Saturday 30 Jul On our own to Irvine

Well before yesterdays day off we were full of good intentions and thought that we would spend a bit of time putting some pictures on and giving a good update as to what has been happening. As it happened..... we just had a fantastic day off the bike and didn't get round to picking up the computer until later last night then it was a bit of a rushed update.

We had a great relaxing day.  Well when I say a relaxing day, it was just a great day that flew by. We didn't feel guilty about not being on the bike at all and were treated really well by 2 people who we will sadly miss now that we are no longer with them.  Shaz and Mick have been brilliant both in getting us up to JOG at the start but by being with us all the way with both of them cycling vast distances and also taking turns being tremendous support.  We hope that you enjoyed the laughs as much as us because they were plentiful.

I am sure that Micks ears were beginning to burn and so he took off on the jet ski to try to ease them only to discover that Jackie was sat behind him and even at the speed he was going his engine couldn't drown her out (I think I may even get in trouble for this but who cares).  They just looked like little specks at the other side of the loch but my doesn't sound travel.

Yes it was a great day with us both going on the jet ski and also kayaking this is just one amazing activity holiday.  Its a good job we have no other rest day planned otherwise we could be skydiving or potholing at this rate.

Today we set off for what should have been an easy 12 uneventful miles along the cycle track at the side of loch lomand.  It was certainly easy even with the panniers on for the first time but not that uneventful.  Within a couple of miles of setting off the trip nearly came to an end.  Speeding in the opposite direction were a number of blokes on mountain bikes.  We like to go fast when we can but not round blind bends on a single track.  They came round too fast and seeing us took evasive action and 2 fell off resulting in them not us being injured and one flying scotsman being derailed with a buckled rear wheel.  The group then told us that the same guy had fallen off twice that day! Bit reckless we think.

Anyway after that Mick and Shaz declined the offer to cycle any further with us and caused poor Jackie to burst in tears to say goodbye to them.  Was that the fact that she will miss them, is it because she now has no support vehicle or is it that for then next 2 weeks it is only her and me? Who knows.

Never the less despite the tears we carried on on our own.  We have never cycled to Glasgow before and I was a bit dubious about this bit but it was fine.  We use the cycle lane over Erskine Bridge and took pictures at the top of the Clyde then carried on past Glasgow Airport and through Paisley.

We stopped to check the map (quite often - we don't want to do any more miles than necessary) only to be surrounded by some women offering directions and also a few pounds for H4H.  Brilliant and thank you to them.

It wasn't a bad run today in the end we did another 58 miles and we took just under 5 hours in the saddle.  We did stop at a coffe shop for tea and a cake where once again the woman refuse to take our money.

We have arrived in Irvine and are about to have a wander for refreshments.  The owner of our B and B is fluent at Jockonese and looks a bit like a short Billy Connolly but I won't ask him if he is a relation because I wouldn't be able to understand the answer.  Between us me and Jackie think we have worked out where he has recommended to eat so we will head in that direction. 

This is from the other day when we first spotted Loch Ness

The Commando Memorial at Spean Bridge to remind us it is worth it

Pipers in Inverness from the other night

Johns chair in an Italian restaurant.  It is officially the most uncomfortable chair in the world EVER! (Well it is after cycling anyway)

Thu 28 Jul Fort William to Inverbeg

This was a day that we had been a bit worried about, knowing that it was going to be in excess of 70 miles and cycling up through Glen Coe.  As it turned out if was tremendous and although we hit another record with our longest ever mileage (75.8 miles) it was not as tiring as the day before.

It was a long climb up through Glen Coe but we just got into a low gear and took it steady.  The road was quite busy in places however at other times it was clear and when we went up through Glen Coe it was quite earie.

At the top of the pass we had our picture taken with a piper and then commenced some tremendous downhills.  Some of them seemed to go on for ages (thankfully).

Yes its fair to say that it was a great days cycling and it was made all the better due to the fact the people of Scotland have been fantastic.  We have had lots of drivers shouting out good wishes and waving to us.  Also we discovered to our surprise that when we stopped we had people approaching us and giving us money towards the charity.  I am very pleased to say that so far we have had over £80 donated by people that have approached us. 

This could have been due to the flags that we are flying from the Black Pig along with the Help for Heroes signs.  It could be the fact that we have been proudly wearing our luminous cycle shirts with Help for Heroes on (today we have the bright green ones on the ones where Stephen christened us Shrek and Fiona).  It could have been the fact that people would have seen us struggling up the hills, - or it could have been a combination of the 3.  Either way the people have been great.

We got back to Mick and Shaz's all hapy and content with ourselves knowing that we have now done 314 miles, tackled some big hills and had the benefit of a day off in front of us.

Day 4 Wed 27 Jul Inverness to Fort William

Wow a bir of a tough day today to be fair.  Can;t complain as we had beautiful sunshine and have been on some fantastic routes but we are both now feeling very very tired.

The start of the day took us down the east side of Loch Ness and was just stunning.  The scenery was briliant but boy did we have a climb to get to the top of this mother of a hill before we dropped down into Fort Augustus.  It just seemed to go on and on forever.  The view at the top would have been breathtaking if the actual climb hadn't already achieved that.  The downhill run was imense though really really good if not a little scary in places.

When we got to Fort Augustus we stopped at the side of the locks and watched the boats go through then went into the Bothy which is owned by some people we know who bought us lunch and drinks which was very kind of them.  In fact while talking about the kindness of people we were also approached by a woman who had seen us struggling up a hill.  She had been able to identify that we were doing it for charity (she would have had plenty of time to read our shirts) and stopped and gave us a fiver for the fund,  There are some really nice people around.

After Fort Augustus we had another 30 odd miles along the A82 which was quite hard today.  Fortunately we have had Mick cycling with us all the way and Shaz has been brilliant as support.  Just when we have been flagging she had appeared in a layby with water, bananas and the final stop she had scones.  Brilliant.

Anyway to quickly summarise today it has been very hard but with fantastic scenery.  I would never have thought that we would have cycled from Inverness to Fort William by the banks of Loch Ness and then alongside Ben Nevis.  Marvellous.

For anyone wanting stats we cycled 70 miles today and cycling time was 6 hrs 16 mins.  Clearly it took us alot longer with the stops but a really good hard day.

You can't have any pictures from today yet as I can't be bothered to get the camera but I will include some others from previous days and when we have the 1 rest day that we have planned I will get more organised.

Thanks for all the good wishes that we have had and please feel free to give any comments you want on this blog.

Cheers

We both have shirts like this so that all the drivers etc know what we are doing and will hopefully not run into us but might give us donations - its working

Out in the wilds.

Jackie looking at the signpost that told her it would be 80 miles to Inverness after she had been told it would be 60 miles.

Her reaction to the news.

The black pig parked up for a short while at Bonar Bridge

When you climb a hill in Scotland you are generally rewarded with a good view.  This one isn't bad - but then again it was a hell of a climb.

Anyway gotta sleep another 70+  miles in the morning so goodnight

The Route to Inverness

We had to sign off last night so that we could hit Inverness and grab some food and a beer.

So before breakfast and a run to Fort William let me sum up yesterday.  It was great.  We started off with an easy section and then some great downhill sections.  It was a long day with our record mileages ever at over 72 miles and then there was he other new record for us - speed.  Not uphill obviously that was down to 3mph in places but there ws one downhill bit where we got to 42.8mph and we ad to break due to corners.  Fantastic.

We met some really nice people along the way including at the top of a hill while we were looking at the view (and trying to get oxygen), this Jamaican guy who was asking us about cycling and admiring us about getting up the hill then was absolutely amazed when he was told where we were heading, claiming he wouldn't go that far in his car.

We also met a lovely old woman in a layby who dropped us £2 for Help the Heroes and then stopped as a pub for a coffee only to discover that the couple who owned it were from Doncaster and he was an ex rugby player from Castle Park wow.

Anyway gotta be quick now so here are a couple of piccies from the past 3 days.  Above is the view from Micks lodge.

Just to show we got there.

We are shocked at friends arrival and that Mick would wear a Wednesday shirt!

a view from Dunnet Head

Day 3 - Done

Well sorry that we couldn't update the blog yesterday.  We had no internet access in fact the place we stopped at was so remote that we were lucky to have electricity (in fact for a while this morning we didn't!).  I have to say that we had a great day yesterday although it was a bit of a slog heading across from Thurso to Bettyhill up some bloomin big hills into the head wind and let me tell you it was freezing.  The thing was that we were still so pleased to be cycling that we weren't complaining.
We then changed direction and headed south out of the wind and it was great.  Then we realised how hard the first section had been.  We wnt down the Strathnaven trail which was brilliant.  We spotted a buzzard loads of other wildlife including 2 deer who we caught unaware and who then tried to hide by bending down in the long grass but it was too late by then we had spotted them.
I (John) had told Jackie that it was a 60 mile day - I was wrong it was actually 66.5 miles.  She is normally very patient but by the end even though she had enjoyed the ride she was expecting the Inn to be there at the 60 mile mark and it was clearly my fault that it wasn't. 

It looked alright from the outside but it was VERY dated inside. Jackie was tired and unhappy.  We actually had a good night though with veg fresh from the garden and a lovely meal.  There was one down side though as there was no lager on.  How could I take Mick there as back up to a place with just tinned lager. Rubbish and I know I know I will have gto make it up to him.

Anyway gotta go for now as we have only just got here at Inverness and need to get straight out to eat.  So I will try to update later but just to let you know we have had a great day today and have done 72.4 miles! Not bad for a couple of fatties.

Speak to you soon

Time Error

It appears there is a time error for some reason and I have noticed that the post I have just published and all the other are incorrect as I publish this it is actually 20.00hrs

Cheers

Sunday 24 July we have started and realise how lucky we are

Wow how exciting.  This is just a quick update to let you all know that we have finally set off and after nearly 2 years of talking about cycling from John O Groats to Lands End we aare actgually doing it.

Mick and Shaz picked us up on Saturday and around 1pm we left to go to their beautiful lodge at Loch Lomand where we stayed overnight relaxing with a couple of beers and red wine - no point training now. It has been brilliant to have them helping us and they have provided executive travel for us and the Black Pig.  We have been provided with seating in the car facing each other and a table imbetween to play games on and while the time away taking our minds off what is in front of us.  Great.

Today the realisation as to how far we will be going hit home. We left Loch Lomond about 20 to 10 but didn't get to John O Groats until quarter to 4.  This was our first visit to John O Groats and I have to say in our opinion it is a dump.  We know its iconic and all that, but really... there is nothing there,

We had a big dissapointment when we realised that the bloke with the signpost where everyone wants their picture taken had dissappeared in the time that we nipped to the toilet so we do not have an official picture.

We did however have a huge surprise in store when we were approached by our great friends Dave and Elaine who had made the trip all the way from Newcastle to wave us off and wish us luck.  Incredible we were really shocked and are so grateful that we have friends who are prepared to go to such lengths to wish us well.

Anyway after several photos we were desperate to get started as the wind was blowing and it was freezing.  It didn't stop us setting off grinning from ear to ear just so pleased to have started.

We set off into a head wind then called off to Dunnet Head to deviate to the actauly highest point in the UK - John O Groats isn't.  We then cycled back to the main road and into Thurso where we are currently staying.

No time to add pictures yet though.  We now need to shower and get some food.

So thanks to all for your well wishes and we will update you further but the adventure has now actually started and we are very very happy.

Is It Really Tuesday?

It is now Tuesday morning and the realisation is dawning on us that the adventure is getting closer and is actually going to happen. 

We have kept a countdown on the computer showing how many months and days there are left to go but as we actually set off for Scotland on Saturday the answer now is NOT VERY MANY.

Preparation haven't been going very well in terms of training with building renovations and being busy at work but we are still confident that everything will come right once we set off.

We got our final accommodation booked yesterday courtesy of a Groupon voucher giving us 1 night bed and breakfast with a bottle of wine in the Ramada hotel for £39 bargain.  Added to that they have agreed for the tandem to have a good nights sleep in the conference room where it will be safe, it has left us very happy.  So well doen Groupon and well done the Ramarda at Haydock.

Anyway gotta go there is work to do and much thinking about the coming ride. 

Check by later for more rambling thoughts.

The First Blog

Well hello reader.  This is our very first blog so apologies to those people expecting something more professional.

The purpose of this blog is to keep those interested in our progress as we complete our tandem ride from John O Groats to Lands End.

We will try to keep you informed as to how we get on and I am certain that our blogs will get better as the miles start to be eaten up.

So Welcome to The Blog