1. Ducky by power station
2. At the Scottish border
3. East coast
4. Loch side loving it
5. Stopping by Loch Ness
Thursday, 9 August 2007
More Pics
1. Ducky by power station
2. At the Scottish border
3. East coast
4. Loch side loving it
5. Stopping by Loch Ness
The Pics
1. The campsite in Newark on Trent. Nice but midgey
2. Giles sits on pin
3. Pete pushes tree over
4. "it was the crappiest day ever. We were cold, wet and freezing and in crappy Glasgow and to top it all a bird shat on my handlebars"
5. Bin bag waterproof technology (awesome)
2. Giles sits on pin
3. Pete pushes tree over
4. "it was the crappiest day ever. We were cold, wet and freezing and in crappy Glasgow and to top it all a bird shat on my handlebars"
5. Bin bag waterproof technology (awesome)
Massive update - Days 9-14
Well, it's all nearly over and with just one day to go the team is being patched up and readied for the last leg to the true other end of the country. Alan has a bad knee, Pete is team injury with torn hamstring and a dodgy ankle (sustained while falling off during the excitement of finding a place to fill up water bottles leaving the campsite this morning), Polly with dodgy knees that are getting better, Robin with more insect bites than he has other skin and Giles with afternoon lethargy. We've had a great time and need to shout out thanks to more people than we can remember, but for now a MASSIVE shout to Claire and James for all the support, tent erecting, cooking, cleaning and driving - we truly couldn't have done it without you. Also a shout to Melfort resort for the field and shower facilities - all the freebies make a big difference to us poor teachers! Enough of the intro, here come the day summaries:
Day 9 - The day of FAFF!
Giles and Pete made an early start to take the Ledge to Edinburgh airport so that he could attend a family wedding (even Le Jog can't get in the way of some things). The 6am start was an issue! We left the stunning place organised by Alan's Dad (big shout to Duncan) late with an 11am start and the day of faff started. Pete took Alan's bike as the hamstring was still very painful and the team started off. We faltered after only about a mile because Pete couldn't lock his cleat into Alan's pedal. We tried numerous things, but just couldn't make it work. Eventually we called Claire in the support vehicle and she came and met us after we had done only 8 miles. We had lunch. At about 1pm we finally got on the road with a vengeance, with Pete's dodgy hamstring still proving annoying. Then Robin got a puncture (we'd done about 1/2 a mile). We decided to pump it and see if that would work. Thankfully it seemed to and we started to make slow progress.
The scenery was truly stunning and despite the slowness of progress, the team was loving the weather and the views. We made our way along a combination of the A72 and minor road cycle route to Peebles where we had a break and watched a cricket match and football match being played out. Interesting to see the two sports in such close proximity - the brash footballers with colourful language and the bored cricketers struggling to stay awake.
We needed to get on so we got back on the road after Giles destroyed the toilet in the petrol station, there are still horror stories eminating from Peebles about it. The 50 mile tops day kept on chugging along slowly and it was still 25 miles to Lanark at least and already nearly 3pm - we needed to get our elbows in gear.
Weather started to turn a little as we tried to crank up the pace and we started to pound our way into a huge head wind. We kept on the same roads, but it was slow and tough going. Eventually we topped out of a big climb and found a tail wind taking us back down the hill towards Carnwath. We finished the small climb into the village and descended through the town. As we came through the town a small child started up alongside us on his bike, spinning the pedals at an impossible rate, with Pete immediately behind him. Eventually he pulled over and Pete overtook and sprinted off into the distance. The child continued and Giles straight behind him warily started to think about overtaking. Just as he thought it was safe to overtake, disaster struck and the child decided to change tack and zoom straight into Giles, knocking him off. The traffic was thankfully aware of the lunatic satan child and its clear intention to take out innocent cyclists and stopped in plenty of time, but it was a hairy moment. Eventually the team caught up with Pete who had failed to look back for 3 miles until he stopped and waited on his own worried about the rest of the team.
We limped on and eventually turned off towards Lanark, passing a massive horsey show thing - possibly our first glimpse of the seedy underworld of the gymkhana (however you spell it). We finally got to the campsite to find that not only was it expensive, but they charged 20p for a shower! Giles, Polly and Robin got the luck and had a hot shower, but Pete had to dodge in and out of a freezing cold one.
Stats: 61 miles, don't know avg. speed (no ledge)
Day 10 - Cold and rain, Glasgow stinks and is crap day
It rained and was very cold.
This was a truly awful day. We left Lanark and climbed the big hills out in some reasonable sunshine with usual technical shirts and light jackets ready for another warm English style day in the saddle - boy were we underprepared for the Scottish summertime! After about an hour it started to drizzle, then rain and then it poured. All this time it was getting colder and we were heading further in towards Glasgow.
We went through Carluke (horrible), Wishaw (horrible), Motherwell (horrible), Uddingston (horrible), Glasgow (horrible) and so on. It was industrial mingness and was very cold and very wet. We stopped in central Glasgow and went to subway where we took advantage of the hand drier to dry our stuff a little and warm up slightly. We decided that our meagre garments just wouldn't cut it for the afternoon and the whole body would go blue again within no time at all, so we went to Morrisons and got some black plastic sacks. We donned the sacks and set off again. It was still cold and wet, so we decided that it had to be a double bagger and Polly, Giles and Pete went for the double bag option - Pete decided to try the cape on the second bag, with mixed success. Robin was boiling hot all this time with the steam coming off the red fox the whole time. I'm sure it boils before it touches the red hot skin of the human torch.
We got to Dumbarton and headed on the NCN cycle route up to Loch Lomond, all the time getting colder and wetter. We managed to get separated at one point due to a minor routing disagreement (where Polly was right and Pete was dead wrong!) and the teams were split into the Masons and Pete and Robin. Polly and Giles quickly found a McDonalds and chilled there for a while. Robin got a puncture and while he and Pete mended it they got wetter. Polly gave some directions, which didn't make any sense (until afterwards), so Robin and Pete just kept on going all the way to the Loch. We emerged from the cycle path to find the end of Lomond fest or some such festival just ending and took a road away from it to find a McDonalds. We went in and there were Polly and Giles chilling! The cheek. Eventually we braved the Scottish summer weather once more and nailed the last 8 miles in no time at all to Luss and the campsite. A very good one as it turned out - excellent showers.
Claire later arrived with James, Alan and some stunning Fish and chips with double portions (Somehow!)
Oh, and the Clyde smells all the way along no matter where you are. Even in the rain. With a heavy cold.
Mileage: 65m
avg speed: high due to crap place, cold and rain (est 200mph)
Day 11 - Luss to Oban
A good, but cold day with Alan back on the team after his wedding sojourn down to Crediton. It was good to have the team back together, but the weather had not abated and it was still cold and very wet. We made our way up to the top of Loch Lomond and on towards Tarbet before turning up towards Crainlarich. Good progress was made and while Pete still had to stop a lot due to wimpy hamstring.
We made it to Crainlarich, but were cold and wet after a monster climb up and needed to stop and warm up, except that is for the Red Fox, who was loving the low temperatures. We stopped in the cafe at the railway station and ordered up 5 teas. Giles, Polly, Pete and Alan sat to drink the tea shivering, lips slightly blue. Red Fox stands up, muses for a moment and goes and buys an ice cream! about 0 degrees outside and he buys an ice cream to cool down!!
We made good progress for the rest of the day and made it to Connel bridge in record time to be picked up and taken to Pete's parents timeshare at Loch Melfort way to the South (thanks mum and Graham for the driving). We were well cared for with food, washing and so on at Melfort by Pete's family and we all had a good evening.
Stats
63m
13.1mph
4h 35m
Day 12 - The weather improves and Ben Nevis is seen
We got dropped at Connel Bridge at about 9.30 and made our way North up the A828 with Pete really suffering with the dodgy hamstring. We made progress with Giles grumpy due to the weather cycling along the coast road frustrated by the lack of nice views! The sun came out a little before lunch and there was much nice views to see.
We stopped at Castle Stalker because we thought we saw someone following us. It was also, wet, wet, wet. We found the tea and a startling invention of Mars Bar cake (om) - it was awesome.
Pete had to drop out like a wuss at Fort William and went in the car the rest of the way. The rest of the team hardtailed it big style with some major pace for the rest of the way. There was some major team lunging at Loch Lochy (inspired name) and some posing at the no posing sign.
Pete cooked dinner and it was lush and the weather continued to improve. It was a great spot.
Stats:
71.24m
13.7mph
4h56m
Day 13
I'm tired, so this is getting shorter! We nailed it down Loch Ness (a long way) with truly beautiful scenery taking us ages to get to Inverness with stunning views.
The main highlight was in Inverness where polly had her sandwich stolen by a seagull (it was hugely entertaining). The afternoon was a major effort and the team had to knuckle down into an afternoon slog to Dornoch and dinner in the pub (or chip shop for the pikey few of Alan, Pete and the red fox).
May add more later...
Stats
81.14m
13.8mph
5h34m
Day 14 - The Devastator
Another stunning day that started late and ended up being nails despite the shortness of the mileage. Everyone kept on telling us that the last stretch up to John O'Groats was easy, flat cycling and they were all big fat liars. It was massively hilly in places and we climbed like people who like going up stairs and live in large blocks of flats, then work in tower blocks without lifts.
Lines of the day (both Red Fox)
Who am I game - "are you a meatball?"
also who am i game - "have you been in my omhole?"
For those thinking about the trip - lots of climbs in this short day.
Stats:
43.21m
12.0mph (slow)
3h 30m (seemed like more)
ciao bye for now
Day 9 - The day of FAFF!
Giles and Pete made an early start to take the Ledge to Edinburgh airport so that he could attend a family wedding (even Le Jog can't get in the way of some things). The 6am start was an issue! We left the stunning place organised by Alan's Dad (big shout to Duncan) late with an 11am start and the day of faff started. Pete took Alan's bike as the hamstring was still very painful and the team started off. We faltered after only about a mile because Pete couldn't lock his cleat into Alan's pedal. We tried numerous things, but just couldn't make it work. Eventually we called Claire in the support vehicle and she came and met us after we had done only 8 miles. We had lunch. At about 1pm we finally got on the road with a vengeance, with Pete's dodgy hamstring still proving annoying. Then Robin got a puncture (we'd done about 1/2 a mile). We decided to pump it and see if that would work. Thankfully it seemed to and we started to make slow progress.
The scenery was truly stunning and despite the slowness of progress, the team was loving the weather and the views. We made our way along a combination of the A72 and minor road cycle route to Peebles where we had a break and watched a cricket match and football match being played out. Interesting to see the two sports in such close proximity - the brash footballers with colourful language and the bored cricketers struggling to stay awake.
We needed to get on so we got back on the road after Giles destroyed the toilet in the petrol station, there are still horror stories eminating from Peebles about it. The 50 mile tops day kept on chugging along slowly and it was still 25 miles to Lanark at least and already nearly 3pm - we needed to get our elbows in gear.
Weather started to turn a little as we tried to crank up the pace and we started to pound our way into a huge head wind. We kept on the same roads, but it was slow and tough going. Eventually we topped out of a big climb and found a tail wind taking us back down the hill towards Carnwath. We finished the small climb into the village and descended through the town. As we came through the town a small child started up alongside us on his bike, spinning the pedals at an impossible rate, with Pete immediately behind him. Eventually he pulled over and Pete overtook and sprinted off into the distance. The child continued and Giles straight behind him warily started to think about overtaking. Just as he thought it was safe to overtake, disaster struck and the child decided to change tack and zoom straight into Giles, knocking him off. The traffic was thankfully aware of the lunatic satan child and its clear intention to take out innocent cyclists and stopped in plenty of time, but it was a hairy moment. Eventually the team caught up with Pete who had failed to look back for 3 miles until he stopped and waited on his own worried about the rest of the team.
We limped on and eventually turned off towards Lanark, passing a massive horsey show thing - possibly our first glimpse of the seedy underworld of the gymkhana (however you spell it). We finally got to the campsite to find that not only was it expensive, but they charged 20p for a shower! Giles, Polly and Robin got the luck and had a hot shower, but Pete had to dodge in and out of a freezing cold one.
Stats: 61 miles, don't know avg. speed (no ledge)
Day 10 - Cold and rain, Glasgow stinks and is crap day
It rained and was very cold.
This was a truly awful day. We left Lanark and climbed the big hills out in some reasonable sunshine with usual technical shirts and light jackets ready for another warm English style day in the saddle - boy were we underprepared for the Scottish summertime! After about an hour it started to drizzle, then rain and then it poured. All this time it was getting colder and we were heading further in towards Glasgow.
We went through Carluke (horrible), Wishaw (horrible), Motherwell (horrible), Uddingston (horrible), Glasgow (horrible) and so on. It was industrial mingness and was very cold and very wet. We stopped in central Glasgow and went to subway where we took advantage of the hand drier to dry our stuff a little and warm up slightly. We decided that our meagre garments just wouldn't cut it for the afternoon and the whole body would go blue again within no time at all, so we went to Morrisons and got some black plastic sacks. We donned the sacks and set off again. It was still cold and wet, so we decided that it had to be a double bagger and Polly, Giles and Pete went for the double bag option - Pete decided to try the cape on the second bag, with mixed success. Robin was boiling hot all this time with the steam coming off the red fox the whole time. I'm sure it boils before it touches the red hot skin of the human torch.
We got to Dumbarton and headed on the NCN cycle route up to Loch Lomond, all the time getting colder and wetter. We managed to get separated at one point due to a minor routing disagreement (where Polly was right and Pete was dead wrong!) and the teams were split into the Masons and Pete and Robin. Polly and Giles quickly found a McDonalds and chilled there for a while. Robin got a puncture and while he and Pete mended it they got wetter. Polly gave some directions, which didn't make any sense (until afterwards), so Robin and Pete just kept on going all the way to the Loch. We emerged from the cycle path to find the end of Lomond fest or some such festival just ending and took a road away from it to find a McDonalds. We went in and there were Polly and Giles chilling! The cheek. Eventually we braved the Scottish summer weather once more and nailed the last 8 miles in no time at all to Luss and the campsite. A very good one as it turned out - excellent showers.
Claire later arrived with James, Alan and some stunning Fish and chips with double portions (Somehow!)
Oh, and the Clyde smells all the way along no matter where you are. Even in the rain. With a heavy cold.
Mileage: 65m
avg speed: high due to crap place, cold and rain (est 200mph)
Day 11 - Luss to Oban
A good, but cold day with Alan back on the team after his wedding sojourn down to Crediton. It was good to have the team back together, but the weather had not abated and it was still cold and very wet. We made our way up to the top of Loch Lomond and on towards Tarbet before turning up towards Crainlarich. Good progress was made and while Pete still had to stop a lot due to wimpy hamstring.
We made it to Crainlarich, but were cold and wet after a monster climb up and needed to stop and warm up, except that is for the Red Fox, who was loving the low temperatures. We stopped in the cafe at the railway station and ordered up 5 teas. Giles, Polly, Pete and Alan sat to drink the tea shivering, lips slightly blue. Red Fox stands up, muses for a moment and goes and buys an ice cream! about 0 degrees outside and he buys an ice cream to cool down!!
We made good progress for the rest of the day and made it to Connel bridge in record time to be picked up and taken to Pete's parents timeshare at Loch Melfort way to the South (thanks mum and Graham for the driving). We were well cared for with food, washing and so on at Melfort by Pete's family and we all had a good evening.
Stats
63m
13.1mph
4h 35m
Day 12 - The weather improves and Ben Nevis is seen
We got dropped at Connel Bridge at about 9.30 and made our way North up the A828 with Pete really suffering with the dodgy hamstring. We made progress with Giles grumpy due to the weather cycling along the coast road frustrated by the lack of nice views! The sun came out a little before lunch and there was much nice views to see.
We stopped at Castle Stalker because we thought we saw someone following us. It was also, wet, wet, wet. We found the tea and a startling invention of Mars Bar cake (om) - it was awesome.
Pete had to drop out like a wuss at Fort William and went in the car the rest of the way. The rest of the team hardtailed it big style with some major pace for the rest of the way. There was some major team lunging at Loch Lochy (inspired name) and some posing at the no posing sign.
Pete cooked dinner and it was lush and the weather continued to improve. It was a great spot.
Stats:
71.24m
13.7mph
4h56m
Day 13
I'm tired, so this is getting shorter! We nailed it down Loch Ness (a long way) with truly beautiful scenery taking us ages to get to Inverness with stunning views.
The main highlight was in Inverness where polly had her sandwich stolen by a seagull (it was hugely entertaining). The afternoon was a major effort and the team had to knuckle down into an afternoon slog to Dornoch and dinner in the pub (or chip shop for the pikey few of Alan, Pete and the red fox).
May add more later...
Stats
81.14m
13.8mph
5h34m
Day 14 - The Devastator
Another stunning day that started late and ended up being nails despite the shortness of the mileage. Everyone kept on telling us that the last stretch up to John O'Groats was easy, flat cycling and they were all big fat liars. It was massively hilly in places and we climbed like people who like going up stairs and live in large blocks of flats, then work in tower blocks without lifts.
Lines of the day (both Red Fox)
Who am I game - "are you a meatball?"
also who am i game - "have you been in my omhole?"
For those thinking about the trip - lots of climbs in this short day.
Stats:
43.21m
12.0mph (slow)
3h 30m (seemed like more)
ciao bye for now
Friday, 3 August 2007
Days 7 and 8
Well, it's the end of day 8 and it's been a long hard slog up into the wilds of Scotland. The rugged beauty does nothing to make up for the burning thighs suffered while climbing some rather unpleasant hills and suffering some beanfeast level winds.
Day 7
Robin joined today on the YJOG (when you can run), bolstering the team by an extra member and lead the unit out of York Northwards on the A19 towards Thirsk. Disaster struck about 5 miles in when Pete felt something go ping in his left hamstring and while he soldiered on gamely until Thirsk hoping for a reprieve, had to call the ever helpful support vehicle in for an easy and ice packed rest of the day.
The rest of the team left Thirsk after a toilet stop at the Texaco station in Thirsk (good toilet, ask the man for the key if you need it ;-) ), into the headwind from hell all the way to Northallerton. The Ledge was out in front up to Northallerton, which interestingly is the place where Robin's mum and dad first met, just thought you'd like to know. I really need to stress the wind here - in the face and blowing harder than the night after a vindaloo.
The headwind continued into Darlington and onto West Aukland, had lunch, which was uneventful, but satisfying. Then it was toughsville, with a mile of climbing to Toft Hill (godforsaken place that you have to climb up to, horrible. flat places are much better, we'd go for lincolnshire or holland) then on to Castleside for the stop for the night. Usually when you look at the map and it says 14 miles, it ends up being 20, but this time 14 actually meant 8, which was nice.
There was a massive 12% descent into the campsite (6 miles ahead of schedule) and the Ledge shot off up the next hill only to plod back down to enter the campsite. Pete made up for being crocked by making a superb chilli beef dish from scratch (real ingredients and everything, no packets). We then got bitten by endless midges again and woken/annoyed/irritated/allowed stereotypes to be reinforced by some pikey geordie children who insisted on kicking a football against our tents, which in true teacher fashion, Polly confiscated (it was comedy central).
Day 8 (day of doom)
A communal decision was taken (so he says) that Pete would sit the day out until the lunch break to allow the hamstring to repair further, but the rest of the team made the monster climb out of Castleside on the mighty road North through the Northumberland National Park. While the views were stunning, the headwind was back with a vengeance, making even normal downhill sections tough.
Those steady slight downhills where you can really build the speed were down to 10mph making it a tough old crawl into the icy North. We saw several icebergs and much snow. And some coal. It was the A68 the whole way with progress slow, a lot of stopping due to a great deal of climbing. There was a huge climb up to Hadrians Wall, which disappointingly didn't exist despite the adverts to the contrary - we have dispatched a letter to Advertising Standards. Scenery started to get increasingly barren and rugged as we made the final ascent to Carter's Bar (413m) and the border into Scotland. The weather came in, true to Scottish form, and it became freezing cold and drizzly making the team somewhat miserable after a tough hour of climbing. It was actually something of a low point for the trip, despite the obvious elation of reaching the border.
Then the section from Carter's Bar to Jedburgh was awesome, a solid 10 miles of downhill that raised our average speed for the day a whopping .5 mph. The scenery was stunning - proper Scottish mountainous rugged scenery, there were many photo's taken. On that point, we've kind of struggled with connecting up our camera technology (call ourselves IT guru's??), so sorry about the lack of pictures, they will follow, honest. After a hard earned lunch in Jedburgh it was the final few miles to Alan's dad's mates dogs tennis partners builder who is letting us use his field (and computer) super generously tonight. Big up to Duncan, an awesome guy with some excellent Cortina's.
Now comes the difficult decision over whether to go up the West coast and take in Ben Nevis (we are planning to cycle up one side and then run down the other with the bikes on our backs over burning coals), or the central road route through the Cairngorms (you have to say that in your best scottish brogue). More later when we can - not sure if they've discovered the internet further north! tata, The Team
See you later
Day 7
Robin joined today on the YJOG (when you can run), bolstering the team by an extra member and lead the unit out of York Northwards on the A19 towards Thirsk. Disaster struck about 5 miles in when Pete felt something go ping in his left hamstring and while he soldiered on gamely until Thirsk hoping for a reprieve, had to call the ever helpful support vehicle in for an easy and ice packed rest of the day.
The rest of the team left Thirsk after a toilet stop at the Texaco station in Thirsk (good toilet, ask the man for the key if you need it ;-) ), into the headwind from hell all the way to Northallerton. The Ledge was out in front up to Northallerton, which interestingly is the place where Robin's mum and dad first met, just thought you'd like to know. I really need to stress the wind here - in the face and blowing harder than the night after a vindaloo.
The headwind continued into Darlington and onto West Aukland, had lunch, which was uneventful, but satisfying. Then it was toughsville, with a mile of climbing to Toft Hill (godforsaken place that you have to climb up to, horrible. flat places are much better, we'd go for lincolnshire or holland) then on to Castleside for the stop for the night. Usually when you look at the map and it says 14 miles, it ends up being 20, but this time 14 actually meant 8, which was nice.
There was a massive 12% descent into the campsite (6 miles ahead of schedule) and the Ledge shot off up the next hill only to plod back down to enter the campsite. Pete made up for being crocked by making a superb chilli beef dish from scratch (real ingredients and everything, no packets). We then got bitten by endless midges again and woken/annoyed/irritated/allowed stereotypes to be reinforced by some pikey geordie children who insisted on kicking a football against our tents, which in true teacher fashion, Polly confiscated (it was comedy central).
Day 8 (day of doom)
A communal decision was taken (so he says) that Pete would sit the day out until the lunch break to allow the hamstring to repair further, but the rest of the team made the monster climb out of Castleside on the mighty road North through the Northumberland National Park. While the views were stunning, the headwind was back with a vengeance, making even normal downhill sections tough.
Those steady slight downhills where you can really build the speed were down to 10mph making it a tough old crawl into the icy North. We saw several icebergs and much snow. And some coal. It was the A68 the whole way with progress slow, a lot of stopping due to a great deal of climbing. There was a huge climb up to Hadrians Wall, which disappointingly didn't exist despite the adverts to the contrary - we have dispatched a letter to Advertising Standards. Scenery started to get increasingly barren and rugged as we made the final ascent to Carter's Bar (413m) and the border into Scotland. The weather came in, true to Scottish form, and it became freezing cold and drizzly making the team somewhat miserable after a tough hour of climbing. It was actually something of a low point for the trip, despite the obvious elation of reaching the border.
Then the section from Carter's Bar to Jedburgh was awesome, a solid 10 miles of downhill that raised our average speed for the day a whopping .5 mph. The scenery was stunning - proper Scottish mountainous rugged scenery, there were many photo's taken. On that point, we've kind of struggled with connecting up our camera technology (call ourselves IT guru's??), so sorry about the lack of pictures, they will follow, honest. After a hard earned lunch in Jedburgh it was the final few miles to Alan's dad's mates dogs tennis partners builder who is letting us use his field (and computer) super generously tonight. Big up to Duncan, an awesome guy with some excellent Cortina's.
Now comes the difficult decision over whether to go up the West coast and take in Ben Nevis (we are planning to cycle up one side and then run down the other with the bikes on our backs over burning coals), or the central road route through the Cairngorms (you have to say that in your best scottish brogue). More later when we can - not sure if they've discovered the internet further north! tata, The Team
See you later
Wednesday, 1 August 2007
Day Four, five and six
Well, it's the end of six and a much needed rest and bbq are in the offing. We've got to York and are staying with the fifth member of the team, Robin, who is doing the YJOG. Lots has happened over thep ast few days, but here's the summary:
Day 4
The morning was set off on from Bradford-On-Avon at the Polly and Giles palace and while feeling the effects of Giles' birthday curry (most varied and high quality). I can't comment on anywhere else, but Alan and myself slept in the lounge and it was barely useable afterwards. Once the toilet was destroyed, we were on our way, with Claire, team driver and support expert driving the car.
We set off towards Melksham using a Giles route that was a little hilly, but very cycleable. We then headed towards Chippenham and the wind started to pick up and made progress slow. Once Chippenham had been conquered, it was cirencester next stop. Spent ages in Tesco getting lunch, which made the rest of the day slower, but eventually we were on our way again.
We headed off on the Fosse Way to Stow on the Wold, which was very posh. Then it was more Fosse Way (cough, spit) towards Leamington Spa. Fosse Way seemed like a good idea, but ended up being really hilly and hard work. The team now hates that road. Romans knew how to make straight roads, but hadn't figuered out, sadly, that it is often easier to follow the contours!
Stats:
Mileage - 80m
Average Speed - 13.8mph
Top Speed (PM/PG) - 46.3mph
Day 5
A late set off on the Fosse Way heading towards Rugby on the A429 after a short stint on the B4455 (Fosse Way). During the early stint, Giles managed to get blu tac stuck in his chainset, we still don't know how. "I was just riding along and suddenly I couldn't move the pedals. We looked at the rear derailleur and there was blu tac there. I thought it was game over for the bike, but we managed to get it out and get on the road again".
We headed North to Lutterworth, loving the Hills up to the M6 out of Rugby. A lady managed to shout at Polly for missing the cycle lane that didn't have a sign on it!! That girl is just full of the Faux Pas's.
Once we hit Lutterworth, it was time for Giles to work his magic and find us a cheeky off the beaten track route, which got us up Northern quicker, but did tease us by going via his parents house where there was a copious amount of chocolate cake (there were suggestions of breaking and entering).
We got to Melton Mowbray at about 3.30pm for lunch and enjoyed a most tranquil spot by the river and enjoyed a nice sandwich and pasty from Greggs. As an aside, we were served by a most helpful young lady who was bang on the pulse. Not. Her tongue was hanging out and she had a forehead that kept the rain off her feet.
Then it was a fast stretch into the real North towards Newark-On-Trent. We got onto the A46 North and maxxed it at a superfast pace and made it to Newark in no time at all. We camped at a place with 3 lakes that was also tranquil (apart from the din from the sugar factory) and had lots of caravans and fishing people. There were some pikeys staying there, but the bikes were still there in the morning, which was nice.
stats:
Mileage - 90m
Average speed - 13.9mph
Top Speed (PG) - 44.5mph
Day 6
We set off from Newark-On-Trent at 8.45am and headed towards Gainsborough, after a tip from a local (Pete's friend Byron) that it was flat apart from the infamous Lincoln edge. We were well cared for by Claire for breakfast and managed a good set off towards the North. Interestingly it was a nice day, but got colder the further we got. There was ice and snow all around before long. Often there were icebergs drifting down the rivers.
The infamous Lincoln ridge turned out to be little more than a hillock and no challenge to those used to the Cornish hills. The stretch to Gainsborough was largely flat and we took advantage by going for it on the speed and beasted the first stretch to Gainsborough, then the next to Goole. We knew we were North as soon as we left Gainsborough and saw a dead ferret on the side of the road. It just doesn't get more Northern. As we made our way North to Goole, we saw many power stations, it was very Northern, every few miles, there was a new power station. You thought to look one way and a new power station was there. Otherwise, there was some really nice scenery to go through.
We thought the Ferret was the ultimate in Northernness, but then we saw Goole. It is a dump extraordinaire. If there was an award for Britain's Ugliest Town, Goole would be all over it big stylee. Dominated by a large port and industry and populated by inbred mutants that speak only in Northern, it was a total dump and we got out of Dodge as soon as we could. Apart from stopping for 20 mins for our lunch anyway. (apologies to anyone from Goole who is offended by the preceding paragraphs).
After a fine lunch of sandwiches and sausage rolls (more athlete food!), we headed North into a stiff head wind, which was tough going, but the Ledge earned his name by leading the pace. It was then on to Selby and into York from there.
Stats:
Mileage - 85m
Avg Speed - 15.4mph
Top Speed (PG) - 39mph
Next update asap. Ciao Bye. Pete, Giles, Pol, Ledge, Claire, Robin.
Day 4
The morning was set off on from Bradford-On-Avon at the Polly and Giles palace and while feeling the effects of Giles' birthday curry (most varied and high quality). I can't comment on anywhere else, but Alan and myself slept in the lounge and it was barely useable afterwards. Once the toilet was destroyed, we were on our way, with Claire, team driver and support expert driving the car.
We set off towards Melksham using a Giles route that was a little hilly, but very cycleable. We then headed towards Chippenham and the wind started to pick up and made progress slow. Once Chippenham had been conquered, it was cirencester next stop. Spent ages in Tesco getting lunch, which made the rest of the day slower, but eventually we were on our way again.
We headed off on the Fosse Way to Stow on the Wold, which was very posh. Then it was more Fosse Way (cough, spit) towards Leamington Spa. Fosse Way seemed like a good idea, but ended up being really hilly and hard work. The team now hates that road. Romans knew how to make straight roads, but hadn't figuered out, sadly, that it is often easier to follow the contours!
Stats:
Mileage - 80m
Average Speed - 13.8mph
Top Speed (PM/PG) - 46.3mph
Day 5
A late set off on the Fosse Way heading towards Rugby on the A429 after a short stint on the B4455 (Fosse Way). During the early stint, Giles managed to get blu tac stuck in his chainset, we still don't know how. "I was just riding along and suddenly I couldn't move the pedals. We looked at the rear derailleur and there was blu tac there. I thought it was game over for the bike, but we managed to get it out and get on the road again".
We headed North to Lutterworth, loving the Hills up to the M6 out of Rugby. A lady managed to shout at Polly for missing the cycle lane that didn't have a sign on it!! That girl is just full of the Faux Pas's.
Once we hit Lutterworth, it was time for Giles to work his magic and find us a cheeky off the beaten track route, which got us up Northern quicker, but did tease us by going via his parents house where there was a copious amount of chocolate cake (there were suggestions of breaking and entering).
We got to Melton Mowbray at about 3.30pm for lunch and enjoyed a most tranquil spot by the river and enjoyed a nice sandwich and pasty from Greggs. As an aside, we were served by a most helpful young lady who was bang on the pulse. Not. Her tongue was hanging out and she had a forehead that kept the rain off her feet.
Then it was a fast stretch into the real North towards Newark-On-Trent. We got onto the A46 North and maxxed it at a superfast pace and made it to Newark in no time at all. We camped at a place with 3 lakes that was also tranquil (apart from the din from the sugar factory) and had lots of caravans and fishing people. There were some pikeys staying there, but the bikes were still there in the morning, which was nice.
stats:
Mileage - 90m
Average speed - 13.9mph
Top Speed (PG) - 44.5mph
Day 6
We set off from Newark-On-Trent at 8.45am and headed towards Gainsborough, after a tip from a local (Pete's friend Byron) that it was flat apart from the infamous Lincoln edge. We were well cared for by Claire for breakfast and managed a good set off towards the North. Interestingly it was a nice day, but got colder the further we got. There was ice and snow all around before long. Often there were icebergs drifting down the rivers.
The infamous Lincoln ridge turned out to be little more than a hillock and no challenge to those used to the Cornish hills. The stretch to Gainsborough was largely flat and we took advantage by going for it on the speed and beasted the first stretch to Gainsborough, then the next to Goole. We knew we were North as soon as we left Gainsborough and saw a dead ferret on the side of the road. It just doesn't get more Northern. As we made our way North to Goole, we saw many power stations, it was very Northern, every few miles, there was a new power station. You thought to look one way and a new power station was there. Otherwise, there was some really nice scenery to go through.
We thought the Ferret was the ultimate in Northernness, but then we saw Goole. It is a dump extraordinaire. If there was an award for Britain's Ugliest Town, Goole would be all over it big stylee. Dominated by a large port and industry and populated by inbred mutants that speak only in Northern, it was a total dump and we got out of Dodge as soon as we could. Apart from stopping for 20 mins for our lunch anyway. (apologies to anyone from Goole who is offended by the preceding paragraphs).
After a fine lunch of sandwiches and sausage rolls (more athlete food!), we headed North into a stiff head wind, which was tough going, but the Ledge earned his name by leading the pace. It was then on to Selby and into York from there.
Stats:
Mileage - 85m
Avg Speed - 15.4mph
Top Speed (PG) - 39mph
Next update asap. Ciao Bye. Pete, Giles, Pol, Ledge, Claire, Robin.
Saturday, 28 July 2007
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