Day 14 Altnaharra to John O´Groats

We are nearly at our 1,000 miles point – the distance that sea ice forms every around Antarctica every winter.  With our position as far north as Juneau, the capital of Alaska, cold was going to be on our mind and in our bodies.  The forecast was for 13 degrees centigrade (55 F) with winds at 18 mph.

Our first view of the sea was at Bettyhill, a bleak town with a beautiful beach but one that was not inviting as the charcoal sea bashed against it with incredible white surf.  We had arrived before the lunch wagon so contented ourselves with the only open establishment – a cafe attached to the tourist information centre.  They served good bacon rolls but these would be needed to sustain us to Thurso some 32 miles further down the road.

In Thurso the group pulled back together in one of the town’s tea shops – I am convinced that the economy up here is supported by people doing End to End.  In Devon no one knew how far Lands End was or took much interest in us.  Up in Scotland from 150 miles out from John O’Groats everyone seems to know how much further you have to go and what are the directions.  They give you helpful comments like “Are you going the English way or the Scottish way?”  In response to a question of what is the difference we are told that “The Scottish way has four big hills from here where as the English only one”.  At this stage we are happy to be English.

The group all gathered at the Castle Inn, a pub in May, so that we could cycle in as a group.  May is 7 miles from the end.  2 miles out from May, Adrian had another spoke break and had to nurse his bike in.  Max was at the front of the group and went over the finish line with Dave, nearly 70, so the oldest and youngest completed the trip together.

John O’Groats is less complete than Lands End.  There is a gaudy building that is closed for renovations which has been painted up with helpful images of young men with guns.  The place has a rough and tough feel about it.  Probably right given that when we arrives at 17.30 hrs on a Saturday in late July it was blowing a gale of freezing wind and certainly living up to being the end of mainland Britain.  The ferry was in from the islands disgorging travellers who had ventured further north.

We did not hang around for long one gets the sense that no one does.  We stayed long enough though to take stock of our amazing journey and two week experience.  It is rightfully called a challenge and anyone who achieves up under their own power has managed a major feat.

The statistics of our trip are as follows:  1,658 km (1,024 miles), 76.5 hours of moving on the bicycles, we have averaged 21.5  km per hour (13.4 mph) and we have cumulatively climbed 19,953 meters (65,400 feet).  Our feet have made about 400,000 revolutions. 

Neither of us got a puncture but we had a few mechanical problems. We made it.

Day 13 Inverness to Altnaharra

We had our best meal of the trip last night at a restaurant named ‘The Joy of Taste’ which had a talented chef and a new approach to serving staff – they were volunteers who worked for an evening meal and a glass of wine.  It set us up for today.

The forecast suggest showers and sunshine in the afternoon.  Neither happened.  We had a strong head wind and it was cold.  As we are new to cycling we have learnt why a headwind is so detested – you have to cycle harder to go less distance.

Our ride out of Inverness took us up to the small town of Dingwall and a charming cafe at the railway station.  Here we met the group from Saddle Skedaddle who are also doing LEJOG and we last saw at Lands End.

The route then took us up over ‘the Struie’ which is a reasonably long climb up to a car park where we had lunch with a stunning view out over the lochs.  It took Adrian a while to get there and Max had to keep waiting – his back is now quite sore from 13 days of cycling. 

The route after lunch was out over even more remote moor land and vast open spaces – not normally associated with Britain.  By late afternoon we had arrived at The Crask Inn, Britain’s most remote pub where some of the group are staying.  We were just eight miles further on – which were assured was ‘downhill from the Crask’ – yet turned into a reasonably undulating ride, the way small hills are now described.

Tonight we are going back to The Crask Inn for dinner – they have live music and it should be a fun night.  Still we must conserve energy for our 75 miles ride to John O’Groats where we expect to arrive at about 16.30 hrs on Saturday. 

We have completed 76 miles today (122 km) in 6 hours.  We climbed 1,387 making the total cumulative climb so far of 18,385 meters – twice the height of Everest and still one day to go.

 

Day 12 Glencoe to Inverness

This was a big day in many ways although the route from Glencoe to Inverness is actually straight forward if you look at a map.  The A82 runs along the side of Loch Lochy and then Loch Ness.  However, this road is very busy with tourist busses, lorries, camper vans and cars.  So our route took us on the opposite side of the loch.

The ride into Fort William from Glencoe was straight forward although Adrian’s back is hurting him so Max rode off with the leader group and waited in Fort William.  However, the wait was not rewarded with views of Ben Nevis, Britain’s highest mountain, as it was shrouded in low cloud.  The normal refrain from the top of Ben Nevis is ‘Seen the mist and missed the scene’ – today would be no different.

By going up the opposite side we were away from the normal stops of cafes which have become our routine.  After about 1.5 hours of cycling hot tea and a snack, another 1.5 hours lunch and then a mid afternoon stop.  We assumed that the Clan Cameron Museum at Achnacarry would have a cafe but it did not.  The drive up to the museum did have the most pots holes in Scotland according to Max who was never too certain that a half miles detour to a museum was going to be worth it.

From here we pushed on to ride through the Clunes Forest on the compact track suitable for hybrid bikes but not for road racers (ie those with thin tires).  The route was sign posted at the start but at a vital junction nothing.  As neither our map, route notes, nor GPS could help us determine the correct path we chose the one uphill away from the water.  Our logic is that for most of this trip the alternative route has often been ‘undulating’ in the words of our guide Nick.

After four miles uphill our road stopped.  A dead end caused by a fast flowing stream.  With no way forward we reversed our track until we got to a point where we could see a lower road and carried the bikes down hill.  Not an easy manoeuvre over broken boggy ground and as Adrian’s bike has the panniers and wet weather gear it comes in at a hefty 23 kg.  This brought us to the path that took us on to Fort Augustus where our lunch was – but with all the lost time we did not arrive until 2 pm, having set out at 8.30 am, this was a long session.

After lunch the challenge was the ‘king of the hill’.  This is a five mile section rising from the loch to 393 meters.  Last year’s record was 31.5 minutes.  We both had a go.  Max managed 27 minutes and 45 seconds, Adrian 41 minutes and 45 seconds.  It was a tough challenge after lunch.  Max commented that he ‘put on some heavy music with a good beat and went for it’ – we wait to see if he has the group record.

With the challenge of the trip over it was time to enjoy the 35 miles into Inverness with great views of the highlands.  The day has been our longest with 6 hours and 40 minutes of riding covering 87 miles (140 km) and achieving a cumulative height gain of 1,710 meters – that is about 300 meters more than going to the summit of Ben Nevis.

Two days left and the last 140 miles.  Our journey nears its end.

Day 11 Loch Lomond to Glencoe

Our day started with a short cycle from Balloch, where we were staying, to the Loch Lomond Youth Hostel for our morning briefing.  The Youth Hostel is housed in a magnificent house overlooking the loch. 

Our route today was up the west Loch Lomond cycle path that avoids the busy A82.  In fact, the cycle path was somewhat over grown in places making the main road an easier choice.  We stopped in Tarbet for our first hot drink and snack – and a chance to shelter from the rain.  Tarbet is at a point on the loch which is only 1.5 miles by land from the sea and the site where Vikings hauled their ships overland in the 13^th century.  Today it is the launching point for boats tours for tourists – there were plenty today despite the weather.

From here we moved on up the water’s edge then turned left to Tyndrum at the 40 mile point for lunch.  Just prior to getting to the village Adrian had his first accident.  The tarmac is not great on the road and the traffic busy.  It pays to try to hug the side of the road to give the cars and lorries space but this is where the road surface is worst.  Anyway on one patch Adrian slipped off into broken up tarmac and was over onto the kerb.  Max was following so closely behind that he came off his bike as it hit Adrian’s.  The traffic all stopped to see if they could help but nothing other than pride was injured.

The ride out in the afternoon was across the barren landscape of Glencoe.  This is a great place to cycle (expect for the lorries) as the dramatic hills and empty space creates a vast scale.  On a bike you can appreciate this more than in a car.

On the road down from the pass and into the village of Glencoe Adrian had his next indecent – a bee flew into his open jacket.  When going 30 mph down a busy road this could not be dealt with until the next layby – by which time the bee had stung.

Our trip today took just over 5 hours and we covered 72 miles (115 Km).  We have now covered 785 miles (1,275 Km) and had a total height gain on 15,288 meters which is just over 50,000 feet.

Tomorrow we have a big day and we will kick off 30 minutes early as we have ’83 hard miles’ to cover.

Day 10 Moffat to Balloch/Loch Lomond

Today we have managed to complete our 78 miles without rain.  What a relief.  Had we had rain coming out from Moffat and riding on the B7076 next to the A74M it would have been very tough but we were saved from that.  A small headwind brought meant more energy was needed but we have completed our day in 5 hours and 38 minutes.

The main challenge was Glasgow.  The direction we were coming from means that we join the suburbs at Larkhall and then had about 30 miles of urban cycling.  The roads had their fair share of pot holes and it has been a bumpy day.

Coming out from Glasgow we were due to follow the National Cycle Route 7 which, in parts, follows an old railway line.  However, it kept stopping and starting with plenty of bollards and fences that we gave up and joined the A82 for our ride up to Loch Lomond.  We are staying in a Bed and Breakfast in Balloch from where we push on the Glen Coe tomorrow.

We have now enjoyed just under 53 hours in the saddle and our legs are certainly stronger.  It is now possible to hold a 20 mph speed on a good open road.  The rotation of the pedals is known as cadence and, on average, these turn 90 times per minute.  This means that we have now achieved 285,000 rotations so far.

Given that this has been the third tough day in a row the group has become spread out.  Steve, of Peak tours, did not leave the lunch spot until 3 pm and then had to get a bike fixed in Glasgow.  We got to our B&B at 17.00hrs and Steve turned up with the bags at 18.30hrs.  Most of the group have only just arrived so we shall find out what they stopped off to see in Glasgow.

Day 9 Keswick to Moffat

The Lake District is a very beautiful part of the UK although we are missing the best of it as we have had another day of rain and occasional heavy downpours.   That said as our photos show it is still spectacular.

We had a section of exposed moorland today that was the scene of Max’s first accident of the trip.  The tarmac must have had some oil on it as his front wheel slipped out from under him doing 15 mph and launched him into the grass.   No injuries but the impact required the handlebars to be readjusted.

Coming off the moor we were able to cycle on some straight old Roman roads.  One was a good down him section with good visibility and Max clocked 79 kmph (48 mph) despite the wet roads.  This is the new speed record – we are hoping to find a section where one of us can break the 50 mph.

We passed into Scotland at Greta Green.  There is not much there, a few churches and coach loads of tourists trying to work out why it is famous.  This is where we stopped for lunch with 41 miles of our 74 miles for the day already done.  After lunch we followed a B road alongside the main motorway north and arrived in Moffat at 16.00hrs.  The statistics of the day were 74 miles (119 Km) done in 5 hours and 10 minutes for an average of 14.23 mph (22.9kmph) our second best average speed.  As we write this some two and a half hours later members of the group are still turning up.

The great news is that we have now completed over 1,000 km of our journey.  Both of us have sore backs from too many hours in the saddle in the same position.  Tomorrow we hope for better weather as we push further north.

Day 8 Slaidburn to Keswick

This was advertised as ‘one of the hardest days of the whole adventure’ – 75 miles including a demanding hill climb out of Slaidburn and then through some hilly terrain in the Lake District.

They were wrong.

It was much tougher than that.  We started off in torrential rain which got worse as we got onto the moor.  With winds blowing at 20 miles an hour the horizontal rain was coming is like needles, only sharper.  You could not open your eyes to see, nor was there much point wearing glasses as these quickly fogged up and needed wipers to clear them.  The wind made it a challenge to keep the bikes on the road.

However, slowly we made it.  The sign at 12 miles said ‘welcome to North Yorkshire’ – the sheep huddled from the poor weather below the sign told the real story.

We made it to Kendal for lunch and had about an hour of dry weather – which was a great help as we were in the car park of a leisure centre.  Onwards and upwards through Windermere, Ambleside and Grasmere, all stunningly beautiful and full of tourists wondering what to do in the rain.  The final pass over into Keswick was a steep climb but this did not matter too much, it was near the end and so closer to a hot shower.

We covered 74 miles (120 km ) in 6 hours – our slowest day despite both of us getting stronger as the days go on.  We climbed 1,620 meters today – so far we have ascended 11,600 meters and come down as many.

Day 7 Runcorn to Slaidburn

The end of our first week of riding and our first day of rain, the sort normally reserved for Wimbledon or a Test Match.  Although we only had 64 miles to do these were through the towns of Warrington, Risley, Blackburn and others.  Navigating busy urban roads is not that easy especially when the traffic is out to go Saturday shopping or run errands – short journeys by drivers who know where they are going.  Pitted against cyclists in a strange town with horizontal rain, soaking, tired bodies trying to avoid pot holes and puddles, the cars were always going to win.

The first 20 miles to Risley were horrible but we found a good cafe that did not appear to mind a bunch of dripping cyclist coming in for hot tea.  The rain lightened a little as we got going – our target a pub car park south of Blackburn.  In the end we arrived to find that the support vehicle was back down the road helping one of our group who had a puncture.  This was not a problem.  The idea of a sandwich in a car park in the rain was never going to win against hearty hot pub food.

After lunch we pushed on up the road to Blackburn to find a cycle shop that could sell us water proof over shoes and trousers.  Neither Max nor Adrian had brought these British summer essentials which are likely to be in more demand as we push north. 

Our GPS system gives us helpful data such as how far we have travelled (63.79 miles today – 103 km)  average speed 12.6 mph and also such things as sunset and sun rise.  We are far enough north now to have sunrise tomorrow at 03.59.  That should give us plenty of time to do our 84 miles.

 

 

 

Day 6 Clun to Runcorn

This was billed as a long day with some good undulating landscape through Shropshire and Cheshire.  It was a great day with the rain staying away along with the sun.

We had a few wrong turns on our route that had the benefit of taking us past great tea and cake shops so not a problem.  We are eating vast quantities – full English breakfast, various snacks, then a big lunch, more snacks, tea and cake  stops with a hearty three course dinner.  Despite this Adrian has already lost 2 Kg but Max none.

Our route today was 140 km (87 miles) and we both hit a top speed of 48 mph (77kmph, so the fastest yet) on the run down through Plox Green.  Our overall riding day was 5 hours and 21 minutes making the average speed 26 kmph (16.2 mph).  We had a cumulative height gain of 1,203 meters which now take the total height gain of the trip so far to 8,940 meters – just short of the summit of Everest.

We stopped in Shrewsbury and called in on James Tanner of Tanners of Shrewsbury.  James had been in Portugal in April and had had a delayed start to a lunch when Adrian went to the hospital to have his wrist put in a cast.  So James was there from the early training days of this jaunt which made it fun to pop in and see him.  Last time Adrian did a tasting at Tanners it seemed like going to the end of the world – now we know it is only 5 ½ days from Lands End!

The fundraising is going well.  Thank you to everyone who is support us and the charities.  If you wish to donate there is still time.  Follow the link for Virgin giving for Kids Co or if you wish to support Nariz Vermelho then get it touch with Natasha (Natasha.bridge@fladgatepartnership.com).

 

Day 5 Monmouth to Clun

Day 5 is the closest thing we get to a half day.  It is billed as 57 easy to moderate miles.  In fact it turned out to be 54 miles (87 Km)with only 1,112 meters of cumulative climb.  The highest point reached today was 363 meters above sea level and the lowest 31 meters – this probably explains how a top speed of 71 kmph was reached.

It was also a hot day with temperatures of 84 F or mid 20’s C.  We have been lucky with the weather today and we have had no issues with the bikes.  However, the strains are showing with Max getting a severe pain in his right knee.  So we have taken it easy to rest this.  In our group we have Robin who is a physiotherapist and he believes that the problem is not stretching enough – so plenty tonight ahead of our 130 km tomorrow.

If the miles/kilometers per day look lower than we said at the beginning it is because our 1,000 miles /1,600km journey is 14 days of cycling not the 12 we thought we were doing.  Much easier then.

A highlight of today was Hereford and a visit to the Cathedral.  Here we saw a building very much like the Abbey in Sherborne with its fanned stone roof.  We also saw the Mappa Mundi – a map of the world painted on velum with Jerusalem in the centre made in about 1300.  We were also offered a generous sponsorship from a lady in the Cathedral who was interested to know where we are cycling to.  There have now been a few total strangers who have supported our effort which is a wonderful feeling.

To help make it feel like a half day lunch was set at the 37 mile point in a pub called Riverside Inn in Amestrey in deep rural Shropshire. 

The longest hill of the day was the one just before the end in Clun, a small village of 645 souls 50 miles west of Birmingham.