Team Dave

Sponsorship money is almost entirely in now for the Welsh Air Ambulance. Expect a novelty cheque & a pretty picture!!!

The last day! What a feeling, yet still about 80miles to cover so by no means a twiddle down the road! Still, unlike yesterday the sun is shining & there’s a little chill in the air that seems to be aggravating my left ankle after a slight strain last thing yesterday, it’s almost enough to make me wince and certainly no pedalling out of the saddle. Sparky’s wise choice to get breakfast on the south side of Warrington meant minimal hassle getting through the centre. We had breakfast at a diner where sparky apparently once saw Mark Radcliffe. With the sun shining in and satisfied bellies it was hard to drag ourselves back outside, especially with cartoons playing on the TV, no match to Tom & Jerry mind! Back on the bike and warmed up again, miraculously my ankle felt right as rain again, must have been good coffee! Next check point on the homeward road was Whitchurch. Funny that on the way up, north Shropshire seemed so flat, now it seemed relentlessly hilly, perception is a strange thing!

By this stage Sparky is on familiar roads (not yet for me) and is noticeably picking the pace up, it’s just past dinner by this point and I’m hungry but we’re too close for a lengthy stop. Struggling to keep at dave’s pace I insist we have a brief stop before Shrewsbury. Shrewsbury isn’t so bad with some chances to pause in the traffic and have a breather. At Bayston Hill we’re met by friends, Kaine, Jim and Al, this really makes it feel like home is just around the corner and a real mental high to see them. After some brief chit chat we’re rolling along again just grand, with a bit of jostling round Jim seems to be adamant on leading us. Once again we encounter some brainless motorists who leave us less than a foot gap when overtaking, twats! It really makes me angry how people can be so reckless and irresponsible with other peoples lives on the roads just because they’re in a metal box! Anyway, there’s lots commotion with phone calls, talk of a detour through Church Stretton and a slow pace set by the others, me and Dave are on a mission now and sprint up the climb out of Church Stretton on the road to Much Wenlock, leaving the others behind, so we wait then carry on. On the back roads now to Westhope, we steady up some and have a chat whilst riding with the others, except Kaine has dashed off almost out of sight! A few corners later he’s sat in the ditch claiming to have cramp, but sitting in a suspiciously un cramp like way, never the less we stop a little. At this point there’s one last climb between us and the finish. In true excitement me and dave are powering up it side by side pushing each other to see what we’re made of, we don’t have to worry about saving some for tomorrow no more! Cruising down through the village we see a crowd and a finish tape! But both us Dave’s have other plans, we both wanted to climb the short gravel drive first up to Dave’s house where we set off from (in true cyclocross sunday style), as we disappear short of the crowd we can hear them shout “no, come back!” much to our amusement we turn around and ride through the finish tape to an overwhelming crowd of friends and family! We’ve done it! The relief is indescribable. There’s plenty of posing for photos, hugs, handshakes and maybe a high five or two! As we slowly work our way into the village hall where they’ve a spread of lots of food (we’ve missed dinner remember), I can start to feel myself go faint! So I get down on the floor with legs on a chair and a circle of people looking down on me telling me I’m as white as a sheet! Perhaps it was the combination of no dinner and the overwhelming emotion at the finish, but a glass of cola and lots of lasagne, taters and cake put the colour back in my cheeks! Thank you to everyone who showed out for us and Sue Lewis and her mum Mo for organising such a fantastic welcome party! Pricer

Last nights mattresses were covered in a thick plastic material just in case we weee the bed, but it made us sweat like a drain. It does seem to be a common occurence on this trip, sweat by day and sweat by night. Sue aint gonna be happy when i get home and sweat under our new duck feather duvet. The walkers we met last night warned us to expect 85mph winds today, i bet it wont be on our tail. Heavy rain has also been forecast for the whole of the UK all day. We set off in dry weather and into yet another head wind. The climb up Shap Fell was the second best moment of the day. Whilst making the 7 mile descent into Kendal it started to rain. The waterproof jacket and leggings were utilised and remained on for the rest of the day. Making our way from Kendal i decided to put my ipod on to take my mind off the rain, traffic and horrid dual carriageway that we were on, Pearl Jam should do the trick. We were heading southbound on the A6, Lancaster, Garstang and Preston our immediate targets. The wind and rain was miserable and to add to my misery the waterproof pocket on my jacket filled with water and saturated my ipod – not a good combination, i shall have to ride without lala. The section of road between the M55 and M56 was giving me some trouble in my head. This is the really busy section that takes in Preston, Wigan, Ashton, Warrington amongst other built up areas. This trouble in my mind manifested itself as soon as we hit the big traffic island for the M55 – no cycle path round so we had to use the main carriageway. Pricer was in front. The driver on our right was looking to his left and probably completely unaware of our presence. I could see trouble unfolding before my own eyes so i backed off, it is a dreadful feeling watching events in front of you unfold not knowing what to do. It would be foolish to shout at Pricer because he could look over his right shoulder causing him to swerve further into the path of the car. The car accelerated from the junction, his bumper getting closer and closer to Pricers pannier until he made contact and at this point he must have swung his head round to the front again and yanked the car to the right away from the pannier. Pricer used a few words from his Profanisaurus in the direction of the driver and remained upright on his bike – Phew that was a close one. It did not put our minds at ease considering we had so many miles to ride on busy roads, we had more close shaves during the rest of the day. Car drivers seem to get more impatient when the weather is bad, they drive closer to the car in front and are less courteous. I am sure i am the same so will try to be aware of this when i drive my van when i get back home. We pushed on thro Preston then the sign for the A49 was now in front of us, our tarmac ribbon all the way home. I had to pull myself together here, i was getting all emotional, c’mon Dave sort yerself out. We rode thro dinner today so we could call in on Pricers Aunty Hazel who lives in Euxton. When we arrived she was in and expecting us, we were soaked so we used this oppurtunity to get some dry gear on. We ate some sarnies and crisps whilst Hazel made us a brew. We chatted about the ride and Strictly Come Dancing with Hazel and enjoyed escaping the rain for a while. Saying our goodbyes we got back on the bikes making our way thro Standish and Wigan. Heading thro Abram avoiding the A49 dual carriageways and busy junctions we were now cold, tired, hungry and looking for accomodation. It was obvious that they dont get many tourists round these parts, every sign outside a house we spotted got us a little excited until we got closer only to find that all the signs up were for sale signs and not B&B signs. Row upon row of red brick terrace housing, its grim up north. We just kept pedalling on and on. Warrington was coming up soon so surely there would be some accommodation there. Now for the 1st best moment of the day, like an oasis a Premier Inn sign appeared in front of us. With a pub attached we did not take any persuading, £51 for room only and we were in. The lady in charge even let us use the tum ble drier to dry all our wet gear. 90 miles completed today, we were really happy with that effort and leaves us only about 80miles tomorrow. Hooray, only one more sleep to go. Ive been looking forward to writing that into our journal for a long time now. Nothing is gonna stop us now, we would even ride home on the rims if we had to.
Noshbedanya x

Quick news flash to say that we have both arrived at the finish in Westhope this afternoon to a surprise welcome at the village hall by family & friends! Detailed logs of the past two days to follow shortly!

Today has been a fantastic day! A real contrast to yesterday, the highlight being me finally beating Sparky at a game of pool in the pub after our evening nosh.
The day began bright and early with the intent of making up lost time. On the road by 9 the fog was well being burnt off, minimal wind meant we were warmed up and up to speed in no time. The road to Broughton contoured nicely along the valley with gentle undulations. From Broughton we climbed the Tweed valley through acres of forestry for a good while but at a fantastic gradient that enabled to keep the speed around 13mph. Climbing back into the fog as we passed the source of the river Tweed then revelled at 5 miles of fast descent to Moffat, grinning ear to ear at the bottom! 
From Moffat we picked up the B7074 that follows the A74 south to Carlisle and back onto roads we covered on the northward leg. Carlisle on to Penrith with big slowly undulating roads that are frankly boring but get from A to B quickly. At Penrith we felt strong enough to make it on to Shap. Yesterdays shorter ride really helped our bodies recover noticeably. Trying for accommodation in Shap it became apparent that a large number of walkers were in the village walking coast to coast enabling us to only just get somewhere to stay by the skin of our teeth! Otherwise it would have been another 15 miles further on to Kendal and a big climb on the way. As it stands we covered over 100 miles today that leaves about 170 more to do in the next two days. We really looking to getting back and going to work for a good rest again!

Let me just describe the scene in our room from a few minutes ago, it’ll help you understand how today has been. I’m sat in a tangle of inner tubes, some repairable some scrap, on the phone to our friend Lee Monks, apologising for taking the piss out of him in the past for his outstanding misfortune with getting punctures.

Mid morning today, riding along a debris free section of smooth tarmac, my rear tyre (again) goes flat in an instant, what’s up with that?? On closer inspection it turns out the carcass of the tyre has gotten damaged and worn through the casing and into the tube, Bugger! To limp to the nearest town of Broburn I reinforced the damaged area of the tyre with a bit of scrap inner tube and carefully inflated a new tube in it.
Got myself a new Michelin flat out fast tyre for almost 40 smackers, fitted it and up to the pressure, ready to rock!

Back out into the miserable rain we’ve had all day and get all confused round some lanes trying to get back onto route, then what do you know, I got a squigy back tyre! A staple or something 2pm wide punched a hole straight through my new tyre and tube, not 5 miles on from the bike shop! Fortunately the tyre will survive but it tests the patience. It’s still raining, we haven’t properly warmed up yet and by now it’s half 1. We stop for dinner at 2 having done about 25 mile, we started about 10:30!
Some great grub and we’re back on the road fighting to get warm. Eventually we get warm and the rains stopped, there’s blue sky heading our way too! The end of the afternoon is glorious. We reach Biggar and decide it’s too late in the day to span the big gap to the next town some 30 miles on. The tourist information sort us a B&B and in no time we’re warm and drying clothes out, 50 miles covered, the shortest distance of the trip so far!
We’ve made it south of the forth bridge and plan a longer day tomorrow to gain some ground lost today and aim to get past Carlisle that’s about 70 miles from here. Fingers crossed eh!

Poached egg and salmon on toast, we are still struggling to stomach full breakfasts. I cannot finish a full breakfast without it making me feel sick, but we need the energy so it has to be forced down. Pitlochry is a beautiful town and well worth a visit. We picked up the sustrans route again and followed this to Aberfeldy. Waterproofs were on and off but it was nay bother to us, the quiet roads and scenery was spectacular. Two red squirrels tried to run under our tyres but fortunately escaped to safety. Coffee, soup and cake(international food of champions) at Elaines cafe in Aberfeldy. Massive climb out of Aberfeldy and some young Chav comments that his gran could cycle faster than us. The climb went on and on and on it was fab. The road took us thro isolated exposed moorland to Crieff. Heading now toward Dunfermline we descended into farming territory. Nonchalant looks from cows make me think they know more than we realise or they might just be stupid. Riding past Gleneagles where the junior Ryder cup is taking place at the moment. About 20miles before Dunfermline the terrain got seriously hilly again, we got to Dunfermline at around 6pm – not as far as we would have liked but it getting harder to do big miles now. Casting negatives aside lime rain, wind, tiredness and the cold today’s riding really was superb. B&B £18 per night and Chinese buffet for tea. Forth road bridge tomorrow. X

Time 5:11:24
Dst 70.98

Feeling really worse for wear this morning after the 100 miles yesterday. To add insult it’s really cold this morning in Aviemore with a lingering fog. Breakfast at 8 to get ahead of a group of 50 French students, then for the first time, back to bed again, headache, cold and tiredness aren’t a welcome combination! We’re supposed to be out the youth hostel by 10am. We end up more like half past and they’re not too pleased, but we’ve a good excuse surely?!
Post a few postcards and we’re on our way.
Heading south on the old A9 that’s now a B road, we passed through some lovely villages that had a gorgeous smell of log fires lingering. The area is surrounded by lovely forests with stunning views of the Cairngorm mountains rising skyward. This is a blissful area, utterly fantastic! In Newtonmore we both stopped between three cafe’s and gave eachother a knowing look that neither of us were warm and fancied a hot drink and of course, cake!
A long dinner stop (it was too cosy in the cafe) and we’re back outdoors. The route shows som good climbing coming up and it didn’t disappoint! Following the sustran route 7, we climbed up through the cairngorms some more along fantastic dedicated pathways without the worry of traffic. Swooping trail with a variation in surface almost had the fun factor of being back on a mountain bike again! With the mighty climb came a monster descent using an old main road that’s a dead end to cars, but not bikes! A whole main road to ourselves! For miles of descent! I’d strongly recommend this route for any bicyclist, despite the grotty start to the day I felt as right as rain after riding this. Not a bad day!

Time 4:14:14
Dst 56.77

The sun has got his hat on hip hip hip hooray. Getting overfaced and fed up with full brekkies now – so fruit and yoghurt this morn, surely we can’t go far on that- we shall see. Looking out of the bedroom window the roadsign read John o Groats 55m, so that means we are 55m closer to home. At 9.30 we were on the road, the climbs were gentle allowing us to warm up. Riding thro beautiful villages Brora and Golspie, we called in for at Tain for a one hour dinner break. Crossing the Cromarty Firth(for those of you that listen to the shipping forecast). We were really ripping up the Tarmac today, calling in on Inverness to top up on food. We had covered 70miles at an average of 15.9mph, with luggage that’s not bad. I made the reservation at the YHA at Aviemore. It was time to start to take it a little easier with Pricer feeling a little rough and I had a muscle strain. We had to climb the Slochd summit at 406m. Eventually joining the sustrans route no7, over the summit we were greeted by snow covered mountains. The sun was going down and it was getting chilly so we had to get moving. It is still upsetting to see the litter everywhere – even in the most remote parts of our beautiful island. I think it must locals because visitors would not do it. Whilst on this trip I now have an idea what it must have been like to around in the old days. I have been shaving with palmolive classic shave cream out of a tube and a single blade razor, about as sharp as a masons chisel and tends to rip rather than cut. Pricer was lucky enough to let those nasty north winds to blow his whiskers off for him, at least those winds were sharper than my chisel. Every pedal stroke takes us closer to home now. See you all soon. X

Time 6:48:04
Dst 100.71