Jogle Complete

*Slight glitch with Garmin missed out just over 10 miles early on!

This morning had a very strange feeling to it. As I sit on the train back to the big smoke with no pedalling required, staring out on the Cornish countryside  that I felt myself cursing yesterday in a rushed effort to reach the finish line of our 969 mile long adventure. I find myself lonely and almost as though I'm missing a limb without my trusty steed and fellow wolves.

It's been a long and arduous adventure which has taken us end to end in a valiant attempt to challenge ourselves whilst also raising as much as we possibly can to help out the true heroes of our nation. 12 days, 969 miles and countless calories consumed later and we finally reached our destination and end point; Lands End in what was fittingly a very sunny and warm setting to finally ditch the bike and for Ed and Dave anyway sip that cold first beverage in celebration of our achievements.

The day yesterday was always an inevitable obstacle in our quest, however we did not expect that obstacle to be so tough. We had set ourselves a pretty long day of 90 miles on day 12 through a county we knew was hilly but we were feeling confident that with an earlier 6:30 start we could eat up those miles early on. On exiting our Plymouth University accommodation I found that my back tyre was flat and without hesitation I started to remove the wheel and resolve problem number one. It took about 10 minutes with some help from the lads and eventually we were on the road, not the best start but worse was to follow. As we hit the streets of Plymouth town centre the weather was as we were used to, SOAKING WET!! This meant that I the middle of August 10/12 days we'd experienced rain. Clearly not what the brochure had displayed when we signed up for this. Nevertheless we had the goal in our sights and we were as determined as ever. We negotiated the city centre and found the bridge out of Plymouth. As we were crossing we again had that impending doom as lorries braked hard behind and cars in front flashed and horned. Oh, that would be the cycle path we missed to cross then.

Once across we saw the large no bike road signs warning us against the A30 to Liskeeard. Our heads followed this time and we took the slip road. We let Garmin lead us to Liskeeard and planned to rejoin the A30 further down the county once some of the traffic had dispersed. Unsurprisingly Garmin opted for the quieter roads, otherwise known as dirt tracks in the middle of nowhere which seemed to circle aimlessly and made us feel as though no ground was being made whatsoever. After 11 days of my chain staying firmly in place on my bike it decided to continually remove itself from my bike in the now torrential rain in the middle of some steep climbs. This really wasn't ideal, as again I was freezing cold, I had oil black hands and I was delaying both Dave and Ed which in the conditions I imagine made them feel mildly frustrated.

After about an hour of riding through what felt like rivers including a ford (which was actually. Disappointment for us after expecting a seaway) we reached Liskeeard and we could see a break in the cloud further to the south. Some chocolate bars later and another urination stop for Ed and we continued on towards our next milestone St. Austell. We now rode hard with a slightly more upbeat cadence after having neared termination of our challenge at such a late stage in horrendous circumstances. Nothing breaks the wolfpack though, not even the biggest hills that Cornwall could throw at us.

14 miles later and we rolled in to St. Austell with a break in the rain we stopped for a hot chocolate and a flapjack. As we were waiting to leave the coffee shop with Dave in the toilet the waitress decided it would be a good idea to pop next door to the local press officer and bully us into a short interview and photo shoot for the St. Austell Herald. Begrudgingly we obliged and rode3 astride down the high street as traffic was halted for the new heroes. Quite surreal actually.

Onwards through Truro and by now the clouds had cleared and the skies were blue and temperatures must have been exceeding 18 degrees, mild for most August days, but almost exotic for our now rain drenched bodies. Once through Truro we reached the A30 to Redruth and Penzance. The end was now both in sight 27 miles away and achievable. We set a blistering pace on what was a very smooth and slightly less busy road now. We flew down the hills and actually managed to increase the speed up the long drags. Through Redruth and onto Penzance with our first sighting of signs for Lands End we continued to step on the gas and were averaging speeds of 20mph+ for the last 10 miles our quickest so far. Clearly the 11 previous days had just been training for our last big push.

Upon arriving in a very picturesque and warm Penzance we checked in with base camp and WAG central, arranging a rendezvous at Lands End in 1 hour we found time for a quick ice cream and posed for a photo taken by the local bobby.

A leisurely pace with team hats on brought us into our destination which we found to be much busier than we'd imagined clearly tales of our journey have touched hundreds. The church bells rang, bunting flew and a large banner welcoming us to our endpoint that had been erected by Hannah and Jen was waiting.

Epic scenes followed as we congratulated one another and posed for the obligatory photo by the final sign and finally relaxed in jubilation of out accomplishments.

A big thanks to my comrades Dave Wallace and Ed Coy who without them none of this would have been possible or achievable. Well done lads.

Next up the world....

We've forgotten what the sun feels like

Nothing exciting to report today. We cycled from Taunton to Plymouth via Tiverton and Exeter. We made more great progress as we got into Exeter in just over 2 hours which was a real achievement as it was 35 miles, so a fast tempo was set by all. The terrain was relatively flat too, which after Cookey had put doubt in our minds we were pleased to see.

After a short break in Exeter for a hot chocolate the rain started once again, no shocks there though. We had decided that we'd opt for the unconventional route and go direct to Plymouth via the A38 as opposed to the more scenic and probably favoured cycle route across Dartmoor National Park.

We like to take the rough with the smooth on this trip and I'm sure we'd be quick to argue this may have shaved a couple of miles off our daily total and no doubt a chunk of time. It did however put a huge amount of fear into all 3 wolves, who are now merely cubs again. The road left Exeter with the M5 traffic in a 4 lane converging sprawl in which we had to traverse the central lane just to reach our intended slip road. Step 1 negotiated. We then had to filter off again in another 4 lane mess as half the traffic was re-routed to Torquay whilst we continued on for Plymouth on what was now dubbed the Devon Death Expressway. We pedalled hard for 22miles with our heads down just inches from lorries and 4x4's towing caravans spraying us with what felt like the contents of a very large bath full of cold water.

After a fair few miles we decided enough was enough and headed for some more picturesque roads, or some big hills! They weren't quite as steep as we'd first thought and they somehow managed to take us via a quiet country pub with a fire blazing in the middle of August just what we needed. We managed to refuel on a sandwich and get ourselves reasonably dry before setting off again.

Eventually we got to Plymouth and navigated our way to the university halls of residence where we are being housed for the evening. It just so happens that in the town tonight is the World Fireworks Finals, however they better keep the noise down as we're off to bed before 9 tonight to prepare for our early start on what should be a tough final 90 miles over the Cornish hills. If that fails we'll jump back on the A38 and fear for our lives again.

1 more sleep

New shoes for the bike

Another eventful day amongst the wolfpack! We had planned for this day, being our shortest in distance to be our quickest especially as we were meeting friends at our B&B for the night. How wrong we were. Mechanical issues once again slowed us.

We started out by heading in to Bath which we found to be a lot hillier than we'd anticipated it to be and our speed varied from very quick at 30mph down the hills to almost above a crawl climbing out of the city. We worked hard to get out of what seemed a man made basin and eventually were back on some quieter 'B' roads towards Glastonbury. The weather didn't seem to want to cooperate and we found ourselves back in the rain. Mind you it's to be expected wherever we are in the Uk! 

We sailed through Glasto, unfortunately there weren't any hippies or Michael Eavis to welcome us. We were then on what we thought to be the home straight with a swift 20 miles into Taunton. We were riding as a tight 3 again and Ed was our lead out, mainly to keep Dave and I entertained watching his Benny Hill style legs, although I was starting to regret mocking this as I was feeling my own legs do much the same sporadically for no apparent reason. We stopped off for some lunch about 8 miles from Taunton,  where once again we overfueled. As we hopped back on our bikes my legs seemed to be working very hard but my wheels weren't turning at all. Big problem! After some attempted diagnosis from Mike and the mechanics I found if I could get the wheel turning once and keep pedalling without stopping I may make Taunton which was by now 9 miles away. This seemed like an easy task so I set off hard. I knew that unless the city was again at the bottom of a very steep hill if I stopped my momentum I would not make it and the thought of being picked up and rescued was not in my mindset so I felt the burn and managed to locate a cycle shop where I've managed to get talked into a whole wheel upgrade which, "is the best thing to help your riding and will give you free time on the bike". Clearly I had mug on my forehead. So £120 and 40 minutes later I was able to set off again and chase down the now 2 man wolfpack where no doubt I'll get abused my Cookey and comforted by McNally. Tomorrow I'll be even quicker though.

Victoria House Kiddy

Victoria House B&B Kidderminster 

On arrival we found there was no real bike storage which put us on edge as losing our steed would not only result in a failed bid and the place getting smashed up in our B'ham riot but also a long walk home! We were, as mentioned given an intricate brief on the in's and out's of the house including how to use a key in a door, useful if it's a new skill to you I suppose. Maybe they have been reading the blog and are keen to score highly in the 'host' category. They were also quick to take our money off us, the first stop to ask for cash up front, no guessing we are in the Midlands in riot season then! 

Host: 4 odd but enthusiastic
Bed: 5 can't complain
Shower: 3 AAB
Breakfast: 3 black pudding is part of a Scottish not an English 
Drying facilities: 4 
Extras: 4 signage everywhere

23/30

4 days to go..

The journey today took us from Kiddy to Chippenham which on the map looked to be 80 miles so once again we stuck with our routine and a 7:30 breakfast. After some Fawlty Towers esque scenes at breakfast we were on our way and as one punter suggested, "ready, set, cook"!

The first day so far that we hopped on our bikes in the sun, which was a real joy, especially as the mechanic had been to work had greased all out vital organs ready for a hard day in the saddle. 

Our first city was Worcester which came and went in a flash with some red lights jumped and a one way road negotiated the wrong way, all honest mistakes I promise.

We then ended up I what we've found to be Britains most generous town so far. You can guarantee there will be rioting in Tewkesbury at any point. The sun was still shining so we sat ourselves outside a quaint little tea room on the high street. After ordering our pot of tea and various pastries we were enjoying having our feet up and reading the papers when all of a sudden we found ourselves to be the centre of attention based on charitable exploits. We were approached by 5 different groups of people who kindly offered donations to help for heroes, must have been our matching shirts. We were even given some cash by the 'little Britain' style waiter who was keen to eye up our Lycra!

After feeling buoyed by the generosity of Tewkesbury we continued on towards Gloucester and then found after some small climbs that we were much closer than we had first thought and only had 16 miles until we reached Chippenham so we stopped for some lunch and then promptly finished off our day in very good spirits, mainly based on Ed's Benny Hill style riding as his legs seem to go much faster than his bike! They are called gears Pal lets start using them.

Once we'd arrived at the White Hart we were surprised to see both my mum and dad who had kindly made the trip down the M4 to see us which was great! My mum even managed to butter up the manager so that once again we have been donated our stay here. Another 4 courses later and we are ready for an early night again!

Off to Taunton tomorrow

Due South

Todays ride was taking us from Northwich to Kidderminster, just south of Birmingham. On an inspection of the map last night there weren't too many direct routes so we planned our assault via Nantwich, Market Drayton, Newport and Wolverhampton so that we missed out Telford. The journey was fast with two brief stops to refuel. 

There were no real events to detail except the moment in Market Drayton as we were stopping at Morrisons to grab some snacks. Dave 'look mum no hands' Wallace got a little carried away and almost ended up with no teeth as well as he slammed hard and bit the ground. Unfortunately I wasn't quite quick enough to capture the moment for you all as he got himself up and dusted himself down to save even more embarrassment. 

The roads were busy but quick meaning once again we saw our fair share of roadkill, and even caught a glimpse of a sleeping cat in the middle of the A41 to which Ed wept for! No tears in England please Coy, you had your chance. 

On arrival at our B&B in Kiddy we were greeted by the town bum who had quite a lot to shout about as we rolled in, don't ask me to translate as I speak no drunk whatsoever. We then got our tour and welcome at the Victoria House B&B even learning a new skill; using a key to open a door. I'm glad I can now use that all on my own!

We are now off out with Dave's Dad and partner who have kindly cone up to see us and listen to our gripes no doubt! 

4 man wolfpack

The 4 man wolfpack got up to see once again more rain out of the windows, but luckily over breakfast as predicted the clouds cleared and the sun broke through. We got on the road just before 8:30 and headed towards Harrogate. The rain was holding off and the short sleeved shirts were on. Our bikes were feeling good after a brief service by yours truly, however there were mechanical problems just around the corner. 

We cruised through Harrogate and onwards towards Bradford. There were two almost vertical climbs towards the airport which started to sap some energy but spirits were high as was our average speed. 

Once we'd navigated the streets of Bradford's city centre after some fast descents our next urban destination was Halifax. Again this came and went in a flash as we were maintaining a high cadence. Then we hit a large climb. There was about 15 miles before we reached Oldham and where we'd planned our lunch so true to form the roads began to make life difficult for us. Although the hill was not the steepest in gradient it's duration made cycling tough. We were climbing for almost 45 minutes and as I made my way towards the peak I began to hear an odd clicking from my back wheel. Once at the top I had a quick look over the bike and found that from the sheer power I was generating with each stroke from my now huge quadriceps I had broken a spoke. Not only this but I was now running on just one brake as my rear pads were worn. Not great when you're about to descend 500m! 

We drove on towards Oldham where we now had a planned lunch AND cycle repair stop. We got to within 4 miles of this and Martin found he'd got a puncture which slowed progress once more. When we arrived in Oldham we made our way to the nearest bike store to get all issues ironed out and give Dave and Ed some shopping time before heading to Subway for some footlongs!

The food really made the difference as we were feeling strong after lunch and only had another 30 miles to go through the centre of Manchester. We rode like 4 New York City couriers weaving our way between traffic and squeezing past busses. Dave wad feeling particularly risky as he had a number of near death experiences on a few Amber gamblers at times or were they just plain red? 

We had a couple of busy A roads to fly down before eventually reaching Martin's house just outside of Northwich where he and Lisa are kindly hosting us for the evening. 

Tomorrow we move further south to Kidderminster, however it looks as though the wolfpack will be back down to 3!

Dukes Place

Dukes Place Harrogate

On arrival, again our hosts greeted us with tea and biscuits and suggested a nice pub for dinner, even offering to drive us. We were given a small holiday cottage for the 3 of us with a double and a single bedroom, a lounge, kitchen and bathroom. Not only were they fantastic hosts and provided everything we needed and more especially over a wonderful breakfast they did it all ad a donation to Help for Heroes! Truly generous.

Host: 5
Bed: 5
Shower: 5
Breakfast : 6
Drying Facilities: 5 lots of radiators
Extras: 5 a free stay who could ask for more?

31/30 this may not be beaten

LSD

Although there have been several hallucinations on today's ride I'm not referring to the acid trip, but the long slow distance that we've been working hard at. It was a long slog from Hexham to Ripon over the Penines with a head wind and even more rain early on. 

The roads out of Hexham were tough with some long drags, again on our new best friend the A68. We put our heads down and pedalled hard as we knew it was the o my way to make any headway. The wind was making things very tough and was reducing our pace dramatically which was both energy sapping and psychologically detrimental to our progress. 

We managed to near Darlington before letting Garmin take over and guide us down the 'B' roads towards our destination. 

By 50 miles our legs were feeling heavy and we were in desperate need of a rest so we found the nearest pub just outside of Richmond and got some food. It was like stepping back in time and felt like we were in the Aidensfield Arms on the set of Heartbeat, but the staff and locals were hospitable as always and provided some good food to refuel our weary muscles. 

We got ourselves up and on our way, however the wolfpack was not as aggressive as before and was sounding more like the three blind mice as we squeaked with each revolution, mainly as a result of our chains resembling some gold bling Mr T would be proud of! 

As we made our way through North Yorkshire across more hills Harrogate seemed to get no closer and we were all feeling tired. Eventually we arrived at our B&B for the evening; Duke's Place just outside of Harrogate where we've landed on our feet once gain and have got a quaint little cottage for the 3 of us. In addition, Martin has joined us and the wolfpack had grown by 1 for the next day and a half! We will be strong tomorrow, let's just hope Martin has a route planned and can drag us to Northwich with relative ease. 

Lauder B&B

A quick delayed review of the B&B from Lauder, Scotland. The house was a beautiful cottage right in the centre of the village near the clock tower, where we had a double and a twin for the night. We were also treated to a lounge with a fire, which  after the day we'd had was what we needed. Scores are:

Host: 5 excellent service and they went out of their way to help us feel at home
Shower: 3 a great bath but no shower as such
Bed: 4
Breakfast: 4
Drying facilities: 5 tumble dried socks in the morning
Extras: 5 (tea and cake on arrival, a warm fire and a mint on the pillow) 

26/30

We paid £75 for the 3 of us here

More rain

The 3 man wolfpack again rode through the rain all day today, however we made a huge psychological advancement today as we crossed the border and finally left Scotland behind us. We were hoping to be met with blue skies and high temperatures, but unfortunately it wasn't to be. 

We were riding from Lauder to Hexham and we clocked up 69 miles 60 of which were along the A68. If anything this has given us a solution to famine in LEDC's. If we were to box up every bit of roadkill on the A68 I imagine there'd be a few less hungry people, it even started to make me feel hungry the amount we passed. 

The peleton rode as a tight unit today mainly to try and gain some warmth from one another and there was only one early breakaway from Dave 'Pace-man Loves to be the lead out train' Renshaw which was quickly closed down by Eddy 'speedster my money's on him in a sprint finish' Boasson Hagen and Andy 'The lung - I love to attack a hill' Schleck. The nicknames are a result of a tv program we saw last night on Extreme Weather chasers. This seemed very apt as we seem to be in pursuit or are being followed by just the same wet micro climate across the country. 

We did ride hard and ended up reaching Hexham by 3 with just one quick stop on the A68 for a bite to eat and some warmth. We hit a top speed of 39.6mph, which considering the conditions and the oncoming car was quite spectacular.  We are very kindly being hosted bu Dan and Sarah Gray, Ed and Wally's uni friends. we'll try and not be too harsh when we rate them. 

Tomorrows ride takes us to just outside Ripon where the wolfpack will grow by 1 as Martin joins us to cycle to Northwich. Let's hope the rain as ceased by then, although the forecast looks doubtful.

A ring road, relentless rain and a soon to be ruined chain

A new take on the 3 R's today as we discovered much about ourselves, Scotland and mechanical problems with bikes. After having refueled on a large breakfast and listened to rain for most of the night we were ready to set out. The conversation Ed and I had regarding a base layer under our shirts and deciding against it would come back to haunt us!

The moment we stepped out and onto our recently lubricated bikes the rain was relentless. We'd decided, based on the contours on an OS map to take the A roads into Dunfermline and through to Edinburgh. This was a great decision if we were riding through yesterday's weather, however the skies were against us and not only were we soaked through within 5 minutes we were freezing cold and a long way from our destination of Lauder some 70 miles away. I told you Ed that a base layer would be a good idea! The first time trains and taxis had tempted us, but we stayed strong. The cold was starting to become bearable with sharp bursts of speed to warm ourselves and a blistering pace of 20mph+ kept us going until the first technical glitch set in. Dave's chain decided to kink itself over 4 times which left Ed and I bemused as to his whereabouts. Some missed calls and a search party later and Dave appeared. We then ploughed on through the rain towards Dunfermline. By now my malnutritioned body with 0% fat and even less muscle was really starting to suffer and I was close to tears but the thought of tea and a cake somehow managed to keep me pedalling.

Once reached Dunfermline we had a brief stint on the M90 which left us all in need of some new pants, I think it was a combination of near misses by 10 tonne trucks and the constant horns from irritated motorists trying to pass us. We thought we wouldn't have that issue again, how wrong we were 2 hours later in Edinburgh we repeated this once again!

Dunfermline came and once again I'd re come d this lovely Scottish town to absolutely no one! A small cup of tea and aboost got us Luke warm for all of 2 minutes and then my shaking started again.

We got ourselves up and headed for the bridge towards Edinburgh. The maze which we found ourselves to cross a small pond was bewildering and if it wasn't for our guardian angels Colin and Pam who are also on the same journey as us to guide us onto the bridge we would have still been looking. Once on the bridge Dave rightly pointed out it was as if we were at the gates of he'll. Not only were we entering yet another Scottish town, but we were getting hit in the face by torrents of rain and Dave still hadn't reached for his jacket. A real man.

Once in Edinburgh we took the cycle path which we thought would miss out the majority of the ring road and spit us out the other side. We had to go round huge piles of chopped branches and even through a farmers field to make our way around a fallen tree, which had probably dropped moments before in the storm we were in. Then came our next 2 mechanical issues. Ed's chain decided to slow us and then Dave got a puncture, nothing like stopping when you feel cold. We quickly resolved our problems and after another impromptu meeting with Colin and Pam we continued on our way and thought we were in the centre of the city so stopped for a quick bite. We popped in Scopey Cafe and were met with some odd looks, however other than the regulars the waitresses were excellent to us and dried our jackets In their oven and gave us towels and a hot chocolate on the house. Note to self, always walk into an establishment looking miserable and cold!

We then checked our location and discovered we were north of the city and had to ride half way around the ring road which makes the M25 look straight forward. After another stint on the motorway we reached the A 68 which would take us into Lauder and to the dry. We rode hard for 21 miles up and down hills on a busy road, with another slipped chain for Dave to eventually reach our rest for the night where we found bath robes, tea and cake waiting for us. A quick bath and riot watch later and were all set to head out for some well earned food before another 9 O'clock curfew no doubt.

Kilrymont B&B

Never has a B&B been so welcomed. We got to Kilrymont around 4:30ish yesterday with the sun on our backs and what a pleasant sight. The house is huge and the interior resembled something like an exotic summer house. We were thrown in one room which left Ed dealing with the camp bed. All the usual amenities; tea, coffee, biscuits, sky news as well as the best shower we've had so far with room to run around in. We were even treated to shampoo AND conditioner for our beaten barnets. Breakfast was pre ordered last night with us all opting for a 'Scottish' breakfast. There was a very nice lounge but our fatigued bodies were too tired to put our feet up there last night.

Host: 3
Breakfast: 5
Drying Facilities: 2 (not really needed)
Bed: 4
Shower: 5
Extras: 5 (cotton buds, shampoo/conditioner, moisturiser, shortbread)

24/30

Stats for our fans

Distance: 96 miles
Average speed: 13.0 It was the hills honest
Top speed: 42.5 watch out Mark Cavendish
Metres climbed: 1583 basically from 2 climbs, my calves have doubled in size

Distance travelled so far: 263.05miles in 19 hours 24 minutes

We are over a quarter of the way there and still have two days left in this strange country

Hills and technical glitches

Today was a long day where we clocked up 96 miles. That was not an intended distance, however our over reliance on technology was our downfall early on. Most of the cycling purists we meet all seem to ask what routes we are taking and how we are going to circumnavigate Einburgh. Our response is always, "garmin will solve that", to which we often get a short sharp intake of breath. Today garmin failed us and sent us wrong. We only ended up 3 miles off course as our hound dog noses smelt the impending doom and we quickly re-routed. There was a silver lining as we found a hill to clock up our new trip top speed of 42.5mph. Rapid!

We then got back on route and found a way of riding safely on the busy roadworks of the A9. Get in the work lane where as always no work ever gets done and those traffic cones are a waste of everybody's time. We managed to get ourselves up to about halfway before turning off the main roads and heading for a more direct route on the 'B' roads. What Garmin failed to notify us of was any contour lines or elevation!

2 seemingly never ending mountains later and some speedy descents and we were 20 miles from our destination through some amazing scenery to Auchterarder. When I say mountains I'm talking cat 5 climbs with at least a 20% gradient. It almost drove us to tears (Ed's for the second time).

When we eventuLly arrived we were greeted with a great B&B and super shower, but I won't give too much away for you fanatics just yet! Dinner was in a great little pub with some superb banoffee pie all round.

Bedtime is now at 8:30 as the weary legs are taking over. No duvet for Ed though as he's on the camp bed for his 2 stacks today, one whilst stationary, comedy, if only there was video evidence!

Review for tonight's B&B up tomorrow!

Stay safe and let's hope there's no riots in Edinburgh tomorrow, well no more than your average Weds night in Scotland.

Greystone Cottage

YesterdAys accommodation was Greystone Cottage in Kingussie. It was good enough for Monarch of the Glenn in 2003 and most definitely good enough for the 3 of us. We arrived soaking wet and straight away we had our clothes in the wash and hung up to dry. Next up was the shower and test and again this passed with flying colours and was exactly what we'd been looking forward to. We had our own lounge with coffee, tea and hot chocolate to watch the riots on sky news. Scores on the doors are:

Host: 4
Breakfast: 4 (posh yoghurts and ask how we would like our eggs)
Drying Facilities: 5
Bed: 5
Shower: 4
Extras: 4 (no foot stool for Ed, clothes were washed and great lounge)

26/30

Don't visit Inverness

Our 2nd day cycling started a little late as Sheila at the B&B had to drop her son off at work before she cracked on with our scram! Talk about liberties. We eventually got off just after 8 with our pockets full of glucose from the local spar which seemed to open for the locals before the sun Rose and up here that's early. Our first 7 miles were the steepest we'd encountered so far. It felt like we'd climbed a cat 3 in the tour and I very much doubt the speed matched. Just as we reached the peak once again the heavens opened and duly soaked us right through which we were pleased with as it made the rest of the day quite pleasant.

We then dropped back down, although the descents never seem to weigh up with our climbs and found ourselves on the A9 into Inverness. A 2 mile drag with some fast lorries passing us eventually saw us reach Inverness. The bridge into the 'town' and the view of Inverness fc was about all there was to see. A mass of grey industrial parks for unheard-of ridiculous Scottish engineering works seemed to surround us. We found a BP garage for a very quick sandwich and chocolate bar before rejoining the A9. We did happen to ask the petrol station attendant how far Kingussie was and whether or not we had to pass any hills; "there's just a small climb out of Inverness, then you'll be fine duck", how wrong one sweaty sock could be!

We had about 43 more miles to ride before reaching Kingussie and I would estimate 40 of those were uphill in the rain on what was a very busy A road. Not your idea of fun, but we churned out mile after mile to get the job done before arriving at Greystone B&B. It seems like a top place and we will be venturing out for some dinner soon. I'll keep you updated with B&B scores And any extra curricular activities from this evenings festivities.

Stats:
Days top speed: 36.1mph
Calories burnt: 4999
Average speed: 14.1 mph
Distance: 80miles
Metres climbed: 1269
Time taken: 5:39:39

Kyle House B&B

We stayed at Kyle house B&B last night in Bonar Bridge and had a thoroughly pleasant stay! We were able to get all our kit dried out after a very wet day. The breakfast was solid and set is up nicely for our second day! The beds were great and we were even treated to some heated blankets, Ed opted out of this for worry of wetting the bed. Scores on the doors for Sheila below:

Host: 4
Breakfast: 4
Drying facility: 5
Bed: 5
Shower: 2
Extras: 2 (custard creams/soap for shower)

22/30

Got soaked

As predicted our first day cycling was a real experience and a baptism of fire
In many ways. The day started with a quick breakfast at the youth hostel, hopefully substantially smaller than anything else we'll receive over our trip. We then had to cycle 2.5 miles out to John O'Groats and took the essential photos, much to Dave's pleasure! By 8:00 the rain was coming down and we didn't see The end of it until we finished For the day.

We managed to get in a swift 55 miles before stopping in Helmsad where we were met with a roast and no fire! We spent most of our rest attempting to warm ourselves up and
Prepare for the rain once again. We got back out and thought we only had another 33 miles to go which due to an error on our part actually lengthened to 40 more very wet and cold miles. The pace dropped slightly and we finished our 95 miles in 6.5 hours at an average pace of 13.8mph.

We managed to find one place in Bonar Bridge to refuel and also got to see a real life dog fight which was bizarre. We had a great day and spent much of out cycling time chatting about a year ago and just where we were celebrating the love and lives of Ed and Hannah at their amazing wedding. He did cry too!!

After the boys claimed they were staying sober at the wedding I was unsuprised to arrive in the van and find Dave riding a lion topless and Ed chairing the drinking games picking on the unsuspecting women. Needless to say it made the evening longer and the sleep much shorter.

I managed to drag the boys out o bed at 04:30 and into the van. The boys were very poor company having slept for the majority of the 7 hour drive to Inverness and smelling of jäger! We eventually arrived in Inverness and ditched the van before finding the station. The train was a 4 hour journey and really dragged. We tried to keep it entertaining by finding the local stranger who was more than happy to show off his odd magic skills shirtless. He also donated some vienese whirls which were quickly binned on our exit from the train.

We've now arrived in John O'Groats and are keen to get the first day started. People in the youth hostel seem to think either we look fit and like seasoned pros or just shattered as the question we keep hearing is; "have you just finished?"

Tomorrow will be an experience and hopefully won't be dampened by the forecast of torrential rain!

Travel Day 1

Ed and I met at Hemel train station at 7 to say our goodbyes then started our journey. Stage 1 took us to Milton Keynes where we met Dave and our home for the next 2 days; a White van! We made great progress and we reached Liverpool at 11. Dave and Ed are off to a wedding and wi be joined by me this evening after I search out some chamois cream for our sore backsides. The boys claim they'll be good this evening and stay off the pop as we plan on hitting the road at 5am so I imagine I'll be at the wheel.

One day to go!

We have just one more day to go before we set off on our adventure. We have all been carefully preparing ourselves by packing very little into some ridiculously small bags and caring quite lovingly for our bikes which will need to be in tip top shape to take us the 1000+ miles across the country. I guess there is the small details of some last minute training rides from us all and ensuring that our bodies are up to the physical challenge we are undertaking. I'm not sure that the well trained eyes of bike shop assistants have the same opinion, but as we all know the 'doubters' only add fuel to our fire and inspire us even more.

We will be keeping you updated via the blog and our twitter feed @4heroesjogle so please keep an eye out for those. We will try and get as many details from our Garmin edge 800 posted so that you can see just how slow we are riding, as well as a few photos of what should be some very wet looking Jogler's.

1 more sleep!!!