Reflections of a driver...

2012.  A fantastic year for sport

King Kenny brought a trophy to Anfield - first time in 6 years

City snatched the title in extra time.

Chelsea won the FA Cup and Champions League

Then we look forward to Summer:

In July 2012 we had dinner in Fort William watching Spain

become 2012 Euro Champions 

We look forward to the Olympics and Paralympics in London.  We were not disappointed

What a wonderful summer.  Gold medals.  World Records

So much effort, so many achievements, trials and tribulations.

and the best ever spirit in this Country. 

 During this time we watched some wonderful cricket.

Then off to the USA to bring back the Ryder Cup against all odds.

And then I bring you to 10 days in June when four men

attempted and achieved a magnificent triumph by completing

LEJOG

This journey will remain in my heart forever.

Anyone want to buy a bike?

Anyone Want to Buy a Bike? - One careful owner

As if, I might not have ventured back on the bike since Sunday, but I’m blaming the weather this week.

So how do you describe over 900 miles in 10 days?

This is the card my mum sent to the team on Monday

and that innocent excitement just about sums it up. At John O’Groats there was a real high that you’ve completed something that you’ve never done before and when you set out you didn’t actually know that you could do it.  On the downside you also realise quite quickly that once it’s over it’s over – a bit like Christmas as a youngster; lots of build-up, preparation and excitement until all the presents are open and then………….

You’ll not be surprised to know that there were “moments of discomfort” and I wouldn’t take this challenge on without a good sized tub of Sudocrem. The aches and pains fade fairly quickly and the memory is really good at pushing those moments of discomfort to the back of the mind. It means that you can chose to keep all of the good memories of being part of a great team – Richard. Mike and Barry on the bikes and Mike, Barry and Bob in the minibus.

Sparks

Most importantly, however, this challenge was undertaken to raise funds and awareness for Sparks. If you’ve followed the blog then you’ll already know about the work Sparks undertakes. If you’ve not picked up on Sparks yet visit their website at www.sparks.org.uk . As a children’s medical research charity their objective is to improve the quality of life for babies, children and their families and it’s a privilege to be a supporter of Sparks and to participate in an event that helps to raise funds and awareness for such a great cause. For all of us involved this was a Sparks event more than a team and personal challenge.

It’s surprising how many people have been involved in bringing Sparks Wrexham  LEJOG together and can I add my personal thanks to everyone who has donated their time and/or money to this great cause. In particular I’d like to thank: Richard for the initial idea and asking me to take part. The support team Mike, Barry and Bob for getting us to Lands’ End; for being there every 10 to 15 miles to John O’Groats and for returning us to the day jobs. It’s not a glamorous task driving the minibus for a couple of thousand miles there and back but you’ve no idea how welcome the sight of a white minibus can be. Also on a personal note – thanks to Colin and Caroline for making a 3 hour round trip to wish us well at Pitlochry - above and beyond but great to see you guys.

Finally I can’t sign off without acknowledging the fantastic effort that Mr Potts put in. After two days Mike could barely walk and I thought his next destination was more likely to be Bristol Royal Infirmary than John O’Groats. How you cycle another 600/700 miles in such pain I don’t know but Mike did – respect. Oh, and he still made the tea every morning and evening.

Where do I plan to cycle next? – Probably to Dodleston village shop to get the paper in the morning…… Hey, it’s a start

Mike's final blog

A Neighbour's Journey...............

Seeing John O'Groats in sight and marking the end of our journey, brought with it very mixed emotions - happiness to have reached our goal, sadness to have reached our goal.

Our journey has  been filled with  highs, lows and lots of good times in between. The good times far outweighed the bad. There were so many funny moments that my sides actually hurt laughing. For me, those memories are priceless and I will hold them dear for many, many years to come.

Not forgetting the reason we embarked on this journey, to raise funds for the much deserving children's charity "Sparks", I would like to thank all those people who kindly donated, you really have made a difference.

Thanks to:

Wives:

For putting up with our absences and occasional moans during training (although I bet you were glad to see the back of us at times).

RPM Cycle Shop (Buckley):

Thanks James for the donation of spare wheels and other crucial parts to complete the journey

The Support Drivers:

Mike, Barry & Bob - couldn't have wished for 3 nicer guys to be there for us and to share this experience. Always, there with the much appreciated supplies and words of support. We really couldn't have done this without you.

Finally, my fellow cyclists:

Richard, for the idea and all your hard work in planning and making this happen.

Barry, for getting us each night (eventually :-)) to a hot shower and warm bed and taking the time to write the blogs, which I know everyone looked forward to reading.

Lee, for your cheery attitude whenever we needed support.

But most importantly to you all, for your encouragement, humour and friendship.

It's been a privilege to be part of this team and I am proud to call you my friends.

Until next time........

Mike

Moments that define you

"There are places I'll remember all my life" - Lennon/Mcartney

If you have never heard this particular Beatles song then I heartily recommend that you do.  This song has a particular place in my personal make up given that it was written by the Beatles (who are also from my home town of Liverpool) and used by Sky television following Liverpool's champions league win in 2005.  

Apparently it is John Lennon reflecting on his memories from childhood and how certain things stay with you.  Funny therefore that as a 36 year old dad this still seems as pertinent to me as at any time in my life.

The 2005 champions league game is one of the greatest of all time (unless you are a fan of certain other clubs - like Richard) with Liverpool being on the brink of an embarrassing defeat at half time before coming back to eventually draw and ultimately win on penalties.   This was possibly the greatest comeback ever and one of the most amazing ways to achieve a sporting goal perhaps until Manchester City decided to win the league in the last two minutes of this season.  If you still have them recorded on your sky plus/video and I have just messed up the ending for you then I apologise. 

As I sat on the grass bank looking out at the Orkney isles, talking to my wife and son to tell them that we had made it to our destination and completed what seemed impossible just six short months ago, I knew this is a place I will remember all my life.   The poignancy of the words in the song and this line in particular then really sank in and over the last few days I have had time to digest the trip and some of the thoughts that I had during it.

I can still see the waves lapping up against the far shore, feel the cold damp of the grass on my back and smell the fresh sea air just writing this and that is a memory that is just so alive.   

Thanks

Thanks have to go to a number of people on this trip such as Mike, Barry and Bob for manning the support vehicle that broke our journey up not into one 900 mile trip but a number of shorter targets.  Their company was a great break from just the four of us and their enthusiasm for being with us and a part of the achievement was highly contagious.  As this is a team event, we have signed the books for them at both ends to reflect their contribution to the team success.

Our friends and family who contributed to our success as well deserve special mention.  My wife for being so keen that I take this challenge on in the first place. Perhaps I should have worried more about Chelley wanting me to be away but I know that the main idea was the complete break from work would do me good and it did.  My son for wanting to know exactly where I was when we spoke and asking how was "Duncan" which meant he read the blogs we produced.  

Barri, Simon and Jamie who helped us to learn that getting fit can be fun, how to control our breathing on a bike to ride for longer and how to get lost in country lanes respectively.  The latter a skill I employed on many occasions. Jamie, thanks for the training rides you came on with us.  I learnt a lot from watching you disappear up those hills and that was very helpful at points on this trip.

To all others who joined in on our no doubt annoying Facebook posts, playing along with the silly games we were creating to take our minds of our aching muscles, reading your posts was a welcome distraction.  The record for words in the letters of Livestrong is now at 250+.  Some people (you know who you are!) are so competitive.

For everybody who has sent just a good luck message or been able to support Sparks as well we thank you as that was our main goal to assist a fabulous charity.  

It goes without saying that the team I rode as part of deserve a lot of thanks.  This was a team effort and we did it together at the start and finish as shown on the photos below.  Lee, Mike and Richard.  Cheers.

Lands end to...

John O Groats

I do feel however the need to single out two people in particular and acknowledge their stories which have inspired me over the course of the last two weeks.

"the extra 10%"

A few years ago I was lucky enough to meet Bear Grylls as he was a guest speaker at one of our work functions.  For those of you who don't know, he is famous for a TV programme called Born Survivor where he is dropped into inhospitable environments and then survives by using a variety of unsavoury methods, Before this, he also served in the British SAS and was the youngest Briton to conquer Everest (the mountain not the window manufacturer).  

As part of his speech that day he talked about the moment he was told he was accepted into the SAS.  He had always pictured himself in his best dress uniform crisply ironed and his shoes sparkling in the sunshine when he received this news.  When he actually did find out he was apparently wearing ripped clothing covered in mud and blood and had actually lost one of his shoes.  I will need to paraphrase, but the Commanders' (?) speech went along the following lines:

"you have been selected because when you had nothing else to give, when everybody else would have given up, you found the extra 10% to keep going."

Mike Potts is a hero in this mould.  Even per the Mariah Carey standards of simply having the strength to carry on.  I saw the pain he was in on the third day and the icing of his knee that was taking place.  At one point, he and Richard looked like Arnie's Mr Freeze in one of the Batman films with the amount of ice packs/freeze gels they had on them.  

One of my favourite moments was on the fifth day when a combination of a good down hill and Mike's fearless approach to descending them meant he and Richard flew past me screaming " coming throughhh."  At that point Mike seemed to be coming to terms with all that his knees were throwing at him and his determination to reach the end was truly heroic.

"If an idea is not at first absurd, then there is no hope for it" - Einstein

A few months ago, we all wrote a small story as to why we were doing this.  Most of us laid the finger of blame firmly at Richard's door.  In fact if you go back (and I have) this was Richard's "fault" that we were all putting ourselves through training sessions, the harsh weather and preparing for something as monumental as this.

By the end of last week, nobody was using the word fault anymore.  Richard had been the inspiration behind the whole trip and thanks to him we were all getting to contribute to helping make such a dream a reality. 

When we had finished I got back to the hotel room for the night and logged into Facebook to catch up on the messages we were receiving.  My aunty had liked the following picture that Richard had posted months before into the group:

Richard's devotion to this idea made it happen.  Although he would never have it said that way.  Andrew Carnegie once said

"No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself, or to get all the credit for doing it"

If we had a yellow jersey to wear as opposed to fluorescent yellow rain jackets then Richard would have been wearing it from day one to day 10 but I suspect it would have been hidden under his blue wick away t-shirt.

The yellow jersey is not normally plastic

Richard and Lee do these challenges every two years to "give something back" which is a tremendous mindset in itself and I am just looking forward to seeing what 2014 has to offer.  

Challenges

We chose to undertake this challenge.  However, some people are forced to take on the most horrendous of challenges when they find out that their children are ill and need to cope as they have no choice but to be strong for all concerned.    

One of the things that I thought about whilst approaching John O Groats was that our challenge had an obvious end to it.  A target point at which point our pain and discomfort would be relieved and we could rest or return to our "normal" lives.  As above, we were looking forward to the next stop, lunch, end of the day and only really on the ninth day when it was in sight did we start focusing on the actual destination.    For the people we were trying to help they do not always have a clear target point in mind and in this case their strength of character must be phenomenal to keep going.  

As we slowly rolled down the hill, nobody seemed to want to speed to the finish and actually end the journey.  It was as if we wanted to cling on to it and make the moments last that much longer given what they had meant to us.  This was my most emotional moment on the trip as the thought occurred to me that this was also potentially true for the people we were trying to help as the alternative may be too hard to contemplate.

This ride left me with great memories but more importantly I truly hope, borrowing somebody else's wording, that we will help some families have some moments that mean the world to them as that was the whole point.  

Cant vs Wont

We had people tell us repeatedly how hard this would be.  I am sure some people said that "we wouldn't do it"; some people probably also said "we couldn't do it" and the difference between those two words had never really struck me before.  

Six months ago I flippantly said "its just 8 hours a day of riding at 15 mph".  Then I bought the bike and realised what riding for an hour entailed.  Then I tried to repeat the effort on the following day and the effect was scary.  

My hardest moment during training was when I attempted the horseshoe pass in Llangollen for the first time.  Halfway up this 800 feet, 2-3 mile climb, I stopped in a lay by.  I was hot, wanted to vomit, was struggling to breathe (having stopped twice already) and had tears in my eyes as I stood there thinking I could not do it.  Thankfully at that point another part of my psyche kicked in.   It said "you will do it".  I paused, took deep breaths, sent Richard a text saying "struggling" and then got back on the bike.  


Whether you could do it is your body, but I realised that this is controlled by your mind which deals with the would component.  I think we were all amazed at the relative strengths of those two different components on this trip as we pushed our bodies beyond what they had ever done before.

When we hit the hill just outside of Helmsdale on day 9 that was so reminiscent to this, the fact that you had done something before is a great boost.  This wasn't a new task it was just repeating an old one so despite having ridden for around 65 miles already you used that memory and training to get to the top.  My mind had been trained as well.

The vans view from the top.  The hill starts way back in the top left corner

Surprise yourself

I hope you have enjoyed reading our stories and somewhere on these pages (assuming you read them all) you have found something to inspire you to take on a challenge.    The challenge may not be cycling one end of the country to the other, you may have far grander ideas than that, it may simply be to pick back up that new years resolution that has slipped.

The fear of failure can be immense, and also potentially a great motivation if you have told lots of people your plan, but from my perspective what defines you as a person, is not whether you finish the challenge but that you have the courage to start it in the first place.   

With dedication and time, we can all do things that surprise everyone; particularly ourselves.  

Reflections of a reluctant cyclist

Reflections of a reluctant cyclist!

To truly understand team you need to give yourself to it completely without question. You need to trust those around you and in turn be trusted. In that way you become part of a single entity.

Did we achieve this? well I guess so, we achieved our goal! But actually more than that we threw ourselves into the challenge we followed each other (sometimes blindly) supported each other and when things got tough we were there for each other. We mocked each other, sometimes gently and sometimes with vigour! Knowing which to do when is really important!!

The team

Mike, Barry and Bob (John)

We would not have completed this task without them, Fact! Having a van and a friendly face every 10 or so miles was fantastic. Knowing that food drink and a gentle ribbing was around the next corner gave us the mental strength to carry on! We all know that the best plans are only as good as the people delivering them and boy did they deliver. From all of us a huge Thank you.

Lee (hills)

Our Mr consistent always there seldom in the front seldom at the back. In fact Some of the hilly days I saw little of him as he is like lightning up hill and I down hill! Lee kept things on an even keel as we new he would. Always a willing ear he made himself available for those conversations necessary in distracting oneself from the task in hand. Thank you Lee

Mike (the mechanic)

What an emotional roller coaster. I have grown to respect Mike as a cyclist over the last few months and he duly smashed days 1&2 I think watching him struggle so badly on day 3 effected us all tremendously.

Throughout Mile kept us amused either with his agricultural anecdotes or when we mocked him with fake sightseeing experiences.

You couldn't wish for a better roommate always making tea and running baths just when they were needed most!

Mike you are a star and a hero! no one would have thought any less of you if you had succumbed to your knees on
Day 3, but giving up was never in your mind! respect!

Barry (Blog, IT & navigation)

Where do you start. I think it was Shrek or it could have been donkey who used the layers of an onion to describe personality. Well Barry you've shed some layers over the last 10 days and with each layer your warmth kindness and generosity has shone through.

There is so much I want to say but I won't yet! I'll save it for later.  We all owe you so much and I know for one that if it had not been for you I probably wouldn't have made it to the end.   I know that whenever I hear Preston being mentioned I will think of you and smile! Thank you

Families & Friends

They say absence makes the heart grow fonder.  Well, maybe if your heart isn't otherwise occupied forcing your body to do daft things!    Seeing the WAGs on the first Sunday we were away was great (making sure they didn't meet was difficult!!). Joking aside, for me the low point on day 3 soon turned to a high point when we met the families at Ludlow.  Spending the evening eating and talking was a much needed distraction.

The messages of support and encouragement from friends and family cannot be underestimated we have been truly humbled!

Motivation

Having a goal that you all believe in really helps although when your pushing yourselves to the edge of your physical capabilities it sometimes gets lost in the grunting!  Nia somehow judged this and a motivational email arrived on day 3 after the families had gone home!

Without going into detail, Nia forwarded an email from a family who had lost their young daughter to cancer and had been fund raising ever since! This included LEJOG last year. They thanked us and reminded us that all our pain and suffering may make it possible for children to avoid suffering in the future.

As you can imagine there wasn't a dry eye in the room!


I guess the final mention must be to my friend and neighbour Jeff who's messages of support have been constant throughout the challenge. Once we had finished he sent this text:

"Absolutely fantastic,well done all of you. Today would of been my nephews birthday, he died when he was 5 so i know what a charity like sparks does and with the massive effort that you have all done will hopefully prevent the heartache that i went through. Again well done,enjoy a few beers tonight !!!"

We sat in silence for those few miles out of John O Groats, crying quietly and reflecting on what we had achieved and feeling immensely proud!

To the team; thank you all for sharing an idea and helping me make it a dream and then a reality! I couldn't think of any other people I would rather have shared these moments with. We are now all bound by these memories and they will stay with us forever! I will always remember!

What have you done today..................

Day 10 - Helmsdale to John o Groats

And now...

Breakfast on day ten was a buoyant affair.  Lots of jokes being swapped as the team sat down to its last guilt free big breakfast before we would have to start watching our calorie intakes again.

It was made more buoyant by the fact that knew we had the toughest 17 miles of the day out of the way.  Those three hills between Helmsdale and Dunbeath are truly breathtaking and very reminiscent of the horseshoe pass near Llangollen that thankfully we had all trained on. The knowledge that they were not in our path to John O Groats now and we could drive to the top and continue our journey was very uplifting.

Wick away

The ride this morning was slightly odd though.  There was 36 miles to go when we left the van at the tea room on top of the hill outside Dunbeath which normally would take us around 3 hours to ride on one  of our training sessions.  However, nobody seemed to want to race this distance away and instead we settled into a more gentle pace and really began to look around and chat as we made the trip.

For most of the journey we rode two aside chatting away to each other.  The level of conversation has always been a good indicator of the mood of the group.  The hour dash from Perth to Peebles there was practically none for instance whereas this morning was filled with laughter and chatter as we pushed along the very north of Scotland.

There were discussions about how we felt, what it had meant, what would we do at the end and (importantly from my perspective) was crying allowed when we got there?

After a brief stop in Tesco in Wick, where a few of us got the food we had actually ordered as the staff (Richard) struggled with the drinks machine buttons, we were chatting to two guys who were waiting for the airport having just completed the trip.  They had done it unsupported over 19 days ad the stories they told of the human kindness they had encountered, people genuinely wanting to help them, were touching.

We got back on the bikes and headed off to the final stop on this tour.

Rolling finish

Approaching John o Groats you sweep down to the coastal path near where Donald Trump would like to build a new golf complex.  If the wind yesterday is anything to go by you would need to learn to hit punch shots and run shots PDQ to be anything like successful on it but I digress.  We had to climb up one last hill to finally get the view of the finish line.

As a group we stopped in the layby at the top overlooking the sea and then started to roll down into John O Groats.  When I say roll i mean it. In this case we litereally rolled.  Not much pedal power was exerted or considered and gravity pulled the four of us to our destination.

We had made a promise on the top of the hill that having started at Lands End together we would roll across the line into the John O Groats car park together as well.  And that is exactly what we did. At a pace of about 3 mph.  Personally, I was glad of this.  The wave of emotion and pride in the team that swept over me coming down that hill hit hard and looking up was a challenge, cycling practically impossible.  Lets just say I was very grateful for my mirrored sunglasses :-).

Team together at the finish line

We crossed the line and then headed for the official signpost for the photos below.  Calls were made to loved ones and it was amazing how quickly the news spread with messages and calls then coming back to us practically within seconds as the news broke onto Facebook.  I now know how football teams must feel when a transfer is about to take place.

We had a photo like this 9 and a half days ago.

Having posed for photos from multiple angles with David Bailey Bob we headed back to the visitor centre to sign the book to confirm we were End to Enders.  We also signed the book on behalf of our support drivers who we could not have done without.  Bob, Mike and Barry a great thanks and your names are also in the book as part of our team.

The last thing on our agenda was to get ice cream from the shop which was fantastic and we could then load up the van, board it and head to Fort William for our celebratory meal.

Heather

You may or may not remember Richard asking for some motivational songs to put into his Ipod.  Thanks to Stephen who chose Proud by Heather Small which was a great choice.  This song was in my head most of this morning as we were coming closer and closer to making this achievement. Just as the van made the jump to light speed outside of John O Groats, the question in the chorus filled my mind.

"What have you done today to make you feel Proud?".  This.

Day 9 Inverness to Helmsdale (and beyond)

Change of plan

Day 8 ended with an offer that I couldn't refuse.  "We have a plan" Richard announced as we sat down for dinner..."well a proposal really and we can vote".  As three of us have a plan and one person is about to cast their vote the odds of overturning seemed unlikely.  We do run a democratic system in our team of one man one vote but sadly I am not that man.

The cunning plan was to get up early and ride away from the Travelodge to get in some of the initial climbs we had planned prior to breakfast.  This seemed like a fair enough plan especially considering nothing locally served breakfast until around 8 which would make our setting off time very late. 

We all met outside at just before 7-15 to put the plan into implementation when Bob looked at Mike and asked "Where are the keys?" just as Mike looked at Bob and asked "where are the keys?".  Hence two people both scrabbled through their luggage to see if they really were the last ones to have them last night.

" I gave them to you..."

Now there was a second part of the plan that we will get to later.

The ride away from Inverness is possibly the most picturesque part of our entire journey so far.  You ride away over the river on the suspension bridge with the football ground on your right and the harbour on the left before climbing up towards Dingwall on the A9.  

Not the best bridge

Our first drinks stop was 10 miles out and we were making good time with the climb now behind us we descended down towards sea level again and the bridge spanned across the Loch.   Just before we got onto this bridge we saw the first sign for John o Groats which was 109 miles away.  By the time we would finish the day that distance would be down to 35 miles.

At the drinks stop Richard suggested Barry was preparing for the wrong sport as his lineout bandages seem to have slipped beneath his knees (these were actually Platella supports but we could see the point).  After crossing the first bridge and turning right towards breakfast at Skiach truck stop, we saw Seals in the water just off the road.  This is going to sound daft but when you first see something moving in the water up here you do look particularly closely but there was a small family of seals playing around the rocks which was great to see.

Not nessie

We had also been making good time.  40 minutes for the 10 miles from the last stop to breakfast with Captain Potts leading the way obviously encouraged by the thought of a truck stop meal.  During breakfast healthy debate ensued about how to build a business empire and Mike performed an interesting impersonation of Richard's "starman" onto his bed that reduced the entire group to tears.   Sadly this doesnt work so well in the blog but I have to record it because in years to come when I re-read this this really was one of those moments that I want to remind myself of.

There have been a lot of those during this trip.  There are times, when tempers are probably shorter than people want them to be but mostly that is linked to times when we are hungry, tired, soaking wet or a combination of the three.  This is far outweighed though by the genuinely funny moments that we have had as we try to encourage each other to the finish line.

A good breakfast had a unifying effect

The picture above is probably my favourite one from the blog so far.  It is a shame we are not wearing our Sparks shirts (held in best for tomorrow) but this is the four of us together as a team and the brighter moments over the last few days have also had that as a common link.

Fish and chips

It was around 10 o'clock when we left breakfast and it was dawning on us that given the time we had made in the morning we could get to Helmsdale (our destination) by mid afternoon which enthused all of us.  We headed off and would get in two more 40 minute times for 10 miles which at this stage of the trip was surprising.  

Could be Wales

As we crossed the third bridge of the day (fortunately the Forth bridge was behind us ;-)) we planned for lunch in Glospie and the scenery off this bridge reminded us of a lot of the training runs we had done around North Wales.  Richard took this photo with the flag on Barry's back and the hills off in the distance which could be near Bala.

Lunch was at the Fish and chip restaurant in Glospie and during the lunch I spoke with my Grandma who was really enthusiastic about the whole trip and what an achievement it was.  Hearing the pride in her voice made me quite emotional but also very enthusiastic to get to the end and finish what we had started and looking out at the beach the end was only 75 miles away.  Adrenalin was kicking in.

As we left the town slightly weighed down by the various meals we had eaten we did come across this funnily named castle that amused us all.  It's been a long trip.

Thieves retirement home

We rode along the coast road all the way up to Helmsdale which was fine apart from the last few miles where there were suddenly some more hills.  The view behind us was amazing though with the last of the Caringorms and the hill we had started the morning climbing now far in the distance.  This was probably the first day where you could see, if not the actual place, a rough idea of where you started the ride and the distance we covered in the day was unexpected.

Stating the obvious time but 60 plus miles is a long distance but to have this view down the coast of the distance emphasised the point.  

We rode into Helmsdale and straight to the hotel we were staying at which prompted a cheer from Barry.  At last we had done a day without getting lost.  " it was one road!" the others chimed but a victory is a victory. 

Whilst we waited for Bob to return from the ice cream shop he was waiting at, Richard took the time to take some self portraits the best of which is beneath.

Get your motor running...

The cunning plan

Now stage 2 of the plan could kick in.  As we had made such good time on the 68 mile trip to Helmsdale we decided to try and get a head start on day 10.  Particularly because day 10 started with three climbs within 15 miles totalling around 1400 feet of climb which we wanted to avoid tomorrow when the weather forecast was predicting both rain and a headwind.

So after refuelling and Barry changing his own back wheel (with just a little help from Bob...to prove he still is useless in practical terms) and making sure our tyres were up to pressure we headed off for the largest of the hills which was an 800 feet climb not dissimilar to the horeshoe pass.

Barry at least tries to help fix his bike

These hills were hard.  Really hard.  Up until now the Bristol airport climb had been the hardest one but these three hills and the first two in particular were the toughest ones we had done.  

The first climb went straight from the harbour at Helmsdale and wound its way around the hill with an increase in altitude of 800 feet in just over three miles.   The road then flattened out a little and descended slightly allowing some good speeds to be attained until it descended 500 feet on a 13% incline before returning the same on the other side with an Alpine bend thrown in for good measure.  This 500 feet climb was torture on our legs and the woman in the layby laughing at us was not particularly helpful but I can see her point as we puffed and panted our ways to the top.

Our target point was a tea room at Dunbeath and the next few miles were quite pleasent as the coastal road meandered on and you could see further down the road to what we thought may be John o Groats but turns out is probably Wick.  

The end is in sight (well nearly)

One last valley at Dunbeath where you dived down into the harbour before climbing back out on the other side was finished off with a few hundred yard climb to the tea room.  We were all surprised to see the van pointing the wrong way down the road and being guided to the tea room further down the road particularly when the last two were told that Bob would see them back at the hotel before the van turned around to come and collect.

We returned to Helmsdale at pace in the van and we all surprised at just how far the 17 miles actually is when you get to replay it just after completion.  We will do this 17 miles again tomorrow to return for our start point for the 10th and final day.   36 short miles to go.  

Day 7 and 8 photos

Having managed to deal with the technology here are some of the photos from day 7 and 8 that we had taken.

view from the top of the cairngorms

Next peak on the road

The sign at Aviemore

Breakfast time.  Bad choice of colours 

Mike's light from the Manchester airport approach lighting

You can just about see the rail bridge off the forth bridge

View over the loch coming into Inverness

Found in Sainsburys

Fixing the puncture outside of Pitlochry

The 1000 feet climb was worth the view

Day 8 - Pitlochry to Inverness

Firstly, apologies for the lack of photos but my phone is still not working but we will try and put them up once we get access to those on the camera.

Cycle path or not

We had breakfast in the B&B and had a decision to make about whether to take the A9 proper or the A9 cycle path.  

Either way both run the entire distance from Pitlochry to Inverness however the road does this in around 84 miles whereas the cycle path takes well over 90 and is slightly more hilly.  It has to be said we all have road bikes the type of which have very thin tyres and the type of saddle tha,t if you are old enough to remember the yellow pages adverts, look like razor blades.  The thought of bouncing along on an uneven service on a proper road is unappealing enough before you add being not as well maintained into the equation.

Given yesterdays experience we decided to go with the road although given we would have three punctures to fix during the course of the first few hours maybe the cycle path may have been more forgiving.  Whilst changing one puncture the usual team of Richard, Mike and Lee shot into action and after most of the work was completed handed the tyre back to Barry to put on the bike.  Ten seconds later they took it back just after Barry realised that the spikey wheels on the back should probably be on the same side as the chain and fractionally after he realised the chain may need to go around the spikey thing.  

Main road riding

Riding on the main road is not as bad as you may think.  99% of the cars and lorries behind you are aware of you (given we were wearing lime/fluorescent yellow we were visible from space) and give you a wide berth when overtaking.  We also ride very conscientously and ride on the left of the white line marking the lane by and large unless the number of gutters makes this unsustainable.  Obviously that leaves the 1%.

If you are the type of person who feels the need to shout abuse at cyclists using the rural country roads then we have some news for you.  The mixture of the 60mph of the car, 20 mile an hour winds and the Doppler effect mean that all the cyclist will here is a primeval grunt.  Although in some instances this may actually have been the noise emanating from the vehicles, for the others our advice is whatever it was you shouted you should probably have just said it quietly to the person next to you.  They were the only person who heard it anyway.

The Cairngorms

Had you told me a few weeks ago that on this ride one of my least enjoyable days would be the trip past my house and one of the most enjoyable when we traversed the Cairngorm mountain range I would have thought you crazy.

However, whilst there was a large 1000 feet climb to start the day it was over a duration of about ten miles and the view at the top was spectacular.    We also tried to convince Mike the lake we could see was Loch Ness but he has vowed to never believe us again so this didn't work.  It was at the top that Mike realised just how bright his front light was.  When Bob asked where he had got it from, Richard quickly replied "the runway at Manchester Airport".  To be fair this is such a bright light that was flashing away we briefly considered whether we needed to put a warning for people approaching with photo sensitive epilepsy.

What goes up must come down and the next twenty miles were down hill and we were averaging well over twenty miles an hour on the approach to Kingusise where we would have a drink stop before heading on for Lunch at Aviemore.  This spell of riding was fantastic as we were able to wind back the aching in our legs and ride along at speeds for consistent periods we thought we well behind us.  In fact our average speed today was equivalent to those of day 1...some 600 miles ago.

For lunch we found a Pizza and Pasta buffet at the first restaurant as you approach Aviemore and using the excuse of Carb loading and Replacing lost calories attacked it like we had not eaten for days.  The food was fantasttic and after our first plates were finished we went back for second helpings at which point Barry realised Lee was just about to start a meet dish on his plate despite being vegetarian and Mike arrived with more food on his second plate than his first.  Rumour that the company is suffering financially after our arrival are greatly exaggerated.

Perfect Pizza

Aviemore itself is an odd town.  This is a world renowned ski centre despite being quite flat and has a number of shops most of which are mountain clothing and outdoor sports related.  There was a kids funland with three or four rides but I assume the tourists in February time are not that concerned with this as they are flying down the hills.

Returning to the A9 we climbed back up for the next 10 miles to Schlod summit at about 1315 feet which was a tough climb but the weather was with us and the sun block was woken from hibernation as the temparature increased.  The view from the top of here was amazing with the Cairngorm mountains now in our rear view mirrors (or would be if we had one!) and the sunshine and this is truly an area you should visit if you have not.   I think we would all recommend driving though.

The other bright side at this point was that we were now within 10 miles of the hotel and a 5-45 ish finish which would allow for extra time to recover before tomorrow.  Whilst there were still some climbs to come which slowed us down once these were out of the way, the A9 view of Inverness and the sea is fantastic as you descend into the town.

Jinx strikes again

So...it would appear I could get being on one road wrong.

And what is worse I actually got it wrong about ten days ago when I searched for the Inverness Travelodge to plot the route into the Navigation unit and it guided me to the Travelodge Fairways.  Sadly, there is another Travelodge in Inverness which is about two miles away which is where we are actually staying.  Pants.

We maybe should have suspected when the Van was at the Travelodge and there was a message that there was nowhere to stop in between the A9 and the hotel to meet as arranged.  This appeared odd as we had two miles per the computer so we set off to finish the day before 6 for the first time in a while only to find out that the Van was about 500 yards from us.  Double Pants.

I have already searched Helmsdale to make sure there is only one hotel there with the same name and after that there is only one more night away and I have promised I wont have anything to do with the navigation on that day.  For now.

Day 6 part two.

Oops

Not so many photos here sadly, as during the cafe break, but after heading the hanging potted plant, Barry found out that his mobile phone had died.  One of Lee's friends visited tonight and said he had received about 40 emails a day with the updates however this has reduced dramatically since the phone death.  Those of you who know Barry will know that being without his phone is a bit like having an arm surgically removed so coping with it will be interesting.

Cross the border

Despite the pouring rain, seeing the sign below was very welcome.  We had made over 500 miles since the start.  Scotland was a long way away from home and telling me that I would have ridden here from home let alone driving a few hundred miles in the other direction first would have been unbelievable.

Why there is only Barry in the photo I dont know.  Why he looks quite so camp is really beyond comprehension.

Anyhoo, what you may not be able to see is the sign in the background which says "heavy rain expected Thursday".  If the weather we had ridden trough to that point had been "light rain" then the Scottish interpretation was obviously different to ours.

Last 15

We had lunch in Sainsbury's at Hawick where Lee told us that he had played on a particularly tough rugby tour before and hence knew how to pronounce the name of the town and then on towards Perth.

Now we have noticed that the last 15 miles of the trips have been the hardest on all of the days.  You could say this is stating the obvious however there always appear to have been events that happen at this time such as a big hill, Barry getting us lost or rain.

Had this ride stopped at 85 miles, it would have been an excellent day.  However it didn't and we had to battle on for the final 15 miles which seemed to take a long time especially as it started once more to rain.

This really got me thinking about the cause of why we are doing this and how deep people struggling with their child's illness must have to dig when the think they can take no more.  I realize this is a bad comparison and our extra 15 miles pails into insignificance but there are times towards the end of these days where you do think about whether you can continue and you have to dig.  One pedal at a time.

Hydro

As it was Mr Williams senior and Mike Shelley's last night with the team we were staying away from our usual travelodge at the Peebles Hydro spa.  After arriving, we all headed to the pool for some time relaxing our aching legs in the pool/tub/sauna and this helped to ease some of the miles out of our legs.

Dinner was excellent in the restaurant and a surprise came in the form of Bob (Barry's dad) arriving just after we had ordered.  Now Bob was expected as he kindly volunteered to take over from Mike with the van duties but we had been busy planning how we could hand over the van as Barry's phone had died.   Turning up a day early sorted this problem nicely.  (Given the events on the rail network today (28th) even more so!).

The dinner was great and there were some toasts in honour of Mike and Barry for their company over the preceding days and generosity in supporting us in a number of other ways.  There had been many laughs shared and both of them had contributed massively to our effort.  Thanks.