More Images

More images of the end to end trip can be seen at
http://john21.fotopic.net

Thank you's

Although we did this trip without a support vehicle/team there are, of course, numerous people to thank for assisting us in this project.
Firstly we would like to thank Mr & Mrs Kirk of The Cairns Hotel, Carrbridge. For their outstanding generosity and hospitality. One could not wish for better hosts or such sumptuous accommodation. Also all the staff at the SYHA and YHA, especially the volunteers. The many hostels we visited on this trip were excellent. Also all the other landladies and landlords that gave us beds to rest our weary heads, good advice on where to eat in the evening, and big breakfasts to get us going in the morning. In particular I would like to thank the landlady at Roselands B&B, Exeter, for allowing me to use her PC to update this blog, and the landlady at Cypress Rise B&B, Llandogo for driving us to the pub at the end of an exhausting day. Also I would like to thank everyone who has generously donated to our charities and shown support for us in the comments on this blog.
Finally I would give my heartfelt thanks to my wife Sian, and daughter Cerys for allowing me to go on such a hare brained trip and giving me such a lovely welcome on my return home.

We did it!

It's now 6:10 am and I can't sleep so I've been catching up on emails etc and decided to post the final blog. Yesterday we travelled back home. After getting a lift with our bikes to Thurso station we had a mammoth 13 hour train journey back to Worcester, which actually went remarkably smoothly. 4 changes hardly any wait between and all trains on time - amazing.
The total mileage cycled from Lands End to John O Groats was something in the region of 1104 miles, give or take a few.
Below is the last entry in my journal for 12th May 2006. Incidentally quite an auspicious date, mine and Sian's 5th wedding anniversary.

Early breakfast early on the road in the freezing rain. The first few miles were pretty horrible, my face felt like ice, until we had warmed up. At Lybster we had to make the decision whether to head due north across the barren wastes of Caithness directly into the wind with no hope of finding a cafe, or continue on the A9 and head for the metropolis of Wick and it's hotliquid delights. It was a close run thing I can tell you. By carrying on the main road we missed The Grey Cairns of Camster. I also missed The Hill o Many Stanes as we had to focus on the main goal of our quest. So on,on, ever northwards, though the wind and rain till we get to Wick, not looking it's best I'm sure in this weather. However I can vouch for it's fine cafes and the brilliant cafe net internet cafe. But whats this, the clouds are breaking, is that a sliver of blue sky I can see? On we go north by north north beating our way through the wind around Sinclairs bay to Keiss where The Sinclair Hotel extended it's warm embrace and filled us up with Haddock and chips. It was also filling up a woman, who is attempting to walk the coastline of britain. I'm sure that sort of thing could send you bonkers. My suspicions were confirmed when I passed her further down the road when she was having a conversation with a herd of cows. North we continued and the anticipation was increasing. The low rounded hump of Warth hill in front meant a slow climb and swerve to the east, as we rounded this lump the vista in front of us developed, and what a view. The land was running out. It was totally apparent our northerly progress was going to be halted by an expanse of water, with the lands of Orcadia visible in the distance. This was really going to be the end. A long descent down down to the place where some hundreds of years ago a Dutchman by the name of Jan De Groot set up a ferry business. And so we arrive. Down two pints of 80 shilling ale, get our picture taken by the signpost and the documentation sorted out. a look around the shops, pick up some provisions then off to the SYHA hostal at Canisbay some 3 miles hence. And that was that.

Almost there

As I type the thick grey clouds that have rained on us so copiously are making their way south towards you lot, slithers of blue sky are now visible, perhaps we will arrive in the sunshine. The temperatures are about 20 degrees lower than they were 2 days ago and we have a 10-15mph northerly wind to contend with, but as veterans of over 1000 miles of cycling we scoff at such conditions. We are now in Wick, it is 11:30, and a mere 17 miles from our goal.
To take up the sory from when I left off. We stayed in a hostal (more like a family home) a few miles from Invergordon the day before last. A lovely big house, we had a huge ground floor room overlooking the Firth of Cromarty. As we set off yesterday morning it looked like it might rain, but in the event it didn't . Avoided the A9 and cut the corner at Kildary across to Tain. A delightful little town, bought a practice chanter here at a shop run by a Canadian women, a graduate of the university of Guelph, no less. Crossed the Dornoch firth and headed into Dornoch where we lunched. Another very picturesque town with a cathedral which we cycled past. I discovered later that apparently in this very cathedral a well known American singer and English film producer were recently married. Back on the A9 at the head of Loch Fleet through Golspie, Brora and into Helmsdale. The landlady wasn't in at our accommodation in Helmsdale so we retired to the La Mirage restaurant for a brew. La Mirage has to be seen to be believed. Lots of pink everywhere and huge photos on the walls of the owner (I presume), who models herself on Barbara Cartland, with various celebrities. Actually I expect a lot of businesses here on the north east coast do quite well out of the end to end business. Any celebrity doing their bit for charidy are likely to pass though Helmsdale and you can reat assusred the La Cartland lookalike will be there with refreshments and photographer. During our drink we decided to push on from Helmsdale to Dunbeath as the forcast for tomorrow is bad and the road beyond Helmsdale is more like north cornwall than then norm around here. So on we went up a 700 feet climb then down then up 500 feet etc etc. This time the legs pumped away as if made of iron - no problems. It's funny seeing end to enders coming the other way i.e. they have only just started off. Their bikes, bags and them are all pristine. We however are the veterans of the UK, with our tanned skin impregnated with the grime and road dust of 1000 miles.
Anyway my tea is getting cold in the Cafe Net internet cafe, Wick. The road is calling - must push on..............................................

latest news 9/5/06

Well, we are now having a well deserved rest day in Inverness. How did we get here?
Left Oban quite early in the rain, this was the first day of prolonged rain we have had. Basically it rained all day. In a way this was great as all this waterproof gear we have carried for the last 700 plus miles is now being put to good use. Followed the main road towards Fort William which generally was not too hilly and the wind, such as it was, was still behind us. Stopped for a break just after Annan overlooking a castle on an Islend, whose name escapes me. We picked up another main road after Glencoe and the traffic got seriously busy the rest of the way to Fort William. Dad bought some more of his magic energy powder in FW, we lunched then carried on our separate ways. Dad carrying along the main road whilst I chose the more tranquil track alongside the Caledonian canal. We met up again in Spean Bridge then continued the last 3 miles together to Roybridge, where we had the hostel to ourselves. Which was quite a contrast to the full to bursting Oban hostal.
The next morning we awoke to a lovely sunny day but also a strong easterly headwind. This meant really hard going. Our average speed was less than 7 mph. After 4 plus hours of hard cycling we made it to Newtonmore for lunch. During lunch the SYHA at Inverness phoned to tell me that we could not stay there. Despite having booked and paid for this over 6 months ago (I was spitting feathers I can tell you). Anyway I said we would be paying them a visit and we could sort it out then. After a good feed we felt a bit more energetic, but also by the time we got to Kingussie the wind seemed to have abated somewhat, making the rest of the journey to Carrbridge relatively easy. Checked into the Cairn hotel, known to dad of old.
Today, as mentioned is our second and last rest day. We caught the train into Inverness, where we firstly sorted out the train journey back, which went quite smoothly. Then went to the SYHA to sort out the accommodation for tomorrow. Apparently the problem is a safety issue with the bunk beds. The top bunks are too dangerous so the bed space at the hostel has been halved at a stroke. Anyway I got my money back and we have decided to strike out for Invergordon instead of staying in Inverness. The hostal has been booked there without a problem. Fantastic weather again here today. I can't believe we are in the north of Scotland, cloudless skies etc. It reminds me of when we were in Lanzarote one February. We are now within striking distance of the end. Only a real disaster should prevent us from reaching our goal now. Thanks everyone for reading this blog, I'm sorry I have not been able to update it more often. And also a big thankyou to everyone's encouraging comments

Journal Entry - Day 15
Had to get up a bit earlier than usual today in order to catch the first ferry of the day from Lochranza to Claonaig. So it was a quick porridge breakfast then down to the ferry. In the event the were only 3 passengers. Dad and I and a chap with his little car. Slowly chugged across the Kintyre sound in the morning subshine. Spectacular viewns of Goatfell and the Isle of Arran behind us while Kintyre stretched away to the southwest. A bit of a haul over the peninsular to the north side, views of Jura and Islay on the top of the hill. Then down to follow West Loch Tarbert to Tarbert itself. A quick snack, then once we were out of the town after an initial lumpy few miles we found ourselves bowling along north to Lochgilphead where we had an early lunch. Continued towerds Oban again at quite a pace until Kilmartin. From here the last 30 miles were quite hilly, but not enough to seriously challenge us. With 10 miles to go the skies darkened and the rain began falling heavily. This was the first reallly significant rain since we began this trip. I think we have been incredibly lucky to go for 2 weeks with hardly any rain. Arrived in Oban a bit bedraggled. Nearing the hostal who should I bump into but the Frenchman from Alsace-Lorraine. He was really chuffed that we met up again. I love his zest for life and enthusiasm about everything even where he camped last night. "I put up ze teent last night and zis morning I found eet was in zis burg. Eet is a good waterproof teent" Just like something out of Allo Allo. Put our damp kit in the drying room then off to the Oban Inn for steak and chips - an excellent pub. Tomorrow we continue north through Fort William. I can remember cycling this road a decade ago in the summer. At the time I though it was one of the most dangerous stretches of road I had ever cycled. Due wholly to the number of left hand drive campervans. I am hoping there will not be many of those tomorrow.

Journal Entry Day 16
Full hostal at Oban so a busy breakfast time in the hostal kitchen. Porridge without figs (run out) and on a rainy road by 8:15. Put on all our waterproofs before setting off. The first time on this trip. A bit of a climb out of Oban then a pretty unmemorable ride to Connel where we crossed the old railway bridge. I've become rather fascinated by bridges on this trip and how they are engineered. Connel bridge is basically a box section across the middle with these large triangles at either end. A good strong bridge to my eye. As I was crossing a strong current was going over the falls of Lora (which used to be a major hazard forthe ferry before the bridge was built. Continued through the rain to Portnacroish where we stopped for breakfast overlooking a classic highland castle on a small island (whose name forget). A cockney on a motorbike was really fretting about the weather and whether he should head for home today or tomorrow. This involved asking other customers at the cafe and phoning up his mate at work. How someone in London is going to know the local weather in Loachaber is a mystery to me. When we got to Glencoe we joined the A82 and the traffic increased considerably. I now remember why I have not been keen to come back to Scotland for a cycling holiday. There are few roads up here, so often one has to use the main roads. There may be beautiful scenery all around but personally if there is a semiconstant stream of cars etc going past, then for me the pleasure is greatly attenuated. Arrived in Fort William by 13:45ish where we wereon a quest to get some more magic energy powder for dad, after which it was lunch in the Crofter pub. After lunch we set off in the rain in different directions.dad continued along the "lovely" A82 whle I chose the track alongside the Caledonian canal, where not even the sound of a boat's engine was heard to upset my sensibilities. Followed the track to Glairlochy when I took to road up past the Commando monument to meet up with Dad in Spean Bridge. Then it was just 3 miles up the road to Roybridge and Grey Corrie Lodge hostal. Looks like weare the only 2 people staying here. Bit of a change from last night. Tomorrow is going to be hard if the weather forcast is correct. Over 50 miles into a 20mph headwind to get to somewhere that isn't even on the way to John O Groats. Ho hum.

Journal Entry - Day 17
Made quite an early start this morning, about 7:45, after a porridge and banana breakfast Started going east along the A86 down glen Spean. A marvelously quiet road witha surprising amount of climbing to start. We also had something like a 20mph headwind which seriouly impeded our progress. Our average speed was less than 7nph. But the weather was clear and sunny and the scenery was stunningly beautiful. Cycled south of Creag Megaidh then alongside Loch Laggan. On the opposite side of the loch a farytale castle could be seen. dad told me this had been used in a TV programme (which I have not seen) called Monarch of the glen. By the time we got to Laggan the wind was worse than ever We were making very slow progress and were beginnng to think this could be a very long tiring day. Crawled into Newtonmore where we had lunch at a local cafe. During which I received a phone call from Inverness hostal informing me we will ot be able to stay at the hostal. The bloke on the phone was not helpful at all. He did not offer me my money back or give much of an explanation as to why we could not stay there. As you can imagine this really pissed me off so I basically said we will discuss it later when we turn up in Inverness. By the time we got to Kingussie the wind had eased off a bit. So although we were a bit tired the ride through Aviemore to Carrbridge was OK. Checked into the Cairns Hotel then dad took me on a short walk to see the curling rink! Struth I live in the fast lane sometimes.

Journal Entry - Day 18 (rest day)
Took the 9:53 train to Inverness. Where we arrived about 30 mins later. On the way to the station we saw a Red squirrel - first time I have ever seen one in the wild. Straight to the ticket office to sort out our tickets back home. Remarkably this was achieved with the minimum of fuss. The guy in the ticket office said we were very lucky. In the peak season there are huge problems trying to get all these people with bikes who turn up at John O Groats back home again. Once we had sorted this out we went to the tourist office to get a map of Inverness and I tried (and failed to update the blog). Armed with the map we walked up to the SYHA. Apparently the problem was due to a safety issue with the bunk beds, thus halving the bed capacity of the hostal at a stroke. I was given a refund and phoned up an independant hostal at Invergordon, which was sorted with ease. Having sorted out all the business we were then free to explore Inverness. A nice town on the banks of the river Ness. After a pub lunch at The Moray we had a look around the victorian market where the only thing of any real interest was the bagpipe shop - expensive things bagpipes. Prices ranging from a few hundred to over a thousand pounds. Bought Cerys a kilt and Sian a wool scarf in the Smith tartan. Saw a stone outside the Town house which is significant for some reason, then made our way to the old High Churchyard where there are supposed to be bullet holes in some of the headstones where some Jacobites were executed after the battle of Culloden. Did'nt find any bullet holed gravestones but did find one man asleep, one man pissing up against a gravestone and two young lads being busted by plain clothes police officers. Obviously there is never a dull moment in this graveyard. Tried to update the blog in Debenhams and failed. Then tried an excellent shop next to the station called The Mailbox where I did sucessfully update the blog. Then it was back to Carrbridge on train. That evening after our meal we went deerstalking n our bikes. We didn't see any deer but it was a lovely evening ride nonetheless. The weather is still really good up here. A beautiful cloudless sunny day.

Journal Entry Day 19
Another beautiful day and dad was quite animated this morning as this is an area he knows very well so he was giving me a running commentary of things to look out for on the ride out of Carrbridge, such as the footbridge thr Gurkhas built etc. We did see some young deer run across the road a few hundred yards in front of us shortly after leaving Carrbridge. We followed the sustrans route along the old A9 to the top of Slochd down the other side, through Tomartin and onwards all the way to the site of the last battle in the UK. Culloden moor, which sealed the fate of the Jacobite cause. The whole thing was over within an hour. One of the most moving bits of the site are the clan graves. These really do look like mass graves. Small mounds, each marked with a stone with the clan name, containing the bodies of the 1500 Jacobite casualties. On to Inverness and the crossing of the Beauly/Moray firth via the Kessock bridge to the black isle. Another great bridge crossing. Managed to avoid the A9 as far as Tore where we had a good big lunch in the local greasy spoon. Then unfortunately we had little choice but to go along the A9. This was pretty unpleasant. Not a wide road with a fair amount of articulated behemoths on it. Crossed the Cromerty firth on another long bridge then had to stay on the A9 until at last we cound get off at Evanton. These last miles through Alness and Invergordon were a little heavy going due to the headwind. Invrgordon has some sort of dock for oil rigs. I have never seen one of these close up. They are enormous, hundreds of feet high. I can't imagine what it must be like to work on one of these. Staying at the Balintraid backpackers hostel, which is actually a family home in a huge house which has some spare rooms. We have an enormous room with a lovely bay window overlooking the Firth. The kitchen and bathroom we share with the family. I really like it.It's realy homely and our South Australian hostess is utterly charming. Went to the local pub in Saltburn for an evening meal and I noticed that there is live music on Wednesday evenings. As we finished our meal some of the musicians arrived one of which was carrying a fiddle so I was hoping we could be in for a good evening. However my hopes were soon dashed once they started playing. This was really a practice night not a session by players that competently know the tunes they were not bad musicians per se. They just had no oomph, life etc. It really annoys me when players like this practice in public. I think it gives the music a bad name. Anyway, this session was obviously going nowhere fast, so we went back to the hostal for a good rest before tommorows exertions.

Journal Entry Day 20
A late porridge breakfast in the family kitchen. As we set off rain seemed to eb threatening, but it didn't come to anything. Sterted along the B817 to Kildary, then crossed the A9 and cut through the back roads to Tain, a charming little town where we had a little look around and I bought a practice chanter from a shop run by a Canadian woman who was a graduate of the University of Guelph. After a cup of tea we continued through Tain picking up the A9 to cross the Dornoch Firth then off the main road to take the back road to Dornoch. On this road we came across a man with a gun trying to shoot a deer who had been injured in a road accident. It looked like he wasn't doing a very good job, taking several shots at quite close range and still not hitting it. Had lunch in Dornoch, at the Stag Hotel I think. This was also a really nice town witha Cathedral and interestingbuildings. Apparently this was the cathedral that Madonna & Guy Richie were married in. Cycled north then wast along the edge of Loch fleet then we were back on the A9 again. Still a fairly busy road but once we had passed Brora the road seemed a bit quieter On arrivel in Helmsdale we found that our landlady wasn't in so we retired to the La Mirage restaurant for a cup of tea. Interesting place La Mirage. Lots of pink stuff everwhere and huge photos or the proprietor, who obviously modelled herself on Barbara Cartland, posing with various celebrities. I imagine that quite a few celebrities pass through Helmsdale, especially those doing an end to end for charidy. I'm sure La Cartland lookalike takes full advantage of this offering refreshment with a photographer close at hand. In fact the end to end is quite an industry up here. I'm sure there would not be so many B&B's etc if it wasn't for the end to end. Also everyone knows the exact mileage from wherever they are to John O Groats. Over our cuppa in La Mirage we decided to push on to Dunbeath as the weather forcast for tomorrow is not good and there are some really bad hills beyond Helmsdale. So off we went to attack the hills, and some hills they turned out to be, more like north Cornwall than Caithness. However this time we have had a bit more training so we did ot find them as daunting as we did earlier in the trip. Arrived in Dunbeath and were pointed in the Direction of Mary's B&B (the one with the ivy in the shape of a heart on the side of the house) by the woman who ran the local pub, where we returned to eat later and savour the drunken banter of the locals.

Latest news 6/5/06

I have decided instead of trying to give a day by day account I will just give you the latest news of what we are up to so far. Briefly after Llandogo we had some very long and difficult stages, covering the whole of Wales in 2 days. This left us very tired and demoralised. But a divine wind blew up and carried us on our way and is still doing so to date. So we whizzed north from Preston through the leake district up to the Scottish border at Longtown, Cumbria. The wind convenisntly swung around to the south east bloing us up through Dumfies and Galloway, Ayrshire and to the ferry across to Arran. This morning we left Lochranza in the sunshine on the first ferry at 8:15 and continued our journey through Argyll arriving in Oban this evening. Our luck regarding the rain ran out today. The last 10 miles were in pretty heavy rain. This has now gone and we have a lovely sunny evening.

Journal Entry - Day 8
Another lovely full English breakfast from our charming landlady. A bit misty in the Wye valley bit it did'nt feel too cold. The road was fairly quiet on the way to Monmouth and very scenic. We briefly stopped in Monmouth to phone up our other halves as there was no mobile phone reception in Llandogo, and the only payphone was in the local shop (which was closed of course). We then set off up the Monnow valley. This area is staggeringly beautiful and unbelieveably quiet. We hardly saw a soul between Monmouth and Skenfrith. It is also very hilly despite generally following the valley, so progress was quite slow. We had arranged to meet up with my other sister and her family on this stage as it is the closest to home. They eventually caught up with us in Grosmont, but we were'nt ready for lunch. So I suggested they went up the Golden valley and we would meet up with them there. Unfortunately the spot they decided on was in Dorstone, which we didn't get to till 2pm. So we had a late long lunch and a brisk northerly headwind seemed to be blowing up. This all added to the delays in covering the huge distance we had to do this day. It's a shame I did'nt split this stage as it had some of the most beautiful contryside we have been through so far. But as I have cycled much of this before the rationale was to get through it so we can explore new territory. All this led to a very very long day. We eventually arrived at Clun at about 9pm totally knackered wondering how on earth we were going to get on the bikes the next day. Overall we did 81 very hilly miles.

Journal Entry - Day 9
Porridge breakfast, then on the road for 8:15. We had recovered fairly well after yesterdays excesses. Very quiet road to Bishops Castle, where we sampled the delights of the high tech cattle market toilets. I can highly recomment these, your bowel movements are accompanied by Mozarts's horn concerto. This got me thinking of other appropriate music for such an occasion, perhaps the elephant music from carnival of the animals. On we went past a tree painted red near Church Stoke then on to Chirbury where we had a bite to eat after which we followed the valley road up to Westbury, crossed the Severn for the second time at Melverley and stopped for Sunday lunch at The Cross Keys Kinnerley. The next village - Knockin. Now what would you call your shop if you had one in Knockin. "The knockin shop" of course, which is what it is called. Some navigational error cost us dear between here and Ellesmere. The road then got hilly between here and Threapwood. Something to do with retreating glaciers from the last ice age so I'm told. Then after dipping in and out of Wales all day we finally settled on England and followed the Dee valley to Chester. Why is it that all the main rivers we have encountered are alphanumerics. Y, D and 7, perhaps there is some secret message in our quest - perhaps the holy grail is at John O Groats. Perhaps I'm typing a load of rubbish.

Journal Entry - Day 10

Had a very nice hostal cooked full English breakfast. The set of to the waves of a group of old Australian ladies through the traffic of a bank holiday Chester. assisted by a strong westerly we headed towards Frodsham along the A56. Then using Phil Horsleys excellent directions we followed cycle routes through Runcorn and was guided to Runcorn bridge over the Mersey without having to do any main road stuff. we were about to join the St Helens canal path when this old chap approached us (hearing aids, glasses like the bottom of bottles) ho told us that he had had reports of a yacht being beached andwould we look out for it on our travels. If we saw said yacht would we tell Mike Hughes at the Fiddlers Ferry marina. Having noted all this down we crossed the lock at Spike Island and followed the towpath. Dotted along thispath were fishermen trying to catch (a fish presumably) in the fetid waters of the canal. I cannot imagine how anything could possibly be living in what passes as water in that cut. When I think back to the waters of the Wye or Monnow or Lugg or Clun, I can't imagine why anyone would want to fish in a place like this. As it transpired we did see a beached yacht on a distant mudflat. So dutifully we reported to the marina office, but Mike already knew about it and was on his way to rescue the boat at that moment. On we went to Warrington through Great Sankey park. There were lotsof new housing developments here, very posh 3 storey exec homes. It was now getting towards lunchtime. as the weather was not too good we tried to get into a pub for lunch without any luck. we ended up having a peanut butter sandwich in a draughty bus shelter in Newton-Le-Willows. The next 10 miles or so seemed to be a continuous conurbation separated by slagheaps, windswept and rainy. Things only got better after Upholland and Appley Bridge. When we got to Preston I sensed that Par was not in a good mood. So I tried to navigate to the hotel as directly as possible. Which I did. Another day with a headwind will surely finish him off.

Journal Entry - Day 11
Dad really pissed off last night. Almost ready to pack it in. Anyway he said he would leave it until this morning and then decide. Anyway he decided to continue. I felt very depressed. we flew down the A6 assisted by a 20mph southerly tailwind. At Catterall we left the A6 and followed the B5430 through the villages. Then continued along the B5272 to pick up the cycle trach along the Lune estuary into Lancaster (big mistake). For some reason the cycle track was closed so we diverted through some estates into Lancaster. had a cup of tea at the appropriately named Wind Down Cafe in Lancaster. When I was about to leave I thought it would be a good idea to ask the bestway to get to the A6 northbound. There were 3 women and one cross dresser. The 3 women had no idea how to get to the A6, but the cross dresser gave me detailed instructions, throwing in details such as the location of a motobike shop etc. No doubting he has a Y chromosome. Made really fast progress to Milnthorpe where we had a lunch of Cumberland sausages at the Cross Keys Hotel - very good. Then turned off the A6 onto a thankfully short stretch of the very dangerous A590. And then onto the A5074 Bowness road. Which was actually very quiet, but (we are in the lake district now) hilly. Stocked up on provisions in Bowness for our evening repast, then caught the ferry over lake Windermere. Luckily as it turned out because we were the last crossing before it closed due to high winds. Bit of a climb up to Sawreythen a lovely few miles around Esthwaite water to the palatial hostal. where apparently Francis Brett Young used to live. Novelist of note.

Journal Entry - Day 12

Heavy rain in the night which had cleared by morning. YHA breakfast and on the road by 8:30 in the subshine. Still had a brisk southerly wind. Followed the B road to Ambleside where we followed the A591 north and tackled the Dunmail raise. Dad had previously told me of his love of A roads so I left him to go along the East of Thirlmere whilst I went around the quieter West road. We arranged to meet up in Threlkeld, which we did and had a snack. I discussed the route to Carlisle from here. The route I had was a bit hilly but fairly direct. The alternative was along the A66 (v busy) to Penrith and then north on the A6. I get no pleasure from lorries sailing past within inches of my right elbow. So we agreed to go our separate ways and meet up at Carlisle station. I had an excellent ride, hardly saw a car at all. A lot of the earlier part of the journey was on the coast to coast route on a gated road. Continued north through Mosedale then stopped for a picnic lunch at Hesket Newmarket. An absolutley gorgeous day with Simpsons skies. After a bit of a climb out of Hesket Newmarket a great descent down through Raughton Head and Dalston then followed the river Caldew along a cycle track into Carlisle. Had a cappucino by the station when 45 mins later dad turned up. We then negotiated the hell of a Carlisle rush hour along the A7 (bloody dangerous) to Longtown and Briar Lea House B&B. Felt like an easy day's ride today, helped by the tail wind. Had a huge dinner at the Graham Arms Hotel - which I can recommend (on the way to which we saw a man cycling in his socks with his boots in his hand - what was that all about?) then back to bed by 9pm ready for tomorrow's exertions.

Journal Entry Day 13

A hearty breakfast from our hosts, to the sound of modern religious music on the hifi. Shared breakfast with a group of motorcyclists from Wellingborough which was very amiable. Made excellent pregress again due to another tailwind from the southeast.I really cannot believe our luck over the last three days. Did a short detour through Gretna Green for the mandatory picture infront of the blacksmiths shop. Then through Gretna which had an amazing road floral display of daffodils and tulips as we left the village. Continued on along the B721 through Eastriggs and Dornock where we had some light rain for about 5 minutes, then Annan. I really liked Annan. A bustling little town a bit like Upton on Severn. Approaching from the East you hit all the residential area then the busy centre of the town then the river Annan, then like Upton, once you cross the river you are out in the countryside again. A lot of the buildings around here are similar to some near home. Lots of sandstone used. By midday we were in Dumfries.We got some excellent advice from the tourist information centre and a good place to leave the bikes while we explored the town. I really liked this place too, big pedestrianised area in the centre. Had lunch at The Globe (on the advice of the TIC chap). I'm listening to this brillant reel on BBC radio scotland whle I'm typing this - why can't radio be like this at home? Spent the afternoon following Nithsdale northwest avioding the A76 where possibletill we arrived at Sanquhar. This place looks a bit down at heel. However our digs are excellent - The Balckaddie House Hotel, best place we have stayed at so far. Nowhere to eat in town so we ate at the hotel. It was agood job really as before we sat down to eat there was this massive electrical storm. I can't think of when I have seen such heavy rain coming down. By the time we had finished our meal the power was down. Quite an exciting end to the day. I ca't believe how lucky we have been on this trip so far. For the last three days we have had good tailwinds and be have hardly been rained on at all in the trip so far. Tomorrowwe should arrive on Arran, our 3rd ferry crossing and leave the lowlands behind us.

Journal Entry - Day 14 (picture above taken near Ardrossan ferry terminal)
On the road by about 9ish, on a beautiful crystal clear sunnyday with a moderatesouth westerly. We parted company right from the startwith dad taking the A76 while I took the back road on the southern side of the river Nith. I rejoined the main road just after Kirconnel when my options ran out. Caught up with dad and we cycled together as far as New Cumnock. Just before gettting there, through a dip in the hills we could clearly see Arran over 30 miles away. At New Cumnock we again parted company, with dad taking the main roads while I took the back roads with the plan of meeting up at the ferry terminal at Ardrossan. Ayrshire is known for it's vistas ad there was no shortage of these on my route. I seemd to be able to see for miles around, even though I was not on particularly high ground. Far away to the north I could see the outlines of mountains in the far distance. Not far out of New Cumnck (on the "Sweet Afton") a skinhead was making his way across a field towards a ruined croft with 2 bottles of beer. When he spotted me he gave me a friendlywave.A little unusual in this land of dour Scots. I zigzaged my way under the flight path for Prestwick airport. When what should happen but I had my first puncture of the trip, caused by a rimpinch when I ran over a stone. Put the spare tube in and continued to Tarbolton where I bought some provisions for a picnic lunch. Then on to Irvine when I grappled with the navigational challanges involved in following the cycle paths. In one moment of confuson I was befriended by a French cyclist, now living in edinburgh, but originally from Alsace-Lorraine. He effortlessly guided me towards Ardorssan while we chatted. Got to the ferry terminal 20 mins after dad and too late to get the 3pm departure. So we had to hang for the 6pm one. We arrived on the delightful Island of Arran (I really must come here again) and cycled around to the charming little village of Lochranza where we dashed off to the local hotel before they finished doing food. Apart from missing the earlier ferry today has been a near perfect cyclig day.

Day 7 Street to Llandogo

Another beautiful morning and on the road by 8am. Had a few minor navigational mishaps mainly due to Somerset County Council not putting up any road signs. I really enjyed this part of the ride especially when we got up off the levels towards Wedmore. Continued on to Cheddar where we picked up a cycle track past the reservoir and had a brew up. Georgeous sunny weather if a little cold at times due to the northerly wind. The Mendips were looming up in front of us so we were expecting quite a climb, but after we passed through the very pretty town of Axbridge we got onto another cycle track which was an old railway complete with tunnel under the hills, so we arrived in Winscombe with the minimum of effort.We then followed a busy minor road through Congresbury and Yatton until we arrived in Clevedon. Dad had arranged to meet up with Ron and Margaret on Clevedon promenade. We did not see them so decided to have lunch in the Little Harp Inn on the promenade anyway. Who should turn up while we were having lunch but Ron and Margaret. After lunch we struck out for the Avon crossing along a lovelely quiet road despite it being very close to the M5. A minor navigational hiccough but we made the crossing OK. Then hacked our waythrough some of the western fringes of Bristol to strike out for the Severn crossing. At one point I stopped for a pee when dad carried on down the road. I forget to tell him to take the next turning. So he ambled on for several miles bafore I caught him up and had to retrace our steps. Despite being able to see the bridge it seemed to take us ages to get to the Severn/Wye crossing. It is amazing being on these huge bridges. We frequently stopped to take a few pictures. When you stop you can feel the bridge moving when a large lorry crosses. We entered the second cetic nation of our quest and had a snack while watching the rush hour traffic jam trying to get to Chepstow. Bit of a haul up the start of the Wye valley but eventually dropped down to the bottom of the valley through tintern and on to Llandogo, where ur delightfully kind landlady at Cypress Rise B&B made us a lovely cup of tea then drove us down to the village pub for our evening meal. Distance cycled today 75.4 miles

Day 5 Exeter to Street

Started in the sunshine. As this was another fairly long ride we decided to go up the old A38 which was reasonably traffic free once you got out of Exeter. Traversed Taunton using cycle paths along canal towpaths in the main. Got back on the road at Creech St Michael. Then across the Somerset levels, with a final climb to the hostel at Street atop the Polden hills. Stage distance 57 miles, total so far 233.I have also saved a better version of this trip on USB. Will update when I get home.
Journal Day 5
Had a lovely breakfast conversing with a Canadian academic over here researching some local history. Then set off through the sunshine and rush hour traffic on the old A38. Not too busy a road generally. The object this morning was to eat some miles, so this is what we did. Stopped for a brew up near Appledore, then on to Taunton which we breezed though on National cycle route 3 and saw virtually nothing of the town and more importantly no traffic. Most of this route was on excellently surfaced canal towpaths. I have to thank Phil Horsley's brilliant guide for showing us the way. Came off the towpath at Creech St Michael and wandered through impossibly pretty villages on the Somerset levels. Through Atheley (apparently where King Alfred burned the cakes, surely he would have had his own cook!) and on to Burrowbridge and the peculier mound of Burrow Mump, a smaller version of Glastonbury Tor. Then cycled across the dead flat Kings Sedgemoor, the site of the last battle on English soil and what was once the sea bed, then on to Street hostal. A shorter day's ride than yesterday but we felt more tired. This may have been cumulative or because we did not eat as much today. Still I think we have broken the back of the south west now. Which by all accounts is the most difficult part of the whole journey.

Day 4 Tintagel to Exeter

I did a record of this on my laptop and saved it to a USB. Unfortunately I cannot plug a USB in any public access pc. I think the day went somethig like this. Miat wet start, very long climb up to bodmin moor. Could'nt see a thing, even had to put our lights on for a while. Then descended out of the mist down to Launceston, where we had a full english at a greasy spoon. Then finally left Cornwall and had a long climb up to the edge of dartmoor where we picked up an excellent cycle path to Okehampton. Had a devon cream tea and on to Exeter. A lot of decent on this route and the weather had cheered up considerably. Arrived in Exeter in the sunshine. This was our longest ride so far and we considered it to be one of the most challenging stages, but we managed it without too much difficulty.
Journal entry day 4
Awoke to a misty morning. Only a slim sandwich of visibility from sea level to a few hundred feet. Strange weather - a brisk westerly, looked like it should be raining but it was'nt really. Tintagel hostel is also in a excellent situation, fantastic views over the sea from it's clifftop location. 1/2 a mile or so up a rough track, then another mile or so through Tintagel village before we started the serious climb. Very soon we were in the mist - visibility very poor down to 50 metres. This climb went on, and on, and on. I knew we were heading for Bodmin moor, but where was it? After about an hour we had covered all of 5 miles. Eventually we got to the top, vibility was so bad we put our lights on. Did a bit of the A395 from Davidstow then turned off towards Egloskerry & Launceston. I'm ALWAYS glad to get off these main roads. A pretty good descent to Egloskerry and we left the mist behind. Then a switchback all the way to Launceston, where we had a very unhealthy breakfast at a local greasy spoon cafe. Shortly after leaving Launceston we crossed our first milestone and left the first Celtic nation of the 3 we are planning to cross. We crossed the Tamar and thus left Cornwall. We then followed an unclassified road (which was probably the old A30 from the size of it) through Lifton, Portgate, Lewdown, Combebow and Sourton. Up and down but gradually climbing all the way. Ever there to our right was the brooding prescence of Dartmoor - or would be if we could see it! As we approached Sourton it started raining properly - enough to don the waterproofs. At Sourton, and all the slow progress we had been making since Launceston, we were rewarded with the Granite way cycle path. An excellent tarmacadamed 4 mile drawn out descent all the way to Okehampton. The high point of which was crossing the Meldon viaduct. We treated ourselves to a Devon cream tea in Okehampton before the horrible traffic choked climb out of town towards the A30. I cannot imagine what this place would be like if there was no bypass, these traffic levels are as I remember them 30 years ago when I passed through on our annual summer hols. Then had a lovely run on a back road shadowing the A30 all the way to Exeter. Checked into the Rosedale B&B where the kind landlady allowed me to use her PC to update our blog. That evening we caught the bus into town and were given some good advice from a local couple on places to eat etc. Ended up at the Wetherspoon pub for steaks and Zywiec beer.