Day 11 - Highs come with Lows

It was always going to happen, the rough day was always going to come eventually. It was by no means a complete disaster, but certainly not as good as the last few days and a noticeable struggle at times.

It started as many rough days do, with a poor night's sleep, which after yesterdays fairly mega day was less than ideal. Once I'd convinced myself into a bike I thought it might improve but once we hit the Glasgow cycle path my hopes were dashed. Most of the morning was spent on poor surfaces dodging pedestrians and cyclists, and trying to follow days instructions as he led us off piste in his home town.

The poor cycling conditions certainly didn't help the first wall I hit on the trip as my legs turned slowly to mush (again yesterday was probably to blame) and the last 10 miles to lunch required a bit of determination.

Lunch, however, was a significantly better affair. Hostess by the Dumbarton MS Group in a lovely hotel. Here I was met by a surprise visit from Rob and Hill (great uncle/aunt) who I haven't seen in a rather long time. It was lovely to catch up with them while waiting for lunch to be served. Then right on cue Alexa and Thomas appeared (after living with me for a year and desperately wanting rid of me, they have traveled all the way to Cornwall and then Scotland but I just keep following them). Again this was a great catch up and we got to know some of the MS group over a lovely spread of sandwiches and cakes.

The only downside of lunch was the 38 miles we still had to cover, which turned out to initially be on ever worse paths. After putting up with it for all 12 miles with the team, I decided to sacrifice the rest of the ride and to just sprint for home, mostly ignoring the beautiful scenery, but hopefully no longer dampening the mood of the rest of the crew (who took time to swim in Loch Lomond, an adventure that would have inevitably ended up with me in A&E with hypothermia had I joined in).

While tough, the sprint was very enjoyable and certainly what I needed to clear my head as well as giving me a bit longer to rest at the finish and celebrate surviving the day with an ice-cream.

Tonight calls for an early bedtime with the hope of a better day tomorrow to enjoy the Highlands.

Day 10 - The Long One

The early bird apparently catches the worm, but we just seemed the catch bad luck this morning. As we were rolling out I found my rear tyre flat for the second time and once we successfully got going on take two were met with fairly miserable weather. Forty minutes later we crossed the border, and began battling a head/cross-wind that stayed with us for the morning. 

The second sport of bad luck withing the hour was Sophie's flat tyre which stubbornly refused to come off her wheel. After 20 minutes of trying, back up arrived in the form of Franz and Paul and together (with three pairs of hands, 4 tyre leavers, and much swearing) we finally convinced it to come off. 

From then it was a mostly uneventful morning, except from the wind, of riding and singing along to some tunes as we went.

After lunch our luck finally turned as we found the tailwind James had promised last might, a gorgeous valley to climb (gradually) and the sun. This section certainly rivalled yesterdays for the best road of the trip but on balance comes in at a close second (possibly just because we were riding it slower)

With 20 to go we reached the top of the long climb and began the final push for home after a quick refill from thunderbird two. This push was soon paused for a loo break to relieve my rather upset stomache (a whole tub of ice-cream last night might not have been my finest decision...) but I soon caught the rest of the crew and after the only actually climb of the day we made it to Carluke with 101 miles on the clock.

Time for a rest and apparently a pub trip before hopefully a good night's sleep.

Day 9 - Something for Everyone

I think it's fair to say that the rest day felt like it did more bad than good for my legs this morning! Even walking was a struggle to start with where everything had seized up (maybe I needed the lube more than my bike!) .

Anyway once I had finally loosened up and the rest of the team had gotten out of bed we set off on the shortest day of the trip. Sounds easy until you see the largest hill on the trip (it is the lake District after all). The climb started almost straight away out of Kendal, gently at first but it became more noticeable after about ten miles as we climbed the Kirkstone Pass. 

The descent the other side was pretty technical and bloody fast (hopefully Henry didn't need his bottle that he dropped and we all ignored). Then it was time to get the camera out for some beautiful snaps of the scenery along the west side of Ullswater Lake.

After a delicious tea and cake at Pooley Bridge we cleared the lake District and set our sights on Carlisle as the sun finally graced us with its presence. We then found what must be the best 10 mile stretch of road on the trip so far: beautifully flat, minimal hills, sweeping bends, and no wind. This turned into a half hour interval session of trying to reach the highest top speed and leading the others out (40mph on the flat was the max)

The unanimous verdict seems to be that today was the best day of the trip yet. Let's hope tomorrows 100-miler is just as enjoyable (please can every pray for a tailwind!)

(No WiFi => no photos 😭)

Day 8 - And rest...

Somehow we are now over halfway to John O'Groats and we treated ourselves to a "rest".  Although after a late night, our lie in was cut short by Lauren's 7 am alarm that she insists never goes off.

After a leisurely (by our usual standards) start to the morning, we went out to a disability activity center to use a range of clever bikes with the local MS group. This was great fun trying out all manner of wacky contraptions, and we also had a lovely lunch with the group.

Once we made it back to Kendal, the sun finally came out and we spent the rest of the afternoon chilling and sorting ourselves out before the final push tomorrow. Washing was certainly a priority! We managed to wash clothes but unfortunately failed to find a gym that was open late in the afternoon so we decided we could be smelly until tomorrow evening in Carlisle.

Tonights plan apparently includes a pub again, but after the state of some heads this morning, I'm not convinced this will really happen, and I for one will be having an early night!

Day 7 - Danny's Mum

Danny decided to put the chorus of "Stacey's Mum" in all of our heads first thing this morning, hence the title...

Today was the first first wet day of our trip, but thankfully it was also one of the shortest at only 60 miles. The rain started before we woke up and barely stopped all day. Despite this we seemed to keep pretty good spirits and remarkably dry under all our wet weather gear (a solid investment before the trip that was worth its weight in gold!) 

The Law of Sod was certainly invoked as we had to stop the most when we least wanted to. We had two flat tyres and Sarah spectacularly hit the deck over some railway tracks (and was thankfully unscathed) 

Other than that not much to report today, no photos due to the weather, which was certainly a shame give the beauty of the lake District, but hopefully that can be rectified on Sunday.

We are all looking forward to enjoying the Kendall nightlife (if it exists) and a day off the saddle tomorrow!

Day 6 - A wee bit of a low

So for one Danny's heavy Glaswegian accent 

Anyway, the rain came last night, and although everyone's tents remained water tight, it certainly dampened (excuse the pun...) the mood. After packing away sopping wet tents and cooking breakfast in the drizzle we set of for a relatively flat day. Unfortunately after only managing 1.8 miles Danny's crank arm decided it wanted to just be attached to his foot and not his bike. Once international rescue (Paul in Thunderbird 1) had sorted us out the run to the first rest stop was pretty uneventful except for clouds and not very much scenery.

In Nantwich we found a lovely waterside cafe for our second breakfast and to relax for a bit, expecting the rest of the day to fly by just as smoothly. However once back on two wheels the uninteresting scenery started to become a bit of a bore and to make matters worse a closed bridge and replacement bus service didn't help people's already dropping moods.

The annoying bus split the group and once across the estuary we hit the worst headwinds of the trip. Thankfully as we approached 14 miles to home the sun came out and Thunderbird 1 delivered us some ice creams which made the last stretch and the only hills of the day much more barrable.

Despite the mood and set backs we made it back well in time to hang out our tents in the sun before settling in for a chilled evening in eccelstone home of Bradley Wiggins' gold post box

Day 5 - Bats out of Hell

Today was certainly the easier day that yesterday was meant to be. Despite the seagull party all through the night that sevearly limited everyone's sleep, the dream team (or Cameron's Ducklings as they have named it) flew out of the blocks and absolutely smashed it all day really. We were ahead of schedule at every stop and quite happily rolled over the relatively flat terrain.

Spirits were very high all day, even when we got the news that the rain would be coming at 4 o'clock, which set a good deadline for the final 15 mile stretch. At this point I made the tough (and questionable) decision to abandon the group and ride for home like a bat out of hell, and bashed it out in no time (15 miles in 42 mins). Tent was up just in the nick of time, only to find that the on site pub wasn't open so we huddled into the van to shelter until it opened for what was promised as to be an enormous dinner. 

Let's hope the rain eases off before the ride tomorrow

(Again photos to follow when WiFi situation improves)