Final days ride report.

Riding from St. Merryn towards St. Austell to get onto
the A39 took me through some very familiar territory
and i was able to avoid the lumpier terrain. The A39
was busy with holiday makers leaving the county. I
stopped to top up on calories at the services at
Fradden and discovered a retail food hall selling
Cornish produced foods. After sampling some of the
wares and buying some nice munchies I pressed on. Most
of the miles were with a headwind and coupled with
some heavy rain made for a miserable time

Mission accomplished

St. Merryn to lands end - 70 miles inc. 8 miles wasted
by cycling in the wrong direction. Excluding the
Thurso to JOG mileage, ive done 1000 miles. couldnt
have planned it better!

This ones on me pt. 2

I could have dropped into Wadebridge and ridden along
the Camel Trail to Padstow and on to St. Merryn where
I was going to stay with a friend. Riding through the
country lanes was very peaceful and i was met at the
Farmers Arms in the village. Cider and a BBQ was a
nice end to the day. 52 miles.

This ones on me

This report is out of sequence - Wednesdays report to
follow. I got the Clovelly pitch for free when the
camp site owner discovered that I was doing JOGLE. Few
of the ride reports that I have read have mentioned
the draining nature of the long drags in the county.
It is just as bad westwards as it is eastwards. The
ride definitely got easier in Cornwall and the climb
out of Camelford was easier than anticipated. Having
ridden a lot of the minor roads, I stuck with the A39
and bypassed Wadebridge.

Tues. ride report pt. 2

The climb onto Exmoor was long and arduous. It is with
a degree of pride that I can say that I have pedalled
up every hill encountered on the ride so far. Exford
proved to be wise place to call it a day.
The hills werent the problem - it was the deep
valleys. A nice campsite 2 miles from Exford was sign
posted from the centre of the village. It was an
arduous 35 miles. The campsite owner congratulated me
on my persistence on the blind into Exford, shed
overtaken me earlier. I slept well.

Tuesdays ride report

The first stop on the days ride was meant to be the
West Somerset Railway at Williton. Instead my
attention was drawn by a sign advertising a cafe
serving all day breakfasts. Having had six Weetabix
instead of porridge I knew that a tor up would be
needed for the long climb onto Exmoor. The cafe, in
the industrial estate nr the station, was part of a
motor cycle shop. Great breakfast and some nice
looking custom bikes. My visit to the station was
rewarded by the arrival of two steam hauled trains -
bliss.

Tuesdays ride

35 hard miles to Exford. No signal and too wet for
much of today to use phone - more later.

Mondays ride part 2

The Somerset levels were a welcome relief and the
girls caught up with me just short of Bridgewater.
They were heading for Taunton and I headed off on the
A39 to the Mill Farm camp site - best avoided he you
want to avoid the noise and mayhem of a large holiday
park.

Mondays ride report

It had rained through the night and the A466 was wet
under the tree cover. This was my third ride along the
Wye valley and its never failed to impress me with the
views across the valley. I caught up with the two
lasses doing JOGLE at Tintern. Much to my suprise and
pleasure, I dropped them on the long climb out of
Tintern and I didnt see them again until I stopped for
lunch on the western suburbs. Having found the Tintern
climb easy, the climb out of Bristol on the A38 was
laboured.

Mondays ride

Monmouth to Fiddington, 6 miles west of Bridgewater.
79 miles. Full report later.

Todays ride

63 miles of the easiest riding to date. Now in
Monmouth. A49 was a fast gently rolling road with a
few significant lumps near Hereford. I met a pair of
JOGLErs just before the first Monmouth turn off.
Knowing its lumpiness I pressed on towards Ross on Wye
counting on it being easier. It mostly was apart from
a short grind on the A40. There are two campsites very
close to the Monnow Bridge. I an pitched next to a
very flatulent Czech. Thankfully my nose and Trangia
are upwind :-)

Sats ride part 2

Yesterdays ride was overshadowed by my wallet loss. My
wife had a two hour drive to get some cash to me and
having the liverpool match live on the pubs tv made
the drive more worthwhile for her. We had lunch and it
would have seemed to be very ungrateful to leave her
before the match ended. I had the wrong sort of lunch
- too much salad not enough calories and this night
have contributed to the malaise of the ride.

Saturdays ride

The previous synopsis summed everything up. It was a
wet, glum, tiring ride. The wetness took the edge off
everything. The campsite was at the edge of Church
Stretton and was adequate.

Synchronicity

If the traffic hadnt been so heavy on the A49 i
probably have noticed my navigation error onto the A51
a lot sooner then id have doubled back. If the
municipal camp site at Nantwich had not closed down, I
dont think that id have had such a stress free time
post wallet loss discovery. Some would say that I am a
jammy git. I an inclined to agree

Fridays ride

The omens were not good in Preston. Rain at 8, 9, and
10 oclock and a reluctant departure in the rain at 11.
George rode with me to the start of the A49. Some end
to enders go to great lengths to avoid the urban
sprawl along the A49. I enjoyed the suprisingly low
traffic route northwards last year and everything
seemed in order on Friday until i got to used miles
north of Warrinton. The south bound traffic was more
to tail until the A51

Major setback

After 66 miles i arrived at the Cotton Arms at
Wrenbury near Nantwich, pitched my tent and then
discovered I was walletless - a major panic. Joe the
landlord was fantastic and i staggered out of the pub
at 03:00 full of ale and food and being made to feel
part of crowd. My wife has driven over from Leeds with
cash and plastic to get me through. And to think last
night I was ready to quit during the panic phase. Ride
details to follow later.

John O'Groats to Lanzarote not so far fetched

The woman who through her hungover fug mistakenly though I was cycling to Lanzarote caused me much merriment and mirth and I though the notion of the ride was silly until I met a cyclist at Penrith who was cycling from Dumfries to Majorca. He was taking three weeks to do the ride and commented upon the irioony that it was costing him about £600 to do the trip whereas his wife would cover the same distance by plane in hours and would cost £39.

We had a silly competition to see who had the most superfluous item - he had a caffetiere and I trumped him with some spare chain rings. We'd declared a draw on the tool front. I wish I'd taken his comments about the arduous nature of the ride over Shap more seriously...

Didn't I See You In Glasgow?

'Didn't I See You In Glasgow?' was the opening gambit of Henri. As our conversation developed he was amazed at what I was up to. It was uncanny how many common interests that we had - my love of Brittany -he's a Breton. My liking of Alain Stivell and Dan ar Braz's music -he knows Alain Stivell. He's a Breton piper and I'm an Uillean piper. I now have an invite to stay with his family at Carhaix - I'll be taking him up on his offer.

Interesting people

One of the great things about cycle touring is the number of interesting people that one meets on the ride and the journey to the start of the ride.

On the way north I sat next to retired woman who had an extensive knowledge of the railway system and steam locomotives acquired through having a father that worked on the railways at Doncaster. She was on her way to St Andrew's University for an OU study week.

At Wick campsite I met a chap whose marriage had failed and he'd abandoned a succesful career to become a lobster and shrimp fisherman on North Uist. He only works 100 days per year to net, pardon the pun, £15k per year supplemented by trading on the stockmarket. Spends a lot of the free time touringing with his pet dog. I was quite envious of the lifestyle then remembered that although I quite liked being damp and cool, being soaking wet and cold as a fisherman had a limited appeal.

The three female graduates at Tyndrum were an incredibly entertaining trio and in a parallel universe could have been the cast for the young ones. The campsite owner at Tyndrum is a retired computer programmer and amazingly has to hand exotica from punchcard days. He's also a rich source of anecdotes as well as being the ex-president of Scottish MENSA. It was nice to be remembered by him.

Dave , the unofficial warden at Loch Winnoch campsite, victim of a brain stem stroke an heart attack yet still a resolute smoker could nearly out-talk me. He has a symbiotic relationship with the park rangers and gets concessions in exchange for his revenue collection and overnight supervision 'duties'. I still can't get my head around a campsite that's staffed during office hours only. He reckoned it's onnly a matter of time befor H&S issues make overnight supervision necessary. His generosity with wine was well received and we had a great laugh.

The total stranger that came to my assistance and gave me a lift in Penrith and the two chaps at the pub near the campsite that I was seeking. It was amazing how things dovetailed together. The chap giving me the lift was from my hometown. One of the two chaps at the pub was at Leeds University and his mate was contemplating LEJOG next year. Plenty to talk about.....

Wednesdays Ride

I woke up around 8:15 - I must have been tired. I must have needed the sleep and Tuesday's misery could have been caused by fatigue and the wrong sort of pie. I bought a replacement rear tyre and replaced the worn and puncture prone Panaracer Pasela. Inflating the tyre saw the valve part company from the inner tube a repacement tube set me back £4.90! Avoid Askews bike shop if you want to pay normal prices.

I did 45 miles of riding to Preston that was diametrically opposite to my experience on Tuesday. I found pedalling so much easier and climbs that would have been tackled in stages were taken in one and I even found myself hanging onto the back wheel of a cyclist for a couple of miles at 18-20 mph. It felt good and my spirits lifted. I had a short break at Lancaster along the ride. Nothing much of consequence apart from just remembering that on Tuesday I had a passenger for a short while - a peacock butterfly hitched a lift on my right shoulder for half a mile or so.

Now at George's house in Preston. Have been fed and watered and having a day off on Thursday.

Tuesday's Ride

Having had a lift to the camp site, I was honour bound to retrace my steps to the point that I was picked up to be able to claim that I'd ridden the entire length. I called in at a bike shop and bought a ccouple of spare tubes and surprisingly for a place claiming to be a bike shop, they didn't have any rear lights. There was a farmers' market on at Penrith and I filled up on venison steak and kidney pies and Chillie bean and cheese wraps.

I rang George, a chap that I'd met last year on my Lejog ride and who'd rescued me in Preston when my frame snapped. He didn't think that I'd get to him in a day's ride over Shap and on to Preston. He proved to be right. Shap Summit should be renamed 'Nowhere Near Shap, Summit'. The weather was grim and showery and having climbed to Shap thinking that I'd reached the top I found that there was another 4-5 miles of climbs left. Shap itself seemed to have its metaphorical shoulders haunched agains the wind driven drizzle. I met a pair of Coast to Coast walkers at the Co-Op. They were doing the walk because their flight to France and a walking holiday in the Pyrenees has been cancelled because of the terrorist problems the previous week.

I was having serious energy or head problems on the clim on from Shap village. Every minor climb was too much and surprisingly I found myself yawning and nodding off. There were several false summits and only after a mile of descending did I realise that I'd passed the summit. There ought to be a marker like there is on the motorway.

I stayed at the campsite 1.5 miles outside of Kendal. Nice and quite and closish to a chip shop - bliss, I didn't have the energy to cook.

Monday's Ride Part Two

After the Cumberland Gap everything was an anticlimax until some toe rag nicked my rear lights in Penrith. It had become dark and it was the last thing I expected. I started to push my bike towards the camp site location and asked at a local garge about the exact location of the site and explained my predicament when they said it was a ten minute ride away. As I left the garage shop a complete stranger offered to give me a lift to the rough location of the site as he sort of knew where the site was but wasn't exactly sure.
He dropped me off at a pub with a 250yds to campsite sign near it and when I asked two mountain bike riders where the campsite was, they bought me a beer when they discovered I was doing an End to End ride as they were thinking of doing it next year. The camp site was at the far end of Lowther Leisure Park and hidden away in the furtherst corner. The camp site was full but to continue with my run of good luck the admissions chap let me in. I pitched my tent to the sound of deer foraging in the woods and owls calling to each other. A day of mixed fortune - mostly good.

Mondays ride

The ride to Gretna was uneventful and highland battle
free. At Gretna I made a decision that led to the
scariest miles of my cycling ever - I cycled the
length of the Cumberland Gap. The short section of the
A74 that links the M6 and the M74 and for ill intents
and purposes is a motorway itself.
I didnt know that at the time else Id have cycled
through Longtown like I did last year. I followed
another cyclist onto death alley and rode down the
hard shoulder.

Sundays ride

Dave, the honorary site warden have of half a bottle
of the wine that he shared with me the previous night.
I left the site a little later than Id planned. Four
miles down the road and several descents later, I
discovered that Id left my bike lock behind. I did not
return. The ensuing ride through Ayreshire and
Dumfriesshire was an undulating one with the
undulations bigger in Ayreshire. The landscape also
softened and opened up. I was aiming for Sanquhar or,
at a push, Penpont.

Shap did for me

Penrith to Kendal 25 miles. Now backtracking to bring
each days riding up to date. Hope its been worth the
wait....

Todays ride

76 miles. Now at Penrith and a small adventure along
the way. Details of todays and yesterdays ride to
follow. Too tired now.

Not so wild camping

63 miles now beween Thornhill and Sanquhar more
tomorrow

John OGroats to where??

A hungover camper that Id chatted with at the washing
up area returned to her tent and told her husband that
shed met a man whe was cycling from John OGroats to
Lanzarote

Yesterdays ride part.two

Timid riders might like to use the cycle path that
pump alongside the A82. Its easily missed by
northbound riders. Dropped in at Balloch for a quick
fix of McDonalds and a reminder of how ugly the large
art works is on the Balloch roundabout.
The A82 got busier as I got closer to the Erskine
Bridge. Once across the bridge I rode along minor
roads affording a good view of the Clyde. The last
three miles to the campsite were uphill.
Barnbrock campsite is unusual in that its past of a
regional park.

Yesterdays ride

Looking at my maps, I wondered why Id only managed
Arrochar to Tyndrum on last years ride. Yesterday I
found out as I cycled downhill for miles and miles
observing northbound.cycle tourists flagging on the
A82. The road only became busy at Tarbet where, last
year, I saw a bag piper standing close to a wall and
playing his pipes while facing the wall and taking
instructions from his teacher. I think that facing a
wall is one method of practicing the noble art of
piping. Dont know why though.

Another fine day

63 miles to a campsite south west-ish of Glasgow nr
Lochwinnoch more details tomorrow.

Road Kill

I havent kept a comprehensive log but hedgehogs are in
no. 1 spot followed by sea gulls then foxes. Ive added
to the statistics when I ran over a large hairy
catapillar. Ive seen dozens of them attempting to
cross the road. I wonder what their success rate is.

By the way

By The Way is Tyndrums little secret - no roadside
signs announcing its presence. Its owner has carefully
avoided attracting the noisy boozy gangs that spoil is
for the walkers and cyclists who are his key
customers. It was nice to be recognised by the owner
and he asked for a photo of me at John OGroats to
stick on his display of folk whove completed JOGLE,
LEJOG or the West Highland Way.
Tyndrum has a nice chippie and a well stocked shop at
the local garage which also has a cafe and restaurant.

A nice day part two

The ride over Rannock Moor puts you in contact with a
landscape that makes man made objects appear tiny. A
freight train looked like a toy as it passed through
the Bridge of Orchy. A mile or so on I came across a
car crash that looked horrendous. There wasnt anything
that I could offer the people helping at the scene and
i made my way to Tyndrums campsite where i was plied
with wine by some fellow campers. The craic was good
came so to bed.

A nice day

Did 60 miles on Friday fuelled by a Morrisons all day
breakfast and jelly babies. Met a pair of LEJOGers on
a tandem at Balachulish. I amused a chap with my arm
swirling combat with a cloud of midges at the tor of
the climb out of Glencoe. There is a major civil
engineering project near the top and yards before the
single lane carriageway theres a sign asking cyclists
and walkers to use an alternative route where none
exists. Got my daily fix of highland cows. Didnt see a
single one last year.

Big breakfast

Earliest set off so far. Stopped off at the commando
memorial at Spean Bridge. They trained in the area
from 1942. Its been a nice ride into Ft. William. Ive
stoked up with a full scottish breakfast to take on
Rannock Moor. Lorne sausage is wonderful.

A question.

Where do midges go when its wet/windy? Answers on a
postcard please.

Midges fight back

The gits have got me twice when my guard was down. Was
bitten at Berriedale when I was slow enough for my
arms to be a target and yesterday when I was foraging
for raspberries and my legs copped it. Not too bad
though.

Missed my target

Last night was so cold I had to resort to putting some
socks on my hands to keep them warm in the tent. Id
hoped to make it to Ft. William today but there was
still a headwind though not as bad as the past two
days. Did 55 miles and called it a day. Riding along
Loch Ness and the Great Glenn was fine though a bit of
sunshine would have made the views that much better.
Nibbled some wild raspberries from the hedgerows -
very tasty. Now got a campsite to myself at Stronaba -
£5 stayed here last year too

Inverness is Still Full

Another windy and rainy day. I needed the help of
another camper to tame my tent and get it packed. The
day was an unrelenting grind though my breakfast
porridge gave me a good start to the day. Crossed
paths with a pair of LEJOGers at Tain. A9 was tedious.
The wind dropped as i crossed the Cromarty Firth and
was faced with a 4 mile uphil drag on The Black Isle.
Every B&B on the way to the camp site was full as was
the camp site. My heart sank until I spotted except
for backpackers phew! 61 tiring miles

Still Raining

Its rained more or less continuously since the early
hours. Its windier than yesterday. About to leave the
Brora camp site. Ill be happy to reach Inverness
today.

Scottish Drivers

Ive been amazed at the consistently high level of
courtesy shown to me by drivers of all vehicles when
they over took me. Without exception, they moved into
the opposite carriageway and waited patiently until it
was safe to do so. Even white van men gave me space.
Any ideas why this seems to be a local phenomenon?

Berriedale Braes Beaten

Its been a very windy and sometimes wet day.. Ive got
as far as Brora, only 47 miles and all of them
strenuous with a head wind that got stronger by the
hour. When I got to Berriedale, i decided to have a
stab at pedalling up it despite the head wind. 3/4 of
the way up, nicely in a rhythm, I heard youre doing
really well, well done! then the pensioner belonging
to the voice overtook me closely followed by his wife.
The pair disappeared into the distance. I got to the
top without pushing woo hoo!!

Wick

The campsite at Wick has just re-opened and does not
feature on tourist information boards. I was resigned
to cycling to Dunbeath when I spotted the signpost
just outside wick on the Inverness side of the town.
My mackerel and butter bean bolognese was tastier than
a tasty thing and I had a good nights sleep. Campsite
phone number: 01955 605420 - £8 per night. This
morning I won the first round of the fight against the
midges. Avon Skin So Soft is my weapon of choice.

First days ride

I arrived at Thurso and was met by the bike van man. I
left Thurso at 15:00. It felt great to be on the road
again. It was a very different feeling to that i get
when starting an Audax. I got to John OGroats for half
past four. I filled out a registration form and had a
Highland Park malt whisky. I got to Wick for half past
six and found the camp site. 40 miles from Thurso and
20 from JOG more to follow in the morning

Inverness

Inverness was heaving last night. Very few of the
people in the town centre were locals. Id forgotten
about the cosmopolitan nature of the place. This week
is one of busiest of the year. Glencar
B&B was wonderful: 01463 240752
www.glengar-inverness.co:uk
The rail journey is still great just turned inland at
Helmsdale after hugging the coast.

Breakfast

Clootie pudding simply has to be sampled by all who
have the opportunity to do so. My head set had
loosened and i got it adjusted by Highland Cycles in
Telford St. Catching the Thurso train went without a
hitch. My bikes good ahead of of in a van. All is
good.

Its good to talk

Its a shame GNER and Scotrail dont talk to each other.
In fact from my experiences in Edinburgh where
antipathy between the two companies was evident
refocussing
on customers needs. Scotrail came up trumps, GNER
sucked. I spent three quarters of an hour traipsing
between their two offices at Waverley station. Im sure
that a phone call could have sorted things thing out
in a few minutes.
Now in a B&B in Inverness.

Trials and tribulations

The 10:06 from York to Edinburgh broke down in the
station. The next train left me with 7 mins to unload
my bike, navigate through an unfamiliar station, climb
and descend a footbridge only to see the Inverness
train depart as i arrived at its platform. The GNER
rep was unsympathetic and claimed that 7mins was ample
time for making the connection. He reluctantly issued
me with
A ticket for a later train to Inverness and intimated
that that was the best that I could expect.

Another fine mess.....

My bike pump throwing itself into the gap between
my.train and the platform was a portent of things to
come....

Today's the Day

Yesterday, I took my bike out for a shake down ride - as it turns out quite a sensible move as I'd not had time to ride it since transfering everything onto a Super Galaxy frame. I chose a 100km Audax ride, the Mam Tor 100km ride in the peak district, quite fortunate as it turned out.

I found that the chain set that I have on the bike is unsuitable. It was a replacement fitted by a bike shop in Ripon when my left crank self destructed itself. There's more teeth on the rings and I'd coped with the raised gearing until yesterday. The climb towards Mam Tor from Edale is where I decided to bail out. I chose an easier route back to base but was only 8km short of the ride's distance but several stiff climbs were avoided. I've fitted the original chainset.

Yesterday was a sticky day and I'd have welcomed any sort of breeze including a headwind to assist with the evaporation of sweat. I got through Six litres of fluid on the ride and a couple more afterwards. I had a no. 4 cut last night as my head overheated on the ride. Looking at the size of the pile of hair on the floor gave me a surprise it was far more than I'd anticipated as I'm thin on the top (wish I was thin round the waist!) but there again it represented a year's growth.

I'll be returning for another bite at the Mam Tor next year - hopefully lighter too.

Everythings now packed and not a lot to do. The check list has been checked - twice and once more for good measure. It's just a matter of getting to the station. my wife offered to take me by car. I'm not refusing the offer.

The adventure begins....

First posting.

This is an additional blog which replaces the one that I had intended to use at htttp://www.20six.co.uk/vernon 20six had a perfectly good bit of software, which one upgraded/changed by 20six, stopped accepting uploads from mobile phones.

I hope to update this blog on a daily basis and at some stage transfer some images too. I have little time left at the time of writting. In an hour's time I'll be setting off for a 100km Audax ride in Chesterfield. Tomorrow morning I catch the 09:11 train to York as the first part of a ten and a half hour journey to Thurso. The journey time is three times that taken to fly from Zakynthos to Leeds. Last year a traveller that I met at Thurso lamented that she could have flown to Australia faster than she could get home to Cambridge. I'm looking forwards to the Inverness to Thurso leg.