The end is now.....

From the notebook of Matt "the purpose of a true journey is not the destination but the journey itself. On arrival you have changed, not just geographically but psychologically, physically, and spiritually" Matt had not been to JOG when he wrote this, but he is on the nail about it not being about destination because it is not the type of place that warrants a 920 mile cycle ride.
So as you have probably guessed, we made it to JOG this afternoon, after completing the final 80 miles from Dornoch. The roads and the views were spectacular, the weather was perfect, the sun shone all day, and the temperature was not too hot.

We need to say a big thank you to the following people

Rob, Claire and Dan for supporting us over the past 12 days

Our arrival comittee at JOG, Maria and Alix

All of you who have supported and sponsored us.

Matt's top cycling tip - when cycling with two middle aged men ensure they carry all their own kit and don't freeload your bag, said bags are also good for middle aged men to freeload lifts up steep hills.

For those of you interested in stats

The journey was 920 miles, took 11 days and 2.5 hours, the total time in the saddle was 60 hours and 13 minutes. We burnt 198000 calories
between us, there were 1.5 million pedal revolutions, 3.9 million wheel revolutions, and 1 million heart beats while cycling. We climbed the equivilant of Mount Everest 1.5 time a total of 13,500 metres. We had 11 punctures, one damaged chain and one damaged rear wheel. We drank 70 litres of fluid while cycling and 11 litres of red wine in the evening. Alan used 200 mils of udderlly smooth.

We hope you have enjoyed reading about our journey and please keep checking the site as we will post photos when we get back. The final word is Matt's tribute to A E Houseman

By hill of Clee,
Three cyclists tred,
Their journey northward bound,
On steeled beasts,
While westwinds roll,
O'er dense laid hedge and pollards old,
With gritted teeth and 'halations long,
They pass old Salop thru',

When seven days more have passed,
And journeys done,
The three will stand with drink in hand,
And think of miles gone by,
Then surely against all those memories golden,
The fondest will be,
The passing of old hill of Clee



Peace
Iain, Alan, Matt and Claire

Maria and Alix

To Inverness and beyond.......

So Le Tour nears it's conclusion, we are now camped at Dornoch a tantalising 80 miles from John o Groats. We have decided that we would rather finish it at the end of a long day, so tomorrow we head for the end of end to end.
We left Port Augustus this morning at the now usual 09:00 and spent the morning riding alongside Loch Ness, looking out for Nessie, with little luck. You can see how people could believe they had seen her, as the way the purple haze quality of light reflects off the water makes ripples in the water look like something in the water.
Through Drumnadrochit and up to Inverness, where we met Claire for lunch. We were joined by Maria and Alix who were also passing through Inverness. Matt and I took my defective wheel to a mountain bike shop where the 16 year old assistant told us he had no parts and couldn't fit it in for two weeks. He did however reccomend a shop round the corner, Fitness Bikes, where the guy was more than helpful and said that the stripdown and rebuild that Matt had carried out at the campsite last night had fixed it. Unfortunately for Karen and Claire there was a cyclo cross bike in the shop, a type of bike thay is missing from both Matt and my bike collections (really have to have one you see, because there are those days when a road bike is too focused and a mountain bike too slow etc etc).

So we left Inverness over a spectacular suspension bridge with a howling crosswind and carried on up the A9, across Black Isle, past the Dalmore distillery at Alness and the Glenmorangie distillery at Tain (for those of you who know me, you will know what an effort of will it took to pass without stopping). We arrived in Dornoch at 16:00.

Matt's top cycling tip - if the bike mechanic looks like he has recently inhaled from the type of cigarette that Bill Clinton definately didn't inhale from, don't let him touch your bike.

Something we didn't mention yesterday, we passed Loch Lochy, if that is translated into English does that make it Lake Lakey (we can testify it did have a very lakey feel to it). In the same Le Tour feel Loch Ness is now Lac Nees (needs to be pronounced in a very Monty Python French accent)

As this tour comes to an end, please post your suggestions for next years cycling challenge

Peace

Iain, Alan, Matt and Claire

Nessie where are you?

Tonight see's us next to Loch Ness, there is no sign of any monsters, although there may be some excited Nessie spotters tonight when Alan starts snoring.

We left Tyndrum, very quickly this morning to get away from the midges, they were everywhere, although the Avon skin so soft does seem to work as a repellant. There was a long, long climb up to Ranoch Moor, which we all climbed pretty well, given that we have been in the saddle for 9 days. We crossed the moor and then had a long and welcome drop down to Glencoe. We met Claire at Fort William, after she had overcome some issues with Gert with the help of those nice people from the AA. We had thought of stopping in Fort William for the night, but decided that we still had some juice left in the legs and so we carried on up the Great Glen until we found a campsite in Fort Augustus, not after having our teeth shaken out riding along the Caledonian Canal towpath.

Once again the campsite where a little nervous letting a group of 3 blokes and a woman stay, and it needed all of Claires negotiation skills to convince the campsite staff that we where not a bunch of rowdy yoof's, well that and the woman took one look at us and realised that we would all be tucked up in bed with cocoa by the time Claire had parked the van.

Iain's bike had some problems today the rear wheel bearings had given up, which explains why he has been a little off the pace at times(guess who is writing this).

Looking at the map we could finish on Wednesday, however once again our casual lack of planning means that Alan's wife, Maria and her friend Alix are getting to to JOG on Thursday, so the we now have a fairly relaxed run in of 60 miles a day for the next two days and then a short 15 miles run to JOG, well that's the theory anyway.

Matt's top cycling tip, always use synthetic lubricant to avoid unpleasant blockages.

Question of the day - why put a place on the map when there is nothing there, Invergarry this means you.

Peace

Iain, Alan, Matt and Claire

The Romans didn't get this far

We have concluded the reason they didn't get this far is building straight roads would be a nightmare.

After a wonderful nights hospitality in Glasgow last night, we had a full Scottish breakfast this morning, again thanks to Craig and Diane. Craig then took to his own bike and led us on cycle paths through Glasgow. We crossed the Clyde next to the new BBC Scotland building, took a disused railway track and then a canal towpath to Bowling, where Craig bid us farwell. We stayed on cycle paths all the way to Loch Lomond, or as Matt has renamed it Lac La Monde (to give it a more Tour de France feel). We met up with Claire at Luss, it seemed a little strange now that Dan has flown home, thanks for all your help mate and we will see you when we get back. After lunch we pressed on up the A82 (pretty much the only way to go now). The now customary rain kept us cool (that's the positive spin on the whole precipitation situation) as we climbed slowly up to Tyndrum where we are spending the night.

Notes on Tyndrum and midges
There are 8 buses a day, this is more than Alan gets from his house a month.
The Latin name for midges is Culicoides Impunctatus, which translates as little b@st@rds
Only female midges bite
They prefer sheep and cyclists to humans
They don't like bright sunshine (we will need to come back in the summer then???)


Matt's top cycling tips - only cycle on designated cycle paths if you wish to double your journey time. Note to the Scottish Parliament, before you build any more buildings signpost your cycle routes properly and resurface some of your roads.

Matt's question of the day - was Pontius Pilate a Scot - discuss

Peace
Matt, Alan and Iain

Dreekit

Look well to this day, for it is life,
The very best of life,
In its brief course lie all the realities and truths of existence,
The joy of growth,
The splendour of action,
The glory of power,
For yesterday is but a memory,
And tomorrow is only a vision,
But today if well lived,
Makes every yesterday a memory of happiness
And every tomorrow a vision of hope,
Look well therefore to this day.

As you can guess from this poem, today was horrible, until we got to Clarkston, and enjoyed the fabulous hospitality of Craig and Diane Roberston. After a few beers, wine and Drambuie it all seems a lot better.

Observations of the day:...

All roads from Carlise to Glasgow are uphill. There are no down Hills.
The wind which ever direction was in our face .
The old A74 is in need of new tarmac
Why have one puncture at a time when you can have two.
There are more types of rain in Scotland, than the Eskimos have words for snow.

Oh flower of Scotland

We said goodbye to England this afternoon, crossing the border at Gretna. The day started short ride to Kendal, where we bought some more gear, sunglasses to replace Matt's broken ones and another waterproof for Iain. Leaving Kendal we were faced with a long, long climb up Shap Fell, to a height of 1400 feet and after criss crossing the M6 for a while we dropped into Penrith. We met Claire and Dan on the A6 just north of Penrith and then carried on to Carlisle and closer to the border. Cyclists were barred from the A74 so we had a bit of a detour to get to Gretna. As is traditional in Scotland it was a this point that the heavans opened again, this time with kind of miserable rain that only falls in Scotland. We stopped at a garage to get some sweets and it while we talked about the horrible conditions a man returning to his car told us it was Scotch mist, reminded me of my Grandad as that was how he described it. Claire had problems getting a campsite that wasn't full so we have ended up in a place called Powfoot just west of Annan, which has put us about 10 miles out of our way. At the time of writing we ar huddled up in Gert while it pours down outside.

A new series of Matt's top cycling tips - chafeze on the nipples can make for a comfortable cycling experience

Dans top tip - in this weather you might want to leave the top up on your convertible.

Peace
Iain, Alan and Matt
Claire and Dan

Il pleut

Today was the day the heavans opened, and it would appear there is more to come.
We left Chester at 09:00 and headed to Birkenhead to catch the ferry across the Mersey, apparantly this is world heritage site on a par with the Great Wall of China and the Taj Mahal!! And yes the do play the song!
We trudged our way through the Liverpool traffic for what seemed an eternity, with every traffic light turning to red as we approached. Eventually we passed Aintree and the bashed on to Preston, where we met Claire and Dan for lunch, it was then that the heavans opened and it must have been late closing because they stayed open for the rest of the day and well into the evening.
This just turned the day into a slog, made worse by busy A roads. From Preston, to Lancaster where we found the worst toilet in the north east, onto Carnforth before finishing in Sedgwick just south of Kendal. The campsite is a caravan club one and apparantly it is normal to pitch tents on hardcore, so poor Dan will not have a very comfortable night.
Tomorrow we head towards Ecosse, hopefully with less fluid from the sky

Peace

Iain, Alan and Matt