Day 10: The Last Push to John O’Groat’s

So, as you all know, we made it.  Sorry about the tardy timing of this last update, but since getting back to reality things have kinda got in the way of all stuff bike related.

And to be honest, it has been hard to bring ourselves to sit down and actually write this one.   It has been the pressure of doing justice to the amazing experience of those 10 days.  The ride was far more than we could have ever have hoped it would be.   It was rewarding, exhausting, challenging and full of laughs all at the same time.  The sheer lack of any responsibility other than getting on our bikes and pedaling was truly wonderful, and that is thanks entirely to our support team for making it possible for us to simply concentrate on getting the miles done. Chris, John the whole journey would have been a million times harder without your help, and it would have been doubtful at times whether we’d have made it all.   And to the team at home, Emily and Kerry for doing everything in our absence whilst continuing to achieve so much in PR and raising cash, and of course Beth and Liz for all your help in the logistics, food, PR, fund raising…….   It is impossible to properly express our gratitude to you all, so we’ll just have to leave it with “Thank You”.

And thank you of course to everyone who kindly donated.  We have managed to raise and incredible £15,000 for BURP, which is far more than we’d ever hoped to achieve.  Every penny will make a difference towards finding breakthrough treatments for serious pediatric conditions.  Meeting Prof Osborne and his team at Bath Hospital really brought it home just how difficult their work is and just how much effort goes in to making the drug trials a success.

In honour of the title of this entry, we’d better mention something of the last day.  We’ll keep it In short, it was the toughest yet.  The hills were a lot harder than we expected, the countryside far bleaker than any we’d come across and for the first time we were desperately watching the mileage rack up.  It was probably the knowledge that such a great experience was coming to a close that made it such a long day, even though it was the lowest mileage we’d done.   Something that really helped was knowing that Steve’s old man was heading up to John O’Groat’s to see us come in.  A cruel puncture on his motorbike meant that we got in first, but every cloud has a silver lining:  We would now always have a come back for Dad’s ribbing about “motorbikes being better than push bikes”.

Dad Holford (left) and his bike which got exactly one more puncture than Steve's did

Here follows a quick run through some of the pictures we didn’t manage to get into the blog whilst on the road.

The typical view

The Final Total

We can’t possibly finish without a special mention to the Essex boys.  We met these three lads about 60 miles in on our first day, taking a break a the foot of another killer Cornish hill.  They were aiming to do the same journey in as many days, only unsupported carrying all their own kit.  The quote from our first meeting was “I think we’ve bitten off more than we can chew lads”.  It was so great to run into them again on our last day as we wound our way up the killer hills to JOG.  Despite carrying the kitchen sink, these guys had made it, and we are not ashamed to say that they effectively cycled twice as far as we did.  (If any of our donors want their money back, forget it!).  So well done to the Essex Boys, it great to meet you.

The Essex Boys and their particularly heavy steeds

Big thanks to Ric for sorting us out with some very comfortable accommodation on our journey home.  It is beyond words how good a proper bed felt like after so long.  The beers and whisky also felt pretty damn fine too…

Ric pushing his latest Beer of the Month

Thank god for the spare bike

Team Race4Grace at the finish line

We’ll close with a few choice catchphrases of our LEJOG adventure, each summing up the experience perfectly:

“Never go back, but always look back, mate”.

“Focus on the journey, not the destination”

and of course, not forgetting, “Strong”

(sorry, you kinda had to be there, but it helps if you picture them being said in a Smashy & Nicey stylee)

Who is John O’Groat’s anyway?

Stat Attack

For the numerically minded amongst you, here are the statistics detailing just how hard (or not) we worked each day.    The numbers definitely reflect how we felt each day, with a fall in average speed after the excitement of the first couple of days, followed by a gradual increase as we got used to the mileage.  (By the way, don’t tell the wives we almost made a 50mph maximum.  If they ask, reply with ‘yes, I am sure they were always very careful’).

After an initial dip, we got faster (though faffed just as much)

And just for the record, here are all the numbers:

If you really want the numbers.....

vzaar | video – Dry Stone Walling

Riding one hundred miles a day tends to do funny things to you. Not least of all, it gives you the opportunity to convince oneself that one is hilarious. This video was created in honour of our falling about in stitches at the concept of a slow Dry Stone Waller. We think it is funny, but we’d be surprised if you do quite as much….

more about "vzaar | video – Dry Stone Walling", posted with vodpod

Day 9: Glen Coe to Tain

This was without doubt our best day by far. We rode up the Great Glen alongside the Caledonian canal, through glorious surroundings with a strong wind on our backs. The sun shone down and we were flying.

After only a couple of miles we saw a lone cyclist ahead. He was another End to Ender, completing the distance in an impressive 8 days. More impressively, he was also doing it alone, carrying everyhting he needed his back. And just to make things that little bit harder he had also brought with him a motorbike lock weighing almost 5 kilos! It was ok though, as he’d managed to offset the weight by using a truly awesome titanium and carbon bike…

Chris and his excessively heavy chain

Chris’ route plan consisted of nothing more than a notebook with a few road names scrawled in it. He wasn’t even carrying a map!! Jon Jon was not impressed.

We stayed with Chris for a good 60 miles, us all enjoying having an additional man in our peloton (check us out with our snazzy foreign cycling words!).

We decided to follow Chris’ route, to avoid Inverness, heading straight north from Drumnadrochit. This had two drawbacks:

1. We needed to head over Milton Hill, a particularly cheeky 15 percenter that went on for three quarters of mile.

2. We failed to meet up with John ‘The Rabbit’ Cooper.

The hill was a killer, but it was great to prove to ourselves that we could still get up something as steep despite having ridden 800 miles in the last week. It was encouraging to see that after our initial dip during Days 3&4, we were now stronger than when we’d started. Unfortunately for Wee Chris Shields, he was now fully in his third day dip, and he was faced with having to get off and walk. Apparently it was worth it for the looks of sympathy from the passengers of a bus driving the other way. – It was carrying the local Women’s Institute to the regional flower arranging championships. (Chris wasn’t getting much sympathy from his team mates at the time, us both relishing the chance to show off our new and improved Man Thighs)

The misplaced confidence at the foot of Milton Hill.

As for The Rabbit, John had earlier set off ahead, with the intention of giving us a target to catch. Unfortunately, we’d ‘forgotten’ to tell him that we’d changed the route. When we met up with The Essex Boys (more on them later), we dropped so far behind that there was no chance of catching him. What’s more, he was riding off like a man possessed!

Ultimately, John had to wait in Inverness for the rescue van to arrive. As he hadn’t taken any cash with him, we phoned to suggest he sell his body in payment for a scone and a cuppa. By the time he was reunited with the boys, he was ravenous, so we can only assume he didn’t find any takers….

Where is that Rabbit?

vzaar | video – Still Climbing to Glen Coe

more about "vzaar | video – Still Climbing to Gle…", posted with vodpod

Vzaar Video – Climbing to Glen Coe

more about “Climbing to Glen Coe“, posted with vodpod

Day 8: Cumbernauld to Glen Coe

Despite the TA centre having all the necessary facilities we could ever wish for, our faffing yet again prevented us getting on the road before 8am. We made sure we got a photo with Big Ron, who was amazed at our tiny saddles, thin tyres and ‘daft’ clip in pedals.

Big Ron's Place

The gradual climb out of Stirling wasn’t a problem, as we were happily watching the scenery get more and more impressive. We agreed with Waldorf and Statler that we’d meet them for lunch 50 miles in. This couldn’t have been better timed, as we were able to shelter from the first rain shower we’d encountered during our entire 8 days on the road. We all agreed how lucky we’d been to have had such decent weather thus far. Nevertheless, Waldorf (Jon Jon) point blank refused to get out of the van as it was ‘bloody wet outside’, followed by ‘Who’s stupid idea was this anyway?’. He simply slid the window open an inch and passed out the sandwiches which had been lovingly made by Statler.

Refuelled, we headed West towards Crianlarich and then on up towards the Nevis Range. It was a tough climb, but the awe inspiring mountains provided the distraction we needed to forget about the empty legs.

Gotta love Glen Coe

Another distraction was the worry that we’d have to camp out in the now torrential rain. Steve had propelled himself to the position of Team Muppet, by totally mucking up the accomodation arrangements. Somehow, he’d managed to ask the Commanding Officer of the MOD Mountain Training Centre if we could stay on Sunday night. This being Saturday, we were now faced with camping in the rain.

Stupid Monkey.

Thankfully, at the 11th hour, Sergeant Jonah Jones came to our rescue. Just as we were beginning our descent into Ballachulish, we got the call that John and Chris were unpacking the van into a warm, dry house.

This made for big smiles as began the unforgettable 5 mile freewheel back down to sea level. The rain was still coming down hard but now with shafts of bright sunlight breaking through the clouds. Incredible.

Jonah you are a lifesaver. Thankyou.

Day 7: Gretna to Cumbernauld

Chris Shields had driven down to Gretna the night before to become the latest, and final, recruit to the Race4Grace team. His presence really lifted the team, primarily because we now had someone new to tell our old jokes to. During the last week we’d managed to convince ourselves that we are hilarious, so it was good to have Chris’s fresh ears as a litmus test.

Wee Chris

Bizarrely, judging by Chris’s polite yet fake chuckles, our perpetual Smashy and Nicey impersonations seemed to wear thin very quickly.
Chris brought with him a shiny new bike and a reputation for being a bit of a cycling demon. This was amplified by the fact that he actually CARRIED his bike across the campsite, rather than risk a bit of mud on his new wheels. Bless him.

Chris’ local knowledge provided us a great route through the Upper Lowlands (or is it the Lower Uplands?? Sod it, call it South Scotland) and we were soon approaching Cumbernauld, the next stop on our Trans UK adventure.
We made a great team, rotating the lead like professionals. Nevertheless, there were still some complaints: knees, chaffage and ‘ooh, I just need a quick stretch’ were often the subject of a grumble. That said, the favourite gripe came from Kilian and Chris when Steve ‘monkey’ Holford took the lead up the hills. Being a good 2 to 3 stone lighter than his team mates, he seemingly failed to notice when the road went uphill. “Naught monkey ” and “Selfish monkey” were frequent admonishments.

Nearing the town of Cumbernauld we agreed that Chris should do all the talking, thinking it risky to chance chatting to the locals in a regional Kent or Mockney accent. Our shiny bikes, Lycra and natty hats meant we stood out like, well, Englishmen in Cumbernauld.

The local TA centre was to be our refuge for the night, and thanks to the hospitality of Big Ron, our morale went off the chart. Sick to death of campsites, the sight of hot showers without the need to feed a coin box was incredible.

It was great to have racked up another hundred miles, but we were nervous as we looked at the map. Tomorrow would be the slog through the Highlands, up through Glen Coe.

We made it!!

Just a quick one to let everyone know that we did it!! At half three today (Monday 21st Sep) we rolled up to the end of the country that is John O Groats. Despite the slightly anti-climatic surroundings (where we the dancin girls?!) , we are brimming with pride at our achievement. 960 miles, 10 days, and most importantly, over £12,500 (so far) for BURP.

There’s loads to say and write about, but for now, in light of the intermittent connection, we’ll leave it there.

Thanks to evryone for your continuing support. Your texts, calls, emails and donations really kept us going.

Stay tuned to the blog, we’ll make sure we fill the gaps.

Thanks again.

Right, where’s the bar?

One more Faffarino

Hang on boys, just gotta have a quick stretch.