John O Groats to Lands End cycle ride

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Soup Dragon
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Re: John O Groats to Lands End cycle ride

Post by Soup Dragon »

***UPDATE 18:07 - DAY FOUR***
It's been a miserable day according to Andi, "Cold, wet and horrible" sounds a bit like gespatcho soup to me! They only managed to cover 56 miles today, the average is currently 62 miles per day. Tonight they will bed down at a B&B in Crianlarich for a little bit of luxury after a hard day in the saddle. Last night Andi enjoyed a pint of 80/- which for those of you not in the know is a Scottish ale.
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Re: John O Groats to Lands End cycle ride

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***UPDATE 20:00 - DAY FIVE***
The team are just arriving at Larkhall which is South East of Glasgow. The morning started with some rain but the rest of the day has been quite sunny, Andi sounds in much better spirits today after a good nights sleep at the B&B. I asked Andi if they have had any punctures, and luckily so far they've been okay, apart for a slight problem with Sara's handlebars. Tomorrow should bring them very close to the English border.
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Re: John O Groats to Lands End cycle ride

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***UPDATE 16:30 - DAY SIX***
Andi called soon after passing through Lockerbie, it has been a much nicer day today with plenty of sunshine. Andi and Sara are going to continue cycling for another couple of hours and should get very close to the English border before stopping for the night.
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Re: John O Groats to Lands End cycle ride

Post by Dr Who »

***UPDATE 19:30 - DAY SEVEN***

Andi & Sara covered 72 miles today and are staying in B & B in Carnforth, which Andi tells me is approx 6 miles from Morecombe..
The weather has been very good and Andi is sunburnt, Sara had a minor accident and came off her bike and is a little bruised, but more importantly the bike is still in one piece :P
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Re: John O Groats to Lands End cycle ride

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Thanks for doing the update Dr Who, Andi tried to call me at around 7 o'clock but I was just out picking up a lovely Indian takeaway (Lamb tikka madras). Andi had spoken to me around 5 'oclock when he was cycling along on the A5074 towards Lancaster, he mentioned Sara's fall, sounds like she was lucky not to break anything.
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Re: John O Groats to Lands End cycle ride

Post by ping pon »

***UPDATE 20:23 - DAY EIGHT***
An eventful day and Andi and Sara have cycled past Aintree, Goodison Park & Anfield. When Andi called they were just south of the Mersey.
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Re: John O Groats to Lands End cycle ride

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***UPDATE 17:30 - DAY TEN***

Our dynamic duo were near Gloucsester and had their first puncture today...
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Re: John O Groats to Lands End cycle ride

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Thats not bad, to get 2/3rd's of the way through before the first puncture. They are well over half way now and the finishing line is almost in sight!
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Re: John O Groats to Lands End cycle ride

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*** UPDATE 16:50 - DAY ELEVEN ***
I missed Andi's call but he has left a message. They are a few miles outside Bridgewater and currently hope to finish on Sunday evening.
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Re: John O Groats to Lands End cycle ride

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***UPDATE 17:30 - DAY TWELVE***
It has been a mainly dry and overcast day with some sunny spells. Andi called me at the top of a hill while he was waiting for Sara to make her way up. They are deep in cider country about 10 miles from Okehampton. They have now travelled over 700 miles with about 100 miles left to go. Almost certain that they will finish on Sunday now.
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Re: John O Groats to Lands End cycle ride

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***FINAL UPDATE 11:07 - DAY FOURTEEN***
I've just received the call from Andi that they've finished, 1 day ahead of schedule. Congrats to Andi & Sara for covering the 908 miles. It's a very nice morning down at Land's End and Andi has just met some people starting the challenge going in the opposite direction. Final; time was 13 days, and a few hours (can't remember exactly how many Andi said), anyone reckon they could beat this?
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Re: John O Groats to Lands End cycle ride

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Re: John O Groats to Lands End cycle ride

Post by nozzacook »

Met Andi & Sarah for a post End to End drink both looked very well for having spent two weeks in the saddle.

Should be back in Bournmouth by now.
26 miles 385yards in 4h 14m 40s.
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Re: John O Groats to Lands End cycle ride

Post by palkanetoijala31 »

Well im back in Bournemouth and surprising no aches or pains.Sara has a vast bruise on both legs stretching from the thigh to knees here is what happened throughout the days.

Day Saturday 4th April Bournemouth - Coventry

Drove up about 6pm and made Coventry about 9pm found it hard to find Formule 1 hotel but managed it eventually.Found a JD Whetherspoons had a quick pint and a Kebab shop on the way back had a nice burger and chips.

Day Sunday 5th April Coventry - Canisbay (2 miles west of John O groats)

Started early for a long drive up to John O groats stopped off in Lesmahagow for a pint of 80 shilling ale arrived at the hostel just before 8pm and the sunlight going down.

Day Monday 6th April John O Groats - Dalchalm (1 mile north of Brora)

Seeing as i have already ridden these roads before i knew what to expect not much of note very few people lots of sheep,cows and some very steep hills.We seemed to got into a very good style and the miles dropped off quite quickly.I told Sara u just concentrate on the first village/town up the road ie.Wick and then knock them off 1 by 1.Eventually we got to 1 of my favourite bars Bannockburn bar in Helmsdale but it was shut so we went across the road had a quick pint and then cycled the last 9 miles to our camp site for the night.

Day Tuesday 7th April Dalchalm - Dores (3 miles south west of Inverness)

This was our hardest day emotionally and fatigue wise we had a lovely start to our first bridge crossing then an long walk up a climb that seemed to go on forever.Another bridge crossing and the beautiful walk through Tain city centre we intended to go over on a boat to the Black isle from balnapaling.A slight alteration to plan and we had to go to the 3rd bridge crossing that day over the Cromarty firth this was horrible we had to walk over the bridge as the wind was so strong.A long uphill and a inconsiderate Lorry driver who really got up my goat i really wished he had pulled into the layby i wanted to smack his head in.After we got to the top our mood improved and we were very relieved when we crossed the Kessock bridge and got to our B&B for the night.

Day Wednesday 8th April Dores - Ben Nevis Mountain (2 miles south of Fort William)

A much better start and beautiful scenery all down Loch Ness to Foyers Sara wanted to see this as much as i did.Foyers a nice post office and waterfall and we got to see some gr8 wildlife on the barren hills. (much better than going down the a82 on the other side)
1 particular sheep with a new born lamb whom were leaning against a fence seemed to want to pose for a picture then ran off.We crissed crossed the various lochs Loch Oich and Loch Lochy and picked up the the Great Glen way this although quiet was probably slower than the road.At the end we were quite shattered it was 67 miles we covered but a gr8 campsite right under the shadow of Ben Nevis.

Day Thursday 9th April Glen Coe - Crianlarich

Another good fast start we travelled down the side of Loch Linnhe and passed the point which i had no further knowledge of the roads.A windy and wet crossing of Ballachulish bridge and we stopped in Glen Coe for a Coffee and lovely Cake hmmm.Then the rain really came down we were soaked and with the hills our momentum slowed and we were really not happy i somehow convinced Sara we make Crianlarich by the end of the day and we did and we were glad we had a B&B.

Day Friday 10th April Crianlarich - Larkhall

Beautiful start downhill for the first 5 miles and shot all down the side of Loch Lomond and into Luss a lovely place to visit stopped for an ice cream and drink.Met my father just before Balloch for a lovely lunch and the invetiable how do we get across Glasgow.We slightly got lost around Balloch but my navigation skills got us back on track and somehow on a cycle path into the centre although this went through some really rough areas.Glasgow a really bad place for the car signs are awful and we went over 4 miles trying to find the correct road i just relied on the direction South east if it went anywhere different i changed the road.Somehow we got to Hamilton and a welcome KFC and took a lift for 2 miles to our B&B we have never found it otherwise just outside Larkhall (note watch ur pound coins there we think we were given fake ones)

Day Satruday 11th April Larkhall - Longtown

Our best day by far we took the road which criss crosses the M74 and A74M a quiet road with hardly any traffic and even a cycle lane we bombed it down with good sunshine.Sara set a really fast pace even 1 I found hard going to keep up with Sara was really happy to Pass the border and out of Scotland we stopped for a pint in the last bar in Scotland. (whom dont seem to like the English very proud of being Scottish there) stopped for the various photos and waltzed into our camp site for a cold night.

Day Sunday 12th April Longtown - Carnforth

A good start and Carlisle and Penrith allthough dull were knocked off quite easily sunshine was nice and i had quite bad sunburn at this point.then lovely scenery around Ullswater but a god awfull hill up to the Kirkstone Pass which took us ages to walk up thank god there was a pub at the top.Now on every hill we descended Sara went first and i followed this time i went first big mistake coming down i realised something was wrong Sara had fallen off very badly in some pain fortunately my father was on the scene helping her out.I think Sara could see how upset i was so sparing me some pain told me to go on to Windermere and the half way point i had been told about it was just outside a cafe where we sat down to have some chips.The obvious shock of falling off had dulled some of the pain but Sara obviously couldnt continue for the day i was left alone to cover the 21 miles this was a lot more than we wanted too but we couldnt find any accommodation being Easter Sunday.I was wrecked at the end due to a combination of being hurt,angry we consoled ourselves by taking some funny photographs of Morecambe.

Day Monday 13th April Carnforth - (i believe Jct 5 M53)

Another bad day cause of the injuries to sara and we got lost along the way we somehow managed to find Aintree and Goodison Park and Anfield Liverpool is a hard city to cycle in so we walked a lot of this planned to get ferry across.Father on other side found out we couldnt do this due to early closing so had to pick us up to go through tunnel by car far too dangerous to do on bike.I think this was the worst day of the lot mood obviously bad and we were glad to get out of Liverpool.

Day Tuesday 14th April Jct 5 M53 - Bridgnorth

At least we knew we didnt have to book accommodation for this day as my relatives lived in bridgnorth although this was still a bad day since Gretna Green we hadnt enjoyed hardly any of it no rhythm in cycling and a very expensive pint in a JD Whetherspoon even more expensive than Bournemouth.?

Day Wednesday 15th April Bridgnorth - Whitminster (6 miles South West of Gloucester)

Day started horribly a thunder and Lightning storm brought us to a stop too risky to carry on and sheltered under a tree eventually in the safety of Fathers car it passed we had changed our route at this point to go down to Kidderminster and follow the A38 on advice of relatives.Good progress was made and at 3pm we were well on the way to Gloucester which i had predicted Father goes ahead at this point every day to sort out accommodation 15-20 miles up the road.We press on and for not the first time he gets a little annoyed and depressed that he cant find anything the last place we tried just as we caught him up at just past Whitminster the George Inn had camping we quickly got the tent up with what little daylight left and settled down for a heavy drinking session.

Day Thursday 16th April Whitminster - Huntspill (2 miles south of Highbridge/Burnham on Sea)

After our drinking session the previous night we were in good spirits and despite the most awful drivers in Bristol area whom expletives were exchanged couldnt dampen our spirits as we knew we were getting close to home we settled in a lovely bar which really should advertise their accommodation more we were the 1st people in there from the 7th April.

Day Friday 17th April Huntspill - Whiddon Down (12 miles east of Okehampton)

A relatively easy day in the saddle not many miles covered but due to route alteration decided on North Dartmoor route instead of South and this saved us some miles but not the grief of steep hills which probably counted out the benefits of it which only 1 was not crossing Exeter.

Day Saturday 18th April Whiddon Down - Scorrier (2 miles east of Redruth)

The best and by far productive day in the saddle we tried to get as many miles close to Lands end as we could and tried to predict how close to Nozza home for possible accommodation options we speedily went down the A30 which isnt that bad a road for cyclists despite some people going in the opposite direction telling us otherwise.We threw in the towel 30 miles away and went into redruth for a well earned pint and chinese.

Day Sunday 19th April Scorrier - Lands End And Pendeen

Set off extremely early in the day and sped down to complete the last few miles to Lands End it was really disappointing we were not elated as we were crossing the Scottish border but we were happy phoned lots of people to say we had done it and took photographs (finish time 11.07 so a final time of 13 days 4h and 7mins) drove up to Pendeen and Nozza pub where i went through the real ales 1 by 1 I still think bishops Finger was the best and made it back to Bournemouth for Sunday lunch after getting some Cornish Cider)
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Re: John O Groats to Lands End cycle ride

Post by Going Underground »

Well done Andi & Sarah a fantastic achievement that now makes you members of the "end to end" club. :D It certainly sounds like you had quite a few adventures on your journey as well....
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