Day 9 - Langholm to Home (Edinburgh/Dunfermline)

The other entries for the day pretty much sum it all up.

I did a whisker short of 74 miles for the day and I think Sandy did about 92 - I get to do the extra tomorrow.
Average speed for the day was pretty high at around 12.4 mph - largely helped by the long downhill sections.
I am up to 662 miles - Sandy about 20 more than that.

We left Langholm at about 10 to 8 - thanks to our hosts for getting up to feed us breakfast at 7.  We got a few miles in before the rain started.  The most bizarre part of the day was the Tibetan centre about 15 miles up the road.  It was well defended by vicious attack midges, so we didn't pause for too long!

In the entire distance of 45 miles from Langholm to Innerleithen we saw no more than 30 cars on the road - and only 2 (and a fox) in the first hour.  This qualifies it as the quietest stretch of road so far.

It was great to meet up with Bill, Pete and Sid in Langholm.  Bill and mutual friend Ray did LEJoG last year and Pete and I joined them for the section from Innerleithen to Edinburgh.  That was a lovely sunny day and I was on my road bike - a much quicker riding experience.

I didn't get to watch any football tonight - having hummed and hawed a bit I decided to fix the bike - of course things are never quite as straightforward as they should be.  The new hanger is certainly the right part but there has obviously been a slight tweak in the frame and I can only fit one of the two bolts that hold it in place.  It seems to be secure though, so I've fitted the new rear mech and now I've got a full range of gears again.  Tyres are blown up as well, so ready to roll first thing in the morning.

I shall take the emergency replacement rear mech hanger that I bought in Halfords in St Austell with me just in case :-).

No beer blog tonight - unless a glass of Rose wine counts? No, I didn't think so :-).

The broken bit

.......use the forks luke, use the forks.

Classic punchline for today, but I nearly wet myself thinking of the other star wars joke about Darth trying to distract Luke when they were fighting with their light sabres.
Darth: I know what you've got for Christmas
Luke; dont be ridiculous, how could you know that?
Darth: I've felt your presents.

Anyhoo, big day getting home, 92m, and a huge 1600m of climbing, but it felt good. The bike will get a full service overnight by the bike repair fairies, although they usually leave the tyre pressures and chain lube to me.
Great to see loads of folks out supporting the ride home. Bill rode all the way from Innerleithen to Dunfermline, Pete rode from Edi to Inners and back with us, Sid met us for lunch and my sis Anne, Steve, Erin and Beth met us in Bonnyrigg for photos. Thanks to everyone else for the texts and emails, the support has been amazing. Only 5 more days to go.

Sandy

Home - for me at least.  Sandy should be in Dunfermline shortly.

One of Sandy's friends, Sid met us in Innerleithen most unexpectedly and we retired to the Whistle Stop Cafe for lunch.  We had made good time and got there shortly after 11.30 where we waited for Bill and Pete who were going to accompany us back over the hills towards Edinburgh.  Bill turned up shortly afterwards - Pete was still a bit away so we decided to meet him on the way up the road.  It was great to have the company.  The rain had pretty much stopped by this point as well.

This is the section of road where Pete and I met the naked rambler a few years ago.  He was on his way to John O'Groats - although it took him a bit longer than we are planning.  Partly because he spent so much time in the cells along the way.  I should think he got a bit cold if the wind were anything like we experienced coming over Shap.

A couple more steady climbs and descents and we were on the mostly downhill stretch into Bonnyrigg on route 1.  There we were met by Sandy's sister and family.  We chatted with them for a few minutes.  At this point Pete took his leave since he lives just up the road from here and the three of us continued on into Edinburgh, arriving at my house just after 3.30.  I dumped my paniers and guided Bill and Sandy the first section towards the cycle path and then came home to see the family and try and book the train back from the North of Scotland next Saturday.  We had delayed doing this because of not being certain what day we would make it.

This turned out to be a bit of a nightmare.  Finding phone numbers on websites was the first challenge - got through to a foreign sounding gentleman who was less than helpful - when I spelled Thurso he thought I meant Thirsk.  Hmmm....Tried a different train company and got through to the same guy.  Then tried booking directly on East Coast trains site where it seems you can book bike spaces on line.  Only availability appeared to be Thurso at 06:48 a.m.  Sandy is going to hate me for that - but needs must.  Confirmation email has no mention of any bike booking - so if there is any problem there is going to be some major aggravation at Thurso station early next Saturday morning.

Now it's bath, washing, food, bike fixing and maybe football watching time.

Does the Dalai Lama come here on holiday?

Tibetan tea rooms in the middle of nowhere - if nowhere had a middle (very Zen).

(On the road from Langholm to Innerleithen - 45 miles on breakfast and one snickers bar)

Innerleithen

A fairly early start after an excellent breakfast.  A bit of a climb to start which got the heart rate going before the rain started.  Then some long climbs followed by some really good descents.  Miles at a time.  Best road surface by far for about 20 miles thanks to the timber industry.  We are now in the Whistlestop cafe with Sid awaiting Bill and Pete who are going to cycle the next stretch with us.

Day 8 - Kendal to Langholm

66 Miles and what must be the best b&b so far by miles.

The high point of the day was literally Shap which came at about 10 miles.  Not big girlie Shap that you cross on the M6 just off to the East but proper men's Shap on the A6 with a strong north wind in your face.

The rest of the day was downhill all the way with a few little bumps.  The cycling was largely uneventful.  We did at least an extra half mile because of the one way system in Penrith.  Rubbish cycle paths through Carlisle - 6 inches wide if that and dug up and bumpy.

We took the A6 as far as Carlisle and the A7 to Langholm.  They were not too busy although the traffic was pretty quick, but not many trucks.  We stopped to take the obligatory photo as we crossed the border.

We arrived at the b&b at about 4.15 p.m.  it is owned by a couple who did the end to end a few years ago.  Talk about being spoiled.  Chocolate buns, our own sitting room, breakfast at a time of our asking (7 a.m. since it is a long day for Sandy tomorrow.)  We talked cycle paths and the like with the owner for a while before retiring for a shower. Now about to head over to the Douglas Hotel for tea.

Easy day

The big lump early on today is Shap, after that it was all downhill, albeit with a headwind. Sandy

Ingerlund, Ingerlund.................. NOT!

Back in Scotland again.....
Sandy

Cake in Shap

A brief stop for more coffee and cake after the long climb over Shap in a cold northerly wind.  Onwards to Penrith and Carlisle.

Top of Shap

N miles of solid uphill, took more than an hour, and climbed mre than 400m, nearly two thirds of yesterdays total climbing. All dowhill drom here eh!
Sandy

......do you think I'm some kind of weirdo......?

Ducks on the lancaster canal yesterday........
Sandy

A brief review of the first week

One week in and the days have already blurred into each other. It's a strange feeling where one feels like one has been going for ages, but at the same time it has been going past very quickly.

Other than the first day there have been no mechanical incidents of note and the weather has been pretty kind to us.

We have had 3 hard days in terms of hills - the first two through Cornwall which we expected and the one up to Ironbridge which we probably weren't, although we are just taking each mile as it comes.  A lot of the rest of the terrain has been pretty flat.  Curiously our average speed on the flat bits isn't all that much higher than on the hills.

We have done fairly well at sticking to the back roads where we have seen very few cars - the penalty sometimes but not always being a bit more up and down.

Accommodation has perhaps been harder to find than expected.  We haven't failed yet, but day 3 was a struggle as we pushed on in the wet and it got later and later - at least it was fairly flat.

Today we head for Langholm and the day after we should get a night in our own beds.  The forecast for Sunday isn't great but if anyone wants to join us we expect to be in Innerleithen around midday.  We will take the B709 from Langholm to Innerleithen and the same B709 towards Edinburgh.

Day 7 - Standish to Kendall

An early start this morning. Breakfast at 7 and on the road by 8.  The weather was sunny when we were having breakfast but clouded over as we set off.  No rain though.  The sun came out later on in the day and by the time we got to Kendall it was pretty warm.

Most of the day was spent on the A6.  We were about a mile off at the start of the day and stayed on it until we we got to Lancaster.  A fairly straight and boring road but with cycle lanes for large sections which helped.  Traffic wasn't too bad once we got North of the M51.  We paused for coffee and cake at a large garden centre sort of place which sold all sorts of stuff near Barton.  I was feeling fairly weary after the long distance yesterday and the early start - so I took it fairly easy and let Sandy disappear into the distance.

We got to Lancaster in reasonable time - the only concern was a sharp twinge in my left knee as we approached - the right knee I can understand after two cartilage ops but I have never had any trouble with the left.   It seemed to clear a little after we left Lancaster so fingers crossed.

On the way out of Lancaster we spotted cycle path 6 towards Kendal and decided to take it.  Well, I decided and since I have got the route Sandy followed.  It was a rather circuitous route out of Lancaster - but it took us to the Lancaster canal just as the 500 miles came up.  We stopped to take a few photos and then followed the canal for the next 5 miles.  It was a nice break from the main road and we took photos of ducks and swans along the way.  The canal was beside the A6 so it was perfect.  As we left it we decided to rejoin the A6 rather than take route 6 along the back roads.

We got to Milnethorpe about 1.30 and stopped for an ice cream.  As we were about to set off again the road seemed to get really busy, so I decided to take route 6 again.  This was fine - really quiet back roads, but with some steepish hills which we walked up rather than tire our legs more.

We arrived in Kendal some 9 miles later at around 3 p.m. and set about finding somewhere to stay.  After a couple of phone calls with no luck we retired to the tourist info office who found us one of the last  remaining rooms just along the road.  Big relief.  We had been a little concerned about finding somewhere on the Friday and Saturday night so have booked ahead for tomorrow in Langholm.

We showered and then watched the second half of RSA vs Mexico.

Family member has collected the bike part from the shop so hopefully it will fit ok.

Shap, Penrith and Carlisle tomorrow. Beer and football tonight.

Ingerlund, ingerlund.....

Ok, there are hundreds of car all over with the st g's x flags, some with one, some 2, some several, all those with none, I presume have just fallen off given thw number at the roadside. BUT, this pub in Kendal (the new inn) takes the biscuit. The seats have st g's backs, there are flags all over including outside, and even the lightshades are Ingerlund footballs...........
Then, we move bars to get a different brew and ALL the guest real ales are from elsewhere. NOTHING local. Dissaster, so we tried the sharpes, cos neither of us had had it before. Ok, but no winner.

Sandy

Pancakes

Only 600m climbing today, and we feel almost cheated that there wasn't more of a challenge. Dead pancake flat almost all day, definitely the easiest so far ahead of probably the 4 likely hardest days. Sandy

Kendal

Now looking for somewhere to stay.

Oh I would bike 500 miles

Oh I would bike 500 more...

With apologies to the Proclaimers.

A symbolic around about halfway point next to the Lancaster Canal.

...... No yer right it's a pavlova.

And a very old joke to end the first week with. Cakes and coffee are fuelling large sections of this trip, and a lot of stops are at garden centres. I mean the old folks are hardly going to nick the bikes are they?
Sandy

Lancaster

498 miles on the clock.  We'll take a photo in a couple of miles.

Almost half way

Up at 7 for breakfast and on the road by 8.  Now stopped for coffee at a garden centre near Barton, about 15 miles from Lancaster.  Mostly flat and mostly on the A6 although we picked up a good cycle path on the way into Preston.  I forgot to attach the tow rope to Sandy's bike again :-)

Day 6 - Ironbridge to Standish

Up for breakfast at 8 - which was nothing special.  Poorest breakfast of the trip so far by far.  Neither of us really ate enough so we had to stop a couple of additional times during the day.

The forecast said it would be dry all day but as we got ready to leave and looked out the window it was drizzling. It stopped before we set off though and did indeed stay dry all day. It was grey and overcast with a cold northerly wind which was in our faces most of the day.  The whole point of starting at Land's End is to get a tail wind!

We had a bit of hassle negotiating our way out of Ironbridge and Telford.  We started by taking a slightly circuitous route out of Ironbridge in order to avoid a long climb. That was reasonably successful - we had a short push - but we missed a turn so it was slightly more circuitous than intended by about a mile. Oops.
Telford has a lot of busy roads with cycle paths beside many of them but unless you know where they all go it's not very helpful.  A few times we saw one on the wrong side of the road or crossed the road to get on one to discover it finished after just a few yards.

We added another couple of extra miles as a result - then the GPS batteries went flat. I had spares but it added to the frustration.  At last we got onto the back roads and the pace picked up.  The terrain was much easier today being virtually flat after the initial climb out of Ironbridge Gorge.  We made good time - stopping to admire a herd of black sheep. They must have been dipped in the Black Sea or something. (When I was very small I had a book called Eric's Journey.  He fell in the Black Sea and his mother had to wash him and hang him on the line to dry.)

We continued on to Market Drayton where we paused for coffee and cakes - very good.  I phoned Edinburgh Bikes to see if they had a rear mech hanger.  Fortunately they did, so I asked them to put it aside and hopefully one of the family will go and collect it.

We continued from Market Drayton again along back roads another 15 miles to Nantwich where more coffee and food were required - this time in the bookshop!.  Both pretty market towns.  Leaving Nantwich we got onto a road that wasn't on the map so some minor adjustment to the route was required.

The next several miles were fairy uneventful other than a road that was marked as a dead end.  We did quite a distance on this one (Grange Road).  The GPS map insisted it went through and indeed for bikes it did.  It got pretty rough and muddy at points - but we did eventually hit proper roads again.

There were lots of canals in today's route - The Shropshire Union, The Trent and Mersey and The Manchester Ship Canal to name 3.  We also did a stretch near The River Weaver.  I had investigated whether any of that might be cycleable, but it seemed not as was confirmed when we got there.

On the way towards Warrington we passed through Hartford and Northwich where an old university friend used to live.  The last time I came this way by car many years ago and called in by chance she was out.

As we continued on we saw signs for the Anderton Boat Lift so paused to investigate.  I took a photo with my proper camera which I will upload at a later date.  This piece of Victorian heritage used to lift boats between the River Weaver and the Trent and Mersey canal.  Nothing much was happening when we there but it is a very impressive structure. (We have Andertons in our family tree but no connection as far as I know.)

We made the rest of the journey into Warrington without incident arriving just after 5 p.m. - about 8 hours after setting off.  We had already decided to push on for a bit longer if possible to shorten the day to Kendal.  Warrington surprised us.  It looks like quiter a bit of money has been spent on regeneration.  We made our way slowly north to the far side - where we spotted a pizza hut.  Eating now seemed like a good plan.  It turned out to be happy hour so we got a decent amount of food and drink for a fiver each.  Definitely a good move.

The pizza completely rejuvenated Sandy.  He disappeared off into the distance. I hardly saw him again until we got to Wigan.  The places north of Warrington haven't had anything like the amount of money spent on them.  I eventually found Sandy again on the way into Wigan.  It was now nearly 8 p.m. and time to find somewhere to stay.  We phoned a premier inn who had space - slightly off route but predictable.
We set off in that direction.  I was beginning to feel tired.

As we made our way there Sandy spotted another place - The Beeches Hotel in Standish which was both cheaper, closer and a whole lot nicer.

We covered just over 85 miles today, although at a slightly slower average speed than yesterday despite the lack of hills.  We have now done about 460 miles.

Tomorrow we are planning an earlyish start so now it is time for bed (said Zebedee).

Beer blog update

Dishwater in lancashire. Of course we could not possibly sample all the possible Lancashirian ales, but the beer they have in tonights hotel is ordinary. Last night however we found a wee gem. A close second to the HPA perhaps?
Shropshire brewery "Gold". Really smooth, quaffable.....
Sandy

......but there's nothin I can do for Acker Bilk

...... This was one of the best bath's I've ever had, AND while I had a cuppa as well. ..... That day to Ironbridge was HARD, not like today's wimpy 85m of flat easy cruisin.
Sandy

Another day done

Finished in Standish nort of Wigan. That's almost 86 miles today and a bonus of 15 that we don't have to do tomorrow so we will be able to watch football in Kendal with a bit of luck.
Now time for shower, beer, blog, book and bed followed by breakfast. B&b&b&b&b.

Warrington - Pizza Hut

Made it to Warrington a little after 5. We've stopped for pizza before bashing on up the road for perhaps another hour or so to get a few in the bank. Up to just over 70 miles for the day so far.

Nantwich

15 miles further on and time for more coffee and food.  Toasties and Paninis this time :-).

It's a chilly wind although Sandy claims not to be feeling it.

Big contrast in terrain from yesterday. Almost flat.  Much easier going!

Forgot to mention the weather

The forecast for today looked pretty dire. A severe weather warning with possible thunder, lightning and hail.  Other than the persistent rain on day 3 we have been lucky.

We had an hour or so of rain just before the Avon bridge yesterday.  Today we seemed to be following behind some heavy showers - finding wet roads - but we didn't get rained on until we were about 10 miles from Ironbridge - and that only lasted about 15 minutes.  The rain set in for a while about 10 minutes after we arrived - but guess what - we didn't care :-).

Day 5 - Ross on Wye to Ironbridge

As the previous blog entry describes we made good and steady progress to start with.

After stopping for lunch of coffee and cake things started to get a bit harder!  The road became considerably more undulating and the undulations got bigger...and bigger...and steeper.  It was hard going.

On the plus side we were on back roads a lot of the way through some beautiful Worcester scenery.

Yesterday we saw lots of signs to Offa's Dyke.  Today we picked up a part of The Mercian Way.  We also pedalled through The Faraway Forest.  (Yesterday we skirted part of The Forest of Dean.) We didn't meet Shrek or any of his friends, although Sandy did a fair impression of donkey asking "are we there yet?"

We encountered a couple of 1 in 8 downhills.  I got over 40 mph and Sandy was edging towards 50.  Unfortunately on one of them we were supposed to turn off part way down so had to climb back up the hill.  Not good - but there was no way I was taking my eyes off the road to look at the GPS at that sort of speed.

We continued on across country to Bridgnorth where we saw a steam train operating on The Severn Valley Railway.  At this point I think I won at least a half muppet award for directing us up a steep hill by mistake.  I don't think Sandy was very impressed :-).

The route from Bridgwater to Ironbridge continued to be hard work with lots of climbing. To compound it the road signs suggested it was about a mile closer than the GPS said. Needless to say the GPS was right.  Personally I was glad to arrive - it turned out to be a much harder day than I was anticipating.  We covered about 66.5 miles - about 6 more than planned. We were glad to have the extra miles in the bank.  Despite that we still averaged almost 11.5 mph in a little under 6 hours cycling.  Considering the amount of climbing and pushing up steep bits we were quite pleased with our efforts.

When we got checked into the B&B we parcelled up our dirty washing and took a taxi to a laundrette in nearby Madeley.  We now have a pile of semi-wet gear spread around the room - which should last us to Edinburgh.

Following that we headed out for something to eat - finding an Indian at the top of the road which was just perfect.  Afterwards we wandered back to The Swan to consider our options for tomorrow over a beer.  We think we will try and get away sharpish. It looks like we will have a few more hills at least early on before we get to Warrington and if we could get a few miles closer to Kendal where we hope to be in a pub watching football that would be just fine.

......if it dries it dries.....

Bonus punchline after a trip to the laundrette while in Ironbridge. We now have clean socks, although one of mine went missing. Remember that missing socks go through the same rip in the space time continuum but in the opposite direction to brake dust, hence maintaining some law or other. You might just have to take my word for it, but how else can you explain where brake dust comes from and where the socks go?
Sandy

....... It's absolutely chucking it down out there.....!

Ok, punchline toned down for the young folks out there. Yesterday was quite dry really, but the 5m spent on the pedestrian part of the m5 bridge wasn't....!
Sandy

Ironbridge

The Swan where we are staying. Just arrived after 66.5 miles. A hard day with lots of hills but beautiful countryside. More later.

Coffee and cake in Bromyard

Steady riding this morning with a few hills to go up and down.  We detoured back into Ross first thing to avoid the worst of the A40 - although I almost lost Sandy at the first roundabout.  A quick phone call and we were soon reunited. We got on the A449 to Ledbury which was quieter than a B road we were on in Devon.

A road in Ledbury was closed while work was going on to shore up the front of a Tudor style house that appeared to be on the verge of collapse.

From there some more ups and downs until we got here where it is time for coffee and cake.

Day 4 part 2

Sorry - finger trouble - hit send by mistake on part 1!

Having taken our leave of John and Frieda and made our way back through the hedge onto the cycle route we headed for Coleford.  A long climb of over a mile although it wasn't too hard going.  We paused near the top to apply various creams to various body parts.

We were caught up by another cyclist doing the end to end thing.  We chatted for a while before he pedalled on ahead of us.

We got to Coleford around 5 p.m. and decided to preserve the extra miles we had in the bank by pushing on to Ross on Wye.  The road signs wanted to take us a different way from the planned route but we stuck with the GPS - and encountered a 1 in 5 downhill that descended for the best part of a mile.  Sandy went for it and got up to nearly 40 mph. I was a bit more cautious and only hit about 35!  I am glad we hit this going down and not up!  It wold have been a long walk.  We lost all the height that we had gained in one go.

The rest of the route into Ross was uneventful.  It started to rain as we got close but we sheltered for a few minutes and it soon cleared.  As we got into town the cyclist we met earlier reappeared.  He had gone looking for a youth hostel but not found it.  Interesting because we saw the signs for it.  He started the same day as us but chose to go over Dartmoor which we had skirted.  He had also gotten a puncture that he couldn't fix in the rain and wrecked a tyre as a result. Then he got lost in Bristol which we also avoided.

We went looking for a b&b - again not very straightforward but a lot less difficult than last night.
The first place we tried was shut - the second and third were full, but the owner of the second was in the third (a pub) and phoned another close by which it turned out had a free family room.  Good enough for us so we headed for The White Lion.

The photo at the top is taken from the beer garden at the back.  We decided to phone ahead and book accommodation for tomorrow in Ironbridge.  We need to do some washing as well so Sandy sussed out some laundrettes in Telford.  That done we headed downstairs for something to eat and drink and sat in the beer garden right next to the river.  We watched the swans and ducks along with the Swifts/Swallows.  A heron landed on the opposite side of the river where it fished for a while.

We covered just under 72 miles today bringing the total up to 307.  Tomorrow should be a few miles shorter as long as we don't take any wrong turns.

We should get to one third distance tomorrow and also halfway back to Edinburgh.

All in all a satisfactory day. The terrain wasn't quite as easy as yesterday but we managed a slightly better average of 11.5 mph in a little over 6 hours of cycling.  Actually Sandy was a little bit quicker but my excuses are a combination of being careful with gears and also being careful not to stress my knee any more than I can help :-).

Day 4 - Mark to Ross-On-Wye

Our first relatively  straightforward day!

Up for breakfast at 8 and off by 9.  The b&b was the cheapest we have stayed at - and we were given a discount to add to the cause.

The weather was dry when we set off and stayed that way for a couple of hours as we meandered cross country towards the Severn Bridge.  The forecast had threatened lots of heavy showers.  In the event we only had a couple which weren't very long lasting. 

Today's route was fairly straightforward.  We had a moment of doubt when we realised that our path across the River Avon seemed to be along the M5 on the Avon Bridge - if we weren't able to use that bridge the trek back inland to The Clifton Suspension Bridge would be a few extra miles.  As it turned out we didn't need to worry. Although we had to follow a winding route to get onto it all was fine.  It was raining at this point and there was a lot of spray off the traffic.

The section from here up to the Severn Bridge was a mixture of back and main roads.  The A403 was certainly less than fun until we eventually picked up the no 4 cycle route. We also had a bit of to'ing and fro'ing getting onto the Severn Bridge - we had been advised to cross on the East side, although as it turned out it was easy to get across on the other side so we should have just .

The big bonus was lunch at an old school friend's parents, John and Frieda in Chepstow, just a few hundred yards from the end of the bridge.  I haven't seen them for about 30 years since they left Edinburgh, although Ken and I meet up for a beer about once a year, which is really rubbish considering we both live in Edinburgh :-).  We were made really welcome and we had lots of conversation on a variety of topics including family history.  Frieda comes from Caithness and I have ancestors from that part of the world.  We left Chepstow well stuffed after the best lunch we've eaten by far.

......nah, I was hit by a car while sitting in the middle of the road.

A bonus punchline, courtesy of meeting "Baillie" the dug from the White Lion in Ross on Wye. Could also have used, "because it can" or "if you speak to him nicely maybe he'll let you" lol
Sandy

The best pale ale in the world (so far)

It's official. After going through most of the south west, I may have stumbled accross Herefordshires best kept secret. HPA, or Hereford Pale Ale.
Just like a Deuchars IPA, but at least twice as good - no I'm not kidding.
It could be that I was mega thirsty, but it was immense. Yummy.
Brill day, sunny & warm, not much rain and maybe THE best roadbike descent. nearly a mile, including a half mile of 1:5. It was a bit too narrow for mega speed (still managed 60kph), but the brakes were smokin at the bottom.
Still 10m ahead of target, but we'll do a short day tomorrow and get back on track.
Sandy

Ross-On-Wye

We have made it to Ross-On-Wye and are staying in The White Lion.  I will write a fuller account later.

Chepstow

Now in Chepstow having a late lunch with an old school friend's parents. Brilliant.

......I thought you said this place would be busy.

This was yesterdays punchline, but I couldn't get it to send. Nothing for miles around......a main road with no cars and if you look very closely in the far distance you might see Eric.
Sandy

.......Moo, daisy the interupting koo.

Miles from anywhere half an hour ago, and this was the only sign of life.

Are we there yet, are we there yet?
Sandy

Day 3 - Okehampton to Mark

No mobile coverage again tonight - T-Mobile is simply rubbish - guess that's what happens with a GSM 1800 MHz network combined with W-CDMA.

An interesting kind of a day.
We started off a little after 9 a.m. and climbed up the long but not too severe hill out of Okehampton.

A moment of concern when Sandy's free-wheel jammed - there has been a bit of clanking since we started - but fortunately it started working again.  We skirted the North edge of Dartmoor - a slightly busy B road running parallel with the very very busy A38 combined with some back roads with virtually no traffic at all.  The terrain has really flattened out.  We only had one push today and that was pretty short.

It started raining about 45 minutes after we set off - not hard but wet enough to put rain tops and overshoes on.  It rained the rest of the day but we didn't really notice other than when it got a bit heavier for a while.

We made good time to Exeter where we spent a bit of time finding the bike shop I had identified.  When we got there it was shut for 20 minutes, so we went and had a coffee next door which was appreciated.  The bike shop was a waste of time despite supposedly being a Ridgeback supplier.  Exeter was a very busy place.  We found another bike shop on the way out but still no joy.

The terrain was so much easier than the previous two days.  The down side was that the roads were a lot busier.  We had to do a short stretch on the A38 at one point and another stretch on the way into Taunton where we took to the pavement as much as possible.  Not a good road for cycling.  From Taunton we took the no 3 cycle route alongside the canal to Bridgwater.  Really easy cycling despite the less than perfect surface in places.  We saw a heron and a pair of swans guarding their cygnets.

In due course we got to Bridgwater. What a disappointment after Taunton.  We were supposed to stop there, but decided to carry on and find somewhere a bit nicer to stay.  Well that turned out to be not as easy as expected - we followed a sign to a place that was shut - then asked in each place we got to - the recurring theme was "a mile down the road there are plenty". Obviously some kind of local joke - either there were none or they were full.  Mostly there were none. We eventually found a place in a village called Mark who weren't looking to take  people in but I think took pity on us.  Brilliant.  A quick shower and then over the road to the pub for something to eat and drink.

We covered 88 miles today - that's about 20 more than planned - although we took a few detours in our accommodation search. That said so much of the route was flat or easy gradient that it really wasn't too tiring.

It's still raining 22:12.  This will hopefully get posted tomorrow when we have some phone coverage.

day 2, 3

Aim for the 2nd day was to get to oakhampton, and we made it, but we only got here @ 9pm, after a MONSTER day of climbing, see the pic!. The difficulty is not the big hills, but the constant up and down mainly 1:6.

Over 2000m of climbing for the day over 120 ish km.

Day 3 was almost downhill with a following wind, only 1000 climbing total, and lots of gentle canal towpath riding. BUT, we decided to keep going through 8ridgewater, and ended up in Mark. A tiny wee place with a farm b&b and a pub.

Now in the pub having dinner and a well deserved beer or 3

Sandy

The Cider Baffa's

And the winner of the 2010 baffa (british association of fruit fermenters awards) is.................

Sams Cyder.

Cloudy rattler was my favourite cloudy/scrumpy, zomerzets - tonights - only entry was Thatchers gold, but last nights Sams Cider was amazing. Very dry, cool crisp, sharp. As we are leaving the sw tomorrow, there is absolutely no doubt' that the lejog 2010 baffa goes to Sams.

We might have to split the best beer award into regional events since we are having so many. Eric has been "making sure" of his favourite by having more than one of some of them, but so far I have managed a new flavour with every glass.
Lovin it!
Sandy

nearly @ bridgewater

Canal pic, dead flat for last 10m since Taunton. Sandy

I've got a brand new combine arvester.....

Just left devon (yeah had the custard last night), and just entered zomerzet, cider and worzel country. Wonder if the somerset xider (spannish spelling) is as good as last nights devon cider, which was brill. Sandy

Day 2 - Veryan to Okehampton via The Eden Project

We started the day with an attempt to use a jockey wheel to tension the chain but with no success.

We had breakfast and checked out whereupon the proprietors gave us a 10 pound donation to RP - Fighting Blindness which was very kind of them.  People here have been really friendly and helpful. The locals are also pretty good about cyclists - not all tourists are the same.

We then decided to take a more direct route to St Austell than the one we had planned. That would have been fine but for a map reading error on my part that added a couple instead. Damn!  We did eventually make it and found Halfords.  They didn't have an exact match for the needed part, but they had something that looked like it might work - sort of.

Professional cyclists have mechanics in cars. I brought Sandy :-).  He did a sterling job at getting the part to fit and giving me some drive again. Suddenly I was able to cycle up hills again - brilliant :-).

We set off for the Eden project which we found with only minor challenges and no major diversions.  What a fantastic place. We were time limited since we still had a planned 50+ miles to cover.  We spent an hour or so exploring and also had some lunch - a family meal between 2 of us. We could easily have spent a whole lot more time there.  We also got a discount on our entry tickets since we had arrived by bike.

We set off from the Eden project shortly after 3 to head for Okehampton. Lots of ups and downs - we walked up a few. We did a pretty good job of avoiding the main roads for the most part.  Just as we crossed into Devon we found a pub called The Royal Inn where we refilled our water bottles.  We didn't have time to stop for a beer unfortunately.  The barman regaled us with tales of another group of lejog cyclists which I will save for another time.
We eventually made it to Okehampton around 9 p.m. after a long day in the saddle.  We found a pub/b&b called The Fountain Inn - we had to eat before having a shower since they were getting close to the end of their food hours.
Tomorrow it looks like it will rain all day.
We are pleased to still be on schedule after yesterday's mishap.

We covered 74.5 miles today making 146 in total. Slightly more than planned but not too unexpected. Yesterday we climbed and descended about 5500 feet. Todat we added another 7000.

Day 1

These are a bit out of sequence - last night there was no mobile phone coverage plus we were running a bit late so by the time we got to the b&b (Elerkey House) in Veryan we had to go get food before the pub stopped serving after which we were ready for bed.
Day 1 started pretty well. We got up around 7 and went to explore Sennen.  We decided that the gravitational well due to the very steep downhill means there are probably hundreds of lejog cyclists stuck in the village who never made it out :-).
We saw the lifeboat setting off somewhere. Later when we were at Land's End we saw it returning.  There was quite a bit of helicopter activity as well.
We set off a little after 9 to walk up the steep hill and then cycle the couple of miles to the start point.  We pushed the bikes to the top of the hill at which point Sandy won the first muppet award when he realised he had left his gloves at the bottom. He cycled back down - didn't even take his paniers off - to retrieve them and then walked back up again.
We got to LE without incident. Walked down to the point then back up to the hotel where we spent the money on an official photo. There were a couple of other bike groups setting off - both with support vehicles.
We left LE at 10.10 a.m. and made reasonable progress.  The terrain wasn't too bad. We pushed up 1 hill to preserve the legs but overall made pretty good progress.  We got to The Lizard - about the half way point for the day for a lateish lunch. Spectacular views.
We then headed for Goonhilly only to discover it was shut for the summer.  It didn't say that was going to happen when I checked the website a few weeks ago.  As it turned out it was probably just as well!
We then made reasonable progress for the next few miles until disaster struck when my rear mech hangar broke.
A debate about options ensued. It was now about 4 p.m. a quick google didn't show a whole lot of options for a Sunday so decided to head for the b&b with a combination of pushing and free-wheeling. Sandy did take a detour to a bike hire place who gave us a couple of suggestions which we mulled but decided not to try.
When we got to the King Harry Ferry we had a go at making it single speed.  Not wholly successful since with no chain tensioning it kept jumping to the lowest cog and beyond.  We did however make it to Veryan where we stayed in The Elerkey guest house. The proprietors were really helpful and told us about Halfords in St Austell - one of our first destinations for day 2.
We had a quick shower and headed for the pub to get something to eat - which was very welcome.  Other than the mechanical problem it was a great day's cycling.

Custard for tea?

.......what did u do that for?

The broken bike

No big report on yesterday due to no cell coverage and a rush to get to our booked b&b before dark.
We would have got there a couple of hours earlier if not for a catastrophic failure of Eric's rear mech hanger. No drive at all. He came around a corner, on a steep hill, went for bottom gear and it all exploded. We limped the last 15 for that first day to the b&b.
Yesterdays riding to that point was all 4mph uphills and 40mph downhills. Lots of fun' great sights, fine weather.
This morning we limped to St Austell, where the fantastic folks at Halfords sold us a universal hanger which eventually fitted, and while Eric fits a new cable, I am getting my phone keyboard grubby with oil soaked fingers. Looks like it might work, but he will have no very low or very high gears until we get a permanent fix in a day or two. Fun? Yes, weather fine, punchline for the day coming soon.
Sandy

virtually no network coverage

Updates tomorrow, when we get out of this network coverage blackspot.
Sandy

St Michael's Mount

16 miles in, a picture of St Michael's Mount.  Sun seems to have disappeared!

...... It's started

Just for jr who asked me to get in at least one punchline a day. All the rest of you who dont know the jokes will need to beg jr to comment and explain the joke. Keep it clean jr.

Friday night

We have arrived at The Old Success Inn at Sennen just after 10 p.m. after a short ride (8.8 miles) from Penzance.  The inn is at the bottom of a VERY steep hill so I think we might walk up that one in the morning - unless we can get the bus to the top.

In good spirits for setting off tomorrow as we consume our first beer.

the first photo

Didn't even make it onto the train before we took the first photo.
Sandy

Daily planned route maps

JPEGs of the planned route - subject to change :-).

Day 1 - Land's End to Veryan - 67 miles

Day 2 - Veryan to Okehampton - 66 miles

Day 3 - Okehampton to Bridgwater via Taunton - 68 miles

Day 4 - Bridgwater to Coleford - 70 miles

Day 5 - Coleford to Ironbridge - 70

Day 6 - Ironbridge to Warrington - 62 miles

Day 7 - Warrington to Kendal - 72 miles

Day 8 - Kendal to Langholm - 65 miles

Day 9 - Langholm to Edinburgh - 72 miles (Sandy to Dunfermline +20!)

Day 10 - Edinburgh to Blair Atholl - 77 miles

Day 11 - Blair Atholl to Inverness - 80 miles

Day 12 - Inverness to Altnaharra - 71 miles

Day 13 - Altnaharra to Thurso - 54 miles

Day 14 - Thurso to John O'Groats - 27 miles

2 days to go

just checking I can blog from my phone since Erics phone is playing up. After all, no point in having a blog if we can't say anything.
Getting worried now. 2 days until we set off and I cant help feel like I'm not ready, or that I'll forget something...... Sandy