A few more pictures

Lands End

A full river Tamar on the Devon/Cornwall border.


The last cafe stop near the cathedral in Truro.


Chepstow
The best value cafe near the centre of Lancaster, all day breakfast and tea for a about £4.


A bit wet in Whitchurch.
A sunny afternoon in beautiful Glencoe.
More sheep than cars on the old A74 from Glasgow to Carlisle.


Ben Nevis in the background at the Commando monument near Fort William.





Time out for the Devil's Porridge exhibition near Gretna.
The steepest bit, a back road route I took into Hamilton south of Glasgow.


On my way up to the youth hostel at JoG I took a diversion to the most northerly point.

The good things

In case it's useful to anyone in the future below are a few of the things that went well and that I'd recommend.

My bike - Giant TCR C3, only problem was a little play in the headset nearing Carlisle, tightened it up and it was all OK. Gears were fine and even made it up a short 18% hill coming in to Hamilton from Glasgow. One thing I noticed since the ride is that the second water bottle I fitted seems to have made a small dent in the carbon frame where it rubbed. I didn't realise carbon frames were that delicate, hopefully it isn't in a stressed location and won't ever give way.

The Topeak QR Beam EX Rear Rack ( I replaced the carbon seat post with an alloy one before using this) with a Topeak MTX Trunk Bag Ex worked fine and the bag seemed very waterproof unlike my old handlebar bag which gets a bit wet these days.

Punctures - None. I'd recommend my new Continental tyres.

My lightweight Montane waterproof jacket that I originally got for mountain running.

My lightweight fleece that was useful as an extra layer on the bike and for keeping warm in the evenings.

Cafes - especially their all day breakfasts and cake. Not so easy to find an open one in Tavistock and Liskeard on a Sunday morning.

Sending the bike up to Scotland by courier although the post office would have been cheaper but they say 3 to 5 working days so I'd left it too late to use them.

Setting up a blog and a just giving site. I didn't realise at the time how many people were following my progress on the blog, if I had I'd have made more detours to find internet cafes and keep it updated more frequently.

Travelling light. I wore an old pair of trainers on the journey up to JoG and then threw them away, making do with a pair of flip flops for the evenings worked well.

Things I'd do differently next time

Spend a bit more time beforehand looking into the Sustrans National cycle routes so that I knew where I'd be able to follow one of the routes. There are lots of NCR signs out there which indicate quiet roads but unless you know where e.g. route 91 goes from and to then you don't know whether to follow them.

Try to get a cycle computer that works even in the wet. The new Cateye Velo 8 I got in Carlisle gave up in the rain leaving Exeter on day 6. Fortunately I had a GPS as a backup to see how far I'd gone.

Suss out the GPS properly before hand. I'd borrowed a Garmin Forerunner 305 (thanks Andy) and I was hoping to download my route when I got home but it seems there was only room on the GPS for the last 2 days. Looks like I would have needed to download it every couple of days to have saved it all.

Take more pictures and video while I was riding along, the one video clip I took with a small digital camera in Scotland after Bettyhill was Ok. I guess it's not a good idea to do this except on the really quiet roads!!! I might have taken more pictures if the camera hadn't been wrapped up in plastic bag to keep it dry a lot of the time.

When the camera on Meg's phone stopped working I should have tried the obvious and turned it off and on! It seems Ok now.

Keep the phone charged every night, especially if I use it to listen to the radio. It ran out of juice on the last day which was a bit of a nuisance.

Think a bit more about what was going to happen at the end and what time I wanted to get there. With the wind and things I didn't get to LE until 18:13 which meant it was a bit of a rush to then get some food and drive back home to Swindon on a Sunday evening.

For maps I relied on pages torn out of an old road atlas and photocopies of OS Landranger Maps borrowed from the library for the more complicated bits like Glasgow and Lancashire. This worked well although next time I won't leave page 28 of the road atlas at home! Although this did give me a good excuse to stop at a petrol station near Ludlow and by some flapjack in return for studying their maps.

Next time I would try to update the blog as much as possible and get more photos on to it during the ride. When I got back home I was amazed at how many people had been looking at the blog during the week.

Trampolines, Floods and Mirrors

You see trampolines everywhere these days! I first thought this on the bus north from Inverness, these four were seen from the Avonmouth bridge near Bristol.








I wanted to go over that bridge in Ludlow!







Same bridge from the other side. Click the image to get a closer look.







Something to do while waiting for the lights to change.

Stats and Route summary

Start: JOG
Day 1: Alltsigh Loch Ness YHA - 168 miles
Day 2: Glasgow Govan Hill - 151 miles
Day 3: Carlisle - 110 miles
Day 4: Chester - 140 miles
Day 5: Welsh Bicknor - 118 miles
Day 6: Moretonhampstead - 135 miles ( 3600 metres climbing)
Day 7: Lands End - 115 miles ( 4025 metres climbing)

Total 937 miles

Average speed approx. 14.5 mph
Average "saddle time" each day approx. 9:15

The End

115 miles from campsite at Moretonhampstead to Lands End, up and down, up and down, up and down........
The hills were bad enough but the strong headwind made it the toughest day by far, journey time of just over 11 hours.
Great to see Suzie, Megan and Anya waiting at the finish.

Day 6 - A trip down memory Lane

About to go down to briefly meet Rog, and camp near Exeter, hopefully not in a flooded field! Haven't heard this morning how he's doing but he rang last night and was fine. He'd reached Welsh Bicknor for the night and was hoping to set off early this morning to try and avoid some of the rain! The plan is then to drive to pick him up at Lands End on Sunday, fingers crossed:)
Suzie

***************************************************************
And added later.....

Day 6 started badly when I left my watch in the bedroom after I got up and my roommate for the night had to come downstairs and find me when the 2nd alarm on it went off at 6:10, oops! I left Welsh Bicknor YHA, lovely location but a bit out of the way and accessed by a very bumpy path, at 7:10 by going over the temporarily "closed" bridge, (not me who moved the barriers honest!) my personal risk assessment decided it was acceptable for me and my bike! Going through the Forest of Dean didn't seem that great an idea at he time as the wind, rain and hills made it fairly slow going.
Got to Chepstow at 8:40
Stopped to pick up some bananas then carried on over old Severn Bridge on the cycle path and down through Severn Beach. Recognised the road leading to the old quay where I remembered we used to get the old ferry from to cross to Wales when the first bridge was still being built back in the late 60s.



Through Avonmouth and over the bridge to Pill where I lived from the age of 3 to 9.
Rode round the village a bit, past the creek and shops and then back up to our old house.


Then it was off on the back road to Clevedon that runs near the M5, a bit narrow and muddy on places but quiet. An all day breakfast in a Clevedon cafe where the staff were making the most of the last day of being allowed to smoke on the premises. The new smoking laws were coming in to force the next day on July 1st. Next off to my birthplace, Bridgwater, joining the A38 at Brent Knoll. NO SMELL these days as you approach Bridgwater, I've just discovered on Wikipedia that the cellophane factory closed in 2005. Kept going through Bridgwater as I wanted to get to Taunton for a stop. The A38 was very busy around here, lots of holiday traffic, Suzy said later she thought there had been a problem on the M5.

Found a cafe eventually in Taunton for some coffee and cake then diverted off the A38 to visit the churchyard in nearby Trull. Joan was my Aunty, it was sad that she wasn't still here to hear about my trip, I'm sure she would have been really interested. A shame the anti smoking laws didn't come in 50 years ago.



Stopped just up the road to take a picture of the cottage Joan lived in.

I fell off my bike here on the slippery drive opposite, luckily I was doing 0mph at the time! The front wheel just went sideways as I stopped on the damp mouldy paving stones.



Onwards then to Cullompton where I had my Scottish money refused in the co-op so had to pay by card before then stopping on the bridge over the M5 for a few minutes and seeing Suzie and the girls pass by underneath. Through Exeter and up the hilly B3212 to Moretonhampstead where the family had a tent waiting for me. It was a relief to have got a bit of Dartmoor behind me.
A long day in to the wind and rain, although at least it was warm, 135 miles 12.25 hours elapsed time with about 10.25 hours in the saddle. Average speed approx 13mph new cycle computer packed up just after Exeter!
A lovely meal at a Cafe/Restaurant in the centre of town on the right just before the crossroads as you come from Exeter.
Roger

DAY 5

Left Chester YHA (not as pleasant as Loch Ness and JOG YHAs) at 7:45, suprisingly felt quite sprightly this morning, had a potter along the river taking a couple of photos before setting off for Whitchurh. Not much wind this morning and made quite good progress but then it started raining so I was tempted by a lock side cafe on the Shropshire Union canal at 9:15. Lovely carrot cake with cream and cappuchino, if it carries on raining I might have another one!
Internet access in the Cafe so thought I'd catch up with things, looks like the weather should be brighter later, nice big sun on the BBC site for 13:00 in Shrewsbury.
Yesterday was a bit tougher, seemed like a headwind most of the way, my maximum speed was only 35mph which considering that included coming down from Shap shows how much effect the wind had. The weather wasn't too bad until near Wigan when it started raining, so St Helens, Widnes and Runcorn didn't look at their best. Runcorn seems like an odd place all these flyovers and expressways off the Runcorn Bridge and no signposts of any use. Eventually I popped out of the maze onto the A56 to Chester.
The day before was good most of it was on the old A74 (replaced now with the M74) that is now really quiet and in places one carriageway of the old dual carriageway has been converted into a cycle lane. A couple of heavy showers in the morning but after 2 bacon rolls for lunch in Moffat the sun came out for a lovely afternoon. I took a couple of diversions as I got closer to Carlisle and came across a "Devils Porridge Exhibition" in Earlsrigg near Gretna. This was about the 1st world war munitions factory built here in 1915 where 30,000 people worked on a site 9 miles long!
Got to Carlisle in time to get to Palace Cycles and get a new cycle computer but I left my helmet in the bike shop and only realised the next morning when I was nearly in Penrith. So I bought a new helmet in Kendal and now have a spare one in Carlisle just in case I ever need it! Thanks to Alison for looking after and feeding me so well in Carlisle and for the donation.
Rain is even heavier now so perhaps I'll go and get some more cake.
Sorry Meg but the camera on your phone seems to have stopped working (we'll have to send it back) so no photos at the moment.

Day 4

Got to Chester, 140 miles today, doing well, muscles not too sore. These blogs are getting shorter from me aren't they, I'm sure he'll send me something better to write later, but just wanted to let you know he got there:) Suzie

Day 3

Nice short ride, 110miles! according to Roger. Doesn't sound short to me. Got to Carlisle and had a wander round and a meal, sounded very relaxed and happy. Roger'll write a more poetic post later! Suzie

Day 2 photo

this is daddy with Polly and Maya at Tarbot. Anya

Day 2

Well down south sounds like you're all flooded out but up here it's been glorious. Cycling up Glen Coe in the sunshine was spectacular and the road was quieter than I expected. It was tempting to stop every few minutes for another photo opportunity.

Left at 7:45 and then after stopping for a while at the Commando Monument and admiring the view of Ben Nevis I brunched at about 11 in a cafe in Fort William high street and pumped up the tyres in the bike shop next door. Then met up with Di, Polly and Maya at 16:00 at Tarbet by Loch Lomond. Lovely to see them and to have a rest with a bit of tea and cake, hopefuly Suzie will get a photo of the girls on the blog in the morning.
From there a good cycle path along the Loch, which links up somehow at Dumbarton with one into Glasgow along the canal, although I missed a turning and ended up going alongside the wrong canal. This meant I ended up too far North and having to negotiate the numerous traffic lights on the Great Western Road in to the city centre, before heading south to arrive at Keiths flat in Govan Hill at about 20:15.
A lovely meal with Keith and a wee taste of whisky, when in Scotland...

For Suzie and Kipper, I actually got the binoculas out last night by Loch Ness to have a closer look at what Keith and I think was probably a Buzzard, so I feel a bit better about lugging them all this way now!

Day 2 151.7 miles according to Andy's GPS, not sure about the average etc. as my speedometer on the bike decided to pack up at Fort William for some reason, why do those things never seem to last very long?

Kyle, not sure that I'll be running by next Thursday, legs are feeling a bit stiff!!!

day 2 photo

Loch Oich

Day 1 photos

At John O'Groats









and then at Loch Ness

Day 1

The latest from Roger : Heavy snoring from someone in JOG Youth Hostel helped get me up early and out by 6:30. Got to JOG as the rain started and took a few photos before setting off at almost exactly 07:00. With a north wind I decided to follow Rob's suggestion and headed west through Thurso for breakfast and on to Betty Hill for coffee and carrot cake at "Elizabeth's" cafe. Then turned south to enjoy the really quiet road and tailwind to Lairg. On to Dingwall and then stopped for dinner at Drumnadrochit, getting to the YHA at about 21:00 . Lucky with the weather a great tail wind a lot of the way and only the odd shower of rain. 168 miles ( plus 3 to get to JOG from the YHA) Avg 16.9 mph. Time 9 hours 57 mins. Max 41 mph Off to get some sleep now!

At John O'Groats

Well, the bike and Rog are both at JOG, the bike is out of the box and back in one piece and the fun starts tomorrow morning at 6.30am! Let's hope the north wind helps!
Suzie

Getting there and back

The plan is Suzie to drop me off at Bristol Airport on Sunday morning at about 9am.
Fly to Inverness with Easyjet.
Taxi or Bus Inverness bus station to get the 2pm bus up to just past Wick arriving at Alan and Cath's at about 5:15pm
Unpack my bike and put it together, then head off to JOG youth hostel for the night.
Get up early and set off at about 6:30am, if the BBC forecast is to be believed then there could be a strong northerly wind in the north of Scotland on Monday!

The Kit and Bike

Below is a list of everything I'm planning to wear and take with me at the moment along with the weight in grammes. In total this adds up to 4.9 kg. On top of this there will be a credit and debit card to pay for the things I've forgotten. The idea of going lightweight with a bag attached to a seat tube mounted rack came from Kipperonabike along with James and Henry you can find a good list of other End to End web sites here.

Short sleeve cycling top	216
Cycling Shorts	268
Socks	116
Flip Flops	114
Waterproof jacket	216
Evening t-shirt	178
Evening and cycling fleece	204
Evening shorts	234
pants	60
Helmet	290
tubes	228
bike multi tool	174
pump	150
water bottles	160
Lube	58
phone	78
lock	420
puncture kit	22
binoculas	202
bird book	124
camera and spare battery	188
penknife	50
note book	50
flannel	35
Andy's garmin gps and charger	224
suncream	28
Map pages/photo copies	70
phone	102
phone charger	70
passport	30
Waterproof socks	74
First Aid plasters/painkiller	50
spare spokes	30
malt loaf	224
jelly babies	80
swimming costume	60
cycling shoes	700

The bike is a Giant TCR C3. The only alteration to its original state is an alloy seat tube instead of the original carbon to allow the rear rack to be attached to the seat tube.

The rack is a Topeak QR Beam EX Rear Rack with a Topeak MTX Trunk Bag Ex.

The bikes gearing is 36 - 50 Front and 12 - 25 rear which going by James and Henry's comments will hopefully ensure that I don't need to get off and walk up any of the hills.

Preparations

Things are beginning to take shape:

Bike:
Firstly the bike which had a new pair of tyres, brake blocks and alloy seat tube ( for the rear rack) fitted over the weekend. Monday saw a final ride out to Ramsbury loaded with new rear rack and bag along with my old handlebar bag.

Then it was dismantled, boxed up and taken down to Interlink Express for them to send to Alan and Cath (thanks Pete!) near Bowermaddon Crossroads between Wick and Thurso. Hopefully I didn't leave anything out, a last minute thought from Suzie meant the tools to put the bike back together were squeezed inside the box just in case they're not allowed on the plane.

Route:
A good chat through the route with Rob Hall from Swindon Road club (SRC), means this is a bit clearer, Youth Hostels are now booked at JOG for day zero and then at Loch Ness for day 1. Tonight I contacted Keith in Glasgow and Alison in Carlisle who are both now pencilled in OK for the following 2 nights. If this goes to plan then it will mean 2 big days 140+ miles to start, followed by a shorter 100 mile day into England. For Carlisle to the Welsh borders it sounds like I just need to remember "A6" and "A49" and I'll be Ok. Need to decide about whether to book any accomodation for the later nights yet or leave it open. I like the sound of the route that Rob had taken for day 1 of going West from JOG to Betty Hill before then dropping down to Lairg on the quiet B road. This will add a bit to an already long first day but sounds like a great road to cycle on.

Fitness:
I've just worked out that my average weekly bike mileage has been 134 miles over the past 10 weeks, on top of this there's been 15 miles a week running. Longest ride was 165 miles with the SRC down to the south coast, also there was a ride to Cambridge, 120 miles, followed by a ride back 2 days later. Is this good enough preparation for averaging 120+ miles for 7 days on the trot?

Roger's JOGLE

"What would you do if you could do whatever you want?" someone asked me last November.



I said I'd do something silly like cycle from Lands End to John O'Groats. Once I'd said that it started niggling at me so here I am with a week and a half to go before flying up to Inverness with Easyjet. An ever growing list of things to do before then one of which is to set up this blog with some background info that might be interesting and useful to others about; my route; kit list; training, logistics etc. So I'll be back later to get writing on some of those things.