john o'groats to lands end

Another early start saw us putting on our lights for the first time. The morning was cold and misty but it promised to be a nice day. As we left Shropshire and entered Herefordshire the terrain became a little more rolling again. We headed south through the picturesqe little town of Ledbury and then to Gloucester where the first small dissater of the day occured. I put my hand in my pocket, pulled out my days map and dropped it and seeing as I was on a duel carridgeway at the time there was no going back to get it. A ll we could to was head for the next town which was Stroud and meet up with Carl and Amy and get a replacement page from the spare map that I had brought for just such occasions. We rendevouzed at Stroud, topped up our supplies of food and water and also took the opportunity to call into halfords to pick up some brake blocks for bot bikes which I knew I was going to have to fit at some point over the next few days. It was turning out to be vital to have a support crew who would meet you when you needed them, go onto the accomadations check you in and take up your bags and even have your tea ready for you on occasions. It saves so much time because all we were having to do was cycle and bed. After a long steep climb out of Stroud the road suddenly flattened and the ride was pleasant until we reached the busy A46into bath. Be warned the stretch between Doddington and Pennsyluauia is lethal at rush hour and Julie crashed the bike,  On the occasion no serious harm done other that some vast grasing. So we reached the YHA at bath at about 7.30 feeling down and disappointed.

Millage = 757.5

I felt much better sa I awoke on the Monday morning. I had lept really well as our stop had been at the Milebank house b+b which was the farmhouse of a working farm. Carl and Amy had stopped at the campsite on the same grounds.The landlady was a loverly woman who did lots of work for local charities and for the blind. She was very interested in what we were doing and told us just how many people who had been doing the trip had stopped there this year. Which was good because it meant I must be on the right road afterall. It was nice to get some breakfast in me too because I'd been suffering with the worst case of diar") and was feeling empty and tired. Todays ride was the easyest of the trip, a short 62` mile blast down the flat roads lined by cornfields and thatched cottages to our next stop that was at Leominster YHA. Which was an old priory with an eery feel to it that gave one or two of us the creeps. Never the less that was 9 down 4 to go and we were begining to feel that we were really going to make it.

Mileage to date 676.5

Today was the day of this trip that I'd been dreading. We had to navigate our way through some of the biggest towns in the north wet using only the UK maps that I had, (each days page was removed from the map book and put inside a polly pocket to keep it dry) and trying to avoid the busy and scary duel carridgeways. Not long after a little town just outside Wigan called Orrell, I happened to notice a street name I really liked the sound of, please see the photos for an explanation. The going was really slow for the first half of the day as I was having to stop the bike and check the map every five minutes but we got there eventually. We stopped at a morrisons for a coffee the onto the A49 south all the way down to Whitchurch. The road here was flat and the traffic light so we made very quick progress through what is probably one of my favourite parts of the country, Cheshire and Shropshire.

Total mileage = 614

We left at about 6.30 and probably got no more than half an hour into the ride before the rain started, undaunted we donned our waterproofs and carried on. Ulswater was a lovely place with its quite little lakeside retreats and rolling hills but the weather was dampening our spirits a little and the mountainous kirkstone pass at 1600ft really sapped our strength. So it was a bit of a relief to get to windemere fr a hot coffee and a rest. Julie noticed a sign painted fence outside one of the restaurants there that said <Lands End 434 John O Groats 434> we were half way. Not long after windemere I managed to miss my turn which added probably another 3 mile or so onto our journey. The landscape then flattened out as we passed through Cornfourth, Lancaster, Carstang and then into Preston, where it was still raining as someone I knew told me it would.

Mileage to date 536

Moffat turned out to be a really nice little town to visit, with its flowerbeds and neatly manicured park and pond it reminded me of the town of Matlock, which is the town I work in. We had our tea in a pub there, the name of which slips my mind but the food and the atmosphere were great. Our B+B was Marchbank wood house, a mile or so out of Moffat, it was an old manor house and it was a fantastic place to stay. The landlady was called Sally, she was very welcoming and couldn't do enough to help make our stay comfortable, she also donated £10 to our cause. There was also a resident collie dog called Meg who would play fetch all day with anyone she could find. The trip from Moffat to Penrith was nice, the weather was good and the going flat. Our route took us straight past the blacksmiths at Gretna Green, but it was just before that when we called it to a gift shop besides a pub called the mill, that the lady behind the counter donated £20 and gave us a postcard free, not long after this we crossed the boarder into England and had a peaceful run to Penrith where we stopped at the travelodge.

456 miles to date

We left the travel lodge t 6.45 am, the morning was dull but dry. As we left Kilmarnoch the road continued to climb up into the hills where it quickly became very misty, not very nice when you hear the hiss of the air brakes on an articulated lorry and realise the driver hasn't seen you until the last minute. We turned off the road at Drumclog and took the road to Moir turk which was one of the bumpiest I've ever been on. the scenery around there made up for it though. The prettiest part of the journey so far.About 3 hours later though, we were still climbing and our spirits were starting t drop, plus the endless hours on the bike was beginning to take its toll on my backside, eventually we picked up the A7076 which runs alongside the M74 and we were rewarded with a 14 mile downhill section. At one point a large hawk flew out of the trees and flew along side us at head hight for about 100 meters eyeing us curiously before swooping over a hedgerow. We arrived at Moffat at 4.00pm for our first early finish.

386 miles completed

We left the youth hostel at 7.15am when it was bright and sunny but very cold, we were treated to an 8 mile downhill section to the beautiful shore of Loch Lomand, one of my favourite parts of Scotland. We stopped for a coffee and a break at the tiny village of Luss which was where the TV series "Take the high road" was filmed. After that it was back to civilization with a bang. Navigating around Dumbarton and Glasgow, which meant crossing the Erskine bridge. The day finished with me getting us a bit lost in Kilmarnoch which added about another 8 miles and nearly an hour on to the day, oops, never mind at least the weather had been nice all day.

320 miles completed