Planning and logistics

This post aims to cover the planning and logistics that went into our LEJOG (this was a real team effort!), the aim of which is to give a degree of insight into the thought processes that went into deciding the route, transport and accommodation to make the ride happen successfully.

Initial planning

There are huge number of published resources which give an equally huge number of variations on the LEJOG route. We started serious route planning towards the end of 2013 by reading a few blogs and books, and looking at a number of variations such how many days, Edinburgh vs Glasgow, lanes vs main roads etc.

The key to our route planning was (a) what felt "do-able" in terms of mileage per day and (b) what would work with taking 2 weeks holiday from work. Working from a basis of around 900 miles as a base distance for LEJOG and 2 weeks holiday, it seemed entirely sensible to go for around 90 miles a day for 10 days. This would mean:

• 1 day for packing
• 1 day to travel from London to Land's End (by road)
• 10 days cycling
• 2/3 days to travel home, during which which time we could celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary at a suitable location

We decided that we should try to finish the final day's cycling by lunchtime, so that we could make a reasonable inroad into the journey home by the end of Day 10. This did mean that Day 9 would have to finish somewhere relatively near John O'Groats, and therefore would increase the distance to be covered on Days 1-9 by a small amount.

We also decided that July would be the best option, as (a) we wanted the ride to finish a day or two before our wedding anniversary and (b) the weather in July would be (hopefully) as good as it gets in the UK, and booked the time off from work.

Accommodation
We initially agreed that the most sensible option for the trip would be to hire a motorhome, the rationale being that we could prepare our own food and we would not have to keep packing and unpacking from hotel to hotel. We used our Christmas break to scope out a suitable model, and made a reservation for the agreed dates.

The next step was to look for suitable accommodation, which we began to do around 3 months out from the start date. We identified camp sites around the finish location for each day (see below - Route Planning) and then adjusted the proposed route to finish at a suitable site. What we had not fully appreciated at this point was that many sites would only accept bookings from members of either the Caravan Club or Camping & Caravanning Club and so we took out memberships with both. We also did not appreciate that many sites would already be fully booked so there were a few anxious moments while we (well, my wife) called and emailed to find a site with a vacancy. The other slightly frustrating point was that some sites had a minimum 2 or 3 night stay policy which seemed to defeat the whole point of a motorhome holiday, but we had little option but to book anyway.

Having done all of this and ended up with accommodation plus a 10 day route, I then got on with training until one weekend when we were staying in a lovely pub in the Cotswolds. This was part of the training plan, in that I had trained on the Saturday morning, then we drove to the pub and stayed over, with the plan being for me to cycle back in the morning while Becky drove back. After breakfast Becky looked wistfully around the room (which was lovely) and said something along the lines of "If we stayed in B&B accommodation, every day could be like this".

This really did shine a light on the whole concept of using a motorhome for this trip for us; why were we using a motorhome? When we got home we had a long conversation and agreed that in reality:

• The motorhome offered poor value for money against B&B accommodation or hotels
• Access to supermarkets and tourist activities was limited if using a motorhome
• There was an element of drudgery for Becky, as she would be solely responsible for emptying the waste tanks, and doing all the cooking and shopping
• She would also be stuck at the campsite during the day with nothing to do
• She was very anxious about damaging it on some of the very narrow roads on the route
• Parking a motorhome is problematic, in that visibility is limited and they generally need 2 parking spaces 

The upshot was that we decided to go for B&B accommodation or hotels, and travel using our own car; this did mean more telephone calls and emails to find suitable accommodation, and some consequential alteration to the route, but it was definitely the correct decision. The only place we had difficulty finding accommodation was in Glasgow, as the Commonwealth Games were on at the time, but everywhere else was no problem. Please refer to the "Accommodation and Food" post for more information on where we stayed and ate.

I am not saying that booking a motorhome should be ruled out as an option for LEJOG; it may well work for you if you're not bothered about the above points, and the question of value for money becomes less of an issue if you are thinking of doing this with another couple, where the chores and driving can be shared.

Route planning
As mentioned above, the starting point for this was looking at 10 days riding, with the last day being a very short day. It was a very simple matter to use Google Maps to identify a 90 mile or so route for each day, which then gave an idea of start and finish points, and then to refine that initial route using Garmin Connect to produce something that could be exported as a .gpx file to my Garmin Edge. I have shown the actual route ridden below; you will need a Garmin account to access them. I found that when route planning it was helpful to have Garmin Connect open as the actual planning tool, plus Google Maps for the general route view, and Google Street View to check that Garmin Connect was not trying to send me down a canal path or similar (which it will try to do from time to time).

In terms of the actual routes used, I stuck to relatively main roads as this limited both the potential for getting lost, and also kept the route to a reasonable length. As much as I would have loved to go off exploring the byways and beauty spots, I was on a limited timescale and had to focus on getting each day's ride under my belt. Maybe one day I will go back and explore some of the areas I passed through, but not on this trip.

There were two specific parts of the route which caused me concern: the section from Land's End to Devon (Day 1), and the section through Glasgow to Dumbarton (Day 6).

The Day 1 route concerned me because it seemed like a very definite choice between coast hugging, and making slow progress, and taking the A30, which got some very bad write-ups in terms of it being a very dangerous road. In the end I decided to take the A30 as far as Bodmin, and then approach Okehampton from the south, via Dartmoor. The A30 is a fast road, and it is a little hairy when you are crossing the turn offs to other roads; my approach was to look behind very carefully and get out of the saddle so that motorists could see me from a way off. I also made sure that my rear and helmet LEDs were both switched on, even though it was very bright sunshine. The worse thing about the road is the constant noise from the traffic going past, which did become very wearing after a while.

The Day 6 route bothered me because Glasgow looked like a navigational nightmare; I had noted the fact that there is a riverside route which gets top marks in most LEJOG write ups, but I was concerned that I might miss it and end up on one of the dual carriageways going through the city centre. In the end I needn't have worried, as the Commonwealth Games had resulted in a large number of road closures and diversions, and I had plenty of time to find some quiet routes through the city, which popped me out exactly where I wanted to be, just a couple of miles away from that evening's accommodation.

As backup, I highlighted all the routes on large scale AA maps, and took the relevant map with me each day just in case my Garmin failed.

The Route

This is the entire route ready for printing onto 6 x 4 index cards:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/x2jrp2tnckpfz1z/B%26B%20cycling%20routes.doc?dl=0

These are the Garmin links:

Day 1 Land's End to Okehampton
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/547358757

Day 2 Okehampton to Almondsbury
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/547358582

Day 3 Almondsbury to Shrewsbury
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/547358331

Day 4 Shrewsbury to Garstang
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/548036369

Day 5 Garstang to Gretna Green
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/548743591

Day 6 Gretna Green to Dumbarton
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/549347350

Day 7 Dumbarton to Fort William
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/549971263

Day 8 Fort William to Dingwall
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/551011049

Day 9 Dingwall to Thrumster
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/551786693

Day 10 Thrumster to John O'Groats

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/552560922

Resources
These are the main sources we used for route planning and accommodation:
http://www.campingandcaravanningclub.co.uk/
http://www.caravanclub.co.uk/
http://www.justgo.uk.com/
https://www.google.co.uk/maps
http://connect.garmin.com/
http://www.sawdays.co.uk/
http://www.cycle-endtoend.org.uk/

Training for LEJOG

Overview

I was only in a position to start serious training for LEJOG around 6 months before the planned start date, following a spot of surgery which kept me off the bike for the latter part of 2013. I used the time off the bike to have a think about what the aims of a training plan should be, and what I needed to do in terms of physical preparation in order to meet the challenge of LEJOG.

Key priorities
These were quite simple: time in the saddle, to lose weight, to learn to climb efficiently when seated, and to have stronger legs and core.

Training history
I am now in my mid-50's, and have been cycling since my early teens. I raced in my teens and early twenties, then took up running across a range of distances from 10k to marathon, mixed in with some mountain biking, until my late 30's when I started riding on the road again. In 2006 I took part in a charity ride from London to Paris over 4 days, and in 2007 I rode the cyclosportive which used the 120 mile route of the 1st road stage of the 2007 Tour de France from London to Canterbury. Getting round the latter made me think that riding the Etape du Tour on the other side of the Channel might be a challenge worth taking on at some point, so in late 2008 I signed up for the 2009 Etape which finished up the giant of Provence, the awesome Mont Ventoux. I put together a training plan based on the principles I had used when training for marathons in the past, and slogged away through the winter of 2008/9, which was one the coldest winters of recent years, and then rode a number of UK sportives during the spring and early summer as part of the plan.

Nothing can prepare you for Mont Ventoux; I suffered more than I thought was possible, a combination of heat, poor nutrition, and under-training. However, I got round, and decided that if I ever did anything similar again I would learn from the experience and apply the lessons learned to  my preparation.

The training
Taking note from my Ventoux experience, I decided the key priorities for my plan (as above) and put together a plan on an Excel spreadsheet, my weapon of choice for this sort of exercise.

The plan is here in Dropbox:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4oxw0z24o38j1pm/2014%20LEJOG%20training%20plan%20for%20dropbox.xlsx

Please contact me if you cannot access this and I will email it to you.

The plan was quite a simple one; ride my bike consistently for 6 months or so, and gradually increase the distance ridden until I could ride 2 back to back rides of 90 miles or so, based on the longest ride I expected to do on LEJOG of around 100 miles. This plan would be backed up by a diet, the goal of which was to lose around around 14 lbs/6 kg, plus off the bike exercises to build leg strength and maintain the core.

I did look at some training plans on the web, but they all seemed to require either riding to and from work or evening rides, which were simply not an option given my working patterns. Let me explain: I live in central London, around 4 miles from the office; we have no bike parking at work (none), and my job requires the sort of hours which means (a) I already get up at 6am (b) I don't get home in time to get out for a ride and (c) really do not want to ride in central London in the peak of the rush hour unless I have to, which I don't.

The other factors that I had to build in to the plan were (a) my social life, in the shape of concerts and dance performances, most of which had been booked a year in advance and (b) a number of work commitments which fell on weekends.

So, I was left with riding on Saturday and Sunday, putting in a mid-week turbo session, and doing daily exercises to develop leg and core strength. In terms of dietary adjustment, this took the form of substituting protein shakes for post-ride cakes and going out for dinner less.

What else? In order to create the illusion that I wasn't spending all my weekends cycling, we agreed that we should book in a few weekends away and I would cycle to and from the location, while my wife drove there and back.

All the above gave me a 6 month plan, which was built around known events on the calendar,  and incorporated 3 rest weekends within the plan, plus a 2 week taper before the start of LEJOG.

The plan was monitored via a Garmin Edge 705, to give me mileage data plus practice at navigation using pre-planned routes, and heart rate information. The latter was important in that I planned to stick to a maximum heart rate of 136 bpm, which equates to the top end of my fat burning zone. My guru for this training was the ultradistance runner Stu Mittleman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stu_Mittleman), whose writing contains much valuable insight for the long distance athlete.

Analysis

My starting point for the plan was riding 100 miles in a weekend, stretching this goal gradually until I was able to ride for at least 70 miles on one of the days, then moving on to the point where I could manage 2 long ride of 70 miles plus on consecutive days. The reality was that I did not put 2 back to back long rides together until week 14, when I cycled to and from Harwich, and after that it was fairly hit and miss until week 20, or 6 weeks before the ride, when I finally got in some long rides.

So what went well?

1. Having a plan was essential; without this, there would have been no sense of progression and it would have been very easy just to have an easy day or not go out if it was raining or cold. 
2. Sticking to a fat-burning zone also worked and had 2 clear benefits; firstly, I lost around 12lbs/5kg, and secondly I adapted to working at in that zone to the extent that average heart rate on most days of the ride was around 106-109 bpm.
3. Over the course of the training, I learned to climb sitting down in a low gear, something which came in very useful when pacing my self up some of the long climbs on the route.
4. I also learned how to pace myself during the course of each day so that I always finished with just a little bit left in the tank; this was a direct result of pacing all of my training rides so that "blowing up" was minimised.
5. My daily exercise regime focusing on core and leg strength paid off, in that I was able to cope with both long and short climbs without going into the red for extended periods of time.
6. The training plan gave me every opportunity to learn what worked in terms of nutrition on the bike, and meant that I knew exactly what to eat and drink and when. Practise made perfect in this case.

What would I have done differently?

1. With the benefit of hindsight, my training plan was a little ambitious in terms of getting in the long rides and maintaining any sort of ride/life balance. Top tip: forget about a social life.
2. Stuck to my plan for a regular, mid-week, interval session on the turbo. It just didn't happen, and might have made a few of the more difficult times on the ride a little less difficult.

What didn't I expect?
The single biggest shock to me between training and the ride itself was sitting in the saddle for extended periods of time. Riding in central London with traffic, junctions, stop signs and the like means that my training rides were punctuated with frequent stops and getting out the saddle, so it was a huge shock to set off each day on LEJOG and not have to stop or get out of the saddle for 20 or 30 miles. This led to more soft tissue soreness from the saddle than I had experienced during similar length training rides, and was a problem toward the middle of LEJOG, after which it did ease off a little.

Conclusions
So did the plan work? Overall, yes, it did. I was able to cope with each day and the cumulative effects of the ride as well as I could have hoped. I was not absolutely destroyed at the end of any day nor at the finish.

The key factors were pacing, nutrition and a training plan.

Nutrition - pre-ride, on the move, and post-ride

Nutrition is such a personal subject that I am not going anywhere near recommending what I ate and drank during the course of LEJOG as anything other than what worked for me. So here goes.

Pre-ride food
In 2 words, "cooked breakfast". I had field tested this on a couple of weekend training rides, and knew that if I had a decent cooked breakfast I could ride 80 or 90 miles without having to eat anything other that a few sweets. This theory worked until Day 5 when the fat overload gave me acute indigestion which almost stopped me in my tracks. For some reason I put this down to eating too much toast, and repeated the breakfast on Day 6, only to again be crippled with indigestion. I discussed the problem with my soigneur, who identified the cause as being too much fat in my diet rather than toast, and suggested that I try scrambled eggs with toast the next day. Success, no more indigestion! I then had either eggs in one form or another or smoked haddock, plus toast, and both combinations kept me going all day with some topping up, as described below.

Food on the move
My approach to keeping the fires stoked during the day was a very simple one, and one which I knew worked from my longer training rides; a banana after 25 or 30 miles, a few Percy Pigs over the next 30 miles, then a 2nd banana and a liquorice bar with around 25 miles to go, then a few more Percys. All washed down with around 2 to 2.5 litres of plain water. Why plain water and not some exotic energy drink? Three reasons: firstly, energy drinks have a catastrophic effect on my gut, secondly, water is usually available in most roadside shops, thirdly, water is good for pouring over yourself when the temperature soars, energy drinks not so much.
I found that breaking each day up into roughly thirds helped with both pacing and eating. Stopping as described above, even just for 10 minutes or so to have a drink and a snack really helped make the day manageable, and gave weary limbs a chance to recover.

Post-ride food

One of the huge benefits of doing this ride was that for 10 days I was able to follow the "see food" diet; see food, eat it, at least in the evening. I also established a good routine of drinking a protein shake and eating a banana immediately post-ride, showering and washing kit, then getting down for dinner as as was humanly possible e.g. for 1830 or 1900 hrs.

Dinner: Day 1 - steak, Day 2 - steak, Day 3 - steak then ice cream, Day 4 - duck pancakes then mixed grill, Day 5 - Thai curry, Day 6 - chicken fajitas then ice cream, Day 7 - mussels then beef, Day 8 - lasagne, sticky toffee pudding and ice cream, Day 9 - poached haddock then blancmange

As I said at the start of this section, this is what I had and it worked for me; it was a very rich and meat-heavy diet, and I paid for that on days 5 and 6 with indigestion, but adjusting breakfast to exclude meat sorted that out.

Reflections

First of all it has to be said that this was an absolutely fantastic experience.  To support the person you love in achieving their goal, whatever that might be, feels like giving them a wonderful gift.  To share an endeavour of that magnitude is a powerfully cohesive experience, and the pride I felt in Sean’s achievement was at times overwhelming.  But in many ways the experience was nothing like I had anticipated.

I had been concerned about a number of things which completely didn’t happen.  Whenever you watch a TV programme about someone who attempts some kind of endurance feat, there are always dark days where they don’t want to carry on.  I thought this might happen and I wasn’t sure how I would motivate Sean when that happened.  But it didn’t – he was motivated all the way through and although there were some tough times, it was consistently the experience he wanted it to be.  I was also quite worried about the prospect of saddle sores.  I knew he was fit and physically up to the challenge, but saddle sores aren’t something you can protect against through training, and if they occurred it would have been a serious problem.  In the undercarriage department, though, things were fine.  I also can’t believe he rode for TEN DAYS without a single puncture, when there have been days he’s been out training for a few hours and had more than one.

As for me, I did have concerns about how I would cope.  Although I am very self sufficient, I don’t deal well with drudgery and I did worry that I’d start to resent the endless driving, checking in, lugging suitcases around, packing up again…. you get the picture.  I will admit that I didn’t enjoy that element of the trip but I didn’t find myself resenting it as I had feared I would.  I was also very worried that I would start to get fatigued, which would lead to irritability and a diminished ability to deal with the whole situation.  I don’t sleep well at the best of times, especially in unfamiliar surroundings, and driving was going to be tiring as it still requires me to concentrate hard 100% of the time.  I didn’t sleep well for the first few nights but once I got into the swing of things, unfamiliarity became the new familiarity and I slept very well which helped me a lot.  I did get tired from time to time but I was careful to rest when I needed to and not put pressure on myself to do too much.

Routine was important for both of us and getting into a routine very early on in the trip I think helped with all of the above.  Small things like taking the cases out to the car before breakfast, having an avocado for a snack every afternoon just like I do at home, and bringing my favourite tea so I could have a cup at breakfast time, all make a big difference.  I usually get homesick when I’m away, but on this occasion I didn’t, and I’m sure those factors were a big contributor.

So having said a lot of things we worried about didn’t happen, there was also something we didn’t expect or plan for – not wanting it to stop.  Neither of us expected to feel that way on the penultimate day.  We both thought there would be a sense of jubilation and a rush to the finish line.  But when the moment came, we just wanted to carry on.

I also didn’t anticipate the comedown afterwards, which was kind of cataclysmic.  After achieving a challenge that epic, and having an experience that generated so many positive emotions, there really is no way to go but down.  We both struggled, but particularly me, to get back into the swing of being at work and taking part in our normal daily activities.  There were some very unexpected feelings of loss and profound sadness  which I found easier to deal with when a friend described the experience as being like a bereavement.  I think this is the only thing I would have done differently, in that I would have allowed myself a bit of slack and not beat myself up for not being on cloud nine for the weeks afterwards.

Would I do it again?  I’m not sure.  It was an amazing experience, and one of almost unadulterated positivity.  If we attempted something similar there would be a risk we’d be chasing that same feeling, which would by definition prevent us from catching it.  Having said that, if I could set this aside and approach a new challenge with the same open hearted enthusiasm as I did with LEJOG, who knows…

Accommodation and food

We started off by planning the route and then looked for accommodation near the designated stopping point for each day.  Apart from the night of our wedding anniversary, we didn't splash out, but we didn't do it on a budget either.  The most expensive night was at Gretna Green, which did seem to be an expensive place to stay, probably because of the wedding business.

We stayed at quite a variety of places, from hotels to pubs with rooms to small B&Bs.  Where possible we arranged to eat at the place we were staying, which I would recommend as it's much easier and you don't spend any time looking for somewhere to eat or travelling to your designated dinner spot.  This is important at the end of a tiring day.  If you're staying somewhere that doesn't have a bar, I would advise if possible asking your hosts to put a bottle of water (or the cyclist's favoured drink) in the fridge so he/she can have an ice cold drink when they arrive.  Obviously this doesn't apply if you're doing LEJOG in winter!

When searching for somewhere to stay, we started with www.sawdays.co.uk which has never let us down.  Where this didn't yield anywhere within a suitable distance of the stopping point, we put the postcode of the stopping point into www.tripadvisor.co.uk and chose the place with the best reviews.  This strategy seemed to work pretty well as we only ended up with one place that was below par, and that was because almost every hotel and B&B in the Glasgow area was fully booked due to the Commonwealth Games.

On our return journey, we knew we wanted to stay at the Peacock, so we worked backwards from there choosing places to stay which would give us a manageable drive each day.

So without further ado, here is a list of all the places we stayed and ate.

The Land's End Hotel

http://www.landsendhotel.co.uk/

It does what it says on the tin - it's a hotel, it's at Land's End.  The restaurant tries to be more fancy than it really is, but the panoramic views of the sea more than make up for this.  You'll definitely meet other end-to-enders which creates a great atmosphere at the start, and it means the hotel staff don't bat an eyelid at people taking bikes into the rooms.

The White Hart, Okehampton

http://www.thewhitehart-hotel.com/

This is an old coaching inn, so an interesting place to stay, although not good if you have any mobility problems as there are a lot of narrow corridors and stairs.  The rooms are bit small, and the shower was like being out in the rain on a warm day, but the food was excellent and the staff took my dietary requirements completely in their stride.  There was a good breakfast with plenty of choice of hot food.  We were allowed to keep the bike in the laundry room overnight.

The Bowl, Almondsbury

http://www.thebowlinn.co.uk/

An extremely picturesque pub with nicely decorated rooms, clean and modern.  The food was good traditional pub fare and although the waitress didn't know what gluten was, I was able to choose something suitable.  Service was a touch slow, which can be frustrating when one is feeling fractious after a long and tiring day.  The carpet in the room was a dark colour, so the bike stayed with us that night.

The Corbet Arms, Uffington

http://www.thecorbetarms.com/

Do not be fooled by the uninspiring website - this place is much better in the flesh.  The highlight is the terrace at the back where you can eat outdoors while looking out over the meadows and down to the river.  There is plenty of choice on the menu and the service was good.  The car park is huge and the rooms immaculate.  The only downside was the somewhat sniffy attitude of the staff member who we asked about storage for the bike, she wouldn't allow us to put it in the room but didn't provide a secure alternative.  The bike came in the room on the dust sheet we brought for the purpose.

Middle Holly Cottage, Forton

http://www.middlehollycottage.co.uk/

This is also better than it looks on the website.  The decor is lovely and the owners very welcoming.  Little touches like a mini fridge with fresh milk and homemade chocolates in it, were much appreciated.  At breakfast we had eggs laid by the hens who roam around in the garden, which was delightful.  The owners let us keep the bike in the locked garage overnight.

Dinner wasn't available here so we ate at The New Holly.

http://www.new-holly.co.uk/

This place is walking distance from Middle Holly Cottage, although take care as some of the walk is along a narrow country road with no footpath.  The food was good, and the portions were huge.  The only downside was the lack of proper decaf coffee - "you can't have an espresso, our decaf is instant".  Really.

Anvil View Guest House, Gretna Green

http://www.anvilview.com/

A comfortable place to stay.  The owners were very friendly and welcoming and gave us a good breakfast.  They were also very accommodating about the bike, which spent the night in the shed.  Dinner wasn't available here so we ate at Smiths Hotel which is about five minutes' walk up the road.

http://www.smithsgretnagreen.com/

This place self describes as a boutique hotel.  It isn't.  However it's perfectly adequate if you just want a meal at the end of the day and can cope with dining surrounded by brides and grooms.  There is a restaurant and a bar, we ate in the bar which was fine and had a very wide choice of food.

The Milton Inn, Dumbarton

http://www.miltoninn.co.uk/

This place is grim and the decor in the rooms is awful.  Now I've got that out the way I can also tell you that the staff are extremely friendly, fun and helpful, and the restaurant has a huge choice of cheap yet good quality food.  If you can set aside your aesthetic sensibilities, it'a  great place to stay.  Oh - and the upside of dreadful decor?  No worries about bringing the bike indoors.

The Lime Tree, Fort William

http://www.limetreefortwilliam.co.uk/

This place self describes as a boutique hotel, and it truly is.  Our room was cosy and beautifully decorated, and there is even a small art gallery attached to the hotel.  There are three comfortable public areas where you can read, relax or work on the laptop, which is very welcome when it's raining and you don't necessarily want to sit in your room all afternoon.  As the dinner was quite elaborate I had e-mailed ahead with my dietary requirements and they made a big effort to make sure everything was ok for me.  Breakfast was excellent and included croissants made on the premises.  The owner was a keen cyclist so not only was the bike housed appropriately overnight, we also got the use of some WD-40.

Knockbain House, Dingwall

http://www.knockbainhouse.co.uk/

This was one of the highlights of our trip.  The setting is truly beautiful and the house itself is lovely.  If you get the double room it's huge and you have plenty of space to spread out and relax.  There is also use of the very comfortable sitting room which has a floor to ceiling window allowing you to look out over the colourful garden and the hills beyond.  The hosts were a delight, a real pleasure to chat to and nothing was too much trouble.  We even got separate dinners completely unprompted - one for the person with dietary requirements and one for the hungry cyclist.  We ate redcurrants from the garden.  Even hot drinks after dinner were tailored, with fresh coffee for Sean and a ginger infusion for me.  As if this wasn't idyllic enough, our hosts were kind enough to let me stay as long as I wanted the next day, so I had plenty of opportunity to enjoy the house and gardens.  Fantastic.  And the bike stayed in the garage overnight.

Thrumster Estate, Thrumster

http://www.thrumster.co.uk/

This is a very interesting property as it was once a hunting lodge.  If you like things modern and immaculate, it's not for you, but it was a great experience.  The hosts were very welcoming, a pleasure to chat to and enthusiastic about Sean's cycling endeavours, and made a big effort to meet my dietary requirements without making me feel like I was being annoying.  The setting for dinner was sumptuous and there was also tea and cake for Sean on his arrival which I thought was a very nice touch.  No worries about the bike, this place is so remote you could leave your car outside unlocked, but it's also so huge there was no trouble popping it in an annex where it would be entirely safe.

Moorfield House, Boat of Garten

http://moorfieldhouse.com/

We didn't spend much time here but our impressions were good.  The whole place is immuculate, with traditional tartan inspired decor.  There is a large, light sitting room where we were served tea with a slice of cake on arrival.  The only issue is places to eat - the lack of which was highlighted while we were there as the most popular restaurant was closed, meaning all the others (well, there were two) were completely booked out.  The owners were very helpful in recommending a place in Avimore (below), where we drove, which is fine unless you don't have a car.  If we hadn't we might have ended up eating the plants in the garden.  The bike went in the garage.

The Cairngorm Hotel, Aviemore

http://www.cairngorm.com/

Don't be put off when you enter through the bar area of this place and it's a bit rough.  The restaurant offers a wide selection of cheap but good quality food, the service is friendly and prompt and there's a great atmosphere due to it being packed full of all types of people.  Perhaps I had rose coloured spectacles on because we'd just finished the ride, but I really enjoyed it.

Fairshaw Rigg, Hexham

http://www.fairshawrigg.co.uk/

The website advertises "a unique accommodation experience" and it certainly is that - in a good way!  The USP is that it's also an alpaca farm, which means you get the entertainment value of seeing the little chaps in the fields and sleeping under alpaca duvets.  In the morning there's homemade bread and eggs from the hens which share the fields with the alpacas.  The owners were clearly very proud of their alpacas, which was great to see.  We've promised ourselves to come back here next year and visit Vindolanda.  If you're staying here, you really need to have a car, as there's nothing within walking distance.  The bike went in the garage.

Carts Bog Inn, Langley

http://www.cartsbog.co.uk/

We went here on the recommendation of the owners, but ended up wishing we'd gone into Hexham.  There was a slightly hostile atmosphere and the service was glacial.  Having said that, when the food arrived I had to grudgingly admit it was good.

The Peacock, Rowsley

http://www.thepeacockatrowsley.com/

This place was, as the Americans would say, UH-MAY-ZING.  As soon as you walk in you can tell it's a classy joint.  The decor in the rooms is pure understated class.  The food was out of this world and there were even possets and so on inbetween courses to cleanse the palate.  The service was pure professionalism.  The only fly in the ointment was that they charge extra for a cooked breakfast, which I think is a bit cheeky, but unless you're a greedy hog like me you'll hardly need it as there is a spread of really delicious items.  I'd got used to seeing the rather dreary individual Kellogg's boxes but no - there were smoothies, pastries, and fresh strawberries.  You can also go to Caudwell's Mill http://www.caudwellsmill.co.uk/ and Chatsworth Farm Shop http://www.chatsworth.org/plan-your-visit/shop-and-eat/chatsworth-estate-farm-shop on the way back and fill the back of your car with goodies, which is extremely pleasant.  If you're looking for somewhere to celebrate in style at the end of your LEJOG or, you just feel like treating yourself, GO HERE!  It's imperative.  Oh - and the bike went in the garage, where it was probably sung to sleep by angels who fanned it with peacock feathers.

Other places of note

Poppy's Cafe, Golspie - this is a charming little place with friendly service, delicious coffee and cheerful decor.  They even have gluten free snacks and the loo was immaculate.

Fiddler's Cafe, Drumnadroicht - they do Illy coffee and there is a free car park across the road.  Yes, Londoners, you read that right.  A free car park.  Service is friendly and the loos were good.

Kit list

Cycling kit list

I do not do "travelling light", especially when I have a car available to take spare kit from A to B. Thank you to my soigneur (my wife) for doing all the lugging around at each destination; it was really appreciated.

1. Clothing

Short sleeve jerseys x 2 (Foska), long sleeve jersey (Assos), shorts x 2 (Assos), short sleeve undervests x 2 (Helly Hansen), sleeveless undervests x 2 (Helly Hansen), socks x 2 (Endura), cycling cap, arm warmers & leg warmers (Assos), gilet (Assos), track mitts x 2 (Specialized), full finger gloves, shoes x 2 (Specialized & Bontrager), overshoes (Endura), helmet (Specialized), Goretex jacket (Gore)

2. Accessories

Cycling glasses, Garmin & HR chest strap, saddle pack, minipump, helmet light, bottles x 2, waterproof wallet

3. Tools & spares

Tool box, spare inner tubes x 2, spare multitool, dust sheet, spare wheels, workshop apron, nitrile gloves

4. Other

Maps, food (6 boxes of fig rolls, 6 packs of Percy Pigs, 6 packs of Panda natural liquorice bars), protein shake powder & shaker, Assos chamois cream, Sudacreme, Assos repair gel, sportswash, sun lotion (Reimann P20), sunscreen

Comments on kit

I was wondering before the ride whether or not to take all of the above; in the event, I used everything apart from the long sleeved jersey. Obviously, this is not an exhaustive list and if you are one of the really brave souls doing LEJOG unsupported then you will need to cut back heavily on what you carry. I was particularly glad of the excellent Assos T607 F1 Mille S5 bib shorts, which saved my rear from lasting damage. At the risk of sounding like an Assos junkie, the shorts, together with Assos  cream and repair gel, prevented any saddle sores appearing, although there was still considerable soft tissue bruising over the sit bones.
It may seem extravagant to take 2 pairs of shoes, but I was very glad of the second pair after the Dumbarton-Fort William leg, as the first pair were soaked beyond use and I would have damaged them, and possibly myself, beyond repair if I had used them in such a state.
I was also very glad on both leg and arm warmers on a couple of rainy days; the day over Glencoe did reveal the limitations of my 5 year old Goretex top,  so that is now on the "to be replaced" list. The trip did make me very aware that you get what you pay for when buying cycling kit.
Other mentions in dispatches go to: the dust sheet (which allowed my bike access to cream-carpeted bedrooms), nitrile gloves, and Reimann P20 sunscreen,  which not only keeps the sun at bay, but also keeps torrential Scottish rain from chilling tired legs.
There was obviously a whole load of off the bike kit which I do not need to go into; I am sure you can work that out for yourself.
I will talk more about the wondrous nutritional powers of Marks and Spencer Percy Pigs and Panda liquorice in my nutrition blog.

Keeping it clean
One of the worries I had was keeping my kit clean; suffice to say that the combination of a hot shower, some sportswash and a fluffy towel kept everything on the right side of the hygiene police for 10 days. And it also worked for me.

Equipment and tech stuff

If, like me, you think nothing of holding an hour long conversation with a friend, or even someone you have met in the street, on the subject of gear ratios, then this section of the blog is for you.

Bike

I was very clear when I started to think about riding LEJOG that I needed a bike with mudguards, as the thought of riding for 85-100 miles in the rain was a real no-no. At the time, my winter bike was a Kona Honky Tonk, a lovely ride but a tad on the heavy side, so I looked at what was on the market and applied the following criteria:

• steel frame (for comfort)
• fittings for mudguards and rack (the latter if necessary)
• carbon fork
• proven pedigree
• sensible geometry

Having done the research, it was a simple decision to go for a Condor Fratello frameset. I already own two other Condors, and the geometry on the Fratello was broadly the same so off to Condor I went and bought a 52cm Fratello in slate grey:

http://www.condorcycles.com/Audax-Commute-Touring/9457-Condor-Fratello-Frameset/flypage.tpl.html

The plan was to build this up using the components from the Kona in late summer 2013 and then spend a pleasant autumn, winter and spring getting the miles in. This plan was derailed a little just after I bought the frame as I suffered an injury at the end of August requiring emergency surgery, which meant that I could not ride a bike until late October. Anyway, I built the frame up, and managed to get out half a dozen times before Christmas, which was enough to know that the frame was a good choice.

The frame was built up using the following kit off the Kona: Deda bars & stem, Campag (not Campy!) Centaur front & rear mechs, 12-25 Veloce 10 speed cassette, SRAM chain, and Mavic Open Pro rims on Campag Veloce 32 spoke hubs, Campag Veloce shifters plus unbranded deep-drop brake calipers. Winter tyres were 25mm Continental Grand Prix 4 Season. Time RXS pedals from the Kona completed the build.

I swapped the Kona's FSA chainset for a new SRAM Rival 50-34 compact chainset on the grounds of better availability of replacement bottom brackets and ease of maintenance.

I also changed the Specialized Toupe saddle on a Kona-branded seatpost for a Brooks B17 (bought used on Ebay) and fitted a carbon seatpost to help take the sting out of poor road surfaces.

Once I started training seriously, I also swapped the old Elite Ciussi Inox bottle cages for new Elite Custom Race cages, as these held the Elite Nanogel bottles very securely. I purchased the Nanogel bottles specifically for cold winter rides and they were very much fit for purpose in that they kept hot drinks warm for a couple of hours.

For the last few training rides and the ride itself, I swapped over the Veloce wheels for a pair of Mavic Open Pro rims on Campag Record 32 spoke hubs, again shod with 25mm Continental GP 4 Season tyres. The Veloce wheels went in the car as spares, and were thankfully never needed. Both pairs of wheels were hand built for me at Condor Cycles.

Other equipment

For navigation, I used a Garmin Edge 705 plus AA maps and a Cateye Strada computer as back up; the Strada was invaluable as I could keep an eye on the mileage whilst using the Edge to navigate, and I did not have to keep swapping screens on the Edge.

The Strada was not fixed to the bars, but instead I kept it with my route cards in the map pocket of my Edinburgh Bicycle Cooperative handlebar bag:

http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/products/revolution-adventure-bar-bag-3l?bct=browse%2faccessories%2fbags

This bag was invaluable on the ride; it not only kept my route cards in clear sight and dry, but also kept my supply of snacks easy to hand, and accessible on the move. It also contained my Goretex rain jacket, plus my cafe lock and a second spare inner tube, all of which otherwise would have had to go in my jersey pockets.

I also had a small Specialized bag under my saddle, containing a spare inner tube, multitool and tyre levers. I also had a few pairs of nitrile mechanics gloves tucked away, an absolute essential if you want to ride with clean hands after fixing a puncture.

Gear ratios

During my training, I had ridden the bike fully loaded around the Surrey hills, and had climbed the likes of Leith Hill in 34x25, not with ease but certainly feeling like I did not need anything lower. Having said that, there were a couple of times in Devon and Wales where 34x28 would have come in useful. I did find myself in 34x25 just about every day, and that was on a relatively lightly loaded bike; take a look at my Garmin HR readings and decide for yourself whether or not you need a lower ratio. If it helps I weigh about 180 lbs/82kg.

Equipment wear and tear

During the build up to the ride (January-July), the weather was on the damp side, with record rainfall in a couple of months. I destroyed two pairs of tyres (replacing each time with GP 4 Seasons) as a result of the gravel washed onto the roads, went through a couple of sets of brake blocks, and replaced the bottom bracket bearings after a particularly wet ride when I was forced to ride through a flood which came over the bottom bracket. I changed the gear and brake cables before I started LEJOG just to be on the safe side, and also swapped the pedals, which needed the bearing replacing after the rigours of the winter, for an identical pair off my track bike.

On the ride itself, the bike did have one off day, when everything was making clicking and grinding noises; this was my fault, as the bike has got drenched on the back of the car on the way to Cornwall and I had failed to dry it off properly before I started LEJOG. I lubed the wheels bearings, chain, and front & rear mechs, and regreased the bottom bracket, and everything worked as it should do.

The other replacement I made was to change the handlebar tape for Fizik bar tape with gel pads underneath; this made a real difference on the rougher sections of the ride , and spared my hands from taking a serious amount of punishment.

Riding position

I did think about getting a bike fit before LEJOG, but after 40 years of riding a bike reckoned that I could probably work it out for myself, which I did. The changes I made to my normal riding position were very simple; I fitted a 1 cm shorter stem than normal, added 1 cm of spacers under the stem to raise the bars and rotated the bars very slightly to make riding on the hoods more comfortable. I finished the ride with no neck strain, which had been a real source of worry to me, as I suffered a serious neck injury many years ago and I wanted to minimise any negative impact in that area.

I will cover clothing, shoes etc in the kit list section of this blog.

The End

As Sean has mentioned, last night's dinner was a somewhat unusual affair in a dining room the like of which I have never experienced.

The hospitality was great and despite my misgivings about the place, I really enjoyed the evening.

In the morning, neither of us wanted our adventure to finish and we distinctly dawdled over breakfast.  We had to leave eventually though, and when our hostess gave us a £25 donation on checking out, I immediately felt terrible about all the things I'd said about the place.

So off we set, towards the moment that we'd looked forward to for so long and then didn't want to arrive.  Once I got to John O'Groats it all seemed rather surreal and I whiled away some time talking to a lovely couple who were waiting there to meet their son who was also cycling from Land's End.  It felt good to exchange experiences of a loved one completing the challenge, and their pride was touching.  They also gave us a donation of £5, which I thought was very generous.

Sean arrived a little earlier than I expected, and I wasn't quite ready for him.  I'm not sure what ready would have meant in practice, but we hugged tightly and predictably I shed a few tears.  Romeo says he was totally dry eyed but I don't believe him.  The proud mum I was speaking to kindly took our photo and as usual, naughty Romeo managed to sneak into the shot.

I couldn't resist purchasing a doormat stating "The Lord giveth and the government taketh away" from the gift shop and after that we began our long homeward journey.  On the way we exchanged thoughts about our endeavours which could probably be summed up as "that was great wasn't it" "gosh, it's a long way" and "that was quite hard".  Our stop tonight was at Boat of Garten where we went to the pub for dinner and I ate and drank all manner of forbidden things.  Mmmmm.....

On Thursday it's our tenth wedding anniversary, meaning the next couple of days are just for us, so I'll bid farewell for now.  Thank you to everyone who has sent us messages of encouragement during our journey, it really has made a difference.  We get home on Friday, so I'll probably post some reflections on the trip as a whole over the weekend.

What a great experience.

Day 10 - And they think it's all over! It is now!

Last night was quite an experience. We were staying in a 1790 hunting lodge and dinner was, shall we say, quite interactive in terms of both the family who owned the house, their estate staff and the dogs. It was also exceptionally good and done in a style which has ceased to exist in many parts of the UK. The evening culminated in my trying the local malt in the company of the daughter of the family, and Guy, late of the Cameron Highlanders, and all round good man. I retired before things got out of hand, around the time that Guy suggested trying out the 7mm Mauser he had in the car. I wasn't going to mention this to Becky, but he left me a note referring to said firearm which Becky passed to me without comment in the morning. I also left with a £25 donation which I paid in via Justgiving today.

This morning saw a slightly leisurely breakfast interspersed with dog fussing, attempting to put off the moment when I would ease into the saddle for the last time. As you can see from the day's mileage figure below, the aim was to put in a very short ride to JOG, allowing time for the obligatory photos, before putting the bike on the car for the first leg of the journey home.

The ride was entirely incident free, and I have seldom felt so many mixed emotions as I did when I crested the final climb to see JOG at the bottom of the hill. I felt quite choked up as I passed the village sign, but had to get over it pretty quickly as there were still of couple of sharpish bends to get round.

Becky was there to meet me and give me a big hug by the "mileage sign", we chatted to few other people who had either just finished themselves or were waiting for their rider/s to appear. All done, we had a bite to eat, packed up the car, and set off to the south.

As we covered the journey in reverse down the A9 towards Inverness and picked up the route of Day 9, it began to strike me just how much ground we had covered, me cycling and Becky driving. It really has been quite a piece of organisation and sheer bloody effort to put this together. Once it has all sunk in,I will finish this blog and fill in the technical details.

Until then.

Mileage: 21.3

Total mileage: 867

Total calories: 52,517

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/552560922

https://www.justgiving.com/Sean-Bonnington/

Day 9 - The Hunting Lodge

Today was the last long ride of the trip, and given my overall state on the previous day, I was a little bit nervous about how the day would pan out.

It turned out I needn’t have worried; obviously consuming half my body weight in lasagne (thank you Denise) the previous evening has refilled the tank for the initial few miles to fly by. Detouring off the A9 before Tain brought the first drama of the day in the shape of a sociopathic golden retriever cross, which flew at me half way up a steep climb and unable to sprint away. He intended to wound at the least, so I was forced to dismount and resort to squirting water from my bottle into his eyes to make him back off. He was not happy at my presence on his patch, so I ended up walking backwards up the hill, while he still made the occasional rush at me for the next 50 metres or so.

Back on the bike, I eventually rejoined the A9, feeling pretty good and slogged it out until I reached the 55 mile point, where I hit the first of two fairly major climbs. The second of these, Berriedale, is a real heartbreaker and left me in bits with 20-odd miles still to go. Salvation appeared a couple of miles later in the shape of the tea room at the Laidhay Croft Museum, where coffee and ginger cake restored me a little. Note to other would-be LEJOG riders: if you want water or food, you will have to go into one of the small harbour towns. There are no petrol stations or the like on the main road.

At this point I did wonder about pressing on to John O’Groats, but decided that a 105 mile day was not on the cards and that I should stick to the agreed plan. Good choice, as the B&B for the night was well worth getting to on time; great dinner, and very good company.

So tomorrow; the last day, and I don’t really want this to end. A short ride to JOG, towel down, then bike on the back of the car and off back south. That’s the plan.

Mileage: 87.8

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/551786693

https://www.justgiving.com/Sean-Bonnington/

In which I am thrust outside my comfort zone

We had a wonderful evening last night.  We ate with the doors to the patio open and the table was set so beautifully it was like eating in a silver service restaurant.  The food was great, with ample portions of asparagus, cauliflower and a delicious courgette and chilli salad to go with my salmon.  While Sean worked his way through an enormous portion of sticky toffee pudding and ice cream, I was given white flesh nectarines with blueberries, raspberries and redcurrants from the garden.  I wouldn’t usually eat that much fruit but I was touched by the effort Denise had made, plus – it was just so nice!  After dinner we were invited to retire to the sofa for coffee.  I preferred not to drink tea or coffee?  No worries, they would slice some fresh ginger and make an infusion for me.  The setting, the wonderful hospitality and the beautiful weather made for an idyllic evening.  That night we both slept like babies.

In the morning it felt rather odd that this would be the last full day.  Partly because we had such a lovely stay at Knockbain House, I started to feel a bit nostalgic and didn’t want our adventure to stop.  Although inevitably it would have to, because once we got to John O’Groats we’d run out of road.

After settling up, David and Denise said I could stay as long as I wanted to and use the sitting room and gardens, so since I had enjoyed being there so much, I took them up on their offer.  I went into the garden and ran the first 20 steps of Ershibashi (actually it ended up being the first 18 steps, as I forgot about grasp the sparrow’s tail and twin dragons, but never mind) followed by a run through of the long form before heading inside for some meditation.  Wonderful.  I really didn’t want to leave, but I had to eventually, so off I went.

The journey to Thrumster was slow but easy and I stopped at a delightful cafe called Poppy’s in Golspie.  Yes, there was more scenery.  Yes, I still wasn’t bothered.

In Thrumster I had chosen an old laird’s house which has a room to rent, as I knew Sean would love the whole ancestral home experience.  I, however, was not so keen.  Insects began buzzing around my head as soon as I got out of the car.  The carpets were worn, the paint was peeling and there were spiders’ webs everywhere.  There were free range children and a dog that attempted to smell one’s crotch.  I fought down rising panic as I realised how far I was from John Lewis Oxford Street.

I attempted to make myself feel at home by unpacking, but it didn’t work, and I didn’t want to do any Pilates because I didn’t want to get down on that floor, so there was nothing for it but to find something to do outdoors.  I went downstairs and enquired brightly of my hostess what I could do for fun in the area.  “Fun?!”  She looked at me pityingly.  “Well, perhaps I could walk down to the coast?” I ventured.  She gave me directions – about a 2 mile walk – and I set off enthusiastically.

God, it was awful.  All the houses were grim.  

An air of desolation hung over the place.  Even the sheep regarded me suspiciously.  When I got to the coast, you couldn’t even get down onto the clifftop proper and the views were rubbish.  So, chastened, I turned on my heel to go back the way I came.

Immediately I found that it was uphill all the way.  A pall of heavy grey cloud hung overhead.  Midges buzzed around my face.  I shook my head to get rid of them and hit myself in the face with my ponytail.  I passed a box on fire by the side of the road.  

My thoughts turned again to John Lewis.  I trudged on.  I exchanged pleasantries with a man I passed working on his barn, and on hearing he had a Yorkshire accent, asked how long he’d been living here.  “15 years” he replied “and I love it here, I’d never want to live anywhere else.”  Dear God.

I was almost at the house when Sean pulled up beside me and my spirits were immediately lifted.  We walked back into the house together and d’you know what, the house seemed much nicer with him in it.

Roll on John O’Groats.

Day 8 - Running on empty

The sun screen stayed in the box this morning. Having spent much of the spring wearing Goretex (sometimes secretly in the the office), I was very reluctant to concede that I might need wet weather gear on this ride. Seeing a couple of animal transporters going past carrying  pairs of animals finally convinced me that the rain was here to stay, so it was on with the full monty of arm and leg warmers, overshoes and Goretex jacket. Which I needed for around 20 mins before the sun started shining, and it was off with the jacket.

It didn't take long to realise that I was very, very tired, and that the cumulative effects of the previous 7 days had caught up with me, but what are you going to do? Quit? I think not. So I plodded on, with the only concession to my weakened state being the abandonment of my plan to take the old military road on the south side of Loch Ness. The thought of a mile long climb with an average gradient of 1 in 10 was just too much, so the A82 was to be my route of choice. Actually, it is the only other road apart from General Wade's masterpiece should you wish to travel from Fort William to Inverness.

During a brief refuelling stop in Fort Augustus, I overheard one of the locals using the word "squally", normally one of my favourite words, but not when I have 50 miles still to ride. And squally it proved to be. On with the Goretex, off with the Goretex, and repeat ad nauseum. I was actually pleased when the rain settled down into a continuous torrent and I could just concentrate on being wet, tired and miserable.

Eventually (and it did seem like an eternity), the rain stopped, the sun came out and I reached Inverness. Somehow I missed the picturesque town centre and the coffee shop of my fantasies, and I ended up with some sort of machine made muck from a petrol station. Muck it may have been, but restored I pressed on to take the A9 in search of Dingwall. Avoid the A9 north of Inverness at all costs if you are cycling; it is a two lane motorway and is terrifying, even at 4pm on a Sunday afternoon.

I was relieved to take the Dingwall road and find the quiet lane up to the B&B; thank you again to the owners for a fabulous dinner and good company.

So, physically I am smashed, one more long day to go, bring it on.

Mileage: 81.9

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/551011049

https://www.justgiving.com/Sean-Bonnington/

More scenery

This morning when we woke up it was raining.  And I don't just mean raining, I mean bucketing down.  However our spirits were lifted by a morning greeting from the owner's dog, who was even more exuberant than the staff at the Milton Inn, and immediately fell in love with Sean.  Since check out wasn't until 11am today, I spent some time in the room after Sean had left doing a qi gong set and 20 minutes meditation.  This felt like a real luxury and together with a delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs and smoked salmon, set me up for the day.

I found the drive a little easier today - either the roads were a bit better or I've got more used to that type of driving.  I stopped at an unpronounceable place to stretch my legs and was pleasantly surprised to find the cafe sold Illy coffee.  There was more beautiful scenery all along the route.  Like, whatever.

The weather was very mixed between sunshine and torrential downpours, and sometimes both at once, but by the time I reached Dingwall it seemed to have decided to be sunny.  The B&B here is absolutely exquisite with beautiful gardens

and the owners have taken great care to make everything just so.  It's indicative of the place that the tea/coffee making facilities in the room look like this.

I had e-mailed ahead with my dietary requirements and on arrival Denise, the owner, asked me if salmon was ok.  Of course it's ok.  Would we like some wine with dinner?  Sean would, but not for me.  Red or white?  Well if it's salmon, I said, he'll want white.  "Oh no!" she exclaimed, "he's not having salmon, that's for you!  He needs something more substantial than that!  I've got him a lasagne."  What a star.

On asking if there was anything of interest to look at in Dingwall, I received an emphatic "no" so I relished the opportunity to find a shady spot in the beautiful gardens to practise my long form.  The experience of doing tai chi surrounded by the smell of wild flowers, with swifts swooping around you and the soundtrack a gentle buzzing of bumble bees, I can tell you is quite a special one.  However I was somewhat embarrassed to find how much of it I had forgotten just since the clifftop at Land's End.  Anyone would think I'd had other things to occupy my mind since then.

I can't quite believe that tomorrow is the penultimate day.  I'm full of admiration for what Sean has achieved although I still can't imagine how either of us will feel when he crosses the finish line.

Day 7 - The bonnie hills

This was the day when it felt like the walls were starting to come down. Having spent a sleepless night in a very over-heated hotel room, I had very little energy and the initial climb up to Crianlarich was a slog of the highest order. I made it up to the Green Welly Stop in Tyndrum feeling dazed and on the edge of climbing off, stopped, restocked with water and put on my rain jacket as a light rain was falling. I began the next phase towards Bridge of Orchy with a feeling that it was starting to go bad. By Bridge of Orchy the rain had set in and I was climbing on pure muscle memory, forcing myself over the climb just past Loch Tulla and slogging over the moor past Glencoe Mountain. The rain got worse, and I began to doubt getting over to Glencoe.

As I crested the climb by Glencoe Mountain, I could see that a wall of cloud was rolling up from Glencoe, and as I finally reached the top of the descent into Glencoe itself, the heavens finally opened and the downpour began. I was on the edge of being too cold, so no option at this point but to open the taps and get downhill as quickly as possible, in very dodgy conditions, motorcycles and cars going past and soaking me in spray, and of course no chance of stopping in a hurry. I cannot tell you how glad I was to see the National Trust Visitor Centre and get under cover with a hot coffee and some cake. Still 18 miles or so to go from this point, all I wanted to do was get off the bike so again, open the taps, ignore the screaming from my legs and slam through the gears as quickly as possible along the bonnie banks until the welcome sight of the hotel.

Learning point: sleep and Goretex are your friends.

It is beginning to sink in that I have three days left, and the longest of those days is "only" 88 miles.

Mileage: 89.8

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/549971263

https://www.justgiving.com/Sean-Bonnington/

We enter the Highlands

Last night at the Milton Inn was a bit dismal.  Although dinner was great, the room was unbearably hot (yes, even for me) but our room looked out onto the kitchen extractor vent.  So we had a choice of closing the windows and being suffocatingly hot, or opening them and putting up with an overpowering smell of gasoline and stale food.  We picked the latter - and it was still pretty hot.  So unsurprisingly, we didn't sleep well.

Any bad temperedness as a result was immediately dispersed by the improbably cheerful staff who greeted us at breakfast with absolute exuberance.  That was the weird thing about the place, despite being an absolute dump, the staff were fantastic.  Despite that, I was not sorry to leave.

Sean and I took exactly the same route today, as there is basically only one road between Dumbarton and Fort William which is the A82.  It was comforting driving along knowing that he would later be following me.  However today's driving took me waaaay outside my comfort zone as it was narrow winding roads.  I found this hard going and coupled with the lack of sleep, after about an hour and a half I had a banging headache.  I pulled off at Glen Coe Mountain Cafe, which promised spectacular views, and did indeed deliver these.  It was the break from driving I really needed though, and that coupled with an espresso did the trick and I set off again fully refreshed.

I had to laugh at myself after a while, as the views really were spectacular and it was completely wasted on me.  I kept waiting for that feeling people go on about but... no.  I'm just not an outdoorsy/scenery kind of person.  Well we all knew that already, didn't we.

As I reached Fort William it began to rain, as forecast, and continued to do so, heavily, for the rest of the day.  It was a relief that the weather wasn't so hot any more, but I felt for Sean knowing that he was undoubtedly getting very wet and cold.  Nothing a hot bath and hot tea on arrival wouldn't fix, though.

Our hotel, Lime Tree House, was absolutely lovely and made up for the travails of Dumbarton.  It has an art gallery attached so I spent a little while looking around there (much better than looking at scenery!) before retiring to my room for my usual routine of resting, pilates, qi gong and reading.  It was a short day for Sean so he arrived around 4:30, which was a treat as we get to spend a bit more of a leisurely evening together.

Two milestones from today - we set the mileometer on the car to zero when we left, and today it passed 1000 miles.  And this is officially the furthest north I've ever been, the previous record being Dunblane.

Day 6 - Thomas Carlyle and Ecclefechan

I have always been fond of the writings of Thomas Carlyle, and this fondness was reinforced in 2000, as I was living in Carlyle Road in Cambridge when I met my now wife. I was therefore very pleased to see that Ecclefechan, his birthplace, has a suitably imposing bust of the great man erected on the village green.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Carlyle

This sight took my mind off yet another crippling bout of indigestion which lasted all the way to the 40 miles point. I am not going to dwell on this but breakfast tomorrow is going to be boiled eggs (no toast).

Apart from this, the ride was fascinating in that I rode almost all the way into Glasgow alongside the A74(M)/M74 on either the B7076 or the B7078. Why fascinating? For most of the distance I had an entire road to myself, and had the distinct sense of being a player in a post-apocaplyptic movie, complete with rubble-strewn road surfaces and missing cats-eyes. Some advice: if you are running low on water, do not listen to the siren song of the signs promising "local services" in Beattock. These signs are merely a ruse to draw the lone traveller in, for the services do not exist, and I was lucky to leave the village with my soul intact.

After Beattock there is a 10 mile climb, you have been warned. There is a descent which offers some recompense, but the real joy is that if you follow the signs for Crawford, there genuinely are local services in the form of a tea room attached to the post office. I made the most of it and despatched a can of real Coke (no diet stuff on this trip) and a Snickers bar, and restocked on water, which made my world a whole lot better.

The remainder of the ride was uneventful, but I couldn't help but notice the feeling of deprivation in some of the suburbs on the way into Glasgow. Ironic really seeing as the whole message of the Commonwealth Games is about new opportunities for the local people; I wonder what the impact will be in the medium and long term? As you might imagine, Glasgow was awash with people getting to and from the various venues, and my planned route was sent askew by diversions. By a strange coincidence, I almost ran over a former colleague from a previous life as she crossed the street in the city centre, proof yet again that this is a very small world and our past is never too far away.

Thank you to all of those who have been generous to sponsor me in recent days; apologies for not yet doing so. I will contact you all personally once this jaunt is over.

Tomorrow is Fort William via the glen of weeping, and the forecast is for some rain, which will be a relief after the temperatures of the last few days. Onward and upward.

Mileage: 100.4

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/549347350

https://www.justgiving.com/Sean-Bonnington/

A quiet day

Our dinner last night was better than we expected, we wandered down to a local hotel and had a meal in the bar there which was perfectly nice.  It was a little odd though, being surrounded by couples in full wedding attire.  Gretna really is a place that thrives on the business of weddings.

I had planned a quiet day today, partly as I would be managing the side effects of my weekly medication, but also because Dumbarton is not a place with a lot to offer.  I had an easy drive apart from going through the suburbs of Glasgow, where traffic was very heavy and I got a bit nervous.  Despite that, it has to be said that I have noticed a definite improvement in my motorway driving, I've dropped a couple of bad habits I've been working on and I've got better at anticipating other drivers' manoeuvres.

I did toy with the idea of going into Glasgow and visiting the Commonwealth Games site to soak up the atmosphere, but it all seemed a bit much especially as the heat today is just as fierce as it has been for the previous days.  London readers will probably raise their eyebrows at this, but it seems it's hotter where we are than back home!

We were a bit apprehensive about the hotel, as we chose it purely on availability.  Almost all hotels in the area were fully booked due to the Games and this was all we could get.  On arrival I found it was just as grim as expected, but the staff were very friendly and a massive bonus was that a large man carried BOTH my cases to the room, which was most welcome.  My room was also ready when I arrived, so I got to eat my lunch at an actual table, sitting in an actual chair, which felt like a treat as I was getting a little weary of the chopping board in the car routine.

I spent the afternoon resting in the room, catching up on e-mails and doing some Pilates and qi gong.  I was quite content but Romeo thought it was all a bit boring and has been quite restless.  Perhaps we'll have to let him out for a run about in the car park after dinner.  I don't think he's quite forgiven me for keeping him away from the chickens in the garden at Middle Holly Cottage a few nights ago.

Oh - and Sean liked the polo shirt!  Wonders will never cease...

Day 5 - No such thing as free speed

During the course of today, I was struck by the fact that there is no such thing as free speed. I had a good run up the A6 through Penrith and Carlisle, and realised that I had in fact paid for that good run earlier in the day by riding over Shap Fell. If you are daft enough to (a) attempt the End to End and (b) to follow any of my route planning, do not go over Shap unless you have a wish to severely damage your health. In particular, do not go over Shap when the temperature is nudging 26C and you have not drunk enough. For those unaware of the territory, the climb over Shap is ten miles long and the real pain is reserved for the last mile when the gradient kicks up and the road surface goes from rough to awful. This sufferfest was not helped by the first 25 miles of the day being hindered by the most acute attack of indigestion I have ever had; I had to stop several times and for a while considered abandoning as I simply couldn't breathe. Thankfully it eased off just in time for Shap to start, but by that the damage was done as I not been taking on liquids or food.

Once over Shap, I stopped in Shap village and had a sandwich. Guess what? The indigestion returned, just as bad as before. Common factor: wholemeal bread at breakfast and in the sandwich. I won't have that again.

I pressed on as best I could, with frequent stops to take fluid on board and also to get out of the sun, as I was starting to experience the first symptoms of heatstroke. On y va, drinking and soaking my jersey with water to try and cool off, until the signs for Carlisle came into view and I knew that all I had to go was to hang on for a few miles until Gretna. Job done.

For the techies out there, you may recall that my steed was being temperamental yesterday. I should explain that in the world of cycling, practitioners either use Japanese or Italian mechanical components. Mine is Italian, and like much Italian-engineered kit occasionally needs to be loved, otherwise it will express its displeasure, which mine did all yesterday. So I gave it some love this morning, and it spent the day loving me back. Thank you Signor Campagnolo.

One of the really good things about today is that it was a relatively short day at miles, so I have had more time than usual to recover and get a few things done. Tomorrow is another day.

Mileage: 85.6

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/548743591

https://www.justgiving.com/Sean-Bonnington/

We cross the border

We had a very pleasant stay at Middle Holly Cottage.  The owners, Gill and Andy, had only taken over the place the day before and we were their second guests!  I thought it was a privilege to share in their endeavours as they were sharing in ours.

This morning I practised my qi gong alongside Sean as he fixed up his bike, which felt very companionable.  The drive to Gretna Green was quite odd as the M6 was so incredibly quiet.  For 10-15 minutes at a time I was the only vehicle in sight.  And even I had to admit that the scenery through Cumbria was beautiful.

I stopped at Asda Carlisle to stock up and ate my lunch in the car park.  I've got quite a dab hand at this, balancing the chopping board on my knees and eating the tin of salmon without spilling any juice.  After checking in I decided to walk to the Gretna Green Outlet Village as it was only a mile away and there was not really anything else to do.  Gretna is a strange sort of place, it's incredibly tacky and seems to be entirely based around weddings.  It appears that people come here to get married in the same way they go to Las Vegas - as a kind of novelty.  The reason it has this reputation is that back in the 18th century, laws in England on marriage were much tighter than in Scotland, particularly for younger couples, so those who wanted to marry young and without their parents' permission would elope to Gretna Green, as it was the first town over the border.  Anyway, the outlet village was not very exciting, but the shops were air conditioned which was a blessing in the heat, and I got Sean a Ralph Lauren polo shirt at a vastly reduced price.  Check back tomorrow to see if he spurns it.

It was a shorter day for Sean today so he arrived at about 5pm.  Our bathroom has a spa bath with a TV, which he was absolutely delighted by, exclaiming "the TV is waterproof!".  Well, yes.  As I write this he is in the shower watching cycling on the TV, wearing his glasses of course so he's able to see the action properly.

Tonight our dinner options are few.  Gretna Green is not renowned for its fine dining, and on examining the pub that was recommended by the B&B owners, I decided against it as I didn't want to eat my dinner being pointed and stared at because I've got all my own teeth.

We're now halfway in terms of days, and over halfway in terms of mileage, so I was in reflective mood today.  I am absolutely in awe of what Sean has achieved so far, and I was feeling quite emotional with pride as I made my journey along the M6.  To think that he has cycled the length of England is incredible, and the idea that he can do almost the same again is even more incredible.  As for me, I think I haven't done badly either, driving to all these places by myself when two years ago I was too frightened even to drive to our local Sainsbury's.

So far I think it's worked well.  Everywhere we've stayed has been nice, and some places have been great in many ways.  I've managed to stick to my eating regime, and I've kept up my qi gong/tai chi and Pilates.  Nothing has gone wrong with the bike and Sean has been bearing up well.  We've got a good routine going which makes everything just that bit easier.  If there has been one difficult thing, it's been unloading the entire contents of the car and getting it up one or more flights of stairs, every day, in very hot weather.  That has not been fun.  However - SO much better than everything that would have come with driving a motorhome.

So I'm pleased with how things are going.  Hopefully our good luck will continue.  John O'Groats here we come!

Day 4 - From Wags to Wigan and beyond

OK, today was a long, hot day, which got progressively more windy as the day went on. I was very glad to finish and have possibly the best shower of the trip to date. Note to logistics types: the old technique of washing kit in the shower works, especially if you have a very good sports wash to hand. Very fluffy towels are a godsend for the rolling up and wringing out technique. 

In terms of kit, the bike is misbehaving very slightly; there are various clicking noises which I am finding very disturbing, and no, it is not the sound of my knees. I did strip the bottom bracket this morning and that has not helped, so tomorrow it is wheels out and bearings oiled. Many thanks to the very nice RAC man who lent me his oil can at the side of the A49 "our members’ needs are our priority, sir"; he would be crushed to know that the noise didn't stop. Another minor problem was the fact that one of the bottle cages worked loose thanks to the very rough road surfaces of the route and I stopped in the nick of time to re-attach and prevent the loss of both cage and bottle.   

How was the route? If I am honest, today was very dull. The A49 is not the most charismatic of roads and I spent around 70 miles exploring its delights before tasting the joys of the A6 to Preston and beyond. If you are thinking of doing this route, do yourself a big favour and get off the A49 to go through the towns it skirts. Well worth the extra ten or twenty minutes to get off the main road and also much better supplied with shops to resupply as necessary.

Highlight of the day was probably chatting to a couple of builders in a van whilst waiting for lights at some roadworks. They seemed astonished that anyone would to do this and as a solo rider to boot. They asked if I was doing it for charity and thoroughly approved of my choice; good feedback, which kept me going for the next few miles.

At the end of the evening, what impressions do I take from the day? Firstly, the A49 is dull, but is immeasurably improved by sunshine. Secondly, every day is a good day if concluded by a good meal with your wife. Thirdly, Garstang is a long way from Land’s End and even further from John O’Groats.

Mileage: 95.7

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/548036369

https://www.justgiving.com/Sean-Bonnington/