Day 5: Helenburgh to Lockerbie (152k and many many hours)

Today was hard. 

Cycle paths out of Helensburgh and along the water took us to Glasgow and a welcome pit stop. Then the miles south through beautiful farm land  rolled on... and on... and on...

A much needed and tasty lunch stop in Strathaven allowed us to fuel up for the second half and the kind cafe people donated to Nick's charity. Then it was head down, tarmac focused for the next 4 hours. There were bus wees; strapping inventions; pain killers; creaming up in a layby; tears; smiles, and lots of digging deep.

Some found it harder than others. In GH's words: they're in the 'hurt locker'. But thank you to everyone today who pulled each other though. We couldn't have finished today without true grit and teamwork. And we were never not going to finish because this is for Nick and it's his birthday today. We love you Nick. 

A few words from GH...

"Today was a tough day but it was fitting that it was also Mr Windsor's birthday. Each and everyone of us had to dig deep just to get through today. Thinking about Nick today when he would have been 46 was enough for each of us to find a bit more inner strength. I swapped messages with Nick's sister and was glad to know the Windsor family spent the day together toasting the great man himself - which we all did when we had finished this eve with his favourite drink….sparkling!"

                                

And key pics / vids from today:

Endless stretching, poignant lunch stops and beautiful cycle paths

 

Boys back together and tasty coffee stop

 

Glasgow in the sunshine

 

Tom digging deep. Dan inventing modern medicine! It works!

And... AOB! :) 

And thank you to the wonderful Anna Kitching for this ace illustration of leaving John O'Groats 5 days ago!

Happy Birthday Nick! We hope we're making you proud. 

Day 4: Kinlocheven to Helensbury (via Glen Coe and Loch Lomond), 135k, 5 and a half hours

It started off like this (but only after Winnie hobbled back to his tent (over to you Sam):

Then this happened - listen out for the soundtrack. Lewis said made him feel all tingly! 

 

Then Becky got puncture no1 and we had a wild wee / stag break in the middle of some road works. Some discussion about whether the stag was in fact a reindeer - are there reindeers in Scotland? Dan contemplated doing his 5k while waiting, only 4k into the 120k ride.

The morning very quickly turned into this (below)… puncture no 2 for Becky (proper bad luck). Nothing was straight forward: inner tube too big, tyre too trashed, couldn't find the millimeter of damage, plaster needed. Dan and the bus ladies came to the rescue though... Dan also gave a nutrition lecture about soaked nuts while we were waiting.

 

 

And we were off (for the third time). Setting off through one of the best stretches of road in Britain: Glen Coe.

                                            

Damien and GH went for some boy time 

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After yesterday everyone enjoyed the smooth tarmac, wind in our hair, high gears, rolling decent and layers of hills on the horizon for 50k until lunch stop.

  

     

We were making good progress compared to yesterday and it continued into the afternoon. Gorgeous 60k of straight, smooth road hugging Loch Lomond in the sunshine. It really was special. 

Damien and GH over shot the turn off and added an extra 20k.  

Vicky, Becs, Sheltz and Tom rerouted too (nothing new there) and found a beautiful spot on Loch Lomond for a dip

  

Then this man arrived and gave everyone a boost. So good to see a friendly face!

  

Ev, Kate and Faith were absolute heroes today: mopping up after numerous bike calls; rallying around everyone at lunch; lending stuff out; collecting stuff from the buses; fixing phones; arranging accommodation; sorting breakfast; welcoming people home... and doing all the laundry!!!!! Plus much much more. We could absolutely not do this without you girls. THANK YOU. 

And thank you to everyone at home and who are supporting us. It really does help and go a long way to pushing us up the next hill. 

Weathersoons special and early bed. Looking forward to tomorrow!

                                        

 Few more classics from Day 3

Getting on board the £3.50 ferry

Ferry over  from Fort William with bikes strapped to the roof 

Lewis in the cycle zone. Look at that scenery!

The rain - this video doesn't capture the level of soaking!

GH taking his jacket off. If you only watch one - watch this one! :) 

Day 3: Lochness to Kinlochleven (120k of bonkersness)

The longest shortest day! In the words of Chumbawamba, ‘We get knocked down but we get up again’….. and again… and again. But we survived another day!

Bullet points as too tired to write :)

Lowlights:

Aches and pains from yesterday – to start!

Started in the rain

The rain continued for 2 hours straight!

Two punctures

Chains off

Cleats stuck (Becky couldn’t take her shoe off her bike for 1hr and a half)

30k of off road

Missed the ferry

Cowering behind a lock mechanism to try to stay warm

Lunch on a pavement outside a shop (for second day running) – hungry!

 

 

 

Highlights:

GH finally admitted Scotland is more impressive than the New Forest

Epic trails through the forest – reminiscent of cylcocross biking. High adrenaline scrambles up Scottish scree alongside miles of Loch Linnhe and the mountains opposite

Harry Potter bridge visited by the support crew

Lightening decent at top neck speeds in blazing rain, freezing wind, water filled shoes, numb fingers

Pork and apple sauce baps from a woman in a café who thought we were WALKING ‘JoGLE’ with all our bike stuff!

Befriended a man and his dog who ferried us across a lock, strapping the bikes to the boat roof.

Most stunning afternoon rode when ‘we got up again’ – sunshine; flat tarmac; Ben Nevis in the distance; wild wees; sea swim and eventual ride home to Kinlockleven.

Lewis, Sam and others came to the rescue and hosed, cleaned and sorted bikes for the slower group after a grueling day: thank you!

Absolutely stunning accommodation spot looking out beyond Glen Coe (tomorrow’s destination)

Hot showers; clean bikes; food-food-food and a bed!

 

Oh and Dan went for a 5k run barefoot and ended up in a stream :) 

                                                    

 

 

Day 2: Laig to Lochness 133k (or 153k for some)!

It started wet. It had some wet in the middle and it ended wet. But spectacular spots of beauty peeped through in between. 

 

30k in we lost two but they managed to rejoin having done an extra 17k!

There were a couple of crashes and splats (GH and Dan) on the corners and the mud but no dramatically serious injuries it seems. 

Matt moved the end point which caused a few dark thoughts but we got over it. Elevation was ridiculous... but as we were scooting down the side of Lochness we all gained perspective on the beauty that this all actually is (some earlier than others). 

Dan clocked in his post cycle 5k run. STRONG! Well done Dan.

 

  

  

Then the conveyor belt of boys washing bikes worked a treat as our wonderful support crew cooked up the best veg chilli and chicken risotto we could have asked for. Team work makes a dream work today!

Day 2 done!