Day 15
Sunday 15 July 2012

The final leg. A happy start to the day in Helmsdale for all of us except Jo, who was feeling very poorly. An inability to stay warm, consume food or drink and an upset stomach does not set you up for the final days ride and the celebration that the rest of us were revving up for.

She was determined to ride - and rode she did.

On the verge of leaving Helmsdale, we witnessed the heavens opening. Wow. What a heavy shower. It went on quite a while and we delayed the start.

Then we were off. And immediately on to a climb. Heather was off, like she was on a time trial. At the top of the climb, the fastest descent I have ever done. It was fast but it didn't feel as fast as 47.5mph. That was quite scary when I looked at that statistic in the cafe at lunchtime.

A headwind then tried to keep us out of John O'Groats but nothing was going to stop us getting there. Not even the hard, bumpy road which felt like agony to me. I was tucked up behind Heather, or Glynis, or Suzanne. I did a short spell on the front myself, but it was short.

And then a final van stop in a lay by whilst we re grouped for the mass descent past our hotel and to the legendary sign post oin JOG. What a great feeling. It was a blue sky, sunny, warm day, We were blessed. The final photo is an image now etched in my memory. What a wonderful moment. A fantastic achievement. We had done it. We had done it.

Day 14

Saturday 14 July

Dry, sunny with an odd heavy shower

Newtonmore to Helmsdale

72 miles

 

Really lovely ride out. Started later then planned when Lucy was found with her 8th puncture!

 

Route was alongside and then on the A9.

 

Coffee stop in a bakery and I took the opportunity to buy party cups for the bubbly arrival into John O Groats.

Then on to a layby where we met a relation of our McLeader Jo who served hot cross buns and coffee out of the back of her car.

Onwards to Dunrobin castle for photos and then an 11 mile sprint to Helmsdale on Heather's wheel!! Wow. That was hard. But great fun. 

Arrived into the youth hostel at Helmsdale. A few in the group didn't arrive as expected and had stopped off at the pub!

Bed for 9pm after briefing. The majority of the work is done now. Just one last big hill tomorrow. Steep. Two miles long. Then bubbly.

 

Glowing like never before.

Day 13

Friday 13 July

Newtonmore to Inverness

50 miles

 

After a fire at breakfast from the dualit (!!) toaster and the hilarity which always goes hand in hand with a communal hostel breakfast, what a treat. A gentle 50 mile spin with morning coffee in aviemore and lunch at a village store.

Dry. Bright.

Stomach better. Knee hurt when clipping in to my pedal but ok on the bike. Shoulders painful in the morning but better in the afternoon.

Todays ride was relaxed and sociable. A few fun sprints off the front of the otherwise tight peloton of 10.

No punctures.

2 visits to the bike shop for gear and pedal problems in the group on arrival into inverness. Thanks to Highland Bicycle co for their helpfulness and prompt attention.  For the rest of the group the earliest afternoon finish at 3pm, a shower, protein shake and bed until dinner at 7.

After dinner, briefing and bed for 8.30pm.

Blissful day. Such delight. Big glow.

Day 12

New lanark to comrie croft, crieff

72 miles

Beautiful sunny day. Stunning scenery. Really, really jaw droppingly gorgeous. Round corner after corner as we climbed and climbed we saw spectacular woodland, lochs, open moorland, pine forests ...wow. And those views went on for hours. We were blessed by the weather.

As we left comrie croft I had noticed a front end shudder. I asked pete to look over it at morning coffee. My headset was loose. There was travel in it. It was uncomfortable to ride, sending vibrations into my already very painful shoulders. Pete tightened it but there was still travel in it. I needed a full repair really but the group were leaving.

So, onwards. And the vibrations went with me. This was the hilliest day with fast sweeping descents through the highlands. But you wouldn't want to take them quickly with a feeling like the front end has a square tyre on it,particularly under braking. Ouch. Painful. Also unnerving.

This was a very hard day for me. The morning causing intense left knee pain which bizarrely left me in the afternoon and the day generally wrecking my shoulders.

We were late into newtonmore hostel. I had a stomach upset too by that time and didn't fancy food but felt weak.

My headset needed work. It was dismantled by pete. The bearings had come out of the unit in the headset. Pete assembled it with help from heather. I stood by, feeling faint, cold, shivery and poorly. I tried to help glynis with jo's gearing problems. I popped in to the hostel where a wood burning stove had been lit. That was glowing. It was lovely. I made a hot water bottle and put it in bed.

By 830pm the headset was fixed. Yippee. I wouldn't be in the van the next day. Just needed to sort out the stomach now.

Suzanne gave me some rehydration sachets and I managed some pasta for tea. Heather massaged my shoulders and I did her lower back. And then at 930 bed for me.

I dozed and woke with indigestion. I tried to relieve it with cool water. Eventually at 11pm I got up and sought out some rennies. Thanks lucy. Then sleep.

I felt unwell today. In pain. Weak through reduced food intake. Worried about my bike, my stomach, my closeness to fainting on the bike or falling asleep and the ride was intense. Particularly drafting on a stretch of the busy A9, not for the fainthearted at anytime.

So glad when sleep came.

Hard day. Was only slightly glowing tonight.   

Day 11

Wednesday 11 July 2012

Langholm to Crieff

67 miles

Wet

Really wet

Full waterproofs today

Hard ride today. Very painful behind me left knee. Hard to diagnose why. My handlebars have been raised. My saddle pitch adjusted. I lost a cleat screw and replaced that but my cleat might not be quite in the right place. Who knows. Hard to know what best to do about it. Tiger balm. Ibuleve. Ibuprofen. And spinning. I feel the pain on each revolution save for hill climbing. Luckily there was some climbing this afternoon. Hard. Steep. Hot in full waterproofs. But such relief from the pain.

 

The route today was specatular. Through moorland. Forest. Woodland. Bracken. Wild flowers.  Wildlife. Lakes as still as can be.  Simply stunning.

Morning stop was in a butchers shop come cafe. We bought 20 sausages for dinner for less than 5 quid. The butcher sponsored us. So did a customer in the shop. I think they felt sorry for the 10 sodden cyclists looking outside at the persistent rain.

Lunch was at a lovely cafe at labert. The radiators were on and we were able to dry stuff out.

Then off into the rain again.

 

Hostelling today at crieff. 8 girls in 1 room and the 3 boys in another. Dinner was outside catered for us.

Relaxing.

Glowing. In need of early night tonight to rest my sore knee. Complete with tiger balm.

Good night. Glowing.

Day 10

Langholm to new lanark

Wet

72 miles

Erm, monotonous riding. Head down. 30 miles of hard lumpy, bumpy roads. Rain. Penetrating. A puncture. Painful shoulders (although not as bad as they have been) and a painful muscle spasm behind my left knee on the up stroke. Ouch. Got progressively worse. But the end of the day had a sauna waiting. And a comfortable bed. In the new lanark mill hotel.

Coffee stop was at lockerbie truck stop. Lunch was at the welcome break service station at abington. Neither were of note but sufficed.

For the first time on this trip today I could have swapped pedalling in the rain for many other options. It didn't last long because this is a great challenge and a fabulous group of friends.

Then, as I was chatting to glynis ona bumpy stretch I asked if the road was really bumpy or if I was punctured. I was flat. Rear. We changed it over and off we went again.

After lunch a rogue swerve manouevre aka an absent moment  by heather resulted in an incident in the peleton with 2 riders going down. No problems and they were both up. But before heather had clipped back in with her left foot she went down again. Looked a bit like a sugar drop and she was on the verge.

The end of the day took us to the new lanark mill hotel. Lovely. Dinner in the bar. And bed for 10pm.

Glynis heather and I sharing. 3 beds in a row. Like goldilocks and the 3 bears. Porridge in the morning sealed the theme.

Glowing.  

Day 9

Kendal to langholm

Eskdale hotel

69 miles

Dry

Set off and climbed out of kendal over shap. Found that hard. After a rest day and a massage which left me spaced out too. My handlebars raised must have resulted in my saddle being out of position. I started with lady numbness which spread into my thighs. I was getting worried. I couldn't relieve the numbness. I couldn't stand up. My knees were painful too. Under the caps. The pain brought tears to my eyes. But my cycling buddies were kind and urged me on.

We stopped at shap for coffee and biscuits. Pete altered my saddle and that was much better.

Then a great descent.

Jo punctured.

On to plumpton for lunch at the coral rooms and aquatic centre. I was expecting a swimming pool!! But found lots of fish and fish paraphenalia.

Lucy was punctured as we were due to leave. She punctured again like a car back firing in carlisle. Heather and I cycled into town to get a new tyre as it had split. The group set off from carlisle with a repaired tyre for lucy. Heather and I negotiated the one way system in carlisle most inefficiently and caught up with the group at longtown at a pub.

Then 3 miles to scotland. What a sense of achievement to get there. Lots of photos.

Then a fast train in to langholm for heather, glynis and I and a lovely scenic route to langholm for. Liz, jo, suzanne, lucy,carol, simon and jerry.

I had a much better and stronger afternoon and really enjoyed it.

Dinner at 830 was steak. Great protein replacement.

Glowing.  To be alive. To feel strong. To be in scotland after having landed in newquay and not having needed anything other than my bike to get there.

Am so happy.