The Cycle Trio have a fresh challenge
for 2018

The Pyrenees Tour.

The Portugal experience of last October is just about a distant memory
(except for the ongoing physio!).

Preparation and training for this year’s challenge is now in its final
stages. We shall be travelling to the Pyrenees on the 29^th of
September for 6 days of cycling, approximately 500 miles and 40,000 feet of
climbing, which I’m sure will be memorable!

We shall be meeting up with Club riders, tri athletes, marathon
runners, ex-forces and proper seasoned hard dudes……it was then pointed out, one
of us used to be quite good at snooker…?

The phrase ‘out of our depth’ never crossed our minds. Its all about
attitude and mental strength, right??

The Pyrenees. A coast to coast challenge with a difference. The
Atlantic to the Mediterranean. We shall be cycling mainly along the Spanish
side of the Pyrenees. Which allegedly is the more challenging side, which will
be an absolute delight!!

Starting at St Jean de
Luz, just south of Biarritz, we cycle deep into the Basque countryside, then
along the southern (Spanish) side of the Pyrenees, before crossing back over
into France for the final leg where we will finish at Perpignan.

Again, our chosen charity is Macmillan should anybody wish to
support us.

www.justgiving.com/fundraising/cycletrio

We’ll keep you posted…….!!!



The Cycle Trio have a fresh challenge for 2017.

Another End to End event, but in warmer climes. This year
we've decided to cycle the length of Portugal. (Don't ask us why.....it seemed
a good idea at the time).

Flying into Porto, hopefully with bikes intact, before
traveling to the town of Chaves to start seven days and 500 miles of cycling.
We head south through the mountainous north, rolling rural hills and quiet
roads heading south towards the Algarve. Finishing near Albufeira then flying
back from Faro (assuming Mr Ryanair hasn't spoiled the Party)!

It should be another great adventure and physical challenge
hopefully experiencing the diversity that Portugal has to offer. As always we
are willing to accept any donations on your behalf for Macmillan Cancer
research.

Please see our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/CycleTrio/

Keep you posted......

2016

Paul McCartney has done it; Robbie Williams has done it, now
Glynn is going solo.

I am taking part in this year’s London Marathon on 24^th
April. Unfortunately the duo of the trio consider it a step (or several steps) too
far. Training has not been the best, all the planning has not worked out (Sob story below if it assists it donations) but still hoping for a 4 hour 30 minutes run.

Again doing it for the Macmillan Cancer Support and any
donations to this worthwhile cause would be greatly appreciated by them.

Sob Story

By last November was doing well up to half marathon distance
then while avoiding a huge rabid dog, see photo, twisted foot in pothole and
damaged Achilles tendon, six weeks no running . On top of that mum got ill and was given two weeks to live at Christmas, she fought back and came back home then in Feb dad got ill and unfortunately passed away. Had his funeral on a Friday early March on the following Monday mum took a turn for the worse and passed away. Consequently training has taking a back seat and doubts on whether to continue crept in. Mum & dad always supported my running and fund raising so I am going to do it for them.

Down to London this week to collect running number will update site so you can check online I did actually take part. So far forecast is for rain on the day.  The Trio managed cycling two years ago, cycling and walking last year, going to have cycling(more of that later) and running this year, who knows what next.



NEW CHALLENGE!!! June 2015

Bike 'N' Hike

For our next challenge we have decided to add a little walking!                   

We shall be climbing the Three Peaks, Ben Nevis in Scotland, Scafell Pike in England and Snowdon in Wales. If that wasnt enough we shall be cycling between! covering approx 450 miles of cycling with each hike taking approx 5 to 6 hours.

Watch this space for further details...........

Three bikes, three peaks, three countries. Done........
Quality experience, thanks for everybody's support and wishes.
We climbed and conquered the three highest mountains in Britain, in approximately 16 hours. (Which is quicker than we thought, probably similar times to the 3 peaks 24 hour challenge time). Cycled and covered 70 - 90 miles per day. With an average of 5 hours kip a night, In some of the best and worst accommodation imaginable. We couldn't stand the thought of... staying another night in Glynn's old haunt, so we'll be traveling back to good old Norfolk tonight.
One or two creaky knees but all limbs intact, the only injury was a tumble in a bath, and a savage wind chill on Snowdon. (Faces like beetroot's).
Tough, but a great experience.
Until the next challenge..............

Wigan to Snowdon

Last leg proved to be reasonably uneventful, getting used toit now, but as usual our navigational skills took us through various towns andplaces we hadn’t planned on visiting including Bangor, what a town? We cannot wait to movethere (sorry to anyone who comes from Bangor).Rained hard in afternoon and the wind continued to hamper us. We were glad toarrive at Lake View Hotel; it is somewhere Glynn stayed 35 years ago whenworking on the Dinorwig Power Station, (why oh why did he book thisagain!!!)  He was glad to see the décor hadn’tchanged at all! Also found out it was for sale we made an offer of £6.15 butwas mistaken only to find out it was £615,000. We think our offer was closer tothe real worth.

Tomorrow is Snowdon and thelast day of our challenge, we will be sorry when it is over but will look uponit as one of our madder and difficult ideas completed very well by the Trio.

Cycle to Wigan

Successful night no ghosts were seen and we managed to getlet out of lodging on good behaviour. We’ll miss our fantastic ‘dinner lady’and her stories, also she made us boys some mega sausage and bacon butties forour tough day ahead…..

We are cycling to Wigantoday. Went via Hardknott pass and Wrynose pass anyone interested in cycling orhas a masochistic side to them, just Google these. We thought it would be ok toleave a couple of lungs behind…!!!! This was a seriously hideous climb. TheGarmin showed 32% at one point, us Norfolk boys struggled.

Most of the rest of the journey was to be beside the canalunfortunately the path started off very rough (Mick reckoned he has nocellulite left). The path petered out after a few miles to a grass bank andeventually we had to resort to our renowned navigational skills to continue consequentlywe arrived late at Wigan. We came across manycanal boats (no Rosie or Jim) but we had a minor altercation with one skipper?He first decided to give Glynn a full moonie then continued with a barrage ofverbal abuse!!! Lucky for him, we were fully Lycra’d and cycling away or we’dhave shown him what for……???

Looking forward to the last leg to Wales tomorrow.

Scarfell

Found out more about our lodgings; used to be in Victorian times a respite home for the mentally challenged persons, we fit in perfectly. That was not our main concern, we also found out that it’s haunted, might be sharing rooms tonight!
Did Scarfell today; started well 200 yards from car park had to ask directions from local. He was most perturbed when we asked if this was the hard route, his reply was “it’s a mountain of course it’s hard” .
Our descent was a respectable 1h...our 50 minutes but the journey up was not so straight forward. Got to a junction being macho decided not to get maps out but to ask a couple of lads who seemed to know what they were doing. They promptly sent us to the right saying they were going elsewhere. On we carried until we found ourselves scrambling in the heavy mist up a ridiculously steep screed slope with no view of the end, the best part of valour took over mixed in with a bit of vertigo and we turned back only to return to the junction to find we should have gone left (let this be a lesson – never talk to strangers or learn to read a map before venturing up mountains).
In the end it took us 3 and half hours to get to top only to find visibility was only enough at times to see the sandwiches we were eating.

Lockerbie to Scarfell

Woke up to cold winds but as usual off we went, couple of heavy spells of rain tried to dampen our spirits but the Trios resolve held. Had to cycle pass Sellerfield power station (odd looking folk around these parts). Tricky navigating today aswell, should we have gone around Sellafield Power Station twice? I think not. Long day 91 miles including several major uphills. Arrived in England 10:15 this morning and the sun welcomed us back by shining on us for a short while. Inte...resting hotel for the night, its a four storey Victorian house in the middle of nowhere with no staff, apparently we have to pick up the red telephone and call presumably via the Kremlim and some one will turn out in ten minutes from the local pub! Looks like it will be self service for breakfast, Duckers Diner will be called apon. Off to Scarfell Pike tomorrow, hope there's enough energy in the old pins.

Glasgow to Lockerbie

 We awoke to reasonable weather! Decided to have an early start to try and beat the weather. Negotiated the mean streets of Glasgow in good time and stopped for a mid morning snack. At that point however things soon went pear shaped. Horizontal rain due to ridiculous wind speeds hampered our progress. The laws of physics were defied by having to pedal downhill in low gears in order to achieve 6 mph!! Never had so much effort have such little result. We battled on like true troopers and arrived in Lockerbie in poor shape in poor time and in poor spirits. Positive point to end on. The 'Somerton House Hotel'. Top accommodation and top food! Early night and try again in the morning.

Day 3 Cycle to Glasgow

An interesting start to the day,
Apparently we all hobbled to our room windows and peered out thru our curtains hoping the weathermen were wrong. They weren't. It was indeed....not good. Following our fantastic day on Ben Nevis, this did not go down well. Getting a taxi directly to the next hotel never entered our minds let alone discussed for some considerable time over brekkie. The climb out from the hotel and up thru Glencoe was long, wet and to be fair, parky. Hot soup f...or lunch, a quick high 5 and off again. Having gotten lost in the hotel the night before I was happy to let Glynn 'the grown up' take the lead. Following another 'fun' few miles it was good to arrive safely at the hotel: chance to wring out our socks and Lycra. Just shy of 100miles completed (ok, 86) A hot bath and some tea then we'll do it all again in the morning. Oh yeah, more rain and gale force head winds forecast for tomorrow, the curtains will be twitching again me thinks! As an aside we are now becoming experts at rating sticky toffee pudding, look out for the new book coming shortly. "The Pudding Club" someone mentioned that title may have been used before?

Day 2 Climb Ben Nevis

Quick update. 3 hours to the summit and 3 and half hours to descend. Not to be sniffed at and quite impressive. It could have been quicker if it wasn't for complete white out and visibility was 10 yards. A bout of vertigo and chats with 'Loose Women', see facebook page for further info

Day 1 travel to Scotland

We have started; first day spent travelling to Scotland it was wet and windy all the way and the weather was bad as well. Travelling throughthe Tussocks (things we do for charity) the enormity of the task ahead staredto sink in. All the mountains we passed looked high and most of them covered insnow. Ben Nevis itself has snow from 900mtrs,weather for tonight -3`C yes minus! Wind gusts up to 22mph and snow showers,glad we packed our shorts. Still not all bad news, riding out of Glen Coe onSunday looks like being in rain and to start with a constant ten mile hill, nevermind one thing at a time, if Norwich City can make it out of the Premier LeagueI am sure we can make it out of Scotland

Having completed the LEJOG 2013, we are now ready for another challenge! We are cycling from the East coast of England to the West Coast in October 2014.  

Starting out at St Davids, Pembrokeshire on Saturday 4th October, and cycling 418 miles across country to end up close to home in Lowestoft on the following Saturday.

Day 14 Friday 14 June

Crask Inn to John o` Groats THE FINAL DAY

Accommodation at the Crask Inn was interesting? It was like stepping back into the 50s, the inn is a remote farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. The landlord was very welcoming and the fire fed by peat cut from the local area gave a warm feeling to the place. Less said about the facilities in the bedrooms the better though a little concerned we had to share facilities with landlord and landlady (Mr and Mrs Farmer).

Great thing about being there it made all of us LEJOGers and locals gather together for good old fashioned conversation.

Our evening meal was wholesome, good old fashioned cooking! We even had eggs laid fresh that morning for breakfast, not sure the Scottish porridge should be that salty though, cycling 1000 miles is easier than getting the porridge down.

A strong westerly wind was blowing across the barren moors that led to a very chilly start to the day. We planned for several stops during the day as the effort of the last two weeks was taking its toll on our bodies. Like all planned ideas the occasion of the day was too big for the cycle trio train. We had only one target in mind, destination

JOG (Ended up being our fastest day, we were on a mission).

With the last 10 miles to go, emotions were high. Thoughts of our journey coming to an end, of our families, fellow LEJOG’ers, (some who couldn’t continue), all the reasons why we took on this challenge and the overwhelming sense of achievement.

We have been touched by the generosity of everyone who has sponsored the Macmillan cause and of total strangers, who just walked up and offered donations, we even had one guy approach us in the gents with money in hand, his intentions not clear until he offered it as a donation to the charity.

On reflection the challenge was not just about the 14 days cycling and the opportunity to raise money for a great cause, Macmillan. It was also the accumulation of the seeds sown over a year ago, the training through a tough winter (and giving up the beer for this amount of time) and the planning of routes, accommodation, logistics and our first attempt at social networking.

We have had many ups and downs physical, mental, mechanical, navigational, local characters and not least the hills, but the camaraderie of each other and the fear of letting down our sponsors and charity pulled us through.

As this journey comes to an end we would like to thank wives friends and family for their support (Oscar speech over).

All looking forward to not having to apply Sudocrem, Mick was not sure it was having any benefit in some of the places he was putting it, but it felt good.

Thank you for reading these blogs and we hope you found them amusing and an insight into what this journey has been like.

The LEJOG is complete but we will keep the social networking sites live as we still have pledged money to collect and to inform you of final total.

Signing off the Cycle trio Clive Mick & Glynn, until the next time and challenge, watch this space.

Day 13 Thursday 13th June

Inverness to Crask Inn

Clive has got no pants on! Not the revelation we were expecting.

Rain held off most of the day and mist disappeared quickly give us clear views of the countryside.  It was a slightly shorter day today, ready for the big push to the finish tomorrow. Now is a good time to reflect on the reasons for doing this ride.

We are doing it to assist The Macmillan Charity, donations make up 80% of their income. By 2030, it is estimated that there will be four million people living with cancer. Macmillan needs to raise more money than ever before to enable us to reach more people affected by cancer and provide them with the services they need. Without the support of people like you sponsoring us, Macmillan would not be there to provide the very best possible care, information and treatment for people living with cancer. Please assist the charity by donating if you have not had a chance to on our www.justgiving.com/cycletrio website.

The money that you will raise will help fund their increasing range of services, including Macmillan nurses, doctors and other health and social care professionals, new cancer care centres a range of cancer information services, practical help at home and help with money.

Macmillan Cancer Support provides the expert care and emotional support that makes a real difference to people living with cancer and their families. They offer a range of innovative cancer services and are at the heart of improving cancer care throughout the UK. Macmillan is a source of support and a force for change for people affected by cancer.

As more people are living longer with cancer, and more are being diagnosed, their services are in greater demand than ever. With the continuing help and generosity of supporters like you, Macmillan can be there for the people who need them with the services they really want; in the way they really want them.

Day 12 Wednesday 12th June

Glencoe to Inverness

Not a nice start to the day Scottish mist and bouts of heavy rain mixed in all morning, we have been so spoilt, not used to this weather even though we did expect it in Scotland. Good boys we kicked the old bike tyres again before setting off. Accommodation at Fern Villa in Ballachulish was good with the landlord allowing us to hang wet clothing in boiler house to dry overnight and as we were leaving handed over a donation to the charity, thanks to Catherine and David for looking after us.

Stuck phones into plastic bags, Mick’s shower cap had split so he was in for a wet head today, and set off, for some reason the pace was a little higher than normal anyone would think we were entering a race? Had some rough old roads (technical term for those from Norfolk) through the forest and beside the canals but again the views made up for the conditions. Although misty and covered with cloud, we still caught glimpses of Ben Nevis.

The hill; it was as described long and steep, worst one so far but we did it in style, we are impressed with how strong we now seem to be. The route beside Loch Ness gave opportunity to make news headlines but any sightings could be put down to the midges on our glasses. The day ended with rain but accommodation was located with ease.  

If Clive goes to bed any earlier he might as well not get changed in the morning and do the ride in his pyjamas, we even abstained from the healthy sweet to get to bed earlier. Tomorrow we meet at the Crask Inn being the only accommodation within a sensible distance between Inverness and John o` Groats.

Looking forward to see who has made it that far.

Day 11 Tuesday 11th June

Loch Lomond to Glencoe

Did full safety check on bikes after yesterday’s bad roads (checked we had two wheels and kicked tyres).

Stopped at village of Luss on Loch Lomond to feed the ducks couldn’t leave until Mick had checked each one had got a piece of bread.

Good cycle path for about 13 miles along half the length of Loch Lomond rest unfortunately on main road.

Spoke to another LEJOGer, still waiting for a suitable collective name, could be a prize for the best suggestion of 3 pairs slightly used cycling shorts, this poor fellow was completing it on his own because his lady partner had the front forks of her bike snap, she went over handle bars face first onto concrete damaging her jaw and losing front teeth, not good.

Highlights to us the importance of kicking the tyres and we may now do that each morning. 

Had first rain of the trip 11:40 Mick put on his shower cap and we carried on, rest of us have not got enough hair to worry about.

This afternoon we made it to the Highlands of Scotland and despite the weather every corner, every vista, we just had to stop to take in the unbelievable scenery, Clive looked like he was at a tennis match with his head going left and right, Mick’s jaw dropped so low he was scraping his chin on the road.

Met the ladies in the same restaurant tonight o’dear they finished an hour earlier than us, again, Clive has just negotiated a earlier breakfast, Mick was talking of riding through the night, the challenge is on for tomorrow, until they remember that at 50 miles along the route there is a 5 ¼ mile hill that ascends from 33m to 393m above sea level-perhaps the hardest and longest climb of the entire End to End route. That will sort the men from the boys, or should it be the men from the ladies.

Gerty the Garmin seemed to behave herself today and made navigation easier. Why do we call navigational devices that sometimes go wrong by female names?

We finished our meal at 20:30; Clive’s quote of the day “it’s late, time for Jim Jams and bed” a changed man?

Day 10 Monday 10th June

Moffat to Loch Lomond

Good accommodation, hosts were very helpful and actually did a bit of washing for us. Just like being at home, put it in that magic basket and next day appears in drawer cleaned and ironed, good job each house comes with one.

Could tell we were in Scotland no money spent on roads, first 30 miles surface was so rough it was like being on vibration machine, mind you it was good for breaking up our cellulite but not so good for the bikes, will have to give them a good check over before setting out tomorrow.

Luckily the last 30 miles was on a cycle path through Glasgow along the River Clyde and The Forth and Clyde Canal. The path enabled us to avoid most of the traffic in Glasgow but did take us past the not so salubrious areas; we talked in whispers to avoid detection by the locals. Not sure what country they were from but we did not understand a word they said, we just nodded and moved on very quickly.

Had first puncture of trip, Glynn’s bike, blowout after going over another pothole in the well maintained roads, went down in a few seconds, hope for no more.

Finished at the bottom of Loch Lomond (no not the actual bottom) in Ballock and yes we did spell that correctly. It is us or as we get further into the trip and more tired we are reverting to more toilet humour in these blogs? Must be making us feel younger into our teenage years, we of course think we look younger.

Overall a good day with plenty of miles under the belt, we hope next day Gerty the Garmin does not play up again, switched itself off several times leaving us to revert to the old fashion way of map reading and asking people. Not back to the accommodation until 19:00

Day 9 Sunday 9 June

Keswick to Moffat

For us a reasonably early start away on the road 09:15, we must try to get away earlier unfortunately most of the time we are tied to the breakfast time in the accommodation.

Another hard start to the day about 6 miles of steep climbing out of Keswick. Unfortunately we have found that to be the case most days we think it is because towns and villages were often built around water sources which by nature are normally at sea level. Homework question for the day please let us know.

Though our partners will not agree this was part of the reason for the trip, to broaden our minds, we are the cycle trio deep thinkers or is that the cycle trio deep stinkers.

Arrived in Scotland today, next to the village of Gretna Green, we did try for a trio same sex wedding but even Scottish law would not let us, so we nicked(sorry borrowed) a balloon saying “Just Married” and tied it to the back of the bikes.

 The mist came rolling over the hills today spoiling some of the views but it did stay dry. Spend a lot of the day riding beside the main roads M6 and M74 and negotiating Carlisle so not mush happened and nothing exciting to see apart from several bits of road kill, sorry to those eating, and for some weird reason several gloves on the side of the road, another topic for discussion.

Met some of the other LEJOG/ites/ists. homework question No3 what is the word for a collection of mad people doing the same end to end trip. Clean answers only please, kids read this blog, anyway met the other “people” and had farewell dinner for Derek who is off on his further travels. After battling our way up to here we now realise there are only 5 more days riding left, right now don’t want it to stop, when we sit on the saddle tomorrow may change our minds. A big day for mileage today.

Day 8 Friday 8 June

Sliadburn to Keswick

Happy birthday Glynn’s dad 89 today.

All managed to get a few hours sleep last night, not before Mr “I will rough it anywhere” Ducker changed rooms again, this time a domestic in an adjoining room and mellow tunes of rock band in pub opposite. Not boding well for a trip to Glastonbury coming up, he will be swapping tents and going to bed before 10:00

Quote in a well know book written about LEJOG “today is where the end to end can be won or lost” We beat it in style, starting to feel strong and cycling fit so much so that we managed 20mph over a 10 mile stretch, but that did elicit two telling offs for speeding from team leader., it’s a marathon not a sprint. Just to pick the spirits and egos up we got two wolf whistles today thought worryingly we think one was from a group of builders.

Had hard 6 mile climb from Slaidburn but the views from the top unbelievable, lovely single track road cutting through the moorlands, if we didn’t have to breathe so much up the hills, it would have taken our breath away.

Our ornithological skills came into test again today, thought we saw a bald eagle but realised Clive had just taken his helmet off.

With Clive’s bike still playing up and having to brake and pedal down hills we decided to give it a bit of TLC and thanks to the assistance of Wheelbase @ Staveley Clive now reports his bottom bracket is much better now thanks.

Hit the 500 mile mark at Kendal today cannot believe we will be crossing the border and going into Scotland tomorrow on bikes all the way from Lands End.  If in the area please take a ride down a track beside Thirlmere Lake. Adjectives are unable to properly describe its beauty, and that coming from 3 grown up men. Unfortunately Garmin played up and stats for today were lost, but did 68 miles. Tomorrow ending in Moffat hoping to meet with other LEJOG riders especially Derek who is still carrying on by himself and will take a little 200 mile! detour next week on his way to John o` Groats.

Day 7 Friday 7 June

Runcorn to Sliadburn

Hard day today. We shouldn’t complain about the weather, but it was hot, and seemed to sap our strength. Cycling through the cities and towns of Runcorn, Warrington, Bolton and Blackburn made the navigation challenging, but helped us appreciate the smaller villages and eventual countryside even more. No major mechanical problems to report, although Clive’s bottom bracket is making a noise and his bike sounds a bit funny as well.

Didn’t meet any of our usual compadres on route today but met a new one who was kind enough to offer his wife a two week holiday touring Britain, he forgot to tell her it was driving a van with him cycling behind, lucky lady.

Manage to cycle fast enough not to be overtaken by any wildlife today although a couple of sheep tried to hitch rides over the moors. Thought we saw an Osprey but not being ornithologists, it could have been a crow.

Slaidburn had a nice village green with a stream running through, it was so tempting to strip off and sit in to ease the aching muscles but being arrested for streaking would not help finish the ride, and the local ladies might have had a stroke, if they were quick enough(the old jokes are the best).

Clive’s wife, Amanda, and mum came to see us tonight and it was lovely go out for a meal with them. As you can see by the photos on face book we ate very sensible and healthy meals.

Managed to complete the 63 miles in 5 ½ hours, but with extra stops due to the heat and getting back to digs another 9 ½ hour day.

Day 6 Thursday 6th June

After very good breakfast but not such a good nights sleep, Mick was kept awake for most of the night with the dulcet tones of 70’s glam rock (we are in Wales I guess). Glynn and Clive’s beauty sleep was hampered by a noisy sleeper (isn’t it boyo?)

Went to load up van to find our local neighbour hood watch team in attendance: George & Ron, we think they’d been out there all night creeping about in camouflage ensuring no one was getting near our van. Great couple of blokes.

Felt good after the shorter day yesterday legs strong and plenty of Sudocrem applied.

Overcast and cloudy start, not what we are accustomed to. Started with a monster climb out of Clun just to warm the legs up, then headed north up to Shrewsbury.  Spent the day skirting the Welsh border until we came across terrain classed as flattish more like we are used to at home, we got our heads down and fired up those tree trunks.

We came across a Cheshire cycle club run, big mistake................

We felt we were holding our own until George and Mildred overtook us on their steel tandem…whistling!!

Met the Warwickshire lads again today and had lunch with them at the Dickens Arms, Loppington, unfortunately we gave them our face book address so they can see what we have written about them, sorry lads.

It was strange seeing signs for both Liverpool and Manchester whilst out on a bike ride!

Finished in Runcorn and started our hunt for the ‘digs’?? Ended up after short debate in a Premier Inn (ask us why over a beer sometime). An evening meal was enjoyed in a nearby Frankie and Benny’s.in Widnes A huge thank you to the manager Martin, No Charge!!

Best days cycling averaging 15mph over 80 miles.

Day 5 – Wednesday 5 June

Again the staff at the hotel near Monmouth was kind and gave a donation to the cause as well as letting us off breakfast charge.

It is the shortest day of the trip today, looking forward to less time on bikes, and a well earned rest at our accommodation, the Castle Inn, Knucklas (Wales). We started the day with a cruel hill, but with the undulating terrain we were able to keep a respectable speed. Cloudy today and stayed like that all day. We were on a mission both looking forward to an ice bath to help our legs/ tree trunks. I don’t know why, but we didn’t get time for lunch, but we found a quaint coffee/bookshop (Something out of Midsummer Murders!) for caffeine hit and cakes. Again scenery spectacular along Wye valley, all was going well arriving at accommodation 15:00 only to find it shut. Slight error, forgot this was the only one with 18:00 check in, all others 14:30 on top of that no phone signal, apologies to family not being able to check in, Wi-Fi and television signals also very poor. Eventually the land lady turned up to let us in. Meanwhile the Macmillan machine attracted the attentions of a few eagle eyed local characters, we could feel the net curtains ‘twitching’, (who must these strange looking folk from a Norfolk land be). Chatting to locals, another example of people’s generosity Ron from bungalow offered to give us drinks and let us use his facilities whilst waiting and gave us a £10 donation, people are so kind.

The pub was real and authentic, with real fires, juke box, dartboard and still had xmas lights up. (“Keep off the moors lads”, it felt like a scene from American werewolf in London). That said, we had a hearty dinner and an early night its nearly 9 pm. Ready for a monster day tomorrow.

Day 4 – Tuesday 4 June

Started well Jim the landlord gave us a generous donation. Bit breezy but lovely clear sky again, we have been so lucky with the weather.

Had earliest start so far 0830. After seeing how busy the A371 was and managing to get everyone’s attention, we tweaked the route and avoided most of it.

Met Derek again he is still going strong. Ladies caught us up just as Mick’s bike decided to protest at the number of hills and the hard work it was going through. Others went off leaving us to try and administer repairs. Mick finally got bike working (Fred Baker Cycles, Bristol) and is looking forward to problem free day tomorrow.

Fantastic scenery today, Glastonbury Tor could be seen to our left for a few miles, cycling through rather than around Wells was a good move, a lovely Cathedral and moat…stunning. Chew Valley Lake one of the largest artificial lakes in the country, looked pristine with the sun reflecting of it sparkling blue waters, wow a bit of descriptive writing, perhaps the trip is enhancing our minds!

Cycled through the Aston Court Estate, people around there are so lucky to have such a facility to take their families. Ended up cycling over and under the Clifton Suspension Bridge, don’t think we were meant to, but we found the navigation through and around Bristol very challenging, spending at least an hour exploring the roads around the area, i.e. we got lost. But it gave us a chance to interact with the locals.

Severn Bridge is an amazing piece of engineering; getting off our bikes half way across gave us a chance to look closely at the structure and to feel the vibrations of every vehicle passing. A personal landmark for us all…250 miles now under our belts!!

Later on after a late lunch 16:15 caught up again with the young Warwickshire boys, Ant & Dec, as we now call them, as usual Clive being his normal restrained self decided to put on show and storm pass them at 25mph, took us another mile to rein him in and slow him down again.

The Wye Valley looked so lush and green its undulating roads provided us with the best cycling we have had so far. How come they have so few potholes?

The Old Court Hotel in Symonds Yat we are staying at tonight best so far.

With our meandering and mechanical problems we ended up having a 10 hour day covering 74 miles in 7 hours cycling time, posteriors suffering the effect of 4 consecutive days, they need careful attention, any volunteers?

Day 3 – Monday 3rd June

Van still there! Managed to get started a bit earlier 0930 the well oiled machine is starting to gain momentum.

Not a good start to day got slightly lost and legs felt very tired. Had early stop at the Talaton Inn EX5 2RQ, Lovely lady there gave us a donation. Derek one of gentlemen we met on first day rode up, unfortunately his partner had to stop for health reasons. Derek decided to carry on by himself to make sure his charity still benefited. We asked him to join us for at least today, Derek agreed, as we were leaving two ladies turned up, Kerry and Sarah, also doing same route they joined us as well for the day. It was great to have a group with different people to discuss the adventure, during the day it became obvious the ladies were the leaders of the pack. Living locally has helped their fitness and highlighted weaknesses.

Had good meal in White Hart Inn Corfe met two young lads from Warwickshire they were in awe of what we were doing (at our age) with any luck we will meet them later as they are doing the same route. Luckily for us the ladies had to go to different accommodation giving us a chance to ease off. They are strong riders.

Stopped at Cannards Well www.cannardswell.com the landlord Jim used to run the Ferry Boat in Norwich really nice man with plenty of stories and on top of that he gave us all a filling steak meal free for the Macmillan cause.In uncharted area today with the riding, never done so many consecutive days of this distance. 70 miles in 5hrs 15 mins cycling time (thanks ladies) another 8 hour day

Day 2 – Sunday 2nd June

Started the day with porridge felt much better. Quote from Clive “Must get to bed earlier”

First 10 minutes in shock legs did not want to work, journey to Plymouth very picturesque. Hit the 100 mile mark in Plymouth. Had another ride on ferry, this time Torpoint to Devonport Met Joseph Graham former Royal Marine on the ferry, Clive reckoned he bonded with him due to his SAS training, nice guy.

Roads were very up and down today, two really big climbs on to get onto Dartmoor and one 16% : like gas hill in Norwich but went on for two miles, ended up going so slow a squirrel ran out and overtook us and the Garmin kept auto pausing!

Dartmoor scenery was spectacular, helped by the good weather.  .  Successfully negotiated the local livestock, stopped at Fox Tor Café for lunch it overlooks Dartmoor and the prison, great place well worth a stop if in area.

Had another attempt at a NED day (No Effort Day) mainly to help Clive’s knee and Mick’s derriere, did well at sticking to it and managed 60 miles of cycling in 5.5 hours, still took 8 hours with much needed stops.

Staying at the Oak Lodge Hotel tonight. Interesting place and area, made sure van and bikes locked. Had good meal at local harvester in bed by 10:00 as promised?

Travel Down - Friday 31 May

Started the journey with a 10 hour drive thanks mainly to M25, M4

Hotel not to bad apart from sharing bunk beds (not really)and the lively locals.

All managed to get about 3 hours kip

Day 1 - Saturday 1 June

Started day with big fry up, regretted it later in day might try porridge tomorrow. Met some nice guys in hotel arranging same event for group next day, hope they don’t catch us up.

At Lands End met two guys doing the same route but over 17 days, they had done it twice before. They started off before us but it was nice to catch them up and meet them for lunch.

Boys were under strict instructions to have a NED day (No Effort Day) nice to see Clive stuck to it by only recording 47mph, down hill with eyes shut, he has been suitable reprimanded.

Lands End to Penzance was comfortable but the hills after that started to make us realise that Norfolk really is flat in comparison; luckily weather has changed for the better which makes views worth the pain of the hills.

Wearing the Macmillan shirts got us a lot of attention and a free ride across the King Harry Ferry at Trelissick.

Staying at White Hart Hotel in Menheniot, tonight, they have a 60 birthday party on, just about suits how we are feeling tonight.

We must remind Clive to top up with sun cream tomorrow, looks like beetroot tonight.Overall hard day but very satisfying, looking forward to bed and what tomorrow will bring. Covered 80 miles overall cycling time 6.5 hours.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

The 'CycleTrio' is a three man team consisting of Clive, Mick  and Glynn embarking on a challenge of a lifetime!

Land's End to John O' Groats is the furthest possible distance in the British Isles! Starting at Land's End on the south-westerly tip of England, we will pedal our way through Cornwall, over Dartmoor and north along the Welsh border, skirting the Lake District into Scotland, via lochs and mountains to the North coast and John O' Groats.  In all we will cover approximately 1000 miles!

We will be carrying out this task in June 2013, and our training is now underway! We have had a few days of better weather recently and were able to cycle 50 miles in just 3 hours recently.  We felt OK afterwards but obviously this is nothing compared to the 80 miles+ per day for at least 10 days consecutively! We will keep you posted on our progress! Please dig as deep as you are able.

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 UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.