Hugh Brass and Tony Burch JOGLE completed at 11-00am on 23rd May 2010 - 990 miles.

Met by our wives and Steve and Nickie (Burch's brother and wife) at Land's End. Celebrated with champagne and a compulsory photograph at the signpost.

For a day by day account please click "Read more" below

Thanks to all who have supported our JOGLE with particular thanks to our children for their enthusiastic support and for not seeking adoption on grounds of paternal insanity, Mac and Janet for logistics support in the Highlands and putting us up in Inverness, Suzi Ross Browne for everything including ferrying us around in the Borders, John Scott for his guest appearance and to friends and contacts who kindly fed, watered and housed us along the way - Mike and Poppet in the Borders, Peter and Cherry in Knutsford, Gordon and Marrielle in Leominster and Tony and Di in Olveston, Bristol. 

Special thanks to our wives, Julia and Ali, for suffering the stupidity of two old fools preparing inadequately for the trip, including inconvenient training sessions and hours spent buying bits of kit (all the gear and no idea), for their support and encouragement during the JOGLE and for being there at the Land's End finish.

Thank you all.

Days Eight and Nine - Clitheroe to Knutsford  60 miles and Knutsford to Leominster 97 miles.  Cumulative 691 miles!

Day 8 started with a good flat start going westwards out of our smart hotel and there was more flat as we entered Cheshire and approached Knutsford at the end of the day.  We were also expecting a fast level run past the huge reservoirs near Bolton, after some very steep, though short hills crossing rivers near Preston. The reservoir road turned out to involve 2 really steep climbs to about 350 metres and held us up quite badly!

Lunch was in a depressing pub in Horwich, the other clients looking as if they were on day release from a (very) old peoples' home. We then weaved our way through the Manchester conurbation in surprisingly rural terrain.

Burch was obviously drinking copious amounts of water as the number of pitstops was more than before, and noticed by another cyclist who commented that we were stopping more often than the number 57 bus; and as we approached  Knutsford anotherrather public  pitstop was reported to the Knutsford Church bell-ringing group. Peter and Cherry looked after us well and we both slept well except for Burch being awoken once by the burglar alarm and Brass twice by the alarm, and later by a radio alarm clock blasting out the BBC news at 2 a.m.

B+B owner advised us about a route and topography to Kirby Lonsdale - he knew as little about this as Brass, and his b+b skills were similar.

Cycled to Kirby Lonsdale and discovered that our leg muscles had not recovered from previous day's rigours and we were knackered all day. Also managed to get our spare tyre stolen in Kirby Lonsdale (or was it Brass, who didn't tie it on properly?)

Being knackered was a disadvantage as the hills over the Forest of Bowland were steeper than anything encountered to date - did quite a lot of pushing! Hills awful, but weather great and scenery stunning. Got to Whalley at about 7pm and tried to find somewhere to stay. Everything booked up but eventually found a nice country hotel. Unfortunately it was about 8 miles back from where we'd come from! Good forward planning! Knackered after a relatively low mileage day but with lots of big hills.

Day Six - Langholm (minus 3) to Tebay 67 miles.

Started about 1:00pm after having Brass checked out at local hospital. Even more medicaments. Made enquiries with Guiness Book of Records to see if there's a record for a JOGLE carrying an entire pharmacy. After about 15 miles crossed the border into England. Had tea in Brampton where Brass scrutinised the maps, declared contours benign and decided we'd aim for Tebay.

Later we suffered a hefty climb over to Orton. Brass had failed to notice that our route was parallel to the one over Shap! Having Brass in charge of navigation and topography makes about as much sense as having Genghis Khan in charge of a maternity ward!

Finished knackered in the dark at about 10pm.

Day Five - Dalkeith to 3 miles short of Langholm  69 miles.  

Burch's new phone is proving a technology leap too far. Alarm set for 7-00am with a plan of waking Brass at 8-00am. Unfortunately Burch incompetently had the phone set to Barcelona time (God knows how), so Brass not pleased with his early start!

After a magnificent breakfast from Poppet, Suzi ferried us back to Dalkeith and we set off with a plan to ride to Langholm. The weather was fine, but cold with a very strong headwind making progress very difficult - moderately steep descents needed pedalling assistance and the climbs and flat sections were bloody hard work. Knocked back our average speed to below 10mph.

Climbed out of Dalkeith over to Peebles. Brass thinks he momentarily fell asleep whilst riding, so in Peebles had to have a power nap in a cafe. Finding the going tough, we decided that yesterday's long day might have depleted our energy levels and decided to stock up on energy gels and bars from the local cycle shop. Bought about 6000 calories worth and ate most of them - helped considerably. Brass also bought another cough remedy from a pharmacy - efficacy report awaited! Later, came across our planned pub stop to find it shut and fortunately were able to top up the food intake up with some sandwiches prepared by Poppet. Cycled off towards Eskdalemuir where we planned to stop as Brass struggling with his cough and lungs.

Tried to phone Suzi Ross Browne to arrange a Eskdalemuir pick up point but no mobile signal which meant we had to cycle. Brass very grateful that the climb over to Eskdalemuir gentler than we thought and mercifully somewhat sheltered from the wind by the terrain and trees. Eventually picked up about 3 miles short of Langholm and again ferried back to fantastic hospitality from Mike and Poppet Thompson.

Day Four - Blair Atholl to Dalkeith   92 miles

Set off from Blair Atholl at 8-40 am (remarkable - on time). Stopped at Pitlochry to feed Brass's habit - more purchases from the pharmacy, including knee bandages and cold sore cream. Later Brass is seen wearing the knee bandage half way down his shin - apparently the bandage made the knee worse (the good news is that Brass bought two of them and the cold sore cream didn't work either!).

Followed the cycle tracks and minor roads down to Perth and then struggled with a hefty climb out of Perth heading for Kinross and the Forth Bridge. Fantastic scenery, pity about the hills! Even the Forth Bridge was problem - the south bound cycle way was closed which meant we had to lug the bikes down the steps under the bridge and back up the other side! Fantastic views from the bridge followed by the trickiest navigation challenge known to man - the Edinburgh Cycle Routes. Got horribly lost in the centre of Edinburgh and were eventually rescued by a fellow cyclist who looked like a little gnome and who mistakenly thought we were interested in some esoteric aspects of Edinburch's history - endured this to be put on the right track and were very grateful.

Crossing Edindurgh took ages but we eventually met up with Suzi Ross Browne in Dalkeith at about 8-15pm - a very long day. After tying the bikes down in the back of a pick-up, Suzi drove us to Mike and Poppet Thompson's farm in Melrose and very welcome hospitality.

A very long and tiring day with one or two sense of humour failures brought on by unexpectedly steep climbs and numerous difficulties with the Edinburgh Cycle Paths.

Day Three - Inverness + 12 miles to Blair Atholl   78 miles

Burch/Brass 2 - Slocht/Drumochter 0

Left Craggie with gentle climber to Tomatin, tiny place with whisky distillery.  Cold and windy, sleeting but when the sun came out it was very pleasant, though still cold for the time of year. Mac Baldwin accompanied us on the first part of the trip to the legendary Slocht Summit of which we had heard so much and which filled us with trepidation, but it turned out to be easier than we thought and we conquered it fairly easily. We bade farewell to Mac and proceeded on to Carrbridgde where we stopped for coffee to get out of a snow storm;  then Aviemore and beautiful back lanes to Feshiebridge and Kingussie, for lunch. Brass bought warm gilet, much needed. Then up the long hill to Dalwhinnie, a tiny place with little more than a whisky distillery and railway station, and wind and sleet and miserably cold; stopped for another coffee to shelter from a storm, then off again for the ascent of the Drumochter Pass, which again was not quite as challenging as we had feared, so a second conquest of the day. Finally, a long descent to Blair Atholl where we arrived pretty cold.

The highlights of the day were the ride from Aviemore to Kingussie and the Ruthven Barracks, and Burch falling sideways into a gorse bush, which was a cause of huge hilarity.   

Day Two - Altnaharra to Inverness + 12 miles. 82 miles. 12 miles head of schedule.

Left Altnaharra in a snow flurry - fortunately it didn't last long. Steady climb for about half an hour followed by a long descent and level ride into Lairg, but with the wind assisting us for a change. Good ride speed and fantastic scenery. Made good progress to Lairg - a thriving town without a coffee shop or any of the other things we wanted!

Eventually found a coffee shop in Ardgay and then tackled the climb over Struie - quite demanding. A little later met up with Mac Baldwin and rode into Inverness. Based on good progress we decided to cycle beyond Inverness covering the climb originally scheduled for Day 3. During this, the weather threw a hailstorm at us and there was about an inch of snow on the ground where we had arranged to leave our bikes for the night. We also encountered the steepest climb to date! A demanding extra 12 miles, but nice to have them behind us rather than first job for tomorrow!

A good day - plenty of miles covered and no real problems. Brass's cough much better and although a little tired, we are coping well with the ride. Tomorrow aiming for Blair Atholl. 

Kindly fed, watered and housed by Mac and Janet Baldwin.

Day One - John O'Groats to Altnaharra. 76 miles. Survived intact.

Started the day with the obligatory photo's at the John O'Groats start signpost. Problem 1 - the office was shut so the signpost saying 950(ish) miles to Land's End was missing! The photo is a bit lacking - a job for Photoshop.

The weather was forecast to be fine with NE winds which should have been tailish. It didn't work out like that - we had head winds for most of the day, some drizzly rain and a few sharp bursts during squalls and bloody cold. Don't believe the forecasts.

The roads were quite quiet and very narrow in places. Some drivers are not too considerate of cyclists and when Brass had to avoid a car, he had a slight impact wit a wall and then the inevitable happened - he forgot to disengage his shoe cleats and finished up in a heap by the side of the road. No damage except his pride!

Mainly bleak landscapes on the North Coast but some fantastic scenery on the route by the river and loch from Bettyhill to Altnaharra.

Medical Bulletin. The main roblem is Brass's lungs - coughing quite a bit and producing some green stuff Porton Down would be proud of!

It can't be too difficult - it's only a thousand miles and it's all downhill!

See the Photos - we've got the bikes, got the T shirts and only have about 1,000 miles to go!

We hope to do it in less than two weeks just to prove that there is life in the old dogs yet - at an age when zipping a cardigan can be tricky!!  And to raise money for Pancreatic Cancer Research - this disease killed Mike Ross Browne, a very dear friend of ours. We thought a JOGLE would be a suitable challenge in Mike's memory and that our efforts would raise money for research that will help others who develop pancreatic cancer.

6th May Update - we have raised our target. The hills are bigger than we thought, so we have raised our fundraising target! Actually, its nothing to do with the hills - our sponsors' generosity has left our estimates behind! Please help us to reach our new target.

We start on May 9th, but have already learnt some lessons.

1   Next time you have a silly idea over a few drinks, keep it to yourself. Don't let the wine and bravado sweep you into something that is much bigger than you thought!

2   Bicycle saddles are hard. We might have to seek some funding for haemorrhoids research and buttock transplants. We are just hoping that other equipment isn't damaged!

3   Hills are hard work. And there are a lot of them! Someone who has done it already has calculated the cummulative height climb - 63,000ft (over twice the height of Everest)!!

4   Choose a reliable partner to look after logistics. Brass is in charge of the route. Burch has specified the lycra kit - recent outings have frightened small children and we may have to cycle after the nine o'clock watershed! Burch has bought the bikes on ebay in the , but Brass is grounded in by volcanic ash. Brass may first connect with his bike on the first day of the ride - limits training and familiarisation! And volcanic ash can have a damaging affect on wrinkly bits if it gets inside your lycra!

5   The books recommend keeping hydration and energy levels up by drinking isotonic drinks. We have scoured the shelves at Majestic and the nearest we can find is gin and tonic - which we assume is much the same thing!

6   Don't believe the rumours about bananas!

7   We have a daunting feeling that there are a lot more lessons to learn!!

Hopefully you will decide to support this mad venture and help the Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund make progress in finding tests and treatments for the dreadful disease. Please give generously - it's a good cause and you will have the satisfaction of knowing that we will be suffering. Surely that has to be worth emptying your pockets for!

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - we raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.

Hugh and Tony

P.S.  Hugh is asking some friends and contacts (mainly Swiss based) to support a meningitis charity - hopefully this clarifies which charity to support if you do happen to come across both appeals.