Day 12 - End to End - Done & dusted!

What can I say - in a whirlwind 12 days Alan, Steve & I have cycled the whole length of the British Isles.... I can't quite believe it but there it is 963 miles done & dusted!

1st pit stop today o/s another pub - we didn't actually go in this time!

We were promised fine weather for our last day by the BBC but as usual that was rubbish! The cloud was so low that as we headed up the very large hill out of Wadebridge we were actually in the clouds & all the cars had headlights on..... the A39 was pretty busy and one local lorry got pretty close to me, not very nice being buffeted by an artic in the wind & wet on a dual carriageway. Obviously a lorry driver who's not keen on cyclists because as it was a dual carriageway there was no excuse for getting so close. Choice words and gesticulations followed him on his way. We pounded on, with only a planned 56 miles we were expecting quite an easy ride but the poor weather, busy roads and Cornish hills soon had us re-thinking that one!

As we got to the top of one hill about 20-30 people in the lay-by started clapping and cheering us on - as King of the Hills I got there first and it was a great feeling to be cheered on, Tour De France style! Turned out they were a another group of End to Enders who were supporting Kidney Cancer charities as one of them had been diagnosed last year & had a kidney removed. He & his friends had decided on the challenge that ended a year after his diagnosis. Hats off to him & his 6 friends who completed the challenge in 10 days!

Some of the small roads were as challenging as the main roads, traffic had to keep stopping for us and round the bottom of one hill Steve was leading.... luckily we weren't going too fast because a rather large grey mare was in the middle of the road. Steve & his bike suprised her a bit and she reared up, we thought Steve was a goner but the lady rider brought the horse back under control and we cycled on!

We met up with a friend of Dads, Duncan, in Hayle for a chat & a Cornish pastie and we were soon off again - 25 miles left to Lands End. My gears were still giving me problems so on all the hills I just had to keep the momentum up some how and grind on through. Lots of standing up in the saddle & some strain on the thighs but I certainly got to the tops quick! On reaching Penzance there were a few diversions as a big festival was in full swing..... all the pubs were packed with revellers in pirate costume and the pubs were certainly enticing - fumes of hog roast & burgers filled the air but we only had one thing on our mind - the finish line.

Unfortunately, before Lands End were some massive (at this point they seemed massive anyway) hills out of Penzance and I was not looking forward to them given my gear situation. I tried to change down to the bottom cog but nothing happened.... I stood up in the saddle resigned to a long hard climb & suddenly the chain shifted down. A nice bit of luck as they were hard hills & I think I would have had to stop & change down manually at some point!

We rolled into Lands End fast with our supporters out front taking pics - Pete Long had travelled down from Bodmin to cheer us in & took some great shots - Thanks Pete!

We went straight past Sandra, Sarah, Jamie, Emma & Pete.... at speed through the columns ahead, we weren't stopping until we'd seen the sign at the end of road! When we got to the end we finally met up with the Plymouth lads! They had started half an hour before us 12 days ago and finished half an hour before us so we there to cheer us at the end!

Jamie showered us with Champagne Formula 1 style and we even managed to drink some of it. We were elated and still right now I can't believe we did it. It was a fantastic experience, something I'll remember & look back on with an enormous sense of pride.

Thanks for all of your messages of support. We all appreciated every one of them. Thanks to Alan for roping me in, thanks to teve for cycling his little legs off, thanks to Sandra for being the best support driver, thanks to ruby for being the best behaved dog to do Jogle!

Stats for the day - 57 miles, top speed 31mph, average speed 12.8mph - very hilly day again but great to roll into Lands End. End to End - done & dusted - who knows what will come next...............

Day 11 - The End in Sight (almost)!

The Three Cycleteers....... Lots of Devonshire Ale & cider consumed at The Lamb, Sandford. Great little 16th Century pub in the middle of nowhere but fine ale, food & ambiance........................ ah the ambiance! We were very happy at this point and went to bed shortly after 10.30 .... I remember hearing the noises from the bar below for about 30 seconds before falling into the deepest sleep!

Day 11 started brightly.... Steve Kings influence in the copious drinking stakes notwithstanding we were about to make it out onto the road by nine when Sarah Ferg & the clan arrived!

Alan & Steve racing past as Emma takes a few photos!

Looking a little fresher we set off down narrow Devonshire country roads, apart from the rare car & more common road kill there was nothing to impede our journey. The road surfaces were excellent and the countryside beautiful. Devon is definitely up hill & down dale but we soldiered on.... today was only 65 miles - easy stuff for us. The long days in the middle are now paying a dividend as we're having shorter days & more time to recover (drink beer)!

We had seven clinbs today & the first few weren't too bad but just outside Launceston we hit St. Stephens Hill. What a nasty piece of work that one was, not overly long but very steep and busy with traffic coming out of the town. The cars were having enough problems getting up it, let alone us. We all made it up though and by now we were looking for a place to stop for lunch. We found the Wilsey Inn at Hollsworthy and thanks to Sandra & Sarah pre-ordering we were in time to eat!

After that it was 15 miles, mostly downhill into Wadebridge. The only issue was the weather, a cold front had come in & the rain had started, undetered we got into Wadebridge about 4.30pm. A good friend & colleague Pete Long & his wife Jan arrived shortly after to toast our ride, hence the blog not going out until now.

Stats for the day, 4hrs 50 mins in the saddle, 64 miles, top speed 37mph, average speed 13mph, again, not bad considering the hills. Thanks to Steve King for his company...... one more day to go! JOGLE on!

Day 10 - Axbridge to Crediton - Into Devon at last!

Ready for the off - Day 10

Day 10 we were four again with Steve King, another friend of Alans. He joined us yesterday and will ride down as far as Wadebridge with us. Today started off quite bright with a forecast of sunshine & showers as we headed off down the A38 towards Tiverton. The first 20 odd miles were flat over the Somerset Levels and a bit uninspiring with overcast skies and a head wind. Our average over those miles was kicking on 15mph but we did slow down a little later on as we hit the Devonshire hills.

After lunch of Burger King & Costa Coffee we got onto some smaller, nicer roads still towards Tiverton & Credition. Unfortunately as it was getting hilly I had a gear malfunction.... my front shifter failed after a dodgy gear change & I was stuck on the hardest 9 of 18 gears. Luckily we were only 5 miles short of Tiverton where I hoped we'd find a bike shop to help me out. We did and after a bit of a play about the gears were fixed, albeit temporarily. They also found I had a slight wobble on the rear wheel so straightened that up for me.

Off we went again, gears working well - we were now in the heart of Devon, the red soil of Devon on the roads, cycling down very small country lanes & through picturesque thatched villages and some very tempting pubs. We didn't stop though because our destination was The Lamb at Sandford near Crediton and we were only 15 miles off!

As we arrived at Sandford my shifter failed again...... looks like it has a weakness now and might continue to fail if the gear changes aren't smooth - could cause some problems over the Devon & Cornwall hills! One good point of this afternoon was that we managed to dodge all the showers that were about. It seemed it chucked it down ahead and to our sides but never down on us! Someone was smiling on us from that point of view. Anyway, the gear changes are tomorrows problem and I will very soon be in the snug with a bevvie!

Stats for the day..... 67 miles, at an average of 14mph, time in the saddle just under 5 hours. Pretty easy day in cycling terms. Tomorrow is another 65 miler but many more hills and looks like it might be a bit wet on the forecast. The last day we have another hilly day but at only 56 miles we aren't too worried! At over 830 miles in the bag, the real hard work is done - time to enjoy now!

Day 9 - Hereford to Axbridge - Crossing the Rubicon!

Great night at the B&B at Lugwardine & another very nice breakfast set us up for the ride today. Unfortunately alans map told us we had hills from the off, today was our Alpine day - 8 hills worthy of a category - bloody hilly basically!

B&B - The Steppes, Lugwardine, Hereford

Todays stats........ Only 76 miles....... average speed 12.5mph......... hours in the saddle 6hrs ....... top speed 41.4mph! What does that tell you? There were a lot of long slow uphills and a few very quick downhills! It was fantastic scenery through the Herefordshire hills and the Wye Valley, we stopped for a short while in Monmouth and then headed on towards Chepstow via Tintern. The hill between Tintern & Chepstow was one of the longest & hardest but there were plenty more to come!

Soon after we'd started we found a beautiful field full of poppies, we stopped to take some photos & then started downhill....... a few minutes later I realised my sunglasses were not on my face.... I'd dropped them in the poppy field at the top of the hill. I was so annoyed I got back up the hill on anger and adrenelin & retrieved them. Not happy! Bristol didn't disappoint, lots more hills

Where are my sunglasses!

My sunglasses incident was soon overtaken by Steves. As we finished our lunch in Chepstow Alan looked on the floor & saw a sunglasses lens..... "Anyone lost a sunglasses lens?" We looked at Steve and he was wearing his sunglasses with one lens in & one out..... instead of just saying "me!" he put his finger up to his sunglasses and nearly poked his eye out! Should have gone to Specsavers!!!
After Chepstow we crossed over the old Severn Bridge and on to Bristol . We crossed the Clifton suspension Bridge which was an experience in itself. We then met up with Steve King, another mate of Alans who will be joining us for the next two days ride. After another up & down 15 miles we arrived in Axbridge, a lovely Georgian village & our pub for the night, The Oak House & very nice it is too!

Day 8 - Nantwich to Hereford

Its a beautiful evening here in Lugwardine, Herefordshire - we made it in about 6.30pm, a long day down through Shropshire & Herefordshire. Total of 87 miles but only an average speed of 13.2mph. The reason for that was down to the small roads we took, the big hills in the way, a nasty head wind for most of the day and I guess the cumulative effect of a week on the road.

We headed out from the Crown Hotel, Nantwich at 9.15am and set off down our course. We got greeted by Diversion signs & a closed road but decided to plough on regardless.... luckily we made it, even the ripped up road was better than the track Steve sent us down in Scotland!!

I arranged to meet my brother Guy en-route & we stopped off at Shawbury to see him. There were a lot of helicopters going round & round in circles around there & I thought another nutter with a gun might be on the loose. Thankfully Guy let us know it was just the helicopter training school at RAF Shawbury where both Wills & harry learnt to fly!

Some of the small roads we took we extremely narrow & the uphills were severe, it took its toll on my companions, they were relieved at the top of one climb but little did they know there were another four or five to come!

Today we had our first puncture, Alans rear tyre went....... took us a while to fix it hence the long time it took us to get to Lugwardine..... It had to happen at some point but we got back on the road and headed off to Ludlow, a very nice town. We stopped for a little coffee in Ludlow & frankly we almost fell asleep in the sun! Unfortunately we still had 25 miles to go!

Practically asleep in the sun but 25 miles still to go!

Day 7 - Engerland!

So far we have conquered a wet & windy Scotland, gone over the pass at Shap - just a small Lake District climb and now completed three consecutive 90 mile days. What does that tell you? We are knackered.

Last night we had a great meal at The Longlands Hotel, probably drank a little too much as we had a guest with us but still were up at breakfast at 7.30am on the dot. Chris (Roota) had decided to carry on with us until Preston. He runs a care home there & supplied us with tea & bacon butties to help us on our way............ Thanks Roota, you played a blinder!

Todays stats are 95 miles completed at an average speed of 15mph (our fastest yet), 6.30ish in the saddle, no idea of height climb as Steves Garmin is rubbish & he can't access the internet tonight for some reason - technophobe!

The truth of the matter is that its gone 10pm, and we have now travelled over 600 of the 960 miles. I think, my maths is terrible after a few red wines and 95 miles! Our next real milestone will be crossing into Wales, day after tomorrow & the over the Severn Bridge the next day....... one mile at a time we are getting there. Another shout out to The Longlands Hotel because they too donated to our charities as did Chris. I think all our targets have been met but eveyones help, support & generosity has been amazing!

No complaints about the weather today but one unforseen consequence was how dirty we got! We put sun cream on before departure - sensible right? Only every bit of dirt, oil & general crap from the roads stuck to us like glue. Will take a photo next time it happens - gross - two baths sorted it. Hi to Steves familt, Sally, Penny & Alex who came to dinner tonight - great to see you!

Take care all - a sore & tired Marky signing off. Tomorrow takes us down by Hereford - cider country begins - happy days!   

Day 6 - Biggest Day Yet!

Firstly I have to give a big shout out to Una at our B&B in Largs - she sorted out our wet clothes, great hospitality, great breakfast and also donated to our charities. Her hubby Sandy even gave us tips on the route. 16 Charles Street, Largs, great B&B for any End to Enders!

Last night we stayed at the Auldgirth Inn, just north of Dumfries. It was a santuary for monks travelling between Abbeys and you can see the religious connection today from the shape of the windows & the cross on the chimney stack. They said it was haunted but no ghost was gonna wake me last night!

After breakfast we headed out in the drizzle, yep Scotland was 3 dry days & 3 wet starts! We put a big start in down the A75, luckily as it was a Sunday morning the road was quiet, smooth & fast. By the time we rolled into Carlisle we had covered 41 miles at an avaerage of 15.7mph - not bad eh!

In Carlisle we met Chris & Mandy who made us a great brunch. We were then joined by some of Als mates, Chris from the brunch fame, Andy & Simon for the next part of the ride as far as Penrith. Chris stayed on for the next 40 miles & the other lads headed back, it was great to have some extra company - pace makers....!

We still had 40 miles to go though and part of that was to cross the pass at Shap. Not having been on the route before I thought, as we sailed through Shap village, that the hill they'd all been talking about wasn't too bad. Little did I know we still had 5 miles of climb to go with numerous false tops. I wouldn't like to brag but I WAS KING OF THE MOUNTAIN!!!! I did wait for the others at the top...

Today was a great day, a big day - I won't even mention the weather - who cares, we did 102 miles at an average speed of 14.6, Shap alone is 1400Ft above sea level and we ended up it a village called Tewitsfield in Lancashire that served great food & copious amounts of ale & wine. Happy days, signing off, half way through the End to End. Thanks again to all.....................