Hello Market Drayton

One of the toughest days of the trip today! The sun was out in full force and really took it out of us! The day was also a series of slow and steady climbs which are beginning to take their toll on our legs!!

We took an afternoon break to avoid the full heat of the sun, meaning we arrived into Market drayton after 830!! We were lucky enough to have a little suprise visit from Emma Moutrie and Chris Watt who met us at our b and b!! We had a lovely quick Indian with them in the village before catching some sleep!

Tomorrow sees us being joined by blackie and laurian for the day for a bit of well needed motivation!

Short blog today as we are both knackered!!


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Keswick to Preston - DONE!!

After waking up to a very wet and windy keswick and climbing for the first few miles we thought today was going to be another one of those days! However, not long into the day the clouds cleared and the sun came out! We were then able to enjoy probably the flattest day of the trip so far!!

We were lucky enough to be graced with the presence of Brian Rose for the day - he is a busy man so we appreciate being able to spend some time with him-many girls would pay a lot of money for the privalidge!!

The morning saw us cycle through the lake district, along lake windemere and out into lancaster! We stopped for lunch just short of Lancaster which was the half way point of the day-enjoying a good old pannini! The first few miles after lunch were up hill and felt a little harder due to the extra weight we had consumed at lunch!

The afternoon again went smoothly and we arrived into Preston safe and sound at about half 7! After a quick tour of Preston in search for the hotel we finally made it to our room for the night!!

We had a nice dinner at the hotel, a quick shower and now getting some sleep before another long day tomorrow! Becky spent 20 minutes in the shower trying to get the mud off her legs before realising it wasn't in fact mud but was a collection of bruises, bumps and cuts!!

We would like to thank Brian for cycling with us today and keeping us motivated! He was an excellent pace setter even if he did fly up the hills ahead of us with his fresh legs-but none he definitely kept us going throughout the day!!

Highlights of the day:
1. The scenery in the lake district, especially lake windemere
2. How flat it was
3. The sunshine
4. Brian Rose
5. A really nice chat with our host Margaret in Keswick about Zambia and receiving our clean clothes from her-thanks Margaret!
6. A fantastic cooked breakfast to set us on our way!
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England arrives

We have made it safe and sound to engalnd and now need to try to find some establishments who will take our scottish wonga - I think ull find its legal tender!!

We flew along from dumfries to carlisle this morning covering the 40 miles in just about 4 hours! During this ride we hit a massive milestone of the trip as we passed through Gretna and into ENGLAND, briefly stopping for a photo op by the sign!! We stopped for some food in carlisle and pondered the biggest climb of the trip so far into the lake district! We would be climbing for about ten miles and would reach a max height of 1100 feet!! This climb proved to be even more difficult than expected as the heavens decided to open and the wind gathered pace! The climb went on and on and we got wetter and colder, so cold that we didn't want to go to fast on the down hills to avoid the wind chill!!

The weather meant that it was difficult to enjoy what should have been some more amazing scenery! Instead it was head down, legs pumping and very little conversation!!

After stopping a few motorists to check we were headed in the right direction, we eventually found the main road to Keswick! Just as the weather cleared and we saw the 6 miles to keswick sign I managed to get stung by a bee, somehow the little guy got through my jacket and my top and got me right on the chest!! After a bit of winging and sympathy searching we continued on the final path to Keswick arriving at the Cherry Trees bed and breakfast just after 7, looking like drowned rats!!

We were greeted and shown to our amazing room by our friendly hosts! We ordered a take away to get some energy and our host Margeret very kindly took our wet clothes from us and gave them a quick wash for which we were very greatful!!

Off to bed before being joined by a special guest for the trip to Preston in the morning!!

Highlights of the day:
1. The nice flat morning in the sunshine which saw us setting new records for speeds on the trip
2. Passing through gretna and arriving back in our homeland
3. Meeting a friendly cyclist who was doing a casual 100 mile ride (he was probably triple our age)
4. Becky begging me to get married in the famous chaple in Gretna
5. Arriving at Cherry Trees and relaxing in our nice room
6. The beautiful lake district
7. Checking the weather forecast for tomorrow and expecting a brighter day!

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Dumfries-england tomorrow!!

After catching the ferry bright and early back to mainland scotland we set out on our long hilly journey to dumfries!!

We met some interesting people on route including a couple who were walking the length of the country just because they had time on their hands after recently retiring!

This is going to be a short post as it is getting late but we arrived at our b and b about 8pm and had a nice hot bath before going to bed!

After 6 long days cycling we will finally be back in ENGLAND tomorrow! This will be a major milestone in the trip! My phone battery died today so there are no pics - sorry!!
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Onto the Isle of Arran

Scotland is very hilly, the uphills hit you like brick walls, the flats are very rarely flat and the down hills just disappear too quickly for our liking!!

We have both realised that the first ten miles of the day are always the toughest, our legs take a while to warm up and we often feel like we aren't really getting anywhere! This was made even more difficult today as the first 6 miles were a fairly steep climb! We made it to the top in a pretty slow time before settling into a few miles of flat!

Another huge climb seemed to go on forever and we only realised we were near the top when we began to see cyclists coming the other direction who were gasping for breath-we have learned that this generally means we are in for a nice downhill! We stopped at a cafe for a spot of lunch and were served by the snobbiest woman of the trip yet! Food was good but overpriced and after 30mins we were back on our way!

After lunch we really got into the swing of things again, we had a nice flat 30 miles which we covered in record time!

This left us with one BIG climb before a descent into Clanoig to catch our ferry to Arran! Clanoig was probably the biggest anti-climax of the trip so far with literally a car park and a toilet to offer!

So we caught the ferry and as we fast approached Arran (well as fast as scottish ferries go) we began to catch ominous glimpses of the beautiful Arran hills!!

We arrived in Lochranza and completed the final miles of the day down to Brodick and the Invercloy guest house! We quickly checked in and had a spot of dinner before bed!

Highlights of the day:
1. More free drinks and haribo from Lidl and Aldi.
2. The 14 percent decline into Clanoig.
3. The flat 30 miles to Clanoig.
4. The amazing views that we witnessed through the whole day.
5. The banquet of a meal we had once in Brodick.
6. A nice comfy bed for the night!
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Update from yesterday

We are currently sat on a ferry to the island of Arran so thought we would update you on yesterdays antics!

Highlights of the day:
1. The Great Glen way cycle track-amazing scenery but very up and down!
2. Meeting a wee Scottish man with some wise words of encouragement.
3. Donation from two motorcyclists.
4. Ben breaking the record for most free lucozades from Lidl- 12 pack!
5. Having dinner over a beautiful loch watching the sun set.
6. Arriving in Oban and being met by our amazing hostess Morven!
7. Binny perfecting his animal sounds to communicate with all forms of wildlife!
8. Seeing the amazing Ben Nevis!!
9. Lovely Scottish people lending us a pump when we got a puncture and our pump decided not to work (all sorted now though, one flick of a nozzle and the pump is working again).
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Finnally arrived in oban!!

I just wrote the whole blog and somehow managed to delete it so here is a quick summary before I go to bed:

Sore legs first thing
Slow morning cycling
Stopped in fort william for lunch
Got a puncture just south of fort william (real low point of the trip)
Had a good afternoon cycling
Stopped 12 miles short of oban for dinner
Battled through the final miles and arrived just after 830
Hosts are amazing and our b and b is beautiful

Off to brodick on isle of arran tomorrow!

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Finally arrived in Fort Augustus!!

We arrived into fort augustus very late this evening after a really tough day!! We are both exhausted so will keep this short and sweet!!

First 35 miles to dingwall were flat but the headwind was like being in a tornado!! This, combined with too many photo stops put us really behind schedule!! We didn't stop for lunch until 1430 and we knew we were faced with a big climb this afternoon!! Just before hitting the big climb bens map reading skills deserted him and we ended up 3 miles in the wrong direction and with a big hill to climb to get back on track, this again pushed us further behind our schedule and left me fearing for my life when I broke the news to becky!! Then came the big hill!! This went on for ever and ever and was pretty demoralising!! Still, we made it up and reallly enjoyed the 15% decline to loch ness!!

After a quick spot of monster searching we set off on the final 20 miles of the day which were again more up and down than the map showed us!!

Alas we arrived at fort augustus just after 2115 still with plenty of day light left!! Our hostess made us some salmon and pasta which we were so greatful for seeing as all the restraunts were shut!! This place is a ghost town!!

Anyway we are off for a well earner sleepo in the hope tomorrow goes a little smoother!!

Thanks for reading and for all the messages and donations, they really keep us going up the highland hills!!

Off to oban tomorrow!!

Highlights of the day:
1. Breaking the record for free snacks, today we got 4 bottles of lucozade, a bag of haribo and 10 mars bars! Our blagging skills are improving!!
2. Seeing seals on route to dingwall (see picture you can just make them out)
3. Sponsorship off a little lady in the station cafe in dingwall
4. Reaching the top of the climb out of beauly
5. The adrenaline rush of the downhill to loch ness!
6. The breathtaking views of loch ness
7. The salmon pasta from our host on arrival in fort augustus
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Wick to dornoch COMPLETE!!!

Well, what a day we have had!! After a fantastic cooked breakfast from our host at mount pleasant house we set off out of Wick which began with a 7 mile gradual incline - little did we know at this point that this was like a mole hill compared to the mountains we were to conquer later in the day!!

We then had a relatively flat (by scottish terms) few miles before we hit the mountails of berridale!! It all looked a bit ominous when we began to see signs saying steep hills ahead and warning 13% incline ahead, things looked even worse when we saw a sand pit which is used to stop lorries if their breaks fail!! Sure enough this climb was a monster! We both completed the climb without stopping and breathed a huge sigh of relief as our legs slowly recovered!!

We then hit a big low for the day as we realised we had in fact completed the smaller of the two climbs and the worst was yet to come! We completed the hill with a couple of stops for liquid and enjoyed the views from the top!!

We then pushed on to brora where we found a lovely hotel to have some lunch and watch the second half of england narrowly scraping through to the last 16 of the world cup!! We spoke to a few locals about our challenge and they assured us that the worst of the day was behind us!

This left us with 15 miles to reach our destination of dornoch! It was pretty easy going except a big climb before a descent into dornoch!

We arrived at the hilton lodge which was absolutely amazing, our host elizabeth was so nice to us and made us beans on toast and made us feel so welcome!!

We are now getting an early night before a longer but flatter day ahead tomorrow

Highlights of the day:
1. Becky using her charm to get 4 free bottles of lucozade from lidl in wick-thanks to the manager
2. Reaching the top of the berriedale hills-such a relief
3. The man who filled our water bottles for us after our big climbs
4. Our amazing cooked breakfast from jan this morning
5. Arriving at the beautiful hilton lodge
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Thurso to Wick via John O' Groats COMPLETE!!

Sorry to be so cliché but what a day of two halves!! We woke up in Thurso to bright sunshine and blue skies. We stopped off at the local Lidl to top up with snacks and lucozade before embarking on a beautiful 25 mile ride to John O' Groats. The scenery was breathtaking and it was pretty surreal to think we were cycling along the top of the country!!

We arrived in John O'Groats after a couple of hours on the bikes, we had our photo taken with the sign. Apparently you have to pay for the privilege, which seems to be a bit of a scam!!

We spent a couple of hours in John O'Groats taking photos, signing the end to end book and having some lunch in a cafe by the sea.

Beckys dad had informed us that we should be pretty excited about the coastal route that we had planned for the afternoon, however this excitement was short lived!! The weather turned and we spend the afternoon ride to wick in the middle of a cloud, into a strong cold head wind!! This route was pretty up and down and proved to be fairly tough going due to conditions! We arrived in wick just after 1630 after a total daily mileage of 45 and about 5 hours on the bike!

We took a stroll into Wick and again neglected the scottish cuisine in favour of a chicken korma!!

Early night planned watching the football before a tough day tomorrow!

Highlights of the day:
1. Our first sampling of hagis at breakfast
2. The amazing scenery at the north of scotland
3. Beeps of support from passing motorists
4. Passing a couple who were doing the challenge the opposite direction, they only had 10 miles left!!
5. Being on first name terms with the john o groats photographer after 20 seconds
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The journey begins!!

Here we are at the official start point-its all down hill from here!!

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We made it to thurso!!

We eventually arrived in thurso at 10pm after a marathon train journey of 14 hours including three changes at edinburgh, inverness and dingwall!!

We have already met some really friendly people including a guy who is motorbiking the highlands before he turns 70 and is unable to drive a bike any longer!!

We passed the time by me beating becky at both naughts and crosses and a bicycle themed game of hangman!!

We checked into our room (overlooking the sea), had a stroll down to the sea front which was beautiful as the sun was setting and we sampled a traditional scottish dish of chicken chow mein and chips!!!

Off to bed now before we head over to john o groats first thing in the morning!!
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The long journey begins

So...we have eventually got everything packed and are now sat on a train venturing up north till we hit water!! A few minor problems at the train station but all is good now!!

We arrive in Thurso at 9:15pm this evening and immediately mak our way to our first hotel!
Tomorrow morning sees us taking the short trek to john o groats for a photo op, where we'll be sure to upload some delightful snap shots!...followed by a cycle down to Wick, which promises to be a nice easy ride to get us into the swing of things...hopefully this won't be a case of famous last words...!!


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1 Week to go!!

It is just 7 days from now until we will be up in John O Groats and ready to begin our adventure. We have all of our kit and our routes sorted. A quick service for the bikes this week and a couple of light training rides and we are as ready as we will ever be!

Mood in the camp is good - slightly nervous about the prospect of cycling for 13 days straight but we are determined!

Keep checking back for updates which will hopefully be more exciting come next week!

A massive thank you to Halfords

Halfords have kindly donated us £1000 worth of kit for our ride which has now arrived!

A massive thank you to them for their extremely generous support!