Day 3: Kinross - Carlisle

BBC weather forecast looked promising, 8 mph winds and sunny spells, so when we stepped outside the travelodge to a gloomy, grey windy day, we were a tad disappointed!

The first few miles weren't too bad as we weaved our way to the Forth road bridge. We cycled through some pretty grim pebbledashed towns, with the highlight being Kelty, maybe I'm being a bit unfair, but its hard to imagine that a small town (half the size of Kingsbridge) with a tattoo parlour is a place of prosperity!

The road bridge was quite impressive but the signs were very confusing as bikes have to go on a bit on the side. Our side was closed so we had to walk down some steep steps and then back up the other side.

The next 45 miles we battled hard against the cyclists worst enemy; the headwind. It was really blowing and our average speed plummeted as we got our heads down and ground into the wind. It was both physically and mentally sapping. We did manage to find some small roads to take us away from the traffic, but it was still a slog!

Eventually we made it to a service station on the A74(M) where I was ripped off for a Burger King, but was so hungry and tired I didn't care. Scotland seems to lack garages to stock up on food. I could easily count the number of garages we passed (in the last 350 miles) on two hands!

From here we were on the old A74. This hugged the A74(M) but had no traffic on it and it had a cycle path on the side of it, we were spoilt for choice. However the road surface was poor and whilst the cycle path on the side was generally smoother, there were the odd stones that had accumulated there, one of these led to my first puncture right at the top of Beattock Summit at 314 m. We were soon on the way again and at least heading SE so the wind wasn't directly in our faces.

The road was long but gradually descended and so by taking turns on the front we were able to drive up the pace and save our dismal average speed!

Brief stop in Lockerbie for more food (food and energy drink is easily our biggest expense of the trip).

The forecast for the evening was not good and we had to put on and take off rain jackets several times before Gretna Green, however as we dropped down and crossed the border into England, the wind finally relented and the sky cleared. The last few miles into Carlisle were easy but we took them slowly as the day had taken its toll. This was supposed to be the easy day! I wish we had listened to those who said 'why are you cycling into the wind?'

Very spacious travelodge right in the centre of Carlisle, but full of people going out on the town, hopefully they won't wake us when they return! Nice curry for tea but shoddy service, so good excuse not to leave a tip!!!

Vital Statistics
Total distance cycled: 122 miles
Time on bike: 8 hours 32 mins
Average speed: 14.3 mph
Max speed: 34 mph
Total ascent: 1852 m
Highest point: 325 m
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Day 2: Inverness - Kinross

It was great tucking into our 'free' holiday inn breakfast, but it meant that we were a bit later leaving. Fortunately all the kit had dried out overnight so we set off with dry kit and in sunshine.

It was a steady drag up into the Caingorm mountains, nothing as steep as the South Hams, but long climbs and for about 20 miles we slowly wound up to Schlod summit at 405 metres. We tried to avoid the A9 where possible, taking some of the smaller roads. This was much nicer but didn't do our average speed much good!

First stop of the day was Aviemore at 31 miles. I was expecting a pretty mountain ski village, but was fairly diasppointed! Still it had the essentials (Tesco).

After a nice 10 miles on smaller roads we were back on the A9 and the headwind started to pick up as we began climbing again. It was a long slog of about 30 miles on a busy road, into the wind and mostly steady climbing so it was a relief to reach the literal high point of Drumochter summit at 462 metre and have some lunch, sheltering from the wind behind a lorry in a layby!

From here we had an 11 mile descent. It was quite bizzare pedalling hard downhill and only going about 15 mph, but the further we dropped the less the wind was.

Will was keen to stick on the cycle path at the side of the road so we ventured onto the pothole and gravel ridden track from time to time to mix things up.

By the time we reached Pitlochry we had lost most of the height gained and stopped briefly outside the Bell's distillery but no whiskey this time.

The rest of the route was straightforward, following the River Tay through some pretty towns, into Perth.
As (seems to be) usual, the last 20 miles down to Kinross was hard going. The wind picked up as the rain approached and the race was on to get to the hotel before we got soaked. We just about made it before the heavens opened. Staying the night in a travelodge at a motorway service station, so had to walk into town (in the rain) for a Chinese.

One of the toughest things about today was the lack of places to buy food and drink, it was pretty barren in the Cairngorms. Tomorrow looks set to be the same as we don't actually pass through a town until we hit England.

Vital Statistics:
Distance cycled: 132 miles
Time on bike: 8 hours 44 mins
Average speed: 15.1 mph
Total ascent: 1771 metres
Max altitude: 462 metres
Max speed: 32.1 mph

Mechanicals: nil!
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Day 1: Thurso (John O'Groats) to Inverness

We set off after our full scottish breakfast (haggis, black pudding, sausage, bacon and egg!) At 8.15. The first 20 miles into John O'Groats were nice and easy with great views of the Orkney Islands.

Not much going on at JOG, no one around, no one serving in the cafe and the 'official' signpost that you have to pay for was empty! So after a quick photo we cracked on to Tesco's in Wick to get some irn-bru (when in Scotland..).

The A99 and A9 were easy going with a few climbs but nothing like Devon and Cornwall. The first 70 miles or so were pretty remote with no real shops and only fashioned petrol stations.

On one of the descents we came across queueing traffic, where a lorry had taken the bend going up the hill too tight, had ripped out the barrier and got stuck with most of its wheels off the ground. Luckily we were able to scoot round as it was being winched back on the road.

We got soaked through to the skin just before lunch in a heavy downpour, but by the time we stopped in Helmsdale at 75 miles it was drying out.

As we went to set off again we had our first mechancial issue as Will noticed a broken spoke. We didn't have much choice but to press on and luckily passed a hardware shop in Golspie that seemed to sell everything including spokes. A short delay to fit it then off we went. Keen to make up time Will went into time trial mode and powered on, with me hiding in his wheel and doing the odd short turn!

The scenery started to change as we started to cross some of the many Firths that litter the coast. Before long we were in Tain, home of Glenmorangie Whiskey. Too good an opportunity to miss, we went to the distillery for a bit of tasting!

The down side was that after 3 drams (bewteen us!) It was hard work to get going for the last 40 miles. The last 30 miles were pretty miserable, it poured with rain and my 'no need to put on waterproofs it will pass in a minute' turned out to be an error. The road got much busier and visibility was poor so was a slog.

But soon enough we got into Inverness. Travelodge had called to say they couldn't fit us in, but had got us a room at the Holiday Inn next door and upgraded to a free breakfast! Bit of a result as our travelodge room was only £50 and holiday inn is £170 and they had free newspapers to dry out our sopping shoes!

It was a relief to get into the warm room as we were both freezing cold and very hungry. The hotel was well placed with pub next door for dinner and a tesco nearby. We were thinking of the cinema, but were too shattered!

Tomorrow we climb up through the Grampians....

Total distance cycled; 142 miles
Time cycling: 8 hours 38 mins
Average speed: 16.4 mph
Total ascent: 1900 metres
Max speed: 43.1 mph
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Prologue: Kingsbridge - Thurso

An early(ish) start saw us get to Bristol Airport in plenty of time. Many thanks to Will's Dad, Michael, for dropping us up there. I was a bit worried about Easyjet's militant policy on checking in bikes, but all went smoothly and even though mine was 300 grams over the weight limit the woman let me off.

Everything ran to clockwork and in Inverness the next mission was to post home the bike boxes. Mine only cost me £15 on ebay, so was reluctant to spend a lot posting it home. We got a taxi to the parcelforce depot and set about building the bikes up in the car park. We were about 2kg into the more expensive price bracket so the woman left us to it to try and reduce the weight. We ditched all the pipe lagging and took a few tools out. It wasn't quite enough to bring it to 20kg but I managed to lean it carefully against the wall to get it to read just under. The woman seemed happy and once she had printed the postage label, I sneaked some of the tools back in!

We then had several hours to kill in Inverness to wait for the train. I wanted to buy a kilt (upcoming 30th birthday) and Inverness was a pretty good place to go and get one. One shop wanted £500! But we found a shop right by the station, which was much more reasonable! Each kilt is hand tailored and takes a seamstress around 14 hours to make, so there is no skimping!

The train took nearly 4 hours to cover the 120 miles up to Thurso, great scenery but arrived after dark and a short pedal in very chilly conditions to the 'hotel' motel. Just enough time for a quick pint of McEwans Ale (not a patch on Devon Ales) and then off to bed.

Total miles cycled: 2
Time on bikes: about 10 mins

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2 days to go!

Final plans are coming along nicley. Will and I had a final easy ride this evening before the bikes get packed up tomorrow. Have had a bit of hassle working out what to do with the bike bags at the other end. Mine was only £15 on ebay, but is worth a bit more than that - however it is going to cost me over £25 to ship it home so not sure its worth it!

We have the route all sorted now. The plan is to use a Garmin Vista GPS for the navigation, we have downloaded the routes on to it and will follow them like a paper map that is highlighted.Will's Garmin 500 will also hold the routes but is only really any good for telling us how far we have to go!

If anyone would like to see the routes please use the links below for each day.

Day 1  - Thurso – Inverness 

Day 2 – Inverness toKinross 

Day 3 – Kinross – Carlisle

Day 4 – Carlisle – Warrington

Day 5 Warrington – Gloucester

Day 6 - Gloucester- Whiddon Down

Day 7 Whiddon - Lands End scenic

In total we are looking at about 860 miles. If anyone fancies joining us for a leg or bit of a leg then please get in touch.

The Kit

We are both on our winter training bikes (Will on an Orbea Aqua and Tom on a Bianchi Via Nirone). We have a seatpost mounted rack each and on top of that is a small (12 litre) rack bag, which will carry all of our kit for the week! Plan is to travel as light as possible, spare set of cycling gear, pair of trousers, t-shirt and flip flops and a few essential bike spares, which will hopefully see us through.

Accommodation all sorted!

Will and I have finally got all the accommodation sorted for the trip. We will post up details of the exact route when it is finalised, but here are the outlines of each day:

Day 1: Thurso (via John O'Groats) to Inverness.

Day 2: Inverness to Kinross

Day 3: Kinross to Carlisle

Day 4: Carlisle to Warrington

Day 5: Warrington to Gloucester

Day 6: Gloucester to Whiddon Down (between Exeter and Okehampton)

Day 7: Whiddon Down to Land's End!

Just over two weeks till the official off, time to start tapering back on the training!!!
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Dibetes UK Challenge Page

If you want to donate to Diabetes UK my challenge page has now been fixed after some initial problems.