The final countdown.... de dah duh daaaaa, de dah duh da daaaaaaaaa After 9 long days on the road we set out, stiff and creaky, for our final day's ride. We had somehow managed to get our sums wrong, in that our intended route would have been somewhere in excess of 130 miles. This sort of distance could well have broken us. So we re-visited the maps and managed to reduce the distance to 110 miles, whilst still avioiding the busiest main roads. We headed off from Tain, up the A9 over the Dornoch Firth Bridge and drafted 40 miles up [View Full Entry]

---

---

[Blogeers Note: The further north we headed into Scotland the greater the difficulty we had locating computers and uploading photographs. As a result this entry is being added a little late.] After the head wind heroics of yesterday, Day 9 was due to be a relatively short day, with reasonaby flat terrain loch side up the Great Glen and with a light tail wind. All went well initially as we hugged the edge of Loch Lochy for the first 30 miles, but things started to go a little awry at Fort Augustus at the head of Loch Ness. We stopped for [View Full Entry]

---

---

The weather improved overnight and we had good cycling conditions to go with the spectacular scenery of the Kintyre Peninsula and the Islands and then on to the start of the Great Glen. We also saw the tidal races of Loch Etive and went for our first swim of the trip in Loch Linnhe. Cold but refreshing. The day ended with an evening ride into Spean Bridge against the backdrop of Ben Nevis as the sun was setting. Simon narrowly avoided being run down by a red Toyota and we ended up with a few pints of heavy in the Commando [View Full Entry]

---

---

Ouch! Today was hard work. A strong north westerly wind right in our faces made cycling very difficult, especially as we had 4 or 5 big climbs to traverse. We left Ben and Silvy's at 8.15 am and arrived in Tarbert (which is just north of Arran) at about 8.30pm. Part of the reason the day was so long was because we had two ferry journeys - one onto Arran and one off. The scenery around here is spectacular, as it was around Dumfries. So a mixed day of fantastic views and hard cycling. Also, we are definitely feeling the wear [View Full Entry]

---

---

Finally crossed the border into Scotland today. We have taken it very steadily after yesterday's very long stretch - 13 hours on the road - and so have taken a slightly more direct route into Scotland. Weather has stayed pretty good. There was a storm in the night, but we missed the rain. Wind has moved round to the west / north west which means that we are into the wind at times. Drafting has become more important. Simon had a chain break today, Andy lost a couple more spokes and Rob had another puncture (that's 5 to Rob!). We are [View Full Entry]

---

---

Wow! What a day. We have really seen some of the country today and had a real treat along the way .... but some of the hills would not be out of place on Le Tour. The day started well and we made good head way around Manchester and up Northwards to Blackburn. We passed Ewood Park and then started our climb up into the Forest of Bowland. The road up from Clitheroe to the first peak was steep and long, but the second climb up to the Trough of Bowland was by far the longest and hardest we've experienced on [View Full Entry]

---

---

As usual, we have arrived late and tired but happy. Another good day in and out of the saddle as we travelled through Shropshire and Greater Manchester, finishing up in the Knutsford city limits. Weather was good, the roads generally flat and morale reasonably high, excpet when we tried to find a decent meal in Market Drayton - don't bother it's all fried or frozen. We also had one puncture and one spoke break, but otherwise mechanics are fine. We are really getting the hang of drafting - which is where we all stick close together and the man in front [View Full Entry]

---

---

A good day today. We've now covered just over 300 miles in 3 days. They've been long days - we've been on the road around 8AM every day but haven't arrived at any of our destinations before 7PM - and some have been harder than others (see Day 2). Today we crossed over the Severn Bridge (see photo), briefly dipped into Wales, and then on through the Wye Valley, passed Tintern Abbey and the Monmouth raft race, and into Herefordshire. We had a lovely lunch stop in Monmouth as Rob's wife, Vix, and their 3 lovely children came to meet us. [View Full Entry]

---

---

We're writing this a day late in Simon's Uncle Willy's back garden and already the memory of yesterday's VERY WET ride is fading. But it was WET and hilly. Some of the hills south of Exmoor were so steep it felt like you were about to go on a rollercoaster ride. We had only managed 40 miles by 3pm, having got lost, had a broken spoke to deal with and also hill after hill after hill .... At our lunch stop in South Molton, we still had 70 miles to cover before bed, it was raining, it looked like there were [View Full Entry]

---

---

It's been a long, long day, so just a quick entry this evening. We left Land's End at about 9am after cycling there from our B&B and taking the obligitory photographs (see attached). Unfortunately we were too early for the Land's End sign post to be attached to the pole - they take it away each evening to stop it being stolen! Still the sun was shining and the wind in the right direction. We made reasonably good progress during the day, but a little slow due to lots of map reading, one crash (Rob - not too bad) and 3 [View Full Entry]

---

---