44 miles from Dornoch to Dunbeath.

I say uneventful but the ride did include the Berriedale Braes - a sharp up and down hairpin thing that bites into the memory. I was lucky in that there were traffic lights which were conveniently at red part way up the climb out - a good excuse for a breather that definitely helped me reach the top.

You may remember 'Ye Banks and Braes' - well a 'Brae' is apparently a hill, so 'Berriedale Braes' is clearly a title designed solely to intimidate the cyclist.

By the way, Dornoch itself was a beguiling little place - a cathedral, a castle, a cafe, a pub, a bakery, a squash court and a world class golf course, but only has a population of 1206!

Day 24 Food : Poached egg on smoked haddock and toast for breakfast in the Castle Hotel and then double egg and chips for lunch - but too early and felt a bit overfull!, so skipped food in the evening.

46 miles from Inverness to Dornoch.

A nice enough ride, especially if you ignore the slight stress of riding along the main A9. As I understand it that's increasingly how it will be for these last few days, as putting it bluntly, there aren't any other roads :-).

Raining gently when I started but dried up gradually. Another facet of today was strong wind (of the meterological, not digestive, kind). Makes riding lovely or quite tiresome depending on if it's with you or against you. The wind was so strong at one point it grabbed the rain cover of my back pack and wrenched it off the back pack, so that it formed a kind of spinnaker and I had to pack ot away and hope it didn't rain.

Crossed three firths today - the Beauly, when leaving Inverness, then the Cromarty and finally the Dornoch, for the last of which the wind had become quite serious.. Those of you who are good with mental arithmetic, what's half of three firths? three nateths?

Inevitably perhaps, tending to think now in terms of just two more rides, then I'm there.

Have passed a few distilleries in the last few days, and today rode past the Glenmorangie plant. I assure you, on my honour, that I have resisted the temptations to wander in and sample the merchandise... But on my return to civilisation I might try one or two, and the names might mean a bit more now I've seen them :-)

A good memory from today was the ultimately sensible hill - down towards the bridge to the Black Isle, a constant delightful gradient and a clear view all the way down, of both the bridge itself and of the subsequent road along the Cromarty Firth - both of which were flat, so at last the cyclist's dream - a downhill section that seemed long, gentle and free (i.e no subsequent uphill section)! 

Day 23 Food : Porage and toast thanks to Martin, and for lunch a chicken curry pie in a bakery/tea shop in Tain. Not sure what it'll be tonight...

...........Monday 16th August

39 miles or so from Aviemore to Inverness.

An easier distance today. Originally supposed to be 31 miles, but following the National Cycle Network route 7 made 31 into 39, routing me off what would have been a nice gentle downhill stretch down the A9 into Inverness, to go instead some miles off to the East, up and down some significant hills and through Culloden. True this did give me an opportunity to visit the battlefield site - where it seems that 1500 Jacobites got crushed by an English army, on the 16th April 1746 in under an hour.. Try as I might I find it hard to imagine this reality. Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Culloden for more info.

Staying in Inverness with Martin, an old friend from college days and his wife Margaret. Martin's study has the most impressive computer work station set up I've ever seen - no fewer than 5 large screens - see pic! Great to see Martin again after a few years. He has pointed out to me gently in passing that the Forth Rail Bridge was not in fact designed by I.K. Brunel. Here's a section from a relevant web site :-

The engineers for the design and execution of the bridge were Sir John Fowler and (Sir) Benjamin Baker assisted by Mr. Allen Stewart, Mr. P.W.Meik - Resident Engineer 1883-6 and Mr. F.E.Cooper – Resident Engineer 1886-90, and others.

Messrs T.E.Harrison and W.H.Barlow approved the design.

Apologies for misleading my readership with dodgy captions (but I was a bit tired, or at least my legs were, and more than a bit ignorant.....).

Special note : Beaten the sponsorship target today! Thanks, thanks, thanks very very much to you all for being so generous.!! And of course we don't have to stop here.... :-).

Day 22 Food : Full English, well, Full Scottish actually, including porridge (or porage as I now understand it should be spelt), then tea and cake in the Culloden Battle Field Visitor Centre, then, courtesy of Martin a delightful two courses of feta salad then salmon and vegetables in The Mustard Seed in Inverness, rounded off back at the house by raspberries picked fresh from his garden with some delicious local ice cream.

59 miles or so from Pitlochry to Aviemore over the Drumochter pass.

Quite a distance for sure but in the event it was a good ride. As mentioned below I decided to start early, in the fond hope that by the time I woke, I'd have some of it done. So set off in the end about 6:30. Arrived just after 2:30 so 8 hours in total, but I stopped twice for grub and a drink.

There is an excellent cycle route across the summit - a significant part of which must I think be the old A9 - bits have old fashioned cat's eyes down the middle. I effectively had this to myself. And I mean to myself - through the whole thing (probably 20 to 25 miles), I didn't see anyone else using it, in either direction. The Drumochter gradient was actually so gentle as to be almost unnoticable, the winds were light, and weather started cold and misty but soon cleared to wonderful sunshine. The mountains were picked out in front of the clear translucent blue skies and looked just stupendous (see pic). Although unnoticable on the way up, the gradients seemed to make the miles easier as I came down - how likely is that combination? There were some archetypally beautiful loch side views too - Loch Alvie was exquisite for example - see pic.

Have to report that the Kiss Me Kate I saw last night was absolutely excellent. The music is all good and the lyrics are very clever and amusing. It was really well done by the Pitlochry Theatre Company and really good fun, very glad I went.

Day 21 Food : Muesli fruit and joghurt (early morning breakfast tray), then scrambled eggs and toast at the Dalwhinnie Tea Room and Bunkhouse, then soup and roll at a pub in Kingussie, and tonight I think I deserve a steak if I can find somewhere that does em...

...........Saturday 14th August

30 miles or so from Perth to Pitlochry. Dry again, light winds, and some lovely roads - so very enjoyable ride. Some alongside the Tay which looks to be a particularly beautiful river - wide, slow moving and I suspect shallow, lots of swirling eddies. Have booked in to see Cole Porters Kiss Me Kate at the Pitlochry Festival Theatre tonight, partly to take my mind off the fact that I'm missing the Bach day at the proms, and partly to take my mind off the 60 miles up and over the Drumochter Pass that I'm supposed to be doing tomorrow. Have decided to attack it early, so hoping to be up and on the road by 6 or just after - we shall see. This part of the world does have some beautiful sections for sure, but whether I shall be able to appreciate them after 25 miles of uphill is another question. Best to hope for is not to have a strong northerly wind, which would compound the distance and the gradient. Don't miss tomorrow's report to see how it turns out...

Day 20 Food : Smoked salmon and scrambled egg for breakfast, a slice of Victoria Sponge and a coffee in the Birnam Institute cafe mid morning, then a smoked salmon sandwich for lunch....

...........Friday 13th August (not an auspicous date)

45 miles from Edinburgh to Perth. No rain! Which was great, but slightly cruel pretty constant Northerly headwind which made it quite hard work. Thanks to Don Morrison who I met when having lunch in Kinross for some hints about nice roads. Don was cycling in the opposite direction i.e. from Perth and had stopped for a cake. He was training for a ride to Milan in a month or so (but starting with a Ferry from Scotland to Belgium, so no need to ride through England!).

Rode across the Forth Road Bridge, alongside the older Forth railway bridge built by IK Brunel (but not - see later explanation above). Both are spectacular bridges and the view from the centre of the span was awesome (especially as the sun was shining). I was however surprised to see just how much of the older bridge was built of Lego - I tried to capture one of the lego sections in a picture - have a look and see what you think.

Day 19 Food : Cornflakes and toast for breakfast, lunch was chicken tikka jacket potato in cafe in Kinross and a take away Pizza from Paco's in Perth, just opposite the concert hall (which was very impressive - that's the hall, not the pizza, although that wasn't bad to be fair).

..............Thursday 12th August

My rest day in Edinburgh. Visited Dean Gallery of Modern Art, and wandered the city a little. Bought some new back brake blocks - seemed a wise precaution given the hills over the next few days. Also went to a Fringe play - The Merry Wives of Henry VIII - very silly but enjoyable for all that. Highlight of the day however was the tour from my old college friend Alistair, of the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood. Fascinating building and a pleasant place to be in. He took me to lunch in the Member's Restaurant - hard not to enjoy that immensely, I found! The debating chamber itself is different to Westminster for sure - enough room for all the members to sit down, a kind of hot desking system where the members logged into the seat with their passcards so that their votes (done through a little 5 buttons and screen gadget on each desk) could be authorised and I guess correctly attributed.

Although Alistair now works as assistant to two MSPs, he used to be a Civil Engineer, so was a mine of information and opinion about the technical aspects of the building as well as the politics.

Another wonderful engineering related story concerned the trams - a project which is currently on hold for a number of reasons. It has caused huge disruption in the city centre, but is as I understand it nowhere near operation, and the rails just stop near the end of the main drag, which was as far as they got before the hiatus (see pic of ends of rails just stopping)...

Great to see Alistair again and see what he's up to, and a very big thankyou to him for putting me up so hospitably and of course for the lunch in the Member's Restaurant!

Day 18 Food : Cornflakes and toast for breakfast, delightful and delicate three course lunch (main course - chicken) in the Members' Restaurant in the Scottish Parliament, then Pizza in the evening.

.............Wednesday 11th August

Arrived in Edinburgh, and the 'fringe' is in full swing. Was able to go to a concert of electric cello music, played to backdrop of footage of scenic views of south africa by a south african lady, called Carol Thorns. Very different. I've never seen an electric cello before - an outline cello shape in black thin wood, and a central bright red small sound box with an electric pick up of some sort. Didn't therefore have a proper body as such, but this was more than made up for by the lady who was playing it - elegant and in a slinky backless red dress, to match the red body of the cello. I spent most of the time looking at the cello of course. Curiously also the first time I've ever seen the cello played by someone standing up. The sound was very mellow - more bassy and less strident than a typical real cello as far as I could tell.. Very pleasant evening though, and Edinburgh lived up to its reputation as a lively and interesting place...

The picture is of a lift bridge across the canal. Alistair my college friend who is very generously putting me up here, tells me that this amazing construction was originally elsewhere on the canal but was dismantled and rebuilt in its current location. As I understand the roadway bit just lifts up to let boats underneath it when necessary. Amazing bit of engineering.

Alistair works in the Scottish Parliament so is giving me a tour there tomorrow. More later....

Day 17 Food : Another full English in Cuil Darach B & B, then a Starbucks smoked salmon/soft cheese sarnie for lunch, and a great piece of homecooked chicken with new potatoes and vegetables cooked by Alistair - delicious...

.............Tuesday 10th August

London's big, but Biggar's Biggar... Spied in a shop window here. Lovely little town. Seems prosperous and beautifully maintained. Strangely, also full of French children - two separate groups, each of about 10 kids, stopped me and asked me if I would take a picture of them all together. They were bemused by my attempt at 'Bien sur' - learnng how to say 'Of course' was most of what I learnt during my years of part time attendance at business French courses, and I have to say I think I do it rather well, but they didn't necessarily agree... ah well, 'C'est la vie'......

Wonderfully, Biggar is also the sort of place that puts engineering achievements right up there. Outside the village hall is a 2/3 scale model of something called the Cuthbertson Fixed Vee Hi-Lift snowplough (see pic). Designed by a local engineer, one James A Cuthbertson OBE. Not everywhere you can see snowplough technology on display, but I think you should be able to..

So Biggar gets a tick in my book for sure. 

BTW I now understand why there are so many Scots in England - there aren't any here, to a first order at least. The B & B yesterday was run by a couple from York, the guy who runs the village store in Crawford had spent most of his life in Luton, the lady running tonight's B & B is from Brum, and the waiter in Fifty Five had moved here from Spain. Hoping to meet a native at some point before I finish.

Day 16 Food : The now customary full English again (but with Haggis instead`of black pudding), in Tarras B & B, a mixture of things including sausagemeat in a roll in the village stores in Crawford for lunch (where I got my first two Scottish notes in my change) and this evening a delicious two courses of  smoked salmon and salad starter, followed by rump steak with bearnaise sauce and chunky chips in Fifty Five - a lovely restaurant in Biggar.

By the way, I really want to say 'Thank you' to everyone for their generous sponsorship. I'm really very impressed and very grateful. It also helps to keep me going, especially on days like today, when there was a 1000ft summit, the skies were grey, it was tipping it down, and I was anxious about my back tyre although all was well with that in the end)...so, THANKYOU!!!

Oh and, with regard to Andy's comment that the software time just hid... Andy, just tell them they only need to create a simple, one revolution, low level pedal driver function. Then just call that in a loop to create a 'pedal one day's worth' function, then call that in a 'for LandsEnd to JohnOGroats' loop, and then I'm sure they'll be up for it....

................Monday 9th August

So, that's England done and dusted!. Tiny country actually. Still seems odd that if you get up every day and pedal north for a bit eventually you reach the end of England...

In summary, important stuff about about today was really - excellent roads for biking, slight tailwind in the morning, some disappointing back inner tube behaviour (two developed slow punctures) and of course, crossing into Scotland (see pics),

The A6 proved to be a nice wide road, straight enough to be Roman (don't know if it is) and largely empty (I think the traffic goes up the motorway). The tail wind meant I seemed to fly along the 18 miles or so to Carlisle - flapjack and coffee, a doomed attempt to look up and old friend and then onwards. The 25 miles or so from Carlisle up to Lockerbie were on the B7076, which tracks the motorway so closely as to be almost indistinguishable from it on the map unless you're on high zoom, So although it might have looked to a sat nav tracker that I was riding up the motorway, I was actually on a delightful, wide, straight smooth, empty road - fantastic. It looks as if this may continue beyond Lockerbie towards Biggar, tomorrow's stop, and if so - ace,

Although I don't generally see many other bikers at all. in a curious burst of symmetry, I arrived at the Scottish border exactly simultaneously with a bunch of end to enders who were cycling the other way, and who also were going at almost exactly my sort of miles per day. It's taken me 2 weeks or so to arrive here from Land's End and they were intending to take 2 weeks to arrive there, it had take them 10 days to come from JoG and my plans says I'll take 10 more days to reach there...

Day 15 Food : Full English again, in Acorn Guest House, and this evening a mushroom stroganoff in the King's Arms in Lockerbie. Stroganoff served with chips apparently here :-). Hit the spot anyway, with a Scottish beer (McEwans 60/-).

.............Sunday 8th August

Eventually set off about 10 for the climb up Kirkstone Pass, which I'm relieved to report proved slightly less severe that I'd feared. Had arranged to meet Celia and her friend Dinah, and Kay and Rog at the Kirkstone Inn for coffee and a breather before my descent and onward journey to Penrith. In the event Kay and Rog's route to the pub was closed by what was rumoured to be a fatal accident involving a motorbike. When the road re-opened they waited at the bottom for me to appear, whilst I waited at the top for them to arrive at the pub.... Hmmm...no mobile signal you see, so coordination in the face of the unexpected road closure proved tricky. In the end they gave up waiting and did come to the pub and all was well but sadly by that time Celia and Dinah had had to leave as they were about to start another serious walk.

Day 14 Food : Another full English in Felsbeck B & B, then a Spotted Dick in the Kirkstone Inn for lunch, then in eventide, a surprisingly nice salmon steak with beans and dauphinoise potatoes in a large pub on the A6 somewhere north of Penrith (I should have paid more attention and then I could have named it :-) - actually the Stoneybeck Inn I later discovered ).

..............Saturday 7th August

A nice change not to have to get into/onto the saddle - my second rest day, this time in Ambleside in the company of Celia - great to see her.  Ambleside seems a nice but densely textured spot - almost too congested at this time of year. Packed in a fair amount of activites, including, big breakfast, coffee, (to get wifi access, and update this blog for yesterday), then some shopping - including shoes, shirt and jacket (I don't get much time for shopping normally, so clearly sensible to do some in the middle of an end to end bike ride :-) ), walk up over some big hill or other (there are, I discover, lots of these in the Lake District) to Skelwith Bridge, tea and cake, then walk back, italian meal (finishing blog update), then seeing the relatively new DeCaprio film 'Inception'. The film was reasonably entertaining but could have been 40 % shorter without loss in my humble opinion (although I'm no film maker of course so what do I know).

Day 13 Food : Full English in Felsbeck B & B, then in the evening, roasted pepper mozzarella & tomato pizza in Zefferellis - hit the spot.

.........Friday 6th August

37 miles. First puncture - Grrrrr! And in the rain, dammit. Still, had to happen I guess. Fortunately found the cause easily enough - a very fine piece of wire like a very thin staple through the tyre, and with that removed a new inner tube seemed to do the job nicely and I was off again...

On the way up to Windermere, some of the undulations were a bit roller-coaster ish and smacked of Cornwall again, but fortunately there weren't too many of them. The left hand margins of some of the A road sections were also very lumpy which makes them uncomfortable on the bike with no suspension, but hey ho. Mist and rain commonplace, but then this is the Lake District.... We Londoners take sunny and dry a bit for granted, but it's different up here.

Meeting Celia in Ambleside, for some serious walking and some serious food, (and, in the event, some serious shopping!) - more tomorrow...

Day 12 Food : Full English in the Wagon and Horses, then two Lion bars  -one to give me the determination to mend the puncture in the rain, and one to get me through the last few miles. Then pollock and vegetables in the GlassHouse restaurant in Ambleside - delicious.

...........Thursday 5th August

35 miles today. Managed to find quite a few B roads that ran parallel to the A6 so avoided the traffic on some of the route at least. Left Michael and Linda's before 8 and arrived in Lancaster about 1:30 after a coffee stop in Garstang. Garstang was a tiny town/village, but unless I was hallucinating it sported no fewer than 3 lingerie shops. I guess up here there's not much to do in the long winter evenings :-)....

Staying in the Wagon and Horses by the river side - delightful room with views over the river, and the best shower in the world.  

Day 11 Food : Cereals, and scrambled eggs on toast with Michael and Linda then an egg mayonnaise roll in Lancaster followed by a delightful Haddock in orange sauce in Quite Simply French. By the way, don't go for the Bread and Butter Pudding, in a French restaurant - especially if the chef is caribbean.. it won't be what you're hoping for...

...........Wednesday 4th August

Quite a long ride - 46.5 miles or so. Benny did indeed join me and we duly did moan about road, headwinds and hills. It was great to have his company, especially when we spent about 40 minutes trying to get onto a large very visible bridge from Runcorn to Widnes - although we could see it easily, we couldn't find the entry point for cyclists who need to ride on the pavement over the right hand side of the right hand carriageway. We kept asking directions but nothing ever quite seemed to work.. Enter the Lone Ranger in form of a cyclist who said 'You look lost' - we conceded we were lost and totally bemused at which he issued the welcome words ' Follow me, I live in Widnes'. We were over the bridge in a few minutes, and although we struggled a bit to keep up with him, we were very grateful.

The rest of the ride took a long time, but we made it to my overnight stop with my cousin Michael and his wife Linda on their farm in Charnock Richard. Their hospitality was just wonderful - great food and good company. Benny is fascinated`by amongst other things, old tractors, and the discovery that Michael had just completed the restoration of an old Fordson Major (for those of you who like me don't follow classic agricultural vehicles, it's a tractor, btw) led to an animated 45 minutes...

Michael took Benny and his bike to the station in his pick-up and even waited until the train arrived - beyond the call of duty I'd say...

In the evening we went over to visit another cousin Martin and his family. Great to see them and we went for a walk around the site of the old farm where I had spent mornings in the holidays cleaning out the pig sheds on my uncle Frank's farm - lots of memories..

Martin, Michael, Linda and Linda's sister all made very very generous donations to my sponsorship fund, as did Benny's mum - thanks to them all - will definitely help keep me going.

The trip today included a visit to a sculpture called 'Dream' - see picture. A tall (85 feet high or so I think, but tall anyway) elongated face or young girl made in concrete enhanced with crushed white marble. Very striking and intended as a monument to the closed mines in St. Helens.

Day 10 Food : A Travelodge in the room coffee for breakfast, followed by a Weatherspoons scrambled eggs on toast in Runcorn, and a lovel rounded meal c/o Linda at Heatons farm

 .............Tuesday 3rd August

40 miles or so today, very enjoyable for the most part as was on minor roads in the main. Just delightful sailing through the fertile countryside in the late summer weather. Made it to Whitchurch for coffee and Chester for lunch. Chester looks a very interesting lively place. Whereas Truro had a blue cow in the main street, Chester's streets have painted Rhino's everywhere... Funny lot these northerners...

Benny is hoping to join me this evening so as to cycle with me to Chorley tomorrow - be nice to have the company and we can moan together about any bumps, hills and headwinds we encounter..

Day 9 Food : The remains of yesterday's treacle tart, followed by a large mug of Starbuck Earl Grey for breakfast. Lunch in Zuger's cafe in Chester - Frankfurter hot dog and salad, red wine and two capuccino's. Expecting that Benny and I will have something further this evening - but who knows what... Ah the excitement......

(actually some Italian in Bella Italia - so gastronomically exciting I can't remember the details...)

.............Monday 2nd August

35 miles, nice easy flattish ride from Ludlow to Shrewsbury, including a brief stop in Church Stretton, a cosy small little town. Also had a quick look at the National Trust site at Long Mynd which was pleasant but sadly I arrived an hour too early for their cafe to open :-(.

Shrewsbury looks an interesting place. Lots of nice restaurants and plenty going on. This included a demo of a Camera Obscura. Probably one of the few times in my life I have been invited into a dark space as the sole companion of an enthusiastic lady, although it turned out that her keeness was to explain the optical workings, and to further suggest that there is a view that some of the old masters (such as Vermeer) used this sort of technique to help them make accurate paintings - some of these paintings show (she said) variations in focus which would be consistent with them using one of these things.

Another curiosity is that when asked where I could best store my bike the Travelodge receptionist changed my booking to the ground floor so I could just take it into the room, so I am now sitting surrounded by a tele, bathroom, bed, sofa and bike!

I will put up some new pictures - only allowed so many so have to remove some old ones...

Experience with Starbucks wifi good - with Travelodge wifi bad.

Day 8 Food : Toast and tea for breakfast courtesy of Michael, and a chicken and bacon salad ciabatta in Ashley's cafe (fully licensed, but I only had tea) in Shrewsbury. Finally this evening a chicken and sweetcorn sarnie and a treacle tart both bought in the Spar across the road.... high living indeed....

...............Sunday 1st August

A long ride (50 miles I think), to Ludlow, via Ledbury and Leominster. Wind seemed against me a little, so very glad to arrive at the house of Michael, one of my fellow MSc students - who lives in Ludlow and very kindly volunteered to put me up.

A curiosity I encountered during the day's ride was the village of Redmarley D'Abitot. Exotic names, some of these places round here. Makes you wonder if Slough would have a different image if it had been named by someone from the West Midlands...

Here is a sentence or two from Wikipedia on this village :-

Redmarley D'Abitot, 

Although now in Gloucestershire, Redmarley was in Worcestershire until 1931.

Sometimes a circumflex is placed on the 'o' of d'Abitot, but this usage has been criticised. As Eric Warde says: "It is to be regretted that the Gloucestershire County Council placed a circumflex in the signs on the A417. This is emphatically incorrect, both historically and linguistically, Abitot is a word of (Germanic) Anglo-Saxon origin."

The things you learn when cycling from one end to the other...

The evening was filled with a walk round Ludlow town and Castle and some chatting about MSc experiences..

Some pictures will follow when I next get WiFi access.

Day 7 Food : Full English in Georgian Guest house. Spinach and smoked salmon tart for lunch in Leominster and a take away Indian to round off the evening.

..............Sat 31st July

Delightful ride from Bristol up to Gloucester. Seemed like it must have been either downhill or with a following wind or both..

En route stopped for tea at 'Lauren's Larder' a roadside food van. The kind girl running it gave me the tea for free when she heard I was raising funds for Cancer Research UK, The van was named after her sister who had died of cancer at the age of 29 - cancer is such a cruel thing.

Helped by the tea, the distance went quickly and I was checked into the B & B before lunch. Then explored Gloucester. 'Gloucester Quays' was a characteristic new retail development - just seemed as if someone had taken an eraser to a whole chunk of the city and then started again from scratch. Interesting and had a certain freshness for sure but looked as if it wasn't as thriving as it might have been - the timing of this latest recession can't have helped. It lies alongside the docks which were built to move cargo to and from the canal and the Severn. These have also been redeveloped and felt new and progressive with a nice clean atmosphere, not sure how things will shake down. Met two friends, Graham and Trevor from our Cheltenham office in the evening for a drink. Graham had followed the docks development closely and was fascinating about the history.

Coincidentally happened to wander into the Cathedral just as evensong started and stayed to hear it through - just the most gorgeous sounds..

Day 6 Food : Cereals and bread courtesy of Graham, smoked salmon baguette in Caffee Corretto in Gloucester Quays for lunch, then a take away special fried rice in the evening.   .

..............Fri 30th July

My first rest day. Looking forward to not sitting on the saddle today. Might go and buy a new tee-shirt or two! Have to do some stuff like laundry which might normally be boring but becomes  very attractive when you've discovered that carrying around used shirts and socks squashed into airtight panniers makes for an ecosystem all its own....

Just want to say Hi to Martin White who sent a donation through the post - Thanks Martin, really appreciate your support, I've added it to the site an offline donation....

............. Thurs 29th july

Set off about 9:30 after a leisurely breakfast, and a significant conversation with the landlord who confirmed that the canal tow path was a valid way of getting to Bridgewater. A great ride - traffic free, flat with great waterside views.

In Bridgewater spent a comical 45 minutes or so trying to find a bike shop to get Ross's bike looked at - had a fancy internal gearbox which developed a fault and  wouldn't select first or second, and just slipped in third. Magically the guy in the buy shop tried it, pronounced there was nothing wrong with it and lo, it was so! Faith healing for bikes is commonplace it Bridgewater it seems.

Started the journey to Bristol on the A39 (mega lorries etc.) then turned on to B roads, through Mark - pleasant riding and flat if a little windy. Eventually rejoined the A38 for the final stint into Bristol, by which time Ross was feeling a little wearier than I think he'd anticipated - hat's off to him for just keeping going, and a big thank you to him for trekking all the way down to join me for the rigours of the day - it was great to see him and to have his company.. He left in the evening from Temple Meads, headed to Cardiff for some meetings on Friday to try and persuade the relevant powers to let him and his cronies use the Millenium stadium as the end point for the 24 hour London to Cardiff relay race he conceived and organises.. .. 

Staying here in Bristol with Graham which is great - not just because of his hospitality, but because his radical mind means there is never a dull moment. His housemate Jim is into music and instruments - he's currently making a Cora - fascinating stuff - see picture (sorry for camera shake, but you get the idea)...

Day 5 Food : Full English at Black Horse, Taunton, Vegetable Curry  in the Lamb at Weare, an then Chilli and rice in Temple Meads...

................. Wed 28th July

Day 4 : The longest ride of my life to date - 55 miles. Was planned as just over 50, but that's what happens if you trust your route to the National Cycle Network - they seem to regard up and down and North and South as good, and appear to have no concept that you might be hoping to get to your destination efficiently! I gave up on them eventually and reverted to the A38 - funnily enough the A roads seem to be better at getting you to where you want to go with the minimum of phaff!!!....

To be fair, some nice riding courtesy of the NCN route 3 signage  - old railway and canalside - beautiful for sure, and I eventually made it, so all's well that ends well. Saddle soreness not as bad as feared and knees and hips bearing up well - pleased with all that!

Ross arrived about 11, with bike ready to do battle with me on the 45 mile stretch to Bristol tomorrow..

Day 4 Food : Full English at Lashbrook House, courtesy of Carol - delicious and thanks to her for cooking it early (6:45!) and for putting up with my mud spattered self...followed by Devon Pastie, Chips and Salad at the Mad Hatters in Tiverton (had to be done as I was about to leave Devon....). Seriously major intake - I even had to leave some of the chips!

...................Tuesday 27th July

Day 3 : All hail the wondorous Tavistock tourist information!!!, and 'respec' to a glorious lady whose local knowledge extended to the cycle path along the old railway - the 'Granite Way'. Wasn't actually made of granite as far as I could see of course but I presume it was to ship the pesky stuff that they built it, and a delightful ride it has now become. Trains, like me on a bike, prefer gentle gradients.... My ride was to Jacobstowe, just north of Okehampton. The B & B was like the result of one of the better 'Grand Designs' - gorgeous space, and Carol, who runs it did well to speak civily  to me even though I arrived covered in enough mud to wreck most of the rooms in the place. She made me a cupof tea and later brought me the most gorgeous piece of home made cake - absolutely delightful.  No wifi, so thanks to Val for updating the log entry temporarily by proxy. The ride was enjoyable, a nice cool fine drizzle. Beautiful parts of England too. Tavistock in particular seemed delightful, and I was able to dry my 'Beta' pair of cycling shorts ( I was wearing the alpha pair)  in the 'Tavistock Launderette', whilst enjoying a cup of tea in Bob's East End Cafe (sic).

Have decided to include in this diary/blog the most important information of all - the big meals!!!!

So Day 3 Food : Vegetable Lasgane with salad and coleslaw in the Panache cafe in Okehampton - quite wonderful....

...................Monday 26th July

Day 2 : Well I made it, but not without a degree of sense of humour failure. Today's route essentially didn't seem to include any flat bits. You just get to the top of a major incline, crawl over the brow to start a roller coaster style 30 mph plummet for a minute or so, to be followed by... you guessed it, another major incline..... My little HTC Hero monitor device produces an elevation plot, but sadly my IT skills with don't yet extend to getting a screen dump, so I've tried to take a snap of the screen. It's fuzzy, but the green bits are elevation and the blue bits are speed, both plotted against distance. You can see they are both just go up and down the whole time.... If my geology was up to it I'd probably be able to put it down to glaciation or somesuch... Anyway not too much fun.. Did manage the 45 miles anyhow, and the B&B seems nice. Tomorrow might be similarly up and down - we shall see...

Day  2 Food : Continental Breakfast, make it up as you go kit of parts`provided in Backpackers Lodge Truro, followed by Jacket and Chilli somewhere in Liskeard, and eventually saveloy and chips in a chippy about to shut in Callington...

...................Sunday 25th July

Sunday - Cycled down from Sennen to Land's End - bit tacky really, but the sea still looks good :-)...

Then set off, slightly apprehensive, but in the event things ran along fairly smoothly.

Actually detoured to Carbis Bay to meet up with Phil (Saward). Phil moved from Essex about 9 months ago. Highlight of my visit was an introduction to Phil's DJ Wheelie Bag - one of the most surreal things I've ever seen. Phil's is no 41. They are all hand constructed by a guy called Dennis. They are portable DJ stations on wheels, the same size as a wheelie bag/ shopping trolley. Phil's is customised with a pirates theme. To keep weight down the construction is from what look to be plastic cellular plastic roofing panels, covered with fablony stuff for effect - fascinating for the engineering alone... Worth the 950 mile trip I'm facing just for the opportunity to see this..

Phil is looking for work, but is finding the local economy much more limiting than London. He could do database building on-line if anyone wants some of that done...

Eventually arrived in Truro - looks a nice place and has the distinction of a blue cow in the main street (see snaps)...

Day 1 : food - full English at the Sunny Bank Hotel in Sennen (in the company of Dougie and Fiona, and their family - they are fellow LE to Jog cyclists, but hoping for 60 miles a day - serious stuff in my book... Followed by a delightful goats cheese salad with potato salad in a trendy wine bar in Truro called 'Vertigo'...