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!

A lovely ride in the Sun

Yet another weekend passes and the ride becomes a week closer!! The weather was perfect for cycling on Saturday so we creamed up and headed out for a four hour ride which, although tough, was a lot easier than the last long ride - maybe we are getting fitter!!

Check out some pictures from the ride below...

A massive thank you to Sue and Neil York at Kimberley in St Agnes

Yet another huge thank you to Kimberley B&B in ST Agnes for providing us with a free nights accommodation - your support is very much appreciated!

Route from Okehampton to St Agnes

Check out the button below for our penultimate route...

A massive thank you to Charlecott Lodge B&B in Okehampton

Yet another thank you to Susan at Charlecott Lodge who has been extremely generous in providing us with a nights accommodation in Okehampton - Thanks Susan!

Route from Wells to Okehampton

Click the link below for our route from Wells to Okehampton...

Still looking for accommodation in Wells

A Massive thank you to the Beltane B&B in Wells for providing us with a free nights accommodation - We really appreciate it!

http://www.beltanebandb.co.uk/

Route from Hereford to Wells

Click the link below to check out our route from Hereford to Wells...

A Massive Thank You to Bed and Breakfast Hereford

A massive Thank You to Teresa and her Team at Three Park Street in Hereford for providing us with a free nights accommodation - your support is greatly appreciated!!!

Bed and Breakfast Hereford

Route from market Drayton to Hereford

Click the button below to follow us on our journey from Market Drayton to Hereford...

Still looking for accommodation in Market Drayton

If anyone knows of anywhere we could crash for the night in Market Drayton then please let us know...