Team Dave

A big day! A 17 mile ride up the coastline from Wick and we reached John O Groats! A hard 1:40 minute ride in to stern northerly winds meant it was tough. The turning point was pretty bleak too and grim with derelict buildings that doesn’t give the place glamour. Oddly enough, the old hotel that stands at John O Groats is owned by lands end and has been left to ruin over the last 20 years or so, needless to say the locals aren’t happy about it. So! It took us 1:40 to get there, then 40 minutes to do the return journey to Wick! That’s how tough then helpful the wind can be!!!
We arranged with our b&b owner to leave our panniers with him whilst we topped the country then picked them up on the way past later, such a pleasure to be released of all the weight! Coming flying back into Wick I clipped one of the million pot holes in the town and punctured. After a tube change and enough air from the hand pump, we dropped by at the local bike shop to top up on air. Oddly, for the second time this trip, a whole shop full of pumps has failed to inflate Specialized inner tubes, seems they’re only made to work with Specialized pumps, bit naff by our reckoning!
Heading south back down the coastline we unfortunately got sheltered from the tail wind some and even turned side on to it as the coastline twisted and turned.

Glistening in the sunshine, the north sea is quite a sight! In the past, homeward journeys seem shorter to me, not this time and we back tracked land points with wishful hopes. A great end to the day was the descent into Berriedale (where sparky got held up by a car at 40mph) then the monster climb back out again before descending back to Helmsdale saw Sparky max out at 45.2mph without obstruction. Great final descent all the way to the B&B!

Time 4:54:52
Dst 69.92

Sue & Bill have been most kind during our stay at Golf View House. Sue even washed & dried our kit for us without charge. Scrumptious breakfast, I made a bacon toast sardine to eat en-route. This really is a great place to stay, lovely house and lovely people. Several checks thro the window did not make us enthusiastic about bike riding today. The north winds they promised were still blowing – hard. Bill at the B&B recommended that we stopped in at La Mirage, the chip shop at Helmsdale. Pricer ordered a small fish tea and expected a mini fish and chips. I ordered regular fish and chips. The food arrived and it was enough for 5 or 6 people. I had 2 huge fish , a pile of chips, peas and bread and butter. Far too much. On a belly full of fodder we had to climb Helmsdale – I struggled but Pricer the goat that he is was off for the mountain points. Berriedale next and i had warmed up a bit by now, even though it was steeper I gave the goat a good run for his money on this one. As we moved north the winds became stronger and colder with less natural shelter. The cold was taking it’s toll with Pricer getting shoulder and ankle pains and I was getting shooting funny bone type shocks from holding onto the bars in the same position for long periods. At 5.30pm we arrived at Wick the first B&B we stopped at had a twin room – ideal. We got a pizzer from down town, it was pretty rubbish, so if in Wick dont get a pizzer they are rubbish. JOG tomorrow. Mochush Nah. X 

Time 5:35:16 
Dst 70.03

Rain. Hard rain! Not the nicest thing to wake up to in the morning… For some reason we decided to have breakfast at the earlier time of 8am, a bad decision after a late night getting you folks up to date, we know our priorities!
Taking the panniers out to the bikes after breakfast, the air was noticeably cooler, definitely leg warmers if not more. If we had Steve Bennett’s knee’o'meter, it would have been beeping and flashing for thinsulated, windstoppered with extra goose down reinforced knee cosy’s! As it happen’s we needed waterproofs so that was sufficient. 
The most demoralising weather for cycling in is wind. Today we had a head wind and rain, I was miserable! I hate to say it because there’s nothing worse than a grumpy git. Fortunately after a nice dinner stop in a toasty warm cafe with great mocha’s my spirits had lifted, pretty waitresses help too!

Cycling by the side of loch ness was no fun because of the terrain too, demoralising constant ups and downs again. The rest of the route mostly consisted of featureless A roads that were long and straight. One exception to the rule was the A833 from Milton that took us up a 15% climb. Fair enough, most climbs are only said gradient for a short bit, not this one! On and on it went with blood vessel bursting strain. Its fair to say we were warm at the top!
Looks like nicer skies tomorrow but a dreaded north wind. 
65 miles done today and we’re stopping at Tain on the east coast.

Time 4:58:34
Dst 65.15

Team Dave has reached John O’Groats! At 11:30 Saturday morning. Now we hope to make use of the wind we’ve been battling!

Reluctantly we said our goodbyes to our most generous host Mable. Donning our full waterproofs we were off, past the pub where Pricer once again revealled he is rubbish at pool. 3 miles later and the waterproofs were off again – it had dried up and we were warm. We took the singletrack road thro Glen Orchy missing out Crianlarich. Stunning scenery, mist, waterfalls, golden brown rivers and majestic mountains all around us. This spat us out on to the A82 at Bridge of Orchy. Turning left we climbed the pass at Glencoe, a most enjoyable climb. Pricer likes climbing, it seems to be his forte, I think he would climb the side of a house if he could stick to it long enough. At the summit the heavens opened, full waterproofs back on and they remained on for the rest of the day. Descending Glencoe was weird, no headwind, pedalling quite hard and still only 10 mph. At Ballachulish we turned the corner and headed north east and our pace really picked up rattling into Fort William at 20mph, probably too fast for such an endurance event like this but we were enjoying it. Stopping briefly for a pork stuffing bap and coffee. After Fart William we took the back road to Gairlochy alongside the Caledonian canal, more great scenery but Ben was shrouded in mist. A quick photo of the Commandos memorial stating that this was their training ground during 1939-45. Back on to the main road and this took us past Invergarry and on to Fort Augustus our destination for tonight positioned at the end of Loch Ness. Inverness is now 35 miles away. Cold north winds and heavy rain are due for tomorrow. We aim to be at JOG either Friday or Saturday. Arriving at JOG will be interesting for us because for most folk it is the final destination where they can just celebrate and then fall down on a broken heap, we need to muster up more energy to cycle the 550 or so miles back home. Noshbedanya.

Sorry for the surge of posts! Finally gotten more wifi access and uploaded pre written posts

We sat in the bay window overlooking the Clyde estuary, watching the activity on the water. We both knew that the inevitable question needed answering, but we kept avoiding it. 
We have the trump card of a rest day up our sleeves still and every morning we think of using it. Now that all our pre-booked accommodation has now finished we have to find our own lodgings en-route. We have to keep the miles ticking over, we have to keep moving on up so into our cycling gear we got. We headed for Strachur, unlike the Ayrshire roads of the previous day these were smooth and pothole free. Stopping at the edge of Loch Fyne for a bite to eat. Beautiful beautiful place but spoilt by the amount of litter thrown from cars- I don’t do it, neither do my friends, so who does it and why. They obviously travel to these places because of their beauty so why litter them with their trash. Calling in on Inverary for a cheap Sarnie and coffee. We try to take it in turns on the front so the guy behind gets on the slipstream and gets a little rest, but I have decided that I may as well be at the front all the time because Pricer is now so thin hes like a match with the wood scraped off. We decided to stop 16 miles further down the road at Dalmally. The first b&b we enquired and there was room. Mable at Doirechullin, she let us get sorted and made us about 2 pints of steaming tea and 6 huge cakes (food of champions). Mable insisted that we ate all the cakes including the pancake which had half a pound of butter on. We didnt want to upset Mable so we thought we had better scoff the lot pretty quick. By far the best days riding yet, rain beckons tomorrow and so does Fart William and beyond. 
 
Time 3:52:54
Dst 54.94

The shortest day of the ride so far! Taking things pretty relaxed talking to the wonderful hosts at their fantastic B&B (a converted church building) and hoping the rain would pass over. It wasn’t anytime soon so we donned our full waterproofs and headed off into the driving rain and head wind. For a while it felt as though we were back in Devon & Cornwall will a good succession of climbing then descending then back into another climb, it was hard work considering the route for the day drops by around 200 metres, it didn’t feel like we dropped that all day.

I had another puncture not longer after thinking riding in the rain isn’t too bad as long as I don’t have to fix a puncture! Grimey wet wheels are yucky to deal with. Fortunately the rain soon stopped and not long after the clouds blew over and the day turned into a belter. A casual day became a little more tense as we began to realise that we didn’t know what time the ferries stopped taking people across the Clyde to Dunoon. A touch of red mist came down as we ascended with pace the last hill that stood between us and the coast line that we would follow north to Gorrock and the ferry.
Descending to the coast took us round two nice sweeping corners, the first we took a little cautiously, then Sparky cranked on the pedals down the straight to the next, but he didn’t ease up! In a split second I thought to myself that corner looks too tight to go that speed, but then thought Sparky’s experienced enough to know what’s possible. So I eased off a little to find that the corner tightened further and to get off the front brake, crap, get off both! By this point we’re fully committed, Sparky’s inches from the curbing making full use of the road and I’m trying to focus on the exit of the bend in the hope to execute some smooth riding without losing grip & coming off. We both made it round but definitely exceeded our comfort zones! Phew! 

The remainder of the ride followed the flat road up the coastline that gave us great opportunity to get into a good rhythm for sustained high pace until we reached the ferry. Ride over for the day as the B&B is only a few houses down from where the ferry ends.

Time 4:45:21
Dst 62.92
Max 37.9
Avg 13.2

Time 5:46:56
Dst 81.27
Max 62.8
Avg 14

A full waterproof start to the day that required alot of concentration to avoid slippery man hole covers, potholes disguised my murky puddles, traffic and road layouts. All this following a couple of feet behind Sparky who’s doing a great job navigating. We never get out of urban areas soon enough!
The road to Gretna is flat, straight and windswept, making for boring and hard cycling! Following the old A74 after Gretna, it was at least nice to be on a big road without the traffic. We made good progress on this gently undulating road that didn’t sap strength too badly!
By Lockerbie we were out of waterproofs and having dinner in a lovely glass fronted cafe in glorious sunshine. Tourings about the stops not the cycling!

Continuing up the old A74 there is some cracking climbs unfortunately followed by long chilly descents. From Douglas we swung west along the A70 to a mining village called Muirkirk. The upland landscape in this area would be stunning if not for the wind turbines and open cast coal mines that have scoured the landscape and seemingly moved mountain.
The B&B we stopped at is by far the most fantastic building we’ve stopped in so far! The old church B&B ran by Lesley & David is full of class and style! I recommend it to anyone!
The village formed from the coal mining, is full of history. Unfortunately for most of the younger generation, there is little future prospects here. Deputed the the troubles, this community oozes friendliness and acceptance. Alot of people can learn alot from this close community, to appreciate what we have got.
This village really interested us more than anywhere so far and has left us with mixed feelings.

Bit of a slow start this morning talking to the B&B owner about various things including a cyclist from the Eccleston area called Bradley Wiggins, sound familiar?
I must have picked up my first puncture in the darkness before getting in last night, the back tyre was flat as a pancake this morning. Despite the inconvenience it was a relief it didn’t go flat in the dark last night!

After a 20 minute ride up the road into Euxton, we had had a brief stop to call in on my great aunty Hazel who I rarely see on her home turf. Since the visit I find it hard to say enough thanks after she made a whopping donation! Thank you Hazel!

With time pressing and almost a whole days riding ahead of us, we progressed up through Lankashire (relatively flat terrain) to Kendal at south lake district and on to Penrith, north lakes. Between these two towns is a pretty substantial climb up to the village of Shap. A few friends who have ridden this climb before gave me the impression it was tough, damn tough! The reality for me (don’t forget I love a good hill climb) is that there was a number of breather section between the steady but long sections of ascent, enabling the climb to be broken down mentally into smaller sections. The gradient itself being shallow enough to spin a suitable gear ratio and wind your way up without much straining. Hey presto, here’s the top with a lovely view and nice descent.
As nice as the long descent was, it played havoc with our legs once at the bottom! Mine felt like they had set in concrete and Sparky picked up strain on his thigh once down. Despite some pedalling on the way down, the extra wind chill cools your extremities off more than you realise, consequently righting off any warmth gained from earlier in the ride. After taking a while getting up to speed again, we arrived at our B&B in Carlisle at 7pm. Another long day in the saddle covering 100miles almost exactly! We’re both shattered!