Category: lejog

Day 2 – RIP Dave’s old friend

Today the rain returned. We were right to think the good weather wouldnt last. “give it five more minutes” just meant we left in heavier rain.

The day started bad when a seagull escaped with one of our boiled eggs. It did not get better from here on in.

Firstly the rain. It was relentless and did not let up even after it had given us a thorough soaking.

Secondly was the hills. Not gonna bang on about them but yesterday was a whole lot easier.

Thirdly dave hit a pothole. It bent both his front and rear rims and split his frame. This was bad news. Fortunately he limped on being the trooper he is.

We found a cycle shop in Tiverton where we payed our last respects to the dawes. Its still in the shop now, but due to our tight schedule, Dave left with an old rayleigh for over the odds. But if it gets us all the way it will be worth its weight in gold.

Let’s hope our fortunes fare better tomorrow!

Day 1 – Cornish Hills

We were pre-warned by multiple people that the Cornish Hills are some of the toughest. Perhaps its a good idea we get these out the way first.

The warnings we received were quite accurate. From the offset of our 80 mile slog we hit hills. Big ones, small ones, rolling ones, long ones, steep ones….you get the jist.

To combat this onslaught, a variety of tactics were used. Due to a lack of sunday bus services dave sneaked a tow rope onto the back of ants bike, this worked until the next hill when ant turned round thinking he’d got a flat. Thus instead a variety of jelly babies billtong bananas nuts chocolate and strategically placed vaseline wa the only answer. Oh plus rather a lot of sweat (making our faces white with salt!), and gritted teeth.

Getting past Truro by 12.30 a little ahead of schedule we stopped for some lunch. As its Sunday we had the obligatory sunday roast. Bad move. As pleasant as it was, it sat in our stomachs and refused to budge. This uncomfortable feeling meant afternoon progress was slow. A stint on the A39 didn’t lift our spirits!

We finally arrived at our campsite in Tintagel not before a killer 20% climb.

Weather today has been anything but british (this year at least)… we even had to apply suncream. In fact the sun is still shining down on two very tired brummies… Rain headed our way no doubt!

The Route

Day 1 – Sun 15th July – Lands End to Tintagel – 79 Miles

Day 2 – Mon 16th July – Tintagel to Greenham (nr Taunton) – 86.7 Miles

Day 3 – Tue 17th July – Greenham to St Briavells – 82 Miles

Day 4 – Wed 18th July – St Briavells to Shrewsbury – 76.7 Miles

Day 5 – Thur 19th July – Shrewsbury to Ormskirk – 80 Miles

Day 6 – Fri 20th July – Ormskirk to Glenridding – 80.7 Miles

Day 7 – Sat 21st July – Glenridding to Glenmidge – 76.1 Miles

Day 8 – Sun 22nd July – Glenmidge to Loch Lomond – 92.3 Miles

Day 9 – Mon 23rd July – Loch Lomond to Glencoe – 63.8 Miles

Day 10 – Tue 24th July – Glencoe to Drumndrochit – 70 Miles

Day 11 – Wed 25th July – Drumnadrochit to Brora – 71.5 Miles

Day 12 – Thur 26th July – Brora to John O’Groats to Thurso – 88.6 Miles

Total Distance – 947.4 Miles

[iframe src=”//ridewithgps.com/routes/1507152/embed” height=”500px” width=”100%” frameborder=”0″]

Birmingham to Oxford – 1st July

As a warm up excercise Dave and I took part in the Birmingham to Oxford charity bike ride.

We rode about 85 miles in total. It was tough at times, especially over the Cotswold Hills. The race organisers seemed to place all their photographers at the top of the hardest climbs, just to catch you looking your worst!

This is pretty typical terrain we’ll be experiencing over the first few days, only we’ll be carrying far more weight.

Although im aching today, im still looking forward to our trip in less than 2 weeks time!