Hello Fans,
As most of you are probably aware (as we've harped on about it for long enough), in September the 3 of us are planning on cycling from John O'Groats to Land's End. The plan is to finish the ride within two weeks, the distance is around 1,000 miles!! and it looks like it is all down hill from Scotland.
We are raising money for The BRITISH HEART FOUNDATION and all sponsor money goes to the charity and NOT to fund our trip (quite happy to accept beer tokens!). We would be extremely grateful if you could sponsor us whatever you can.
If anyone has any advice on good places to stop or stay (loving Grannies with homemade cakes and tea) please let us know.
Please forward this web address to anyone that you think might me interested in helping us.
Donating through this site is secure and the most hassle free way to sponsor us. if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in tax will be added to your gift at no cost to you.
Many thanks for your support.
Love to you all
Beck, Mark & Matt
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PLEASE ALSO CHECK OUT OUR FACEBOOK GROUP "Sponsor Mark, Beck and Mat's 1000 mile ride from John O'Groats to Lands End" for some daily updates and photos
Saturday 15th
John O'Groats to Tongue - 60 miles - freezing cold, strong wind, heavy rain and sleet - hard hard work.
Sunday 16th
Tongue to Inverness - 90 miles - better weather - stunning scenery - again hard hard work - Matt broke 2 spokes
Monday, 17th
Inverness to Glen Nevis - cycled along Loch Ness, the weather started fine, a little rain later on but all OK. Beautiful ride but hard.
Tuesday, 18th
Glen Nevis to Killin - Really, really hard ride through the Glen Coe region but absolutely stunning scenery. Lots of UP hill and the down hill was hindered by the strong wind, so we had to continue pedalling to keep going. The scenery made it all worth while though. Glad to stop for a hot chocolate and couple of coffee's 20 miles out of Killin, to warm our bones back up! - Matt broke 1 spoke.
Wednesday, 19th - Killin to New Lanark. Becky decided not to ride due to her swollen knee, but Mark and Matt set off for New Lanark around 9am. They had good weather and today the Highlands turned into the lowlands. New Lanark was a strange place. Tommy and Andy drove Becky to New Lanark but she got 15 miles into the journey and remembered she'd forgotten an important bit of equipment in the hostel shed...... HER BIKE!!!
Thursday, 20th
New Lanark to Byrness - this started as pleasant ride but 10 miles from the hostel we hit the Cheviot (not sure about spelling) Hills (more like mountains!) and it was a LONG, HARD slog up the hill until we crossed the Border back into ENGLAND!!!! Byrness Hostel was VERY basic and slightly Royston Vasey!
Friday, 21st
Byrness to Richmond - This was a long ride 80 odd miles. The weather was against us at the beginning. Rainy and cold. Stopped in a cafe for hot refreshment and tried to get warm. When we set off again, the sun started coming through. Beck's other knee popped, so the rescue team came and picked her up. She missed the last 30 mile slog into Richmond, where we stayed in a camping Barn. Matt and Mark arrived couple of hours later, when it was dark! Tommy cooked dinner for the team and we played cards. Very cosy!
Saturday, 22nd
Richmond to York - Started off hilly - Richmond looks really nice - Beck and Matt both had lots of problems with knees today then got a lot flatter on the way to York - Matt broke a spoke again. Got to York at 2.00ish - York is a beautiful town - went to the pub to watch the Rugby - went round a food fair and a wander around the city walls.
Sunday, 23rd
York to Sherwood Forest - Matt really struggled today - his knee and ankle (achilles) have both swollen up and he found it hard work today.
Monday, 24th
Sherwood Forest to Stratford - This was one of the days that we just had to do to get further along. The midlands was pretty non-descriptive - except for Coventry which was HORRIBLE. The last 5 miles were nice - glad to be getting further South.
Tuesday, 25th
Stratford to Bath - 73 miles - lots of big hills at the start, then got a bit flatter - got beeped at down a country lane as the car could not get round us. Matt got hit by a car wing mirror but was OK just shouted some abuse at the driver who then veered up the embankment and drove off.
Quick Summary so far
Scotland was beautiful and everyone was really friendly - the roads were really good and the scenery was breathtaking - Becky felt quite vulnerable due to the freezing wind chill and desolation.
One of the biggest pains that we are all getting is with our bottoms - the name of this site is 100% wrong!! - we would love to have numb bums. We are thinking of getting sponsorship from Vaseline. Sudocrem and Nurofen.
Matt will never get used to sharing a room with up to 18 farting, snoring men.
Single people in Youth Hostels are either really pleasant or completely strange.
More to be added later.... we are off to Beer tomorrow on the South cost - will update later
Wednesday, 26th - Bath to Beer
70 miles today! It was very hilly to get out of the Bath Bowl and very hilly around the Beer area but the bit in between was OKish. It was really wonderful to see the English Channel and we felt quite amazed that we've come from Yorkshire to Devon in 4days.
Thursday, 27th - Beer to Lydford
52.5 miles today. Very hilly out of Beer. Beautiful scenery. Great to hear West Country Accents in the shops. We cycled down some beautiful windy roads, there was an aroma of freshly cut grass and coal fires. Thatched cottages aplenty. (very chocolate box!). Lydford ......................................................... oh my word.... CAMPING BARN .......................... we arrived at the Fox and Hounds pub to be shown to our accommodation. IT WAS DREADFUL. It was damp, cold, smelly and the type of room that would normally be rented out by the hour! Used tissues everywhere and stained mattresses! We had to get really drunk to cope with sleeping in the hovel! Once drunk we left the pub and headed for bed, only to realise we weren't quite drunk or tired enough to cope with it! We headed back to the bar for Whiskey, Port and MORE wine! We slept fine, felt HUNG-OVER the following morning!
Friday, 28th - Lydford to IlloganThankful to leave Lydford but with hang-overs. We hit Cornwall early on in the day, which felt really amazing and quite exciting and it suddenly hit home that we were nearly finished. It was a 71 mile ride today and we've exceeded the 1,000 mile mark! Once again, very hilly and beautiful scenery. We arrived at the BEST hostel EVER - more like a cottage. Andy and Tommy cooked us ROAST BEEF!!!!!!!! It was wonderful!
Saturday, 29th - Illogan to Lands End
Had some breakfast (crumpets!). Only 30 miles to LANDS END!! It was wonderful weather, really warm and sunny and the perfect end to our LONG, LONG bike ride!!! Our friends Nina and Paul were at Lands End waiting for us with Tommy and Andy. When we cycled towards the FINISH LINE, they sprayed us with Champagne and took LOTS of photographs! It felt really quite emotional! (Becky cried a little bit but it was hidden by her sunglasses).
We then took a stroll down to the sea and took in the moment.
THE END!!!
(Thank you for following our progress, it really has been an amazing adventure and we're so pleased we've managed to raise so much money for a great cause. See our FACEBOOK group - mentioned above for photographs etc..).
xxxxx
