Our final assault on the Scottish roads was upon us. It began with an awakening in the Town of Tain after a restless nights sleep! Breakfast consisted of Muesli and a full Scottish breakfast (without haggis and black pudding) before making the final preparations for our charge "over the top".
My bike had lasted well but the bottom bracket was seriously on its last legs and I was having doubts about whether it would make it. For all the non-cyclists, a broken bottom bracket makes cycling feel like pedalling through syrup. Would I actually make John O'Groats, now was the time to find out!
We set-out on the road in what was a chilly breeze and slight mist with 87 miles to go.... We were quickly over the Dornoch Firth and onto the A9 which would be our home for much of the day!
Our first stop was scheduled to be just short of Helmsdale after which there was a steady and never-ending incline, which was shrouded in the fog and made it defeatingly difficult to keep cycling, not knowing where the summit lay. Andy and I charged up the hill and then waited above the fog in a rather picturesque stopping point where the fog slowly rolled up the hill, blown by the sea-breeze.
The day wore on and we were riding the lay of the land in inclines and descents, taking in the (at times) spectacular coastal scenery!
At our second stop we met a rather nice bloke who forewarned us of the blind and treacherous corners that lay ahead.... A daunting prospect! Snacking on the same chocolate and energy bars/drinks was really taking it's toll on the morale, but the thought of being being so close to the finish drove me on through...
It was on this stint before Wick of which I reached the highest speed of the trip, hitting 43.8mph! This was great until I saw the hill the other side! This was an epic hill of monumental proportions, and half way up lay some traffic lights! It was too dangerous to cycle with the volume of traffic and so the decision was taken to walk up the hill - a wise but disappointing decision!
We hit Wick and then it was 16miles to JOG! The final final assault was upon us with one scheduled stop left... A brief stop for fuel saw us encouraging fellow cyclists as they sailed on by. We soon mounted up and were on the road again and it wasn't long before we saw the final hill - a crippling 400ft climb of a hill before a descent down to JOG. The feeling of nearly finishing was making me want to cycle faster and harder to get to the finishing post but we were to finish this together. After having the obligatory photo taken at the JOG sign, we entered the town and were on the look out for the signpost. We descended the final hill to the car park where the support crew filmed us as we arrived! My no-hands punching the air routine as we went down the hill nearly ended badly as gravity took hold and I sailed down the hill in front of the others (unintentionally!) and nearly hit a motorcyclist!
We had finished in 57hours and 57minutes covering 887miles at an average of 14.84mph! Eight and a half days of cycling had been worth it! The achievement wasn't sinking in as more relief came flooding to the forefront of my mind, but the feeling was still incredible! We had only had one puncture, a broken spoke and a broken gear cable between three of us - a magnificent achievement!
It was under the sign that we had a couple of glasses of champagne and let the world know of our success! The photos were taken, gift shop visited, post-cards written and we loaded the bikes to start the trip home.
We drove 2hours back to Alness where we stayed at a B&B run by a bloke who was originally from Devon and we finished the trip with a curry and a beer, which was most, most welcome!
I shall elaborate more in tomorrow's blog of the "review", but until then, Adios Amigos!
TK
Tuesday, 14 September 2010
Saturday, 4 September 2010
Day 8 - I spoke too soon!
Today started with amazing weather and a healthy appetite to get on the road! We departed Glencoe and were quickly through Fort William and beyond onto Loch Lochey! Here we beat the support crew to the rendezvous! This is when I discovered I had a broken spoke on my brand new wheels! A change of wheels and gear cassettes took 20 minutes and we were on the road again!
Soon we were upon the shores of Loch Ness! I thought I saw the monster, but it turned out to be a rather large stick - Something that I think can have tricked many people ;)
It was along these roads that I suffered my second mechanical failure of the day - a snapped gear cable. This meant cycling the final 8 miles with only 8 gears which made life very difficult. By Urquart Castle I changed the cable whilst eating on the go and we were away again!
Here we took a route which resulted in a climb of a 10% hill which was around a mile and a half long. This led to Andy and I walking the final half mile, but this was most definitely the hardest hill of the entire trip so far!
We cycled the final miles to our night's stay in Tain... The base camp for the assault on John O'Groats for the final day's cycling! It's gone so quickly - one day we're counting down to day nine and in the blink of an eye, it's here!!!!
I don't know how it's going to feel when we finish, but I imagine, pretty good!
I'll keep you updated!
TK
Soon we were upon the shores of Loch Ness! I thought I saw the monster, but it turned out to be a rather large stick - Something that I think can have tricked many people ;)
It was along these roads that I suffered my second mechanical failure of the day - a snapped gear cable. This meant cycling the final 8 miles with only 8 gears which made life very difficult. By Urquart Castle I changed the cable whilst eating on the go and we were away again!
Here we took a route which resulted in a climb of a 10% hill which was around a mile and a half long. This led to Andy and I walking the final half mile, but this was most definitely the hardest hill of the entire trip so far!
We cycled the final miles to our night's stay in Tain... The base camp for the assault on John O'Groats for the final day's cycling! It's gone so quickly - one day we're counting down to day nine and in the blink of an eye, it's here!!!!
I don't know how it's going to feel when we finish, but I imagine, pretty good!
I'll keep you updated!
TK
Wednesday, 1 September 2010
Day Seven - Mummy Bear, Daddy Bear and Baby Bear......
Day Seven of Nine! It doesn't seem like yesterday that we were looking at nine days of cycling ahead of us and now there are only two! This trip has gone in the blink of an eye!
Today our plan was to reach Fort William via the Highlands.... This was something that I found to be daunting but decided to go with the flow and take it as it comes!
We spent the first hour of the day negotiating traffic, roadworks and dodgy standard highways out of East Kilbride and towards Paisley and off past the airport towards Loch Lommond. Ian watched and took photos of planes as they landed and took off very much like and excited school boy, which I found highly amusing and offered him one of my anorachs!
We crossed Erskine Bridge and carried onto Loch Lommond which we reached in good time. Here we resided at Duck Bay and had a soup and took in the view! This Loch reminded me of Italian lakes shown on films and was absolutely stunning! We cycled from one end to the other and enjoyed most of it with the sun beating down on our backs (exacerbating my already ludicrous tan-lines!). At the furthest end we met the support crew and had an ice-cream (a great idea from Ian!) and refueled for the next leg!
From Loch Lommond we cycled on into the Highlands and met some real characters along the way (including a couple of New Zealanders in a Winnabego) who gave us some useful advice on what to expect as we followed the A82 past some enormous mountains and the ski centre! Here we had a climb from 400ft to over 1,200 before making a 9mile decsent down to Glencoe.
The climbs came steady and regularly with some flats breaking the monotony of the grind. Once at the summit we were looking upon a baron land with spectacular views before winding our way down to Glencoe.
Glencoe was the stopping point for the evening as all the hotels and guesthouses between here and Fort William were full. We had sent our fabulous support crew out to get us lodgings for the evening and they came up absolute trumps with the Glencoe Hotel! Unfortunately the room we had consisted of a large double bed (Andy's), a large single bed (mine) and a put-me-up cot (Ians's) all in one room, reminding me of the story of Goldilocks and the three Bears! This has bought us straight back to a 20mile deficit to be overcome if we are to finish on schedule... This means that a trip of 120miles is on the cards for tomorrow and so therefore I need to get a good meal and a good nights sleep and so I shall sign off for now!
Take care!
TK x
Today our plan was to reach Fort William via the Highlands.... This was something that I found to be daunting but decided to go with the flow and take it as it comes!
We spent the first hour of the day negotiating traffic, roadworks and dodgy standard highways out of East Kilbride and towards Paisley and off past the airport towards Loch Lommond. Ian watched and took photos of planes as they landed and took off very much like and excited school boy, which I found highly amusing and offered him one of my anorachs!
We crossed Erskine Bridge and carried onto Loch Lommond which we reached in good time. Here we resided at Duck Bay and had a soup and took in the view! This Loch reminded me of Italian lakes shown on films and was absolutely stunning! We cycled from one end to the other and enjoyed most of it with the sun beating down on our backs (exacerbating my already ludicrous tan-lines!). At the furthest end we met the support crew and had an ice-cream (a great idea from Ian!) and refueled for the next leg!
From Loch Lommond we cycled on into the Highlands and met some real characters along the way (including a couple of New Zealanders in a Winnabego) who gave us some useful advice on what to expect as we followed the A82 past some enormous mountains and the ski centre! Here we had a climb from 400ft to over 1,200 before making a 9mile decsent down to Glencoe.
The climbs came steady and regularly with some flats breaking the monotony of the grind. Once at the summit we were looking upon a baron land with spectacular views before winding our way down to Glencoe.
Glencoe was the stopping point for the evening as all the hotels and guesthouses between here and Fort William were full. We had sent our fabulous support crew out to get us lodgings for the evening and they came up absolute trumps with the Glencoe Hotel! Unfortunately the room we had consisted of a large double bed (Andy's), a large single bed (mine) and a put-me-up cot (Ians's) all in one room, reminding me of the story of Goldilocks and the three Bears! This has bought us straight back to a 20mile deficit to be overcome if we are to finish on schedule... This means that a trip of 120miles is on the cards for tomorrow and so therefore I need to get a good meal and a good nights sleep and so I shall sign off for now!
Take care!
TK x
Day six.... The English Invasion of Scotland!!
Day six.... This is the day that we mount the attack on Scotland!
We had eaten the previous evening at a hotel in which I felt extremely underdressed having entered to find a maitre'd waiting and I was wearing a hoodie, jeans and flip-flops! Here I consumed vast quantities of food and a cheeky pint (or two) of cider before retiring to our room!
We left Penrith after consuming a breakfast cooked my Mohammed Al Fayed's former personal chef - with it defeating me yet again! The day immediately got off to a bad start as I took the wrong turning out of the cul-de-sac and had tp be retrieved by phone! The jaunt towards the border was a leisurely one and we were bathed in glorious sun as we made our way through Carlisle and through Hadrian's Wall.
We entered Scotland via Gretna Green early on in the morning passing the old marriage house and across the border. This has been worrying me as I didn't have my passport or shots! ;)
It was here wereby I spent nearly an hour changing all of my worn out brake blocks and refueling for the arduous Scottish hills! Surprisingly it wasn't the hills that killed me, but the condition of the Scottish roads!!!! The roads did their best to repel our English invasion but this was a battle of which they won only in my mind!
The roads took us through some stunning scenery but the road surfaces were so bumpy at times it felt as though my bike was going to shake itself apart! This surface took it's toll on us all both mentally and physically but it was to be 113miles to our destination of Glasgow to get back on track after the shortfall encountered on day 4!
We finally set camp at the Premier Inn in East Kilbride where the staff were fantastic and were eager to help in any way! It was here that Andy, Ian, Gerald and I all had a carvery of three different meats, and the entire trimmings for £4.99 - value that you can't possibly fault!
Today was arduous but was really rewarding considering what we had overcome! Tommorrow we leave Glasgow and head for the highlands by way of Loch Lommond and passing Ben Nevis (including the ski centre!), but that's a story for another day...
Please keep supporting us by donating whatever you can as the causes are very worthy!
All the best,
TK x
We had eaten the previous evening at a hotel in which I felt extremely underdressed having entered to find a maitre'd waiting and I was wearing a hoodie, jeans and flip-flops! Here I consumed vast quantities of food and a cheeky pint (or two) of cider before retiring to our room!
We left Penrith after consuming a breakfast cooked my Mohammed Al Fayed's former personal chef - with it defeating me yet again! The day immediately got off to a bad start as I took the wrong turning out of the cul-de-sac and had tp be retrieved by phone! The jaunt towards the border was a leisurely one and we were bathed in glorious sun as we made our way through Carlisle and through Hadrian's Wall.
We entered Scotland via Gretna Green early on in the morning passing the old marriage house and across the border. This has been worrying me as I didn't have my passport or shots! ;)
It was here wereby I spent nearly an hour changing all of my worn out brake blocks and refueling for the arduous Scottish hills! Surprisingly it wasn't the hills that killed me, but the condition of the Scottish roads!!!! The roads did their best to repel our English invasion but this was a battle of which they won only in my mind!
The roads took us through some stunning scenery but the road surfaces were so bumpy at times it felt as though my bike was going to shake itself apart! This surface took it's toll on us all both mentally and physically but it was to be 113miles to our destination of Glasgow to get back on track after the shortfall encountered on day 4!
We finally set camp at the Premier Inn in East Kilbride where the staff were fantastic and were eager to help in any way! It was here that Andy, Ian, Gerald and I all had a carvery of three different meats, and the entire trimmings for £4.99 - value that you can't possibly fault!
Today was arduous but was really rewarding considering what we had overcome! Tommorrow we leave Glasgow and head for the highlands by way of Loch Lommond and passing Ben Nevis (including the ski centre!), but that's a story for another day...
Please keep supporting us by donating whatever you can as the causes are very worthy!
All the best,
TK x
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