Final Day

Day 7 –

 

We set up the bikes, checked the map and set off on our last day, after about ten miles we saw our first sign for John ‘o’ Groats (112 miles), that was not a good sign as we were already soaked through and freezing cold.  We continued on the A9 again heading for wick, we came across a couple of mountain bikers that were completing the cycle in 14 days, a young lad and his dad they were heading for Wick to spend the night before finishing the day after.  We stayed with them for a while then increased our speed again to make some time up.  This day was proving to be pretty tough, we still had the headwind and freezing cold rain hitting us, but heading further towards wick the hills became steeper and longer.  We were around 50 miles to go when we stopped to talk to the girls who let it slip that Kelly’s parents who had driven on, told them the hills get really steep closer to John ‘o’ Groats, ‘what a treat’ we said. 

   We spent the next 20 miles climbing hills and creeping towards the finish, as we saw the John ‘o’ Groats 3 miles to go we felt warm for the first time, we’d made it, and what a tough day to end on.  We headed into the town and as we turned the corner all our friends and family were at the finish line with champagne, screaming and shouting, after some pictures we got back on our bikes and made our way to the pub, we walked in completely drenched and was shocked to find the put full of Royal Marines ready to begin the same cycle the other way, they were doing it in 8 days stopping at a few bases on the way down, cycling for an amazing cause ‘help for heroes’ that night we had a few drinks and a laugh with the lads from there support team.  That concluded our cycle from Lands End to John ‘o’ Groats – 1174.2 MILES   6 DAYS 15 HOURS.  Total time cycling in the rain – 30 hours, Total time in the saddle – 80 Hours, Total time listening to Martyn complain about his BUM – 79 Hours. Lol.  

 

Thanks to all our friends and family for their support and to everyone who helped us make our cycle possible. I’d especially like to thank Verve Glasgow for the transport and fuel and within Verve to my Dad and Niki for all the support they have given to us, I’d also like to thank Premier Inn for giving us three very comfortable nights sleep, and finally to ‘Wilma’ Martyns mum for helping with so much of the organizing and for being the inspiration for it all.

 

Lots of love

Ally,Kelly,Martyn and Paige xxx

Day 6

  I’d like to start today’s blog with an apology for the time taken to post it, the reasons for this will become apparent in due course………..

 

Day 6-

  Well what a joy to wake up at home this morning that was until I looked out the window to check on the weather…  My mum prepared breakfast as I had a quick shower.  After some scrambled egg rolls, I began to prepare my bike for another long day in the rain, which meant lots of oil on the chain and checks on the brakes.  I put on my jacket which I knew would be water proof for the first half hour or so on and set up outside, ready to go, “Are you sure you have got everything” was the last thing my dad said, which made me laugh, as it felt like my first day of school again.  I set off for the Kincardine roundabout where Martyn was waiting for me, as soon as I got close I could hear the sound of laughter from him, “Ma bum really hurts mate,” he said. Think we both knew today was going to be a long one.  It was freezing, raining and our new saddle no longer felt comfortable.  Oh well only 156 miles to go.lol

  We headed off and crossed the bridge on the road to Perth, after about 30 miles of us laughing about how cold and wet we were, a “services 1 mile” sign appeared and we decided to get a coffee.  Inside we took off a few layers to discover we were completely soaked through.  I went into the toilets and poured the water out of my socks, which happened to cost me twenty two pounds and guaranteed to be fully waterproof, then tried to dry them using the hand dryers, which I got into trouble for by a polish cleaner.  When the girls arrived we had a chat about the day ahead of us, and the danger we would face on the A9. We realized the rain was not going to stop any time soon so we got our wet gear back on and with the quote of the week “what a treat” we were off.  Pretty soon we were on the A9, it was very like the A30 as we were cycling in a small area at the side of the road, watching for cat’s-eyes and drains, with the other little problem of trucks that really cannot see cyclists, flying past nearly throwing you off.  The rest of the day was pretty miserable we were wet and cold with a strong headwind forcing the pace to a mere bimble.  We just kept going and couldn’t stop laughing at the situation we found ourselves in.  We were nearing Aviemore when the girls drove by sporting a large dent in the back of the van, at the next stop we uncovered the story that Kelly for the second time may I add, reversed into something in a van that had more parking sensors than any other vehicle on the road today.  We arrived in Aviemore at around half 7, the girls had dropped our stuff at the Hostel, they informed us that the showers were switched off at 11, we still had 30 miles to go, so after fish and chips we made our way to the hostel.  We began the last leg of the day with glow sticks hanging from us, and our lights flashing.  We continued on the A9 to Inverness, with cars overtaking on the other side of the road heading straight for you and the speed we were reaching on the downhill’s was pretty dangerous but exciting. lol.  We ended up in a room with 4 other guys, with Martyn lying on his bed applying large quantities of sudacreme to his saddle rash and me chatting to French students outside, the guys must have thought we were slightly strange. Lol.  

DAY 5

Decided last night to treat ourselves to an extra hour in bed, since we'd covered over 140 miles that day.  Woke up around 7 o'clock this morning and left the hostel as one big team, instead of the girls staying in bed. lol.  We made our way out of Carlise and headed for the border, (THE NORTH, Edinburgh and Glasgow - what a sight that was.  That made us smile all the way to the best sight of the trip - WELCOME TO SCOTLAND !!!  we'd cycled the length of England and only had one country to go. lol.  We stopped at the border for a photo opportunity and sent a txt to everyone in our phones to pass on the news.  After that spirits were high as usual, and we made our way towards Lockerbie, when we arrived we stopped for some breakfast, scrambled egg rolls, which were very nice, after some warm drinks and even though it took some self convincing, we headed back into the rain.  

  After around 35 miles of cycling in heavy rain, we were soaked through and to make things better the steep climbs just kept coming, (welcome to Scotland) we thought.  As we have done through this whole cycle we just made jokes, laughed and trundled along,  until the rain finally stopped.  Think after a while the uncomfortable seat and general aches and pains in our legs, began to reduce our speed and felt as if we were not making up much ground, in the next town we decided to take another break and check the map to see how far we had to go and set of at a better speed for home, with about 20miles to go we were ready for a hot bath and a home cooked meal.  When we saw our first signs for falkirk we picked up speed again and split Martyn heading for Grangemouth and me for ma parents as i would rather leave from there than ma flat in the Town Centre, as i reached 1 mile to go the day got worse, i got a puncture, what a treat, i just dismounted took off ma shoes and walked the rest of the way drenched from head to toe in ma socks. lol  lets hope it's nice tomorrow....   Next stop INVERNESS!!!  total time on our bikes reaching over 40 hours, milage over 500. Luxury item today - water proof socks, although they do fill up after a while........   

Day4

I was told from a friend that completed this trip himself that day 4 was the tough one, and he was right.  Yesterday Martyn twisted his chain and realized last night that it would all need to be replaced, we waited till 9 0'clock for the shop to open, (Dave Hanes cycles) and purchased a new chain and rear cassette, (£40). 4 Years working at halfords during uni, showed as he replaced old for new in less than 5 mins and we were back on the road.  The first 50 miles today was pretty flat and boring really, we just kept at a good speed to make up the time lost this morning, when we reached Lancaster things started looking good, the A6 took us through quaint little villages and stunning countryside, with the odd hill or two. lol.  At around 40'clock though it began to rain, (Forest Gump Style) we had every kind of rain for the rest of the journey, and to make things worse at Kendal the Hills became Mountains, and the flats became nonexistant.  We got to a little town called Shap we were drenched and freezing cold, we passed a Fish and Chip shop and as we had ridden through lunch and were going to arrive to late for dinner we stopped, taking our shoes off and pouring the water out got a few laughs from the locals, and we decided to phone the girls to come and meet us for moral support. lol.  We cracked some glow sticks fixed our lights and decided to go all out for the 29 miles we had remaining, we drafted each other on the flats reaching speeds of around 25/26 mph, and had a good laugh getting aerodynamic, attempting to get the fastest speed on our computers during the downhills.  With 10 miles to go and about 30 mins to get checked into the Hostel we picked it up again and made it with 5 mins to go. lol  After a hot bath were now getting ready for the day we've been looking forward to - Crossing The Border!!!.  Next stop (((  FALKIRK ))) Woohoo!!!   Song of the day ( singing in the rain)lol.    

day 3

Another early start today on the road by 7, still feeling fine no aches or pains apart from the initial shock of sitting back in the saddle.  We left Cheltenham behind and made haste for Wolverhampton where we'd decided to stop for lunch, roads today were much the same as yesterday, which meant we could cycle side by side ignoring the odd beep from cars, which has become a bit of a competition to see who gets into 'trouble' the most, score stands at (Martyn - 12 / Ally 3) we'll keep you posted on that.  By mid morning we were making our way through little villages and country roads again, on one of these stretches of  we spotted a really cool bus that had been converted into a cafe, we decided to stop for a cup of tea, and what a decision that turned out to be, we met a really nice lady called Jane Simpson, that had taken the place over in March from an old man who owned the place for over 17 years, it was really kl inside with the origional seats retrofitted with tables.  We ordered bacon and egg sandwiches and sampled her cakes which turned out to be the best we've ever tasted, after a quick chat we were on our way to Kidderminster, then onto Wolverhampton.  The seats on our bikes are really for racing not for long journeys and began to be uncomfortable to say the least, i decided to phone the girls and ask them to pick me up a more comfortable saddle from halfords so i could change it at lunchtime.  We stopped for lunch just outside the city centre and i happily fitted the new saddle on my bike.  As we headed off again,  i was so relived at how comfy it was, and teased Martyn about it, two miles down the road he was on the phone asking for one himself. lol. By around half 4 we were nearing Northwich, and both with comfort saddles on, Martyn in disbelief at the difference it made, we ended the day on a high. Next stop Carlisle!  woohoo!  (martyns album for the day, in fact the whole journey so far 'Girls Aloud')lol     

day 2

Woke up to the rocky themetune as my alarm this morning, quick shower and on the road again.  Hurt a little getting back on the saddle, but was quickly told by Martyn to 'man up'. lol.  Today we decided to stay far away from boring dual carriageways and sample the delights of the South devon countryside, which made a huge difference.  We met an old man out on his racer who caught up and asked if he could join us for a while, think he was around 60 years old, but extremely fit and really pushed our pace up for the start of the day, he acted like a tour guide telling us about the local area, and also about other End to Enders he had met on the road.  After around ten miles we said our goodbyes and headed for Glastonbury where we were to meet the girls for lunch.  The rest of the morning was slightly wet to say the least, stopping every few miles to either put on or remove our jackets. 

  Finally made it to Glastonbury and met the girls for lunch (Cheese and pickle sandwiches).  We got ready again then after asking a cycling postman for much needed directions the journey continued.  We now followed signs for the A49 towards Bath then Stoud.  We cycled through so many little villages and towns on our way to Cheltenham, which made for a really scenic ride.  As we approached the ten mile to go mark all our hard work climbing hill after hill, finally paid off we covered around 3 miles in what felt like 2 mins, looking down at ma speedo we were going around 45-50 mph, awesome end to a primarily uphill day.  We phoned the girls to say we'd arrived and they were very excited to tell us that TGI fridays was the restraunt in our hotel, after a delicious steak and chips and laughing at the day we'd just had we went to bed.  (next stop Northwich)   (song of the day 'Tramps vest (Stereophonics)'  (best navigator in the world 'Martyn Allan' lol)  

day 1

Prayed for sun last night, woke up to the perfect riding conditions this morning, we were up at 6 and after breakfast set our bikes up and got on our way,  first part of the run was country roads and pretty nice views, but that was all to change dramatically,  as we entered the dreaded A30,  Cycling for 7 hours in a space around two feet wide at side of the road, with cars and trucks flying past us at serious speed was pretty nerve racking,  but i-pod up full and focused on the road ahead we continued. stopping only for food at a  cornish food hall where we sampled the local cuisine (pasties). lol.  Quarter to twelve and we had our first breakdown, small puncture on Martyn's back wheel, fixed in around 5 mins and back on the road.  

  The second half of the day was much like the first, still on the A30 and avoiding drains, cats eyes and speeding Truckers. lol.  Pretty easy day to navigate one road, one destination 'EXETER'. Arrived at the Premier Inn at around 4 and after a much needed bath and Hot food were off to bed, next stop Cheltenham. 

  

day 0

Arrived at the Lands end hotel around 4 o'clock, unpacked the van and got our stuff ready for the next day.  There was an Abba tribute band on and fireworks display which the girls attended while we got to bed for the night.