Day 6 Gretna to Irvine

I'd originally planned today to be an 'easy' day and do about 90 miles, but the route meant a fairly direct line from Gretna straight up to Kilmarnock along the A76. I'd been warned that this was a pretty busy road and in planning this morning decided to veer further south and also check out a castle on the way, then cut back on the main road at least missing some of the traffic. Feeling really stiff this morning meant a slow start, but it was quite nice riding just cruising along down the coast towards Caelaverock.

On the way, I ran into another Jogle rider going the other way. Sporting a huge grin and a carefree attitude, I asked him how long he was planning to take to get to Lands End. "Oh I don't care" he said. He was in fact going to go back home for a bit and do the rest later. "I'm retired I can do whatever I want". Legend. In fact, he'd not only ridden from John O Groats but done all the outer Hebrides on his bike as well!! I want to be like that when I retire! I wish I'd taken his photo...what a character.

After about 25 miles I got to the brilliant Caerlaverock castle and stopped to take a look

Its triangular shaped, and has a full moat running round  the outside (not my photo of course):

I love castles that still have a working moat! A pretty place, although while I was having a quick look inside a staff member came to get me... apparently you have to pay to go in... (should have known). As I was being frog marched up to the ticket office we chatted about the cycle trip and by the time we got there she'd said..."ah dont worry about it". But I paid anyway, it was a nice place and worth preserving.

Plus I got a great pic of Bianca mkII

From here I was back on the main road, the busy A76 towards Kilmarnoc. Not a good road to cycle on, as per the warnings. In places there was some new tarmac, but a lot of it was just dire to ride on. You need a mountain bike with shocks it was so bumpy. And in many places several lanes of high speed traffic would merge into a narrow 2 lane corridor with very fast moving traffic and lots of trucks. Didn't enjoy this at all and got off it again as soon as I could, which was about 40 miles down the line unfortunately.

I did manage a nice picnic lunch by the rather swollen river

The sun came out in the afternoon and once off that darn road it was better riding. I had nothing in the legs today, no power or strength and the extra detours took the tally today up to 100 miles again. So much for a rest day!

However have the pleasure of my wife's company in the evenings now, and cant wait to get over to Arran tomorrow. I hope the legs can hang in there a bit longer and deal with the hill climbs that are to be expected now...and tomorrow will be another century.

Finally, whoever made the anonymous donation to rethink yesterday...thank you so much! May you be blessed with eternal cheese and good tidings!

Day 5 Wigan to Gretna

What a huge day! Fed and watered myself early and was peddling out of Wigan before 8am, enjoying deserted roads, being a Sunday morning. The weather was cool and overcast, pefect weather for high milage...so thats exactly what was on the cards. I made great progress north and was pushing though Preston in no time. North of the town, 3 strong looking riders from Manchester pulled alongside and I had a good chat with one of them, who had done a 12 day Lejog a few years ago and by quite a similar route. He also seemed to think my target for today was a bit nuts!

I hit Cumbria, delighted to now be genuinly "north"

And thanks to the largely flat terrain, made the 100km/60 miles up to Kendall for lunch in awesome time. It took me ages to find anything reasonably healthy to eat (you do NOT want to ride with greasy food in your belly believe me) so in the end only had a 30 minute sit down here before it was time to move on.

The next stage involved the big hill climb. You may notice this hill in today's ride profile:

It was indeed quite a big hill, but a long and reasonably gentle ascent...taking roughly 5 miles to get up to the top and 6 down the other side. Great views on the way up, with the land around most definitly starting to have that more northern look about it.

When I trundled down the other side I was starting to feel the burn a bit. The acumulated miles from back to back century's starting to show basically all over. Gel and water time. Which reminds me, I decided on a name for the new Bike! Actually decided a while ago but was too ashamed to admit it...due to total lack of imagination....

It's "Bianca mkII" ...and here's me fueling her up at the bottom of the hill (unleaded)

Time to move on, still had 40+ miles to go. Onward to Preston and the land flattened out again. Nice riding, though the traffice was roaring along in places. One problem I am having with Bianca MkII: She dosent like to sit still. A happy Bianca mkII is being peddled. So, when stopping to take this photo:

(Nothing too amazing, but a pleasant enough field I suppose) She wildly threw me on the to the tarmac, giving my pride a definite dent. I mean, who can ride the length of England but fall off a stationary bike?! Problem is my handle bar bag has a tendency to suddenly turn the front wheel when the bike is stationary if you done have a hand on the bars...and if clipped in with SPD's, down you go. I looked a right chump!

Pulling myself back together and nursing a few bruises, more peddling, and this required another gel and some serious effort to keep going. 

Finally, after passing through Carlisle in some wonderful sunshine, it was only another 8 or so miles to my target....Scotland!!

I am only taking this ride one day at a time so I'm not going to talk about whats ahead too much yet, but I will say being in Scotland is a wonderful boost, and it means tomorrow I can ride a little under 100 miles and still be on target. Today was 197km/ 120 miles all told, and looks pretty cool on the big map:

Finally, just now while typing this a staff member here who is training to be a mental health worker, saw my "Rethink" t-shirt and its been cool talking a bit about this cause with him. Hope you're training goes well mate! 

Day 4 Ludlow to Wigan

Travel tales to a minimum today. The reason(s) I'm riding from one end the country to other are try to do something to help out some people who have been less fortunate in recent times than I have. Whilst I'm swanning around on my bike, others are dealing with a less open view of the world, either from the after effects of a severe stroke, or from mental illness.

So a big thank you to the many people who have contributed to these causes so far - you are making a difference! I see a few more donations have come in since I started and I;m really very grateful for the support too...

Anyway, in brief: I pushed on another 100 miles today, up from Ludlow through some really pretty country

And past this inflatable 16th century house in Shrewsbury

Hitting the 100 mile target at Wigan, with actually pretty easy going compared to previous days

The easy day is a relief, because tomorrow its time to go crazy on the milage. Its also the biggest hill...gulp...

Day 3 Shipton to Ludlow

The weather looked dire again for day 3, massive stormy winds from the west and southwest, and heavy rain. I did get away nice and early and was on the outskirts of Bristol by 9.30am. Turning off down the first of many skirting side roads south of the city, I came across a car pulled over with the emergency services dealing with a thigh sized peice of tree wedges a few inches into the radiator...looked nasty and I would have taken a pic had it bean tasteful but the occupants of the car looked shaken (but unhurt). It was of course properly howling and there was plenty of debris all over the road!

It didnt take too long to follow a useful route a fellow CTC member had shared, and I was over the first bridge with no worries, there was a steel bern on my left all the way across that kept most of the westerly off me. The Severn bridge a bit further on was another story. ..will post a video when I can get a decent internet connection.

The ride across was frankly scary and really hard work, leaning in and requiring all upper body strength to stay on. I wouldnt say it was that dangerous as such, the worst that could happen is getting pushed into the divider seprating a the footpath from the road, but that didnt make it any less scary and I felt utterly pummeled when I finally got to the other side, arms were pumped with lactic acid...had my first carb gel to try and make up some lost energy.

After that, things got a lot better. For a start, I was in Wales! And nicely sheltered in a stunning valley called the Wye. The road had been recently resealed and wound its way through lush forrest above the flooded river, awesome riding. I saw loads of cyclists here and warned the strong looking riders /tried to put off the others about the wind on the Severn. I've not seen a single "lejog" rider since day one but seen plenty going the other way and had some good banter with them. One fellow CTC member was carrying a massive 50kg and camping the whole way - good lad!

Lunch in Monmouth. This was "superfood" pasta at a Wetherspoons would you believe it, with my customary 2 pints of liquid to try and stay hydrated, proper peddling fuel:

North of town it stopped raining and the land levelled out a bit, I blew off 50 miles in good time, hitting my target well in time for tea @ Ludlow. 

Weather looks good for day4, another century on the cards. Had some amazing support on facebook and thank you so much everyone, sorry I cant reply faster.  Day 3 summary:

Day 2 Okehampton to Shipton

The day started with rattling windows and a dash to the nearest food place to fuel up. After watching the morning forecast and getting further put off, it took me a while to get going. Barely had peddled down the driveway and was wet straight away. At least the ride started with a big downhill section! I had to keep the speed down as I couldn't really see on the downhill sections, but the wind wasn't too bad...so just kept on trucking. 

Stopped and spoke to another rider on his second to last day doing Jogle (same ride, opposite direction) in an impressive 8 days. He was looking a little broken after some 200 mile days. Good luck mate, nearly there...

Just out from Okehampton I picked up a second puncture and did a very wet and muddy road side "quick fix" no.2, and I was back on my way without much fuss except getting cold from being drenched and not peddling. Maybe because of a wet bike, and a wet bagelonabike, but I felt really sluggish and lethargic all morning, it was painfully slow going and very undulating terrain:

Finally the rain eased off around 1pm, I still hadent reached my lunchtime target but spirits and pace lifted and suddenly I was in Taunton where I'd intended to take a break. I first found a bike shop and picked up a couple more spare tubes and rather cautiously also grabbed a high quality folding tyre in case these puncture problems continue. The guy at the shop was a pro racer and extremely helpful, also tuning the gears for no charge. Awesome service, any other LeJog rider passing through, http://www.kingscycles.co.uk/ will look after you.

I had a quick bite and decided to keep going while it was dry, heading out towards Glastonbury and checking out Burrow Mump along the way

Which had some great views up top, and brief blue sky

Started making good time at last, perhaps buoyed on by the SIGN OF THE CHEESE

I had a very quick stop in cheddar, a place I've always wanted to visit, before the last hill climb over to a town called Shipton, my target for the day. The day was shorter in terms of distance at just shy of 90 miles, but am on target still.

A longer day needed tomorrow and the tricky bit is Bristol and the Severn Bridge. But, I'm heading North now...no more of this North East rubbish!

Day 1 - Lands End to Okehampton

Am underway! Starting with a 6 mile ride over to Lands Ends to the start line, my wife with me to see me off down as far as Penzance and lovely to have her company. The weather was pretty good with even a hint of blue every now and then, and I got the obligatory signpost photo:

Before getting underway. Albeit struggling a bit at first:

Ok ok and a sensible one too...

After zooming down the hill to Penzance I was on my own and heading north towards Hayle, Rudruth and eventually onto the outskirts of Newquay, taking a more Northerly route I'd read about on the CTC forum as being a little less hilly. It was great riding, though quite a bit of fast traffic.

I pulled in at Wadebridge after a 100km / 62 miles and wolfed down an excellent chicken ciabata and many glasses of juice. Quite hot work today and I got through about 6 litres in the end. Anyway after moving on, through some lovely scenery

I'd foolishly stopped at a bust laybye to take this photo leaving Devon

As soon as I got back on and started peddling, I head a great crack and the rear tyre went flat in seconds. Perhaps it was the ancient Cornish Gods punishing me for leaving and photographing their nemesis?  on the way out? Anyway it was a 5 min job to chuck a spare tube on and I was soon underway again, grinding up the last few hills before finally hitting my target near Okehampton feeling rather knackered indeed. Looking at the hill profile, am please to have this out the way at the start if the trip:

With 1800m of ascent in total.

Tomorrow looks very worrying indeed. There is a major storm hitting the UK with wind gusts in the 60-70 mph range. It wont be from my front, but I am worried about both cross wind and debris. I've got a shorter day than today but its really touch and go to be riding at all. Will just have to head out and and see how I go, its due to ease off later in the day so all I can do is play it by ear and get some shelter if it really is that bad...

Day Zero - Business Time

Time to get going! Just a short post here to thank everyone again for the words of encouragement and your generosity.I am on the train now and racing out of London towards Cornwall - hurrah!

I've had a busy couple of days in terms of preparation, spending most of my time doing more detailed route planning and booking some of the accommodation. I've booked a few days at the start and a few days at the end, keeping the middle part flexible for changing conditions. Hoping to have 1 "rest" day riding a little over 100km and probably at least 1 "epic" day with a 200km ride if I get good conditions.

The bike is in great shape now, especially after a final tune up of the gears today (thanks Tim) and a short trial ride today fully laden.  I have packed very light: my panniers weigh less than 8kg at the moment, and a kilo of that is some devilish 'Scroggin' to keep the energy levels up for the first few days. I've also got a few carbohydrate gels packed and am posting a parcel ahead containing more, up to a place I'm staying at in Scotland as I gather they are a little hard to come by in the Highlands.

Anyway, an easy day today riding up the hill from Penzance to St Just which is the closest we could get to Lands End. Tomorrow, an early start then a 7-10km ride over to the start line at Lands End. My Wife is with me for the first bit then I'll be on my own after Penzance. I do feel ready!

Donations

For Rethink, I have hit my target and we've powered away to £1,128.50! For the Dom Pardy Trust, around £550 or so - thank you so much!

I'll keep that in mind when my legs are screaming on the Cornish hills tomorrow....