Day 14 to John O'Groats Friday 23/6/6
We made it. This last leg of the journey was relatively easy, with the hills getting smaller the closer you got to the end. We passed Dounreay Power Station which seemed quite popular as a tourist stop. But in truth we were just trying to get to the end as quickly as possible by now so we could make our way home.
We arrived at John O'Groats around 2:30 and it is much less developed than Land's End. It still had tourist shops, but also a small working harbour and seemed a lot more open.
That afternoon we drove down to Selkirk arriving around 10pm and stayed and the same B&B, went to the same pub. It was great to see much of the route we had travelled on by bike from a van. Did we really ride up such big hills?
Back home by 6pm on Saturday. We decided not to go for a short ride on our bikes - at least not for a few days.
978 miles gone - finished.

Thank you to the great many people who have sponsored us and helped us through this trip. It was always a great motivator on the occassions when you wondered why you were there, usually in the cold and wet. Would I do it again? Well not this year, maybe I'll wait until I'm 70 like my Uncle Dave did.

Regards
Ed

Day 11, 12 & 13
Day 11 to Newtonmore, near Aviemore Tuesday 20/6/6
Probably the best day of the trip by some way. From Drum we traveled through the Glen of Devon to Dunning. A quiet road with stunning views to end with a breathtaking sight of the Grampian mountains which we were then aiming for.
On the way across the valley we picked up route 77 of the National Cycle Network. This effectively followed the river Tay all the way to Pitlochery (the most expensive place in Britain for jacket potatoe at £5.50). The route to Newtonmore was then on NCN7 which is broadly the old A9 road. A brilliant surface to ride on and loads of space. The only snag was that it started to rain at the beginning of the climb where we read a sign that said even in Summer conditions at the summit could beappallingg! Brave (or is that stupid) souls that we are we carried on. By the time we got to the top we were drenched, but what we were looking forward too was a very long descent down the hill. It was brilliant for 10 miles or so we hardly peddled. We finished at 7:30 having travelled around 95 miles and straight in to the hotel which was able to offer a great drying room.
That evening was spent in the local Italian and then on to the pub which was a Camra award winner - I wonder if we would suffer the next day?

785 miles gone - we are starting to think of the finish

Day 12 to Evanton, north of Inverness Wednesday 21/6/6
A miserable day from start to finish. It was a bit drizzly but the main problem was the wind, or as Breakfast news said, gales - we were cycling straight into them, and it was hard work. We went through Aviemore, which has got tackier, if you ever come up here stay in one of the nearby villages they are much nicer and better value (Aviemore: most expensive flapjack in Britain at £2.50, and not very good).
The wind was so strong at one point it blew me from one side of the road top the other. This was unfortunate as by now we were on a public highway and there was a river on the other side. I bounced of the side of the wall and just about kept on the bike. Not good so from then on, I in particular was very cautious not wanting to go too fast in case the wind caught us again.
We then went onto the A9 as a short cut to Inverness and the bridge over the river. I am sure we would have been more comfortable riding along the M4, it was terrifying. The cars were flying past, we were going down hill at a rate of knots and the gale was blowing. As for the bridge I ended up scootering across as the side fence was quite low and between the lorries and the wind you kept being pushed into the fence.
The good news was that we made our original destination target, Evanton. The day was appropriatelyly ended as the pub then had a power cut, so we were all asleep by 10pm.

Day 13 to Bettyhill, on the Northern coast Thursday 22/6/6
At least today was dry and wind dropped a little, but it was still straight into us. We were traveling through the remote Highlands, vast areas surrounded by mountains and not even any sheep! When we did see houses they often had in the driveway tractors with caterpillarer tracks.
The Lochs we we saw were huge and scenery was just brilliant. The last 20 miles was through and area that that had suffered with the clearances of around 1812. It was very sad to see the places where whole villages had been thrown off the land. Bettyhill is on the Northern coast of Scotland and it has a magnificent beach: mountains down to the water and sand dunes. The sunset and the sea view was well worth the £20 a night B&B we were paying at the local hotel. The King of Denmark for some reason used to frequent this place during WW2.

926 miles gone - And now the end is near ---

Ed

Day 10 to Drum near Kinross Monday 20/6/6
A great day from start to very near the end. From Selkirk we headed back towards the original route at Peebles. Here we were met by Michael Hughes (of T. P. Hughes, Tenby) and family - they were checking up on us to make sure the sponsorship was valid. It was very funny as when they honked their car horn at Richard he assumed it was someone looking for a fight.
Then on to Edinburgh where the route took us through the centre (Princess Street) and then to the Forth Road Bridge which we hit at the rush hour. Fortunately there is a cycle track but that was very busy too. Great views from the bridge.
Ray suggested we take a short cut through Dunfermlin so of course we got completely lost - despite asking for directions from the police! Never mind the hotel at Kinross was great, big rooms and friendly staff, and David Dimbelby was staying that night too ( but he forgot to interview us). Did you know Kinross was where curling was invented.

691 miles gone - we are getting close.

Day 5, 6, 7, 8 & 9! There are not many internet cafes onroute.
Day 5 Ross to Little Wenlock Wednesday 14/6/6
A ride through familiar country - Leominster, Ludlow to finish at the top of the Wrekin. We met up with our Dutch friends (Rinus and Dick) again and rode with them for 15 miles or so. Dick was raising money for a local hospice in Gloucester whilst Rinus who is a retired fisherman was riding for fun.
The countryside is rolling hills and posh houses. There has been a lot of money here for some time. Richard booked us into the Best Western at Ironbridge another 2 rosette hotel. Can our luck hold? It was probably the best food so far.
Our luck did not hold out, the next morning we had a major problem with the bill. After an hour the manager turned up and agreed to the figure we thought we had already agreed to. A lesson learnt.
341 miles gone.

Day 6 To Hoghton near Blackburn Thursday 15/6/6
100 miles in one day!!! My first century.
The ride from the Wrekin through Cheshire and Manchester was as flat as you could hope for. The average speed was 14mph. It was the day of England's 2nd match so we guessed the roads around Manchester would be quieter. What we had not realised was that possibly we could have done with a police escort through North Manchester, it was very rough.
We finished at 10:30mpm the light virtually gone and in fits of laughter. I had got faster over the last 15 miles, despite the first signs of hills, just so we could beat the light and make the 100.
We stayed at the Best Western at Camelot! A major theme park. The rate was not quite as good but the bed was well appreciated.
441 miles gone

Day 7 to High Bentham Friday 16/6/6
We took it easier today, visiting Paul Hewitt's bike shop in Leyland to get a few adjustments to my bike. Here we were chatting to Gethin who works with Paul. He me
ntioned that he had done the End to End trip in 2001. We asked how long it had taken him - 1 day 20 hours 4 minutes - he is the current record holder! Paul told us that Gethin on arriving at John O'Groats then turned round and carried on cycling to claim the UK 1000 mile record. Really nice people.
This was a hard day after the previous days efforts. We only did 40 miles that afternoon. The Pennines hit us with a vengeance. We stayed at a great B&B with Jill and Glen. Glen is a keen cyclist and took Richard's bike out for a ride.
481 miles gone.

Day 8 to High Bankhill near Penrith Saturday 17/6/6
Another shattering day. The mountains are beautiful but my legs are shot.
A near death experience coming down the A685 towards the Tebay M6 junction. I am flying down a hill at 35+mph and a Morrisons lorry decides to come towards me on my side of the road . Unfortunately there is a stream of traffic following him so I have no option but to ride the rather small gap between two lorries coming towards me. I was bouncing along the cats eyes and just hung on. Oh and it was on a bend too.
Our luck with hotels completely left us tonight. We ended up in a B&B in Carlisle which probably took illegal immigrants normally. Carlisle was like St Mary's Street, Cardiff and Wind Street Swansea combined. Still the Italian restaurant was good. Richard was pleased that the B&B was the cheapest accommodation so far, I think they should have paid us.
542 mile gone - over half way.

Day 9 to Selkirk Scotland Sunday 18/6/6

To be honest I just wanted to come home at breakfast. I was fed up being tired We set off and for the first 3 miles I was riding at maybe 9mph. Then we met Barry who rode along with us for the next 10 miles to Brampton. He was great fun and turned out to be an ex world champion triathlete and at 53 was still competing in national championships. My average speed increased to 16mph over that section. The tiredness seemed to go. The highlight was beating Barry on a hill to his surprise - but to be fair he and Richard had slowed down for the railway crossing that I bounced over just prior to the hill starting.
As we crossed the border we met the group from www.specialride.co.uk. These people were amazing. They were doing the same trip as us in 13 days with some great guys with special needs riding at the back of a tandem. They had raised £65,000 so far for the trip and they deserved every penny. A fantastic experience for the likes of Laurence as well as a major boost to their charity.
Did I mention it rained all day. A change of route was called for so we stuck to the longer but thought easier and more sheltered A7. This time the B&B was brilliant, loads of space, clean, friendly and on the route, no traveling. So we had our first Indian on the trip and enjoyed the local pub
A much happier day.
612 miles gone and Edinburgh 40 miles away.

Day 4 Tuesday 13/6/6 Cheddar to Ross on Wye

The by now standard climb, this time up the Mendips. But Praise Be! it was then flat all the way to Chepstow. A quick stop at Clevedon where we waved to Richard's customers in Barry. On to Avonmouth where we stood outside my customer, Heatstore's office and waved.

Then the heaven's opened and we got soaked and some. The trip to the Severn Bridge was interesting: lorry after lorry sped past and soaked us.

Then we went back into Wales and the sun came out as it always does. Ray met us and gave us a great pasta meal as well as the usual goodies.

Then back into England and suprisingly another huge climb to Coleford. The bonus however was the descent down to the river Wye and Ross on Wye a very pretty area.

Richard excelled himself by booking us into the Best Western at Ross, Pengethley Manor. The food, wine and service were excellent. I could do this again.

276 mile down, loads to go.

Ed

Day 3 Monday 12/6/6 End To End
I hate Exmoor. It may have very pretty villages, thatched cottages, cute fords but it has huge hills. At the the top of the first one which went on for miles I had my Buster Keaton moment - on meeting Richard at the top I said "you are never going to believe this, but I found that hard" and promptly fell off my bike! Now one of us found this very funny whilst the other has been moaning about a sore wrist ever since.

Revenge is sweet however as when we checked our fastest speed at the bottom of Exmoor I had beaten Richard by 0.1 of a mph at 41.5mph ( I told you it was high). He spent the rest of the day vainly trying to get the record back. He has no chance until we get to the Pennines.

Now someone is taking the mickey. From the bottom of Exmoor you then go up the Quantock Hills. Why did they not join them together? It hurt.

The journey down To Bridgewater was followed by beautiful flat land to Cheddar. I had forgotten what the flat was like. To cap it all Richard had booked us into the Great Western Hotel at a fantastic rate and we spent the night in luxury, great.

Special mention for Ray who has really perfected the pit stops for us. We are greeted with tea, fruit, cakes etc. Just the job to get you fired up for the next leg.

202 miles gone, loads to go.

Ed

Day 1 & 2 of LEJOG
Day1 True to form we are all stressed out at the beginning. Nervous tension or right bolshi, take your pick. Our farewell crew of Lesley & Linzi coped very well (of course they did they have had plenty of practice) They let us get on with it.

Richard nearly hit a German who inadvertantly tried to push in at the Land's End photo post, but the bloke was quite understanding! Anyway at 10am we finally got on the road, 8 miles later we made our first map reading error - I think that is a record. Now we were ok.

Before we started we said we would take it easy and just enjoy the ride. Then I realised we would never get to Truro by 2pm to watch England play! So today was the first and last time I had ever been called a boy racer - by two Dutch blokes who I tore past on a hill. Honest that does not happen often if ever. The match was a bit dull but then again they won.

At 7pm we reached our predetermined destination Wadebridge in one piece. The B&B was in Padstow where we had a great meal over looking the harbour and drank far too much. Lovely.

Day 2
This is the business. Now it felt like a holiday. We got 15 miles up the road and found the British Cycle museum. We were the only two there and the owner gave us a guided tour: bliss.
Boscastle and Bude were pleasant stops. Shortly after we met Larry from Little Rock, Arkansas who had a sat nav on his bike, very impressive except he was going the wrong way. Larry rode with us for a while and was great fun. This was his second End to End trip, the first one being the best experience he had ever had. Just what we wanted to hear.

When we reached Great Torrington our intended stop we felt so good we carried on. The next 15 miles to South Moulton was the hardest most painful bit so far: 25% hill followed by 20% hill. We were shattered so we went to the pub. Another great day.

136 miles down loads to go.

Ed

The LEJOG training is at an end, but has been enough to get us from End to End? Yeah, easy - no bother (he lies).

The last two weeks we have tailed down the mileage considerably as we concentrated on fund raising for Macmillan Cancer Support. The response from friends, customers, suppliers and the public has been tremendous. As of today we are over £2200 and our target is now £3000.

The charity rather than us has been the draw. So many people have been touched directly or indirectly by Macmillan and they are so keen to help - as we have been.

We spent two afternoons on a Turbo trainer (or more accurately Richard did) first in Tenby and then in Saundersfoot. The general public stumped up almost £500 and again it was their respect for Macmillan that made this such a success.

As regards the trip we are all raring to go and hoping the weather stays kind for us.

Thanks again to all of you who have supported us so far, or are about to do so. Your donations do make a difference and they have certainly motivated us to another level.

Regards
Ed