on. Then Rosco slipped off into his mankini….and came round the car park and over the finish line again…..what a picture. He’s got burnt legs and arms and face….and all he had on was his mankini and his red shoe covers! We have pictures and video of it – worth a lot. So we’ve decided if we can get an extra £250 on his charity website we’ll post it on Youtube. So if you have a spare £5 please donate here http://www.justgiving.com/Ross-GordonO and post a message – ‘show me the mankini’ once we get to £250 we’ll post all the photos and video!

This was one of the best things I’ve done in my life, I would highly recommend it to anyone, and I mean anyone. This time last year I didn’t even own a road bike…..and look what I’ve achieved! I have lots of tips, if you want some mail me on FB or twitter and I’ll tell you what I can!

Thanks to EVERYONE for all their support and cash – I can’t believe you’ve donated £3,835, makes me feel very proud indeed! I’ve got such fantastic friends and family.

Ok off for a ‘wee greet’ now, I’m dying to see the kids, I’ve missed them so much!

Day Nine

Departing From – Spean Bridge

ETD – 8.00am                     ATD – 845am latest start yet…we were slow this morning!

Destination – Tain, dad’s house!

ETA – 7pm                          

ATA -     7.20pm, very happy to be here!

Today’s Sponsor – Stoats Porridge Bars www.stoatsporridgebars.co.uk

If you are from Edinburgh, you will have come across this great company. They make fabulous carb rich snack bars. Base ingredient – organic Scots porridge oats, all mixed up with dried fruits, nuts, goji berries, spices and the likes. I’d been eating them whilst training – they are great with a cup of coffee. When I let the guys at Stoats know what I was up to they were delighted to provide a mixed box of bars for the trip. They have been a god send. Honestly, when you eat one, you just know the next couple of hours will be ok. Our favourite is fig and apple – it has a great level of cinnamon in it and Ross and I have literally fought over those ones – we have had to cut them in half! So, if you’re out and about and see them winking at you on from the counter of your local deli or speciality shop – buy one, they are great! Thanks guys, the bars have been brilliant on this trip!

Mileage                92                           Ascent                  3034 (felt like more!)      Calories Burnt 3076

Food Eaten – 4 bits wholemeal toast and marmalade, 3 chunks of baguette with salami and cheese, Danish pastry, stoats bar, caramel bar, Kendal mint cake, jelly beans, roast beef roll, ham roll, sirloin steak with chips and salad, bottle of lucozade, packet of bacon fry’s and half bag of roast chicken crisps. Wasn’t as hungry today!

Day Nine……woke up after 8 hours sleep and still felt knackered! Colin was up, they run a B&B up there, so early rises are the norm. If you’re looking for a great wee place to stay in Invergarry give them a shout – mates rates if you mention me (except in August) Ate lots of toast at Colin’s house before Dad giving us a lift back to Spean bridge to the Little Chef car park where we had finished the night before.

We set off, back along the road to Colin’s for 20 odd miles where we had our second breakfast and a great chat with Colin. The girls were up and helping mum do the turnaround on the rooms in the B&B, they are really cute we things! Well, girls, not things I suppose! We ate really well at Colin’s and decided to push on as far as we could before having another break.

We’d made a minor change to the route for today. Dad reckoned it would take 6 miles off the journey, and as we were so tired, saving 6 miles was very inviting! This is an ‘End to End’ by the shortest route possible! The only down side to the change of route was one wee hill!

So we pushed on up to Loch Ness, no sign of Nessie! The weather held for us today, there were a lot of midgies about, but they couldn’t keep up while we pedalled, and we kept our ‘cream application’ and sweetie breaks short! At Drumnadrochit we took a left onto the A833, the change of course, and headed up ‘the wee hill’ OMG!!! 15% for 0.75 miles, it beat me! Ross conquered it, but I only made it halfway (I’m going to come back later in the summer and do it! I know I can do it, but by day 9 I just didn’t have the drive and energy to force my way up). What a hill, 2 steep climbs separated by bends in the road, then a long straight steep bit, then 2 more bends just as steep. Too much, so I pushed my bike a bit of it, met Ross at the top, he was lying in the verge recovering!

Quick recovery and onwards through Beauly to Dingwall. Dad met us just outside Conon Bridge, where we stocked up on food – filled rolls and juice, I was really tired, so was Ross, so Dad said ‘ok, you can have 12 minutes sleep’ – it was 4.28pm, so we could shut our eyes til 4.40pm. My head fell against the passenger window and I took a few deep breaths and was out, I could hear Ross snoring in the back seat!….but was out myself, if that’s possible. All too soon we heard Dad’s voice – ‘ok you 2 wake up time to push on!’ So for the second day in a row we’ve had to have a power nap to recharge the batteries. We are really tired, well I am, Ross says he’s not, but he is really, or he wouldn’t be snoring at 430pm on a Sunday afternoon in the back of dads car!

Back on the bikes we headed for Tain, through Dingwall and up the A9. It looks so short on the map, but from the Cromarty Firth Bridge to Tain is a LONG slog, miles and miles of pretty straight road, gentle slopes, which felt like hard hills to me….my legs were very heavy. We had a boost….the first sign that said John O’Groats, so we stopped to take a picture, 104 miles to JoG! I was so excited I tried to pole dance on the sign post (note to self, pole dancing lessons required – very poor attempt, where I ended up with my bum on the grass and my feet crossed and stuck in a ‘divet’….pics to follow soon!)

Onwards to Tain, Heppie (husband) and Linda (great pal) were coming up tonight. Heppie is cycling with us for the last day and Linda is going to be cha lady for the day, giving Dad some company!

We got to the Nigg roundabout, knowing we only had 3 miles to go, but had to stop for a chocolate boost. We dumped the bikes – Ross just fell over onto the grass, still clipped in! And we got out the chocolate, within 30 seconds the midgies had found us, and we were scratching like we had fleas! So I broke my bar of chocolate in two, shoved both chunks in my mouth and got back in the saddle. Quick sugar boost and before we knew it we were at dads. We’d ordered sirloin steaks, oven chips and salad for tea, so quick shower and we had a great tea, but I couldn’t finish it, still really tired!

Heppie and Linda arrived and lifted our spirits, a few glasses of wine and tale recounting and then it was time for bed – I really wanted to finish on a high tomorrow, full of energy, ready for the end of our ‘End to End’……..

Day Eight

Departing From – Renton, North of Glasgow

ETD – 8.00am                     ATD – pretty much on time

Destination – Spean Bridge

ETA – today, we get there, when we get there!                               

ATA -     7.30pm Little Chef, Spean Bridge

Today’s Sponsor – McGhee’s Family Bakers

I used to deliver a wholemeal roll and a banana to Harry McKerral, everyday for about a year. I called him ‘Bananaman’ …..He was one of our clients at work – anyhoo! Met him at a party back in March and told him about this challenge and he promptly sponsored me a big wedge of cash and offered to provide pastries for the trip. On Friday my cousin John (who had taken on the role of Support Director – Dad went to see his wife Helen, who’d been staying all this time in Glasgow with family) drove to the bakery and the ‘exchange’ of 3 dozen Danish took place in the car park of the factory – from one boot to another! The Danish were fabby – I know, not the right thing to eat, but loaded with carbs and full of pineapple and custard (my favourite ones), not too light and not too heavy – def by a 4 pack next time you see them in the shops! McGhee’s also make Glasgow’s  ‘Crispy’ rolls, great for a bacon buttie! So, Harry thanks very much for the tasty carbs, we managed to eat them all, ALL! With a little help from our support team and family of course!

Mileage                89                           Ascent                  2956 (felt like more!)      Calories Burnt 3491

Food Eaten – Bowl of muesli, bacon roll, coffee, bagel with jam & butter, 0.5 scone with jam & butter, cock-a-leekie soup, macaroni cheese with bacon & onion, pint of fat coke, lots of bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, pasta with chicken & tomato sauce, apple pie and cream, couple of bits of brie, 2 glasses red wine, heaps of juice, Danish pastry, caramel bar, apricots….think that’s it!

Day Eight…….this is where the going got a bit tough. Firstly apologies for the blog being so late coming, but day 8 and 9 were tough, and something had to give. I haven’t been getting enough sleep and I had to find an extra hour each day – and it takes about an hour to write and upload the blog each night.

So, we woke up at John and Susie’s at 615am, my head was welded to the pillow, we’d gone to bed at 1145pm, so as you can see not much sleep – in fact a fairly normal amount so far this trip – but normal = not enough. Ross looked like hell, I looked like hell, and I couldn’t eat. The last few days the first thing I’ve thought when I wake up is ‘oh no, I have to eat again!’ It may look like we are eating a ridiculous amount of food, but we’ve agreed that lack of energy from lack of food is not going to be a reason for failure, so we eat as much as we can stomach as often as possible. I really struggled with my breakfast, but ate up and we headed off to the start line.

John dropped us at the top of the Renton slip road off the A82 where he’s picked us up the night before. On the way there it rained quite heavily, but by the time we got to the start it had cleared up a bit. Big hug with John (me, not Rosco!) and we headed off. We had 5 miles to make up from yesterday, which took us to Arden. On reflection we could have done it the night before, easy spin to freshen up the legs. We headed up the side of Loch Lomond to Tarbet and stopped at the Bonnie Braes for a coffee and bagel/scone. The A82 was very busy – I mean VERY busy. We’ve not cycled a road like it so far and hopefully won’t have to again. It felt like all of Glasgow were heading north for the holiday weekend and taking the A82. The road is quite narrow at points, but we kept the heed and stayed safe. At some point on the route we started to go up hill, we didn’t notice, in fact I felt like we were going slightly downhill all the way. However we spent about 10 miles gradually going uphill and at one point Ross stopped, on a slightly downhill bit, turned to me and said’ you ok? I’m tired’ and I replied ‘I feel quite peculiar’. I’d kind of gone into a trance, almost tunnel vision, which isn’t good. Ross said – ‘I need to sleep’ – I did too. He’s eyes had been getting heavy as he cycled. So we lifted the bikes over the crash barrier and climbed a short hill, over the other side under some trees there was a mossy patch. We huddled up together, set the phone alarm for 15 mins and lay down to rest……and promptly got a fit of the giggles….for 5 mins I couldn’t stop laughing….it was mild hysteria I reckon. Eventually calmed down and I shut my eyes and got 10 mins snooze. Woke up covered in midgie bites, but feeling refreshed!

We charged (not!) on to Tyndrum, where we met Mum, she’d driven over from Fife to see us, which was really kind. It was fabby to see her, although I was so tired I could barely raise a smile. I couldn’t finish my lunch, my body just wouldn’t let me, so I drank a pint of coke to try and give me a (short lived) boost. We spent about an hour with mum and then said our good byes.

Heading off to meet dad on the road to Ballaculish. The A82 was still mental busy, and we battled on. The climb up to Rannoch Moor was great, a long slow climb, where I just had to sit back and grind my way up. Saw the piper at the top, but didn’t stop, we had to make up some time, and we were very behind. We met up with Dad before Glen Coe and stocked up on Danish pastries and coffee. He was going to take Helen to Invergarry and then come back and meet us again. Going down into Glen Coe was amazing, the road was nice and steep so you could get some speed up, but twisty and turny (is there such a word), we charged down it, the slip stream we created waking us up a bit. We stopped half way for some photos, great one of me asleep on a rock under the mountains! Mustered up the energy to fire down the rest of the road – it really was fun, tucking in and seeing how fast we could go – got up to about 45kmp on that road – not bad!

Quick stop in Ballachulish for chocolate and ‘cream application’ and onwards to Fort William we went. It started to rain as we left Ballachulish and didn’t stop til we met Dad in Spean Bridge. About 25 + miles of rain…….pretty grim. I was really quite cold, shivering a bit in the saddle. We decided we’d stop in Fort William, buy a bag of chips from the chip shop, shelter inside and eat them. When we got to Fort William, we just couldn’t bring ourselves to go ‘off course’ looking for the chippy. We were a bit low, still joking about this and that, but we just wanted to get the day finished. We made a deal, finish at the right spot and we could get a lie in til 7am on Sunday.  It was about at this time that I realised what my body had been doing all day. It had been trying to shut down, and I’d been fighting it, hard. We’ve eaten and drunk well all trip, but the one thing we have lacked is enough sleep. We get up at 530am most mornings, and are rarely asleep before 11pm. When you’re cycling 90-100 miles a day it’s not enough. Adrenalin had gotten me through the first 7 days, but day 8 my body fought back!

Anyhoo, I won! The body can repair when we finish! Made it to Sean Bridge for 730pm, and Dad got us to Cousin Colin’s in Invergarry where we met his family. Daniela, Sarah and Sophia  are lovely! The wee girls both came and sat on my knee, for those of you who know me, I have 2 boys, so don’t get girl cuddles and I LOVED the girl cuddles for a wee change! We ate and drank well and I tried to keep to my word and got to bed and to sleep by 1030pm.  We had made that deal that of we got to Spean bridge we could have a lie in on Sunday and not get up til 7am, we had to rest!…..I slept like the dead………………….

Day Seven

Departing From – Boreland, south-ish of Moffat

ETD – 8.00am                     ATD – 8.30am

Destination – South of Moffat (just)

ETA – stopped this bit, we keep getting it wrong, and getting frustrated by missing times!                           

ATA -     7.08pm – Renton, 5 miles short of finish

Today’s Sponsor – Seeland Integration Ltd – http://www.s-systemintegration.com

Michael Seeland – Seeland Integrated Systems – anyone who’s been at the house will have seen Heppie’ fancy integrated electrical system – that was Michael. Michael is supporting by providing some cycling jerseys for the trip – beautifully branded with his company logo. Planning a house extension, upgrade or build? Michael is a must in the planning stages – he’ll bring your home into the future and keep it there! - thanks Michael!

Mileage                92                           Ascent                  2424 feet(hardly any!)   Calories Burnt 3576

Food Eaten – 4 x toast and marmalade, stoats bar, half a sorren loaf with butter, Cornish pasty (in car park in Hamilton?!!), Danish pastry, pot of tattie salad, Kendal mint cake, apricots, 1.5 plates of Susie’s yummy spag bols and most of a huge portion of her chocolate bread and butter pudding, some bread and butter and some salad!

Day Seven……we had company today! Ben joined us – he trained quite a few cycles with me early this year, and was keen to join us for a section of the journey. We’re packed the car first thing so we could fit his bike on the back and headed south to start.

Ok, I’m getting tired – so I’ll be brief with today’s blog, main highlights were

Ben – a total star, who lead all the way to Hamilton (45 miles) into the wind, and was happy to slow down when the two of us shouted ‘bit slower please’ It was great to have company and Ben was a great chum to have there.

My puncture – quite spectacular, except I didn’t hurt myself – we were heading along a great cycle path alongside the B7078 – for about 15 miles, really great, but I skimmed a wee pile of rocks – it was that or go into the back of Ben, and phsssff, first puncture of the trip (better be the only one!) Ben and Ross proceeded to fix it, but found my spare inner tube had a puncture in it! It was new! Ben had another spare, then we realised my tyre was ripped – guess what Ben had a spare tyre too! So I now have a swanky blue rimmed tyre on my back wheel!

Cousin John – he took over as Director of Support Operations at 330pm, to give Dad some time in Glasgow with Helen – and away from us! He’s run Ben to the station to get a train back to Edinburgh, ordered a new armadillo tyre for my wheel, met us at the end of the ride, Susie (his good lady wife) made us fabby tea, and we’re now being plied with plum brandy! In the morning he’s taking us back to the start point, picking up the new tyre, taking it to Dad so he can bring it up to Ballachluish, when we meet him there later tomorrow. Thanks John – really appreciate all you’ve done for us!

The ride today was tough, without Ben it would have been worse – we had a westerly wind almost all day, which meant for a good 40% of the time we had it straight in the face! Tough day – but not very hilly this was our least hilly day of the challenge – my thighs def appreciate eh rest!

Ok, a very short blog, but need my sleep. I’m back up to date now, so should be able to keep on top of this going forwards!

Once again, thanks very much for all the great messages of support on Facebook, Twitter and by text, I really appreciate the support – please keep it coming – the end is in sight, but we still have 3 pretty tough days ahead! Oh, staying in Invergary tomorrow night – reception might be rubbish – but will try to post a blog!

Take care all! K x

Day Six

Departing From – Lowgill, near Kendal

ETD – 7.00am                     ATD – 7.25am (going to Edinburgh tonight, so sharp start)

Destination – South of Moffat (just)

ETA – 5pm                                                           ATA -     didn’t make it all the way, see below.

Today’s Sponsor – Udderly Smooth www.udderlysmooth.co.uk

Udderly Smooth makes some of get best ‘butt butter’ I’ve used. My old school pal Leigh, saw me extolling the virtues of the cream on FB and promptly got in touch and asked them to send me some. Which they have duly done! I’ve been applying it liberally since I left Lands End and as a result my ‘unmentionable areas’ have been ‘ok’….so if you’re looking for some ‘bum butter’ you should def give it a try. It also does a great job of keeping hands soft – nae cheap hand cream, but jolly good stuff! www.udderlysmooth.co.uk

Mileage                86                           Ascent                  3759 feet                             Calories Burnt 4446

Food Eaten – don’t really think I have to list it all again do I? It did involve 4 pork pies, a cheese scone, lots of brownie, Kendal mint cake, Cadburys caramel, stoat’s bars, oatcakes, and then a ham & pineapple pizza at Bar Roma in the evening (I was so tired my cousin had to cut it up for me to eat!)

Day Six……heading for Scotland today – felt a bit emotional when O got up. Seeing Ross and Rory in Edinburgh tonight, so a good reason to pedal hard and fast. We started with a steep steady climb away from Lowgill towards Tebay, Ross took a hissy fit with the Garmin, so I had to take it on my bike or it would have ended up a sheep’s ‘you know where’. For some reason it was beeping and telling us to turn round – he found it very stressful – bless!

We belted on northwards and met Dad in Langwathby for coffee and face stuff. The terrain definitely changed today. The hedgerows turned into stone dyke walls separating the fields and there were less trees and more reeds in amongst the grass! The lambs were a bit smaller too, cute!

Next stop was Cumwinton, we headed up through Lazonby, Colehill and onwards (can you tell the ride is all blurring into one a wee bit? – sorry!) Dad wasn’t at the meeting point so we called him, told him we’d carry on along the route until he caught us up. We got to the north side of Carlisle Airport when he finally found us. WE jumped in the car, just as the heavens opened. Great timing! The car steamed up pretty quick, and we checked the map to see how far it was to Scotland, 8 miles by our reckoning. So all excited about getting back to bonny Scotland we headed off. Have to say, the sign for Scotland was very straight forward – but very welcoming!

We enjoyed heading up through what we knew were going to be some of the last wee narrow pretty lanes, once we head north tomorrow, the roads get wider and busier. We agreed to meet Dad in Wamphray at 5pm – cos we had to get up to Edinburgh to see family and friends. We agreed if we weren’t there he would head south down the route and find us! The heavens opened about 10 miles south of the meeting point, at point it wasn’t raining – it hailed! Flipping hail stones! They were coming through the vents of my helmet and stinging my head not nice! Welcome to Scotland huh?

Eventually we found Dad / he found us, we were very wet and cold, we had to literally strip off all the wet gear and get on something dry….not easy in the back of an over full car, when you’re wet! Anyway we managed and set the sat nav for home, it took us the most direct route, which was also the twistiest route to Edinburgh. I was blogging in the back seat, managing not to be sick as we took corners very fast!….

Got to Edinburgh, quick turn around and off out to eat with friends and family…I was cream crackered, but it was fabby to see Susie, Nicola, Ben, JJ, Claudine, Rhona, Nicola, Heppie, Rory, Calum, Robbie, Lyn, Michael, Jill and Ewan! Really great of you to come out – really gee’d me up! I have great friends! K x x

Day Five

Departing From – Nantwich

ETD – didn’t agree one too tired!                              ATD – 7.50am

Destination – Lowgill (near Kendal)

ETA –     7.30pm                                 ATA -     7.50pm

Today’s Sponsor –  will do 2 sponsor tomorrow, sorry running out of energy!

Mileage 102                                        Ascent  lots!                                       Calories Burnt 4025

Food Eaten …..Pot Noodle with a malted crusty roll and butter for breakfast (needed a change from the peanut butter and banana combo!), chocolate brownie, stoats bar x 2, caramel x 1, roll with chicken x 1, roll with chicken, waldorf salad and rocket x 1, roll with waldorf salad and cheddar gorge cheddar x 1, packs of apricots x 1, watercress & potato soup and meatballs with spaghetti, 1.5 pints John Smiths, lots of water and juice and mug of camomile tea at bedtime.

Day Five…..again.doing this from memory, because it’s now the end of day 6. I’m sitting in the back of the car, heding to Edinburgh to see Heppie and Rory (angus is at camp), we’re heading out to eat in town with some friends. Really looking forward to it!

Ok, back to day 5, we headed off from Northwich agreeing to meet Dad in Culcheth at 10am. It was a fairly flat and uneventful ride. I didn’t come out of my middle gear set (either I’m getting stronger – unlikely – or it was seriously flat!). We stopped to take a picture of some Lamas in a filed – cos we could! Clipped in pedalled off and Dad whizzed past, so round a couple of bends and we found him in a layby. Steaming hot coffee and some yummy chocolate brownie were in the cards. The weather was cloudy, with the odd sunny interval. It was cold enough to need a lightweight jacket, so we were both matching in our high vis yellow!

Cant remember if I’ve mentioned this in the blog already, but we’ve taken it upon ourselves to be cheery to all cyclists, so if one passes, we shout hello very loudly and cheerikly. We were just about to shout hello to 2 chaps passing the layby when we realised they were the dame 2 young men (mid 20’s?) who pushed off from Lands’ End just before us on SAturday morning. So they pulled up and we had a great 20 mins chatting bout our adventures so far. Comparing wounds, sun burn, and exchanging stories about falling off, loosing wallets and so on. It was great fun…..they had some of our brownies, which they loved! And then set off. Aranged to meet Dad north of Preston for lunch and then we set off too.

Next 30 odd miles were through very built up araeas, through Wigan (not so pretty), Leyland (ditto) and Preston. Ewe didn’t really see any of Preston, just lots of dula carriageways and roundabouts – very uneventful. Met Dad agin for lunch, he had  hot chicken drumsticks which we stuffed into rolls and scoffed. Same as every lunctime, scoffed as much as we could then made extra rolls to put in our pockes for about 5pm ish – we weren’t due to meet Dad til about 7pm.

So onwards……Garstang, to  Lancaster – which was very busy, we had to cross a 4 lane one way road, all four lanes had slow moving traffic. Ross had a moment of genious – he has about 1 a day, and asked a lollipop man to help us over. Which he duely did!

By this point I had decided to try and complete the whole day using only my middle gear set. So far, so good, after Lancaster we headed towards Nether Kellet. According to my calculations as we passed thorugh there we were half way along our route! Yipee at 4pm we’d cycled up half the length of Great Britain. We decided that was cause to celebrate, and stopped at a pub for a swift half, it was closed, next one – closed, and nextr one….closed! so forgot that idea and carged on. It rained a wee bit at about 6pm, nothing too bad and we dried off as we cycled. The route took us back on tiny country lanes with high hedgerows again. Lots of it downhill to we whizzed on, met a tractor, which was so wide it filled the whole lane. We had to unclipped and push through the bushes to get past – he stayed still while we idd that!ell I tried that’s the fun bit!

So, finally met Dad and decided to go straight for food. In dirty clothes and spd shoes, didn’t care had to eat! Could we find a pub serving food in Kendal? No! Eventually found a nice Italian and enjoyed a hot meal. Back to TL and guess what – no signal in room, so still behind with blog! Anyway bed about 11pm and up at 530am Thursday to start day 6!

It’s now Thursday morning, 633am and we’re heading off to start. I’m very excited, we go to Edinburgh tonight and I can’t wait to see Heppie and Rory (Angus is at camp), missing them like mad! and we’re having patat with a few friends.

Day Four

Departing From – Bromyard

ETD – 830am                                      ATD – 8.30am – woo hoo on time!

Destination – Northwich

ETA – 730pm                                                      ATA -     7.34pm, getting better at this estimation thing! Basically we think of a time and add 30 mins on!      

Today’s Sponsor – David Smith, Potato Farmer, Perthshire 

David Smith (aka Smithy) is a fantastic tattie farmer based in Perthshire. He grows ones with red skins (what they called again?!) and sells them to McCain’s for oven chips. For those of you following my blog in the run up to this cycle, you’ll know tatties are my preferred carb of choice! Hearing this Smithy donated a whole big bag to my cause (the cause being carb loading) and the family and I have been munching our way through them for weeks. They are great! Smithy doesn’t do direct sales, but next time you buy frozen oven chips, please buy McCain’s and there’s a good chance they’ll be Smithy’s tatties! Smithy curls with my hubby Ross, Warwick and Craig – they are very clever, they won a bronze medal at the World Curling Championships in Cortina last month – well done boys! X

Mileage                103                         Ascent                  4196 feet                             Calories Burnt 4085

Food Eaten 1.5 banana & peanut butter sandwiches, 1 x stoats bar, 2 x rolls with tomato pasta salad inside them, 1 x Twix, 1 x big wedge carrot cake, 0.75 pack jelly beans, 2 x packs apricots, 0.5 tub of blueberries, 0.5 punnet strawberries, 1 x caramel, bit of brownie and almost all of a massive fish supper. Was still full from Monday!

Day Four……doing this from memory, because it’s now the end of day 5. To be honest all the country roads are blurring into one.  Need to try and keep up to date! We headed back to Bromyard and got on the bikes ready to head off. We chose a different tactic today, deciding not to meet Dad until we’d done about 37 miles. So we headed north (funny that!) for Bridgnorth. The route we are taking really, I mean really is the scenic one. The landscape is really beautiful, for all we Scots moan and tease the English, the countryside we‘ve seen has been absolutely beautiful! All the lanes we cycle along are lined with hedgerows, slopping fields full of buttercups and cows (loads of cows down this bit of England) and plenty sheep too! We have fun chatting with the lambs as we pass, they frequently bleat at us, we of course reply”!

One thing we decided to do today was greet every fellow cyclist with a big cheery hello. There are SO many grumpy old men out there on road bikes – we’ve decided to try and cheer them up! I reckon sometimes we scare them, Ross with his gruff manly Scottish accent – ‘morning’, they probably think we’re going to try and snatch their wallet! So we shouted ‘hello’ and ‘good morning’ a lot this morning, and got a variety of responses – horror ‘you talking to me?’, surprise ‘oh, I’d better say hello back’….too late whizzed by and the other cheery folk – reckon there was 2 who replied instantly and just as cheerily!

We headed through lots of wee place you’ll never have heard of, Stanford on Teme, Pensax, Neen Savage, Chorley. Our pace was very slow, really slow, there were a few hills, nothing major, but we were tired, my quads are really tight each morning, takes about an hour for them to warm up. Also Ross has a sore knee, so he’s eating brufen like they are sweeties – needs must. We had to do 37 miles to get to Dad, I could see Ross was sore, so I took the lead and picked up the pace a bit, he tucked in behind me and we pushed on to the meeting point. So up to Bridgwater, it had taken over 4 hours, not good going, and we ate with Dad. The weather was cloudy with sunny intervals, which suited us fine, much cooler than previous days. Dad had stocked up on supplies and we had blueberries, strawberries, salads and crispy rolls to munch on – yummy!

Agreed to meet next in Market Drayton and headed off up through Telford – didn’t see any of it, just dual carriageways, and roundabouts – bit like driving through Livingston, but not going into it! As part of my preparation for this trip, I’ve been open to expecting the unexpected – not to get phased by anything, it all happens for a reason, and deal with each challenge as it comes. Well, north of Telford we as usual were guided by the sat nav, up the side of an army (?) base north of Donnington. The road was long and straight, but as we progressed, it turned into a track, a mountain bike type track. Now if it hadn’t been for Nicola Ross taking me on the scenic tour of Hopetoun estate one training ride, where we ended up doing a bit of pothole dogging and gravel cycling, I might have lost it. We cycled for about a mile along this track full of potholes, I skidded a couple of times – stayed upright. We thought the sat nav was lost, but no, it told us to turn left at the end of the track, onto an even worse track. We stopped. There was a nice house (in the middle of nowhere at this track) and same folk doing the garden, they told us not to turn left, but go right, through the woods – same terrible track – and as I asked ‘will there be proper road soon to cycle on’ the lady laughed and said yes in about another 0.5 miles. Brenda was her name; she donated £5 to the charities when we explained what we were up to – how kind is that? Ok, made it through the woods, but the sat nav went mental, wanting us to turn back. We had to phone Dad, explain where we were and he gave us directions to find him – by this time it was after 3pm – we’d only done about 55 miles!

Found Dad, ate more and cracked on with the route. Up through Nantwich and on to Northwich, we were to meet Dad just north of there, near the salt works. Guess what? The sat nav did it again – or should that be the chap whose route we’re following did it again – took us off road, through a wooded walking area for about 2 miles – this time we stuck with it, deciding to trust the Garmin – and it worked, but it was so random. We have video, so you’ll see it sometime! By this point it was getting very late, we decided to get tea on the way back to the hotel and eat it in the car. To save time. We had enormous fish suppers, I couldn’t finish mine – let the side down.

AS usual by the time I’ve had 10 mins in a cold bath (the water was actually cold tonight – Ross yelped when he got in his!), had a hot shower, washed my kit, laid out my kit for the next day, copied the route for the next day onto the road atlas for Dad, phoned home, updated FB and twitter, it’s them time for the blog – phew – so much do when we get off the bikes!

Anyhoo, day 4 done, in the bag, canned, finnito! Bring on day 5!

Day Three

Departing From – West Hay

ETD – 730am                                      ATD – 8.12am – we’re not getting any quicker in the mornings!

Destination – Bromyard

ETA – 8.00pm                                                     ATA -     7.24pm, so went to the pub!     

Today’s Sponsor – Brake Grocery & Charles Stamper

These are 2 of our suppliers at work, who have kindly donated some food for the trip. Angela at Brake Grocery heard how partial to Cadburys Caramels I am and promptly donated a box of 48! Plus a big box of apricots and a case of lucozade sport. All coming in really handy! The apricots are perfect in my cycling jersey pocket, for continuous grazing, the chocolate gives me a sugar rush when I need it – see below, and the lucozade sport (needs diluted or its bleuch!) make a welcome change from the powdered energy sports drink we’re using. Angela you’re a star!

Charles Stamper donated a whole box of apples and bananas – to help us keep healthy on the trip! Anyone who had been on Facebook will see that bananas play a very important part in our diet.  Thanks to the team there!

Mileage                93.5                        Ascent                  4196 feet                             Calories Burnt 4383

Food Eaten 1 x stoats bar, 1 x tea cake with banana & peanut butter, 0.5 x wrap with peanut butter & banana, 1 x pastrami roll, 1 x chicken roll, 1 x ham, tomato & lettuce ciabatta (posh eh?), 1 x cheesy ciabatta with Cheddar gorge cheddar, tomato & lettuce, 1 x Cadburys caramel (at 550am!) 1 x prawn & spinach sandwich, 1 x hot smoked salmon & spinach sandwich, wee bit of brownie, more liquid than would fill a bath, first  pint of proper cider and a bottle of California common. |Think that’s it……! Rather a lot on reflection!

Day Three…….ok, first things first – if you’re reading this blog and you’ve not donated to my charity, that’s cheating! You should be ashamed of yourself. As much as all of this sounds like fun, a breeze, a walk in the park, call it what you will, it’s not! I could blog about how sore my  unmentionable bits are, how sweaty I’ve been, how today I felt so weak going up the last hill I almost came off the bike ala David Walliams on the Shap for Sports Relief –I could go on -  but no – we’re focussing on the positives here! There’s a reason for this….to help the Edinburgh Sick Kids Family Foundation – so either donate – see on your left – ‘Donate Here’ – or bog off! No free loaders allowed!

Ok, rant over, back to day 3! Started very well, in spot where we saw Christopher yesterday. It was a great flat start, all the way to Cheddar – a highlight of the trip for me, so far. We went through lots of wee towns and villages, with narrow windy streets and mums on the school run. Passing through one, don’t remember which one, there have been so many, a bus was coming towards us and there was no room to go. I was leading so shouted ‘bus, I’m stopping’, unclipped and rested against the kerb. Ross braked, unclipped the wrong foot, tried to counter balance the mistake….but fell right into the path of the oncoming bus – it’s ok, the bus was virtually stationary, slowing cos it saw us coming. Quick as a flash he was up again and the bus started up past us. It was a real comedy moment!….suppose you had to be there.

So on to Cheddar, where Ross granted my wish of a detour to ‘the gorge’. Cute wee street really, it was 850am and everything was shut. We stopped outside the ‘only cheddar cheese company to make cheddar in cheddar’ assuming it would open at 9am. I got very excited waiting, a milk tanker arrived to deliver the milk for them to make into cheddar – took a pic of course. 9 am came and wnet, still not open. So I popped round the back, explained we were waiting and what we were up to and the kind manager said, give me 10 mins to set up the till and I’ll bang on the window. What fun we had in the shop – SO much cheese to choose from, ended up with the mature caved variety, we bought a chunk and the chap donated an even bigger chunk – how cool was that? So if you ever end up in cheddar please visit http://www.cheddargorgecheeseco.co.uk/ and say we recommended you go. Mentioning a brother and sister from Scotland cycling LeJog will remind them fine who we were.

So far too much later we left and headed out of the Gorge. OMG what a climb, I measured it, 1.2km uphill, should really look up gradient, but don’t have time – feel free to do it for me and post it below! There were milk tankers passing us, lots of tight bends, tree lined, and a real slog!….fun but a slog!

From there e headed to the meeting place with Dad, Leigh Woods south of Bristol. We had a speedy bit along some dual carriageway to get there; we cruised along at about 45kph for a couple of miles, very exhilarating. The climb up into Leigh Woods was mental, really steep, thankfully fairly short, but it almost beat me! We found Dad at top of the hill and proceeded to stuff face as usual. It was really hot, so I drank 750ml of squash and topped up both water bottles…..couldn’t drink juice fast enough today.

We headed round through edge of Bristol, crossed a fabby high up bridge – got video, just need to find time to upload it! Really high up old fashioned bridge – again if anyone has time to find out what it was called that would be fabby!

From 1 bridge to another, we headed for the Severn Bridge, went up approach to motorway that crosses it to find no access for bikes! Ross popped into the Toll Office to ask for help, they said we could pop round side of building and up some steps, through a gate and follow the path. Easy? Well, there was a jobs worth at bottom of steps who advised us we should go ‘down the motorway slip road, around the roundabout, up the services slip road and over the foot bridge’ – the steps were 10 feet away, 1 min, what he suggested would have taken at least 10 mins. So after repeating himself ‘at us’ twice I explained we were headed for John O’Groats and would be using the steps that the lady in the office said we could use! He backed down! Grrrr some folk!

So over the Severn, just as we approached I noticed my hands were very sticky, and the pads on my gloves were all black and squished up – it was so blooming hot my gloves were sticking to the gear changing cover of the handle bars, in fact I reckon some of the black plastic came away and stuck on my gloves – really it was a total scorcher!

Over the Severn Bridge we got a great breeze to cool us off a bit, once off it, we had to go through a tunnel – more video when I sort it, and up to the road – we were in Wales – for all of 2 miles, then back into England again! We headed up to St Brievals where we met Dad for lunch, before saying goodbye for rest of the day. Due to meet him at 8pm in Bromyard. The next bit of the ride was really pretty (actually all of England has been really pretty, we’re on the pretty route!) but stinking hot, about 530pm we crashed on some grass for a rest and photo session, then onwards to Bromyard.  There was one last hill, not that big as we approached, I hit a wall (not literally) but as I got out of the saddle for the first time so far I felt weak, it poured across my shoulders and down my arms, really weird feeling, with gritted teeth I got to the brow of the hill, unclipped and slumped over the handle bars…..exhausted – BUT! Guess what perked me right up? One of Angela’s Cadburys caramels – just the sugar rush I needed – thanks Angela!

We got to the meeting point 35 mins early, decided to find a pub and have some cider we hadn’t yet tried. It was great, phoned Dad to give him directions to pub – no answer. Phoned again – rang out no answer. I phoned 11 times in 35 mins, no answer. By now we were late or the meeting point, so we headed back to it (up hill!) got there at 815pm, no Dad. Ross’s phone was dead, mine had 20% juice left. No Dad….It was getting cold, we were at an exposed junction…long story short, Ross went to chap the door of a house and tried to phone Travelodge – maybe he’d fallen asleep, I texted Heppie asked him to keep trying my dad cos my phone was about to die – we waited, and waited and waited – it was 845pm….we had to huddle together for warmth (honestly, we were wet and cold)…847pm Dad appears. Where was his phone? In the blooming hotel charging!  Grrrrrr, so that’s reason for no blog last night. We were all a bit grumpy – well I was, tired, filthy, cold and hungry. Ate heaps of sandwiches when we got back to the room then crashed.

Got to go to bed now, so will need to wait for todays blog (Tuesday – we had another long day, but cooler weather, less hills, less hillarity, we’re a wee bit tired….)hope this keeps you all going! K x

Day Two

Departing From – Bude

ETD – 7am                                           ATD – 7.52am

Destination – West Hay (near Glastonbury!)

ETA – 6.30pm                                                     ATA -     5.40pm….last 30 miles flat!!

Today’s Sponsor – Knops Beer Company www.knopsbeercompany.co.uk

A fantastic new brewing company, brewing it’s first line – the outstanding California Common. Founder, brewer and owner Bob Knops knows a thing or two about beer, with years of experience in the industry, he’s gone it alone and started his own brewing business. If you’re from Ediburgh you can sample California Common in Harry’s Bar at the west end. I also think Santangeli’s in Polworth stock it. On FB? Follow them at Knops Beer Company. Do try it, you’ll love it – I do! And they donated a case of 24 bottles for the ride, we’ve not had any yet, too hot for booze!(did i say that out loud?)…will be on the beer in the next day or 2 once we find our rhythm!

Mileage                93.5                        Ascent                  Still TBC                                Calories Burnt 4173

Food Eaten – teacakes with peanut butter & banana x 2, Cornish pasty x 1, roll with beef & rocket x 1, dried apricots x 1 bag, large loaf of sorren x 0.5, 500ml tub of rum and raisin ice cream x 0.5 (had to share with Ross!), cans of fat coke x 2….hmmm now realising why I felt faint before tea – not enough to eat, but then tea…..8oz sirloin with chips, peas and a tomoato and a baked potato with baked beans, cheese and salad! Oh and 1.5 pints of ale -  can you believe where we ended up for tea (only 1 place in whole of Illminster serving food at 810pm!) didn’t do somerset cider! Outrageous!

Day 2 – another scorcher…..apparently up at 28’C today. I wore factor 30 all day, legs fine, face a bit pink, arms even more burnt! Might have to resort to a long sleeved top tom, but in this heat it’s hard.

So We left Bude, Cornwall  at 752am and within 30 minutes we were in Devon! The start of the ride was like yesterday – leafy lanes, very narrow and hellish steep. We had some fun taking video of Ross going up hills and me zooming down them (remind me to tell the tractor story when I get back) Met Dad in Great Tollington (I think that’s what is was called) we’d gone 20 miles and it had taken 2 hours! 10 miles an hr – ouch – really slow – although we did faff for about 15 mins of that. Had coffee and soreen in the sun for about 25 mins, topped up with snacks and juice/water and agreed to meet in Oakford about 1230pm, it was 30 miles away. So 2.5 hrs, sounds realistic? Flippin heck, still more hills in Devon, although they were my kind of hills, longer and less steep – so I could grind up them. Saying that there were a few steep ones, like the one that was 25% downhill, over a bridge for 100m then straight into a 20% uphill……Ross topped 50mph going down, I braked a bit, so was slower, then he came off and fell in the grass verge on his way up the 20%er. He turned with a huge grin on his face, his chain had slipped off, I started to laugh and it was almost curtains, you don’t try to laugh when you’re going up a 20% hill, in 25’C+ …..almost fell off, but managed to pull myself together for the 800m ahead!

It was so hot I’d run out of drinks, I’d already had 4 litres, but was all out when we got to South Molton. We headed for the loos (I needed to go, better than a bush!), but past a police station first where a PC was washing the vans. We hooked a left into the police station car park and asked if we could fill up our bottle with his hose. Better still, he took them into the station and filled them with cold, filtered water….to be honest at that point the cold water saved me, I was melting, my legs can keep going , but it was really soul destroying. So thanks to PC 34610 (or his number was near that anyway), very helpful!

Dad came looking for us, we were so behind schedule, we spent a good 3 miles on a roafd surface that looked like lattice pastry, so sore on the hands and bum! Dad found us and proceeded to play cat and mouse. He’d drive on a mile, we’d approach, he’d drive off again…and so it went on for about 4 miles! Finally he stopped in a nice shady layby on a great steep and twisty hill into Brampton. To me that place sounds like somewhere you would go to buy a bunny (have I lost it already? Only day 2!)

So lunch was roast beef rolls, pastys and more fluids, although Dad hadn’t topped up supplies, Ross still had a full camle pack, so I got the lions share. By this point We were still only covering 10 miles an hour, so we agreed to meet Dad at the finish at 630pm.

There were more hills for about an hour, at one point we were passed by 5 motor bikers, there were loads of hem out today. The second one appeared to try and touch me as he passed, I got a real fright and started swearing and shouting. Ross, who was behind me at this point, was killing himself laughing. The guy had put out his arm and pretended to squeeze my bum as he passed – can’t decide if it was funny or not, I got such a fright – for the record he was about 1m away from me – so miles away!

At about 3pm something miraculous happened, 8 mile short of Taunton the roads went flat and we belted along in the sunshine – into Somerset…..making great time. We were stinking hot, and stopped at a farm shop for ice cream, it was shut! The lady came out, we asked if she had an outside tap we could use, which she directed us to. She then came back and opened the shop so we could buy ice cream, she was horrified that we wanted a 500ml tub and not too wee individual tubs – so we selected a big tub of rum and rasinin ice cream and sat in the shade to enjoy! Time to get back on the road, only 20 miles to go, I jumped on the bike, clipped in and tried to pedal off through 1 inch of gravel – doh! The rum must have affected my judgement! Off into the garvel, couldn’t unclip, bashed up knee as a result – pic to follow! What a doughnut……Ross did a good job of not laughing at me – it was very sore!

Final 20 miles into West Hay were quick, we averaged about 15-17 miles an hour, but it was a slog, it’s been so hot all day. 1 mile short of the finish we met our Cousin Christopher who came from Yeovil to shout abuse as we passed! As well as abuse he had ice cold cans of fat coke….so we decided to end the ride short and relax with him for an hour. Dad rocked up about 30 mins later and we had a good natter. Christopher then gace us a tremendous box full of Somerset goodies to enjoy along the trip – what a STAR!

Ok, time for bed, I’m on floor in reception of Travel lodge doing this, struggling to get a connection….

UPDATE – it’s now 520am, couldn’t upload this last night, will try again in the car this morning en route to the start line! Another hot day forecast – factor 30 here I come…again!

Departing From – Lands’ End

ETD – 7am                      ATD – 7.44am (I think, didn’t note it down)

Destination – Bude

ETA – 4.30pm                ATA -     6pm….long hot day!

 
 

Today’s Sponsor – Heritage Portfolio Ltd – www.heritageportfolio.co.uk

HPL, my employer, have kindly donated some cycling kit to the cause, so I have a fabby red cycling jersey, matching (my jersey and nails!) red cycling gloves and some tush saving gel padded cycling shorts. Check me out!……thanks guys…..UK Event Caterer of the Year 2010, if you want some nice people to do some nice food in a nice place? These are your guys!

Mileage                96.5                        Ascent         5278 feet!!                                       Calories Burnt 5037

Food Eaten – wrap with peanut butter & banana x 2, almost a whole Cornish Pasty, 2 wee packs apricots, 2 chicken drumsticks, 2 chicken thighs, salad, strawbs, chocolate brownie, 1.5 soleros…..not had tea yet!

Day 1 in the can! What a day! I slept badly, too much spinning in my head, and we woke up at 530am. Faffed around, getting ready, packing gear and trying to eat peanut butter & banana wraps. Take some chewing! Anyhoo, 2 cups of coffee, we got everything in and on the car and headed to Lands End. Got there about  710am, passed 2 blokes heading out of LE – gave them a toot as we passed!

Found that the official Lands End sign is taken down each night – and there’s a crappy wee wooden version left for the early starters. If you plan to start after 930am, you can’t take your own pictures, but it is the real sign! Talk about a money spinner!  So we took a bunch of pics, and saw 10 other men arrive, take a photo and leave – there were two more planning to leave within the hour. So between 715-815 today 14 folk def left LE – heading to John O’Groats and I was the only girl!

There was a serious headwind all the way up to Penzance and through to Hayle, where we headed north along the coast – it was so pretty! Hedgerow along the road and wild garlic, chives and fennel (well fennel tops).  Met Dad at prearranged spot and stuffed up on Cornish pasty and coffee.

Heading on along the B3301 we had fun zooming down into Portreath, well I say fun, I took the corner too fast and ended up on the wrong side of the road! Scary!….but got away with it this time. We fired on through Mount Hawk, Shortlanesend and met dad again for lunchtime face stuff. I felt great, there had been hills, but all fine, the sun was shining, we’d messed about on country lanes taking videos of us zooming down hills. Sweet. The route is VERY ‘off the beaten track’. There is no doubt we wouldn’t manage it without the Garmin. The roads were so rural that at some points there were tufts of grass in the middle of the road!

Worst bit about the wee roads is when you do get a bit of downhill you can’t belt down, don’t know what’s round the next corner. Also most of the lanes were tree lined which created lovely dappled light in the road. No good for seeing pot holes – blooming nightmare…..don’t know if it’s a shadow or pothole!

After lunch we said cheerio to Dad, not seeing him again till the end of the ride. We headed up to St Columb Road  and saw the sign for the A39 to Bude, the sat nav took us right, away from that and into the lanes. The next 30 miles were the toughest I’ve ever done. OMG the hills were none stop, I really do mean nonstop. Up then down, fairly steep, all very short, but relentless…..did my first 20% hill ever, was panting like anything, out the saddle for what seemed like miles but was prob only 1k , within 5 mins there was another one! I was out the saddle, in a rhythm, but had to bail and walk for about 150m. Rosco managed it – and I know why, he zigg zagged across the road to get up, I’ll try that next time.

By the time we got to Bodmin, we could tell we were burnt. So we stopped at Sainsbury’s, bought Solero, factor 30 and extra water. Got on the chat with a local, which was fun, then after a good 30 mins stop, we got back in the saddle to continue. We were shattered, still more tiny wee roads and steep nonstop hills. Decision made, get on the A39 asap and get up to Bude. Quick stop in a field full of buttercups to eat another wrap and then we continued. I’d love to say we fired up the A39, but we didn’t, we slogged up it – I have used every single one of my 27 gears today, and was in granny gear a lot! So we rolled into Bude just before 6pm, missed the turn to Morrison’s and ended up in the town centre, quick call to Dad and he came to pick us up.

Interesting facts of the day? I was braking as hard as I could going down one of the ‘dappled’ country lanes and I was doing 37.4km per hour!….OMG!!!

Ok, had my soak in a cold bath, now I need to wash! Eat and drinks heraps and then try and sleep! night guys! x