Land's End to John O'Groats

John O'Groats Photo

2007-06-27T20:26:00.000Z

Here we are - happy to have arrived at John O'Groats! YAHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WE MADE IT!

2007-06-25T08:40:00.001Z

We’re here, we did it! We made it all the way up John O’Groats from Lands End by bicycle in 15 days. So I am so exhausted!

Today was the hardest day despite the distance only being 58 miles. We battled into a strong head wind the entire way which was very toug and energy sapping. I’d got good winter gear on to keep the cold out. For charity two men completed the ride stark naked, very brave in this weather!

I am so relieved that this tour is over even though I have had a wonderful time, I’m looking forward to having a bath. I am looking forward to an enormous bowl of my home made muesli. I am looking forward to eating fresh vegetables with my dinner and I am looking forward to washing my clothes in a washing machine and not the sink.

I’d like to add that I have cycled up every single hill on this route which only 25% of LEJOGGERS achieve according to the CTC, so I am very proud of myself.

Christine and the finance team: I need to book some more holiday to recover from this one! See you all next week.

Peddling and paddling

2007-06-23T18:44:00.001Z

The rain everyone has been talking about finally caught up with us today, thankfully it didn’t last all day but it wasn’t particularly warm – no surprise now that we’re in Northern Scotland!

We’ve peddled and paddled our way to Bettyhill on the north coast of the UK mainland today. It’s wonderful to see the sea again! We’ve cycled through some real wilderness today and hardly seen any traffic which is absolute bliss. Our A road was single track with passing places.

With over 1000 miles on our legs we’ve just 60 miles to go to achieve our dream of reaching John O’Groats (and apparently Mary’s alcoholic relatives!)

We’re going via Dunnet Head the most northerly point. I’ve brought all my winter cycling gear so I am prepared!!

Poggle: Congratulations on the birth of your second son and Oli’s brother. I’ll look forward to seeing the photos soon.

Ouchy!

2007-06-22T18:21:00.000Z

Corr Blimey! How can I be enjoying this so much when most of my muscles ache, the pain of sitting on the saddle has become unbearable!

We left Fort William and snowy Ben Nevis this morning pedalled up and down along side lovely Loch Ness for much of the day and now in Evanton. Just up from Inverness and Dingwall.

We had some more evil climbs today particularly at the end of the day of our 81 mile ride. If we had the energy I’m sure we’d throttle our leader for designing such a route!

It’s been a beautiful day with no rain so we’ve been very lucky and able to see Scotland at it’s brilliant best.

Barcelona Troup: In the words of Richard whilst on our Explorer holiday in Spain back in September 2005 “MY ASS!!!!!!!!!!!” Hope to see you all for the reunion in York later this year which I’ll organise when I get back.

Fort William

2007-06-21T19:20:00.000Z

I don't know why but I can't quite believe that we've made it all the way up to Fort William - I feel so far up the country now! We've had a superb day of cycling (78 miles with an 8 mile climb first thing this morning), setting off in hot sunshine and then getting caught in a very impressive deluge with thunder, lightening and everything and then steady rain for the last couple of hours, and now beautiful sunshine again this evening. Nothing could deter from the spectacular scenery of the lochs and mountains. And the tea and cake back at camp made the world a very happy place to be again.
Our B&B is fit for royalty this evening - it's absolutely stunning. We've superb views over Lock Linnhe as well. I love Scotland!

Rich, Ben, Nicola and John: being in Fort William brings back happy memories of of our national 3 peaks challenge whilst at uni - driving from Exeter overnight, then Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon.

Greenflag Girls (Mary, Laetitia, Rachel and Vero): looking forward to seeing you for a celebratory pizza v soon. I hope you're holiday in Greece was good, Mary. I'll soon be meeting your relatives near John O'Groats!

Sister Janny: thank you for typing all my blogs and reading all the messages this past week and a bit - you are always a star!

Everybody: thank you for all your blog posts, text messages and emails sending encouragement and support - you are wonderful!

Rest and be thankful

2007-06-20T21:29:00.001Z

Today we are resting and thankful to be in the incredible pretty town Inverary. We rested and were thankful for a cream tea at Tarbet at 4pm this afternoon and we also had 4 mile climb up to a path genuinely called ‘rest and be thankful’. Either we are now super fit cyclists or the gradient was very kind and I know it was the latter. It has been a tough day working our way through Glasgow, Cyldebank and Dunbarton although the beauty of Loch Lomond helped make up for it. And the wonderful welcome at our B&B made it all totally worth while.

Just 4 days to go! On to Fort William tomorrow.

Bob great news about the ankle see you next week at the BBQ.

85 miles of beauty

2007-06-19T18:59:00.000Z

We cycled 85 miles through the awesome rolling hills of the Scottish borders and Lanarkshire today. I thought I’d cycled the cold out of my system yesterday but it was back today so cycling with achy bones added to the challenge. Thank goodness it was such a fantastic day!

Both Dad and I had a superb macaroni cheese for lunch which definitely gave us extra much needed pedal power in the afternoon. Dad got a puncture one mile from the finish so I cycled on to fetch some cake so we we’re able to walk back to the camp together happily munching away and mended the tyre back at camp. Good timing really!

Another long day on the bike tomorrow to look forward to.

Brenda: Congratulations on your flying and for conquering the blog technology.

Sunny Scotland

2007-06-18T18:05:00.001Z

The easiest cycling day we’ve had so lots of happy faces when we got into camp today for afternoon tea. When I say easy we’ve still cycled 73 miles today.

I’ve now got a cold so cycling whilst shivering and sweating at the same time has been fun. We crossed the border in to Scotland today – hurrah! That felt such an achievement. We’re all still thoroughly enjoying the trip.

Poggle: I would have said that you would probably be more in pain than me, but now I’m not so sure! Healthy remaining pregnancy.

Thank you to everyone for the messages. Keep them coming, they make a wonderful difference.

Delightful Dales (Sunday)

2007-06-18T18:01:00.000Z

Today was one of our toughest days cycling up and over the Yorkshire Dales and into Cumbria but it was absolutely spectacular with stunningly beautiful scenery. I was so proud to be a Yorkshire girl with everyone saying how amazing the scenery was. We’re in Kirkey Stephens tonight and will be heading into Scotland tomorrow – an incredible thought.

Sadly a 41 year old member of our cycling group dies from a heart attack on Friday. This is definitely no easy ride.

Tired and weary

2007-06-17T21:35:00.000Z

Oh my goodness my legs are feeling it this evening. They have merely 500 very hilly miles in them (if your considering cycling Lejog there are easier ways to do it other than our ‘scenic’ route!)

We have been so lucky with the weather again cycling in sunshine throughout the afternoon. All your text messages are offering me paddles and flippers so it doesn’t sound good elsewhere.

We’ve got a really tough day of cycling in it Yorkshire Dales tomorrow so wish me luck!

LeJog update

2007-06-15T18:12:00.000Z

Hi everyone!

I’m alive, well and still peddling. I apologise for not being able to blog all week. We’re both cycling and staying in the middle of nowhere so I’ve no access to internet facilities, so I’ll catch up now.

We’ve just completed 6 days of cycling in relentlessly hilly country from Cornwall through Devon, Somerset, Avon, Shropshire and we’re now in Acton Bridge in Cheshire. We’ve been immensely lucky with the weather so far, cycling in sunshine today whilst many places seem to be flooded. We’ve met some truly wonderful people on route making the journey even more pleasurable. My neck is still pretty sore, but behaving well thankfully.

Thank you for all your messages so far – please keep them coming as they keep our spirits soaring.

For Becky & KC: We crossed the River Tamar on route which reminded me of when we canoed down it all those years ago for KC’s ‘surprise’ birthday weekend.

For Chris and Clive Roach: We cycled passed The Old Crocks tea rooms which we went to on the last afternoon of the CTC Easter Tour – the brilliant one where we were served quickly and I had a hot chocolate with 3 flakes!!

Donna: Congratulations on the birth of Jamie Leigh Clough!

PHP finance team: Good luck with raising lots of money from the calorie counting game and thank you so much for your help with this.

Leaps & Bounds!

2007-06-07T17:33:00.000Z

After feeling sad and blue last night following the visit to the osteopath, I am happy to report that my neck has been improving in leaps and bounds today. Last night, the verdict was I may not be ready to start cycling from Land's End on Sunday. An anti-inflammatory injection into my neck would help but could trigger an asthma attack, which would mean I couldn't cycle anyway. If the worst comes to the worst, I'll be able to travel in the support van, which is definitely not how I envisaged my Land's End to John O'Groats dream taking place. However, if my neck keeps progressing as it has today, I don't think it will come to that. The good thing is that, much as I was dreading cycling through Cornwall and Devon, I now will be overjoyed if I can struggle up those hills and whizz down the other side! And a good point raised by Sue P at work: I can look forward to the pain in my neck being replaced by the pain in my bum - thanks Sue!

Thank you for all your good wishes, everyone, and I look forward to reporting from the saddle on tour in the next few days!

Pain in the Neck

2007-06-04T17:02:00.001Z

I'm trying to stay calm as yesterday I woke up with a badly cricked neck, unable to move my head or neck in any direction, and was in a terrible amount of pain. Obviously, I couldn't cycle so missed my last big training run with the Otley Cycle Club before the tour. I've been to the docs and the osteopath today. The osteopath was wonderful and very re-assuring that I'll be fit to cycle by the weekend, which is when the tour starts. However, he was very limited in the work he could do whilst everything around my neck was so inflamed and still so painful. So I'm on lots of ice-packs and muscle relaxing drugs which should help before my next treatment on Wednesday. Keep your fingers and toes crossed for me!

One week to go!

2007-06-02T19:51:00.000Z

Hi Everyone! Just one week to go before my Dad, Trevor, and I set off for our Land's End to John O'Groats cycle ride - eek!! Over 1,000 miles of cycling in 15 days - I just can't wait! We're going with 43 other people from all over the country (2 are from Australia) on a tour organised by Bike Adventures. They've planned the route, arranged the accommodation and they will be carrying our luggage so we're free to enjoy the pedalling (if "enjoy" is the right word for the level of pain we'll undoubtedly endure!) as well as the best of the scenery the UK has to offer. We're heading from South to North (uphill!) apparently to take account of the prevailing (mythical?!) south-westerly winds.

The last few months have been busy with training for this event as well as raising money for the British Lung Foundation. I'm an asthmatic myself and this charity contributed to saving my Mum's life last year when she developed multiple blood clots on her lungs following a simple, routine operation. Nearly £2,400 has now been raised via sponsorship, donations and a "pamper party" and I've yet to launch the calorie guessing game to my unsuspecting colleagues!

So, my Dad and I are in final preparation mode and I'm still wondering what clothes to take! How do you pack for a trip in weather conditions as notoriously unreliable as ours? We might need our thermals one day and suncream the next. Very tricky! It's bad enough that I'm having to leave my hair dryer and hair straighteners behind!

I'd better mention at this point that I'm not the best cyclist in the world, nor do I ride a lightweight racing bike. I have a lovely hybrid bike with tyres that should cope better with our poor road surfaces and it also has 27 gears which will be hugely important for all the hillclimbs we'll be facing. I've trained hard, though, and now I just cannot wait to get going on this ride - BRING IT ON!!!!!