Hollyoaks

Here we are in Chester, home of Hollyoaks, unfortunatly none of the cast has come to see us pass by. It's a shame that we are in the historic Roman town of Chester and all we can associate it with us second division soap opera.

Last night was about the closest we would get to home, so parents and wives all turned up. We ate out in a pub for the first time since we left LE on Saturday. We left Hereford at 08:50 this morning and went through Leominster, stopping briefly in Ludlow for drugs (Matt needed hayfever tablets). Carrying on we met Claire and Dan in Shrewsbury for some carb laden tuna pasta.

The afternoon saw us bashing on through Wem and Whitchurch before getting to Chester at 16:00. The longest distance in a day so far at 87 miles, bringing the total distance to 360 miles, which is the furthest any of us has ever cycled in one chunk. The distances have started to seem strange now, almost surreal.
We are aiming for Kendal tomorrow, so that will be the Lake District, hopefully we will be in Scotland by Friday.
Alan and Iain have both started to feel some aches and pains now, which was to be expected from the more senior riders, unfortunatly the rocks we have added to Matt's bike don't seem to have worked in slowing him down, so we'll have to find some other way to bring him down to a pace more suited for middle aged men.

Peace

Iain, Alan and Matt

Across the Border and beyond

Well we said good bye to Rob today after assisting us for the past four days. a BIG THANK YOU for giving up your time to help.



We flew to Avonmouth Bridge in less than an hour from Congesbury and then over the Severn Bridge into Wales. We met up with my Mum and Dad, Chris and Tony (by now you might have guessed I am not Iain, in Tintern for lunch. We then bashed on into Herefordshire before arriving at Morton on Lugg just north of Hereford. Iain denies any performance enhancing drugs but he flew here. Saying that Iain and Matt climb up to Cleevdon at 36KPH.



We were introduced to Gert this PM our new home for the next 10 days. Gert is a 30 year old VW LT35 Motorhome. This means Dan our new driver and Claire will be able to make sure our breakfast , lunch and dinner are ready for us !!. I think Not. Tomorrow we are heading for Chester (the home of Hollyoaks where we will be appearing in a special edition) . We have the IT up and running today and Iain will be posting some photos of our trip so far.

The best laid plans of mice and men

So after two fairly uneventful days, as Rabbie Burns said the best laid plans of mice and men aft gang awry. Mice however as far as I am aware don't ride bikes from LE to JOG and so don't have to deal with the array of mechanical issues we did today. First of all the curse stuck Matt's chain bent, which meant we sat by the side of the road for an hour cobbling together a fix to get him to a bike shop. A few miles down the road, just outside Cullompton Matt's rear tyre exploded. Another 10 minutes to change the inner tube and it was off again, only for Iain's rear derailler to jam, unable to fix it we limped into Taunton where Ian from Ian's cycles fixed all the bikes and was very helpful in getting us on our way again. We carried on to Bridgewater where we stopped for a photo at the sign for the town, carried on for 5 yards before Matt punctured his rear tyre again. After this we just got our heads down and got a real pace up until we stopped for Matt to have chips and Iain and Alan to have a Mr Whippy cone from the pier. Finally arrived at the campsite in Congresbury at 17:00.
Today's photo is of us leaving Crediton this morning.
Going for Morton on Lugg, just north off Hereford tomorrow
Peace
Iain, Alan and Matt

Who needs planning?

So with the kind of casual disregard to planning that you would expect from all of us, we have ended up in a remote campsite about a mile from Crediton. No showers, no power, but a fabulous view, as we sit in the sunshine, listening to the gentle sound of a river running by. By this you will have worked out that we have no signal to connect the laptop to the internet, so once again this has to be typed on the tiny BlackBerry keyboard, and once again we are unable to update the map.
We left Newquay this morning at 09:00 and set off first to Bodmin, where we passed a sign warning us to mind the blind cat. Between Bodmin and Launceston we caught up with a large group of cyclists who were planning to get to JOG by saturday, we stayed with them for a while before they slowed down and we cracked on to Launceston. As we arrived in town a photographer stepped out into the road and started taking photos of us, it all seemed a little surreal, until we found out the group that we had cycled with were meeting the mayor.
We lunched in Launceston, then bashed on to Okehampton on quiet A roads, which continued the theme of the day, which was up down, up down, up down. We arrived in the camp site at 16:00 and are currently waiting for Rob to get back from the shops with some onions. Discovery of the day, yesterday was that cheap wine tastes better chilled (the only bottle they had in the shop was in the fridge, and if red wine is good enough for cyclists on the Tour de France then it is good enough for top athletes like us).
The photo in this posting is of the three of us leaving the campsite in Newquay this morning. Alan would like you all to take particular note of his belly, which he believes will be shrinking considerably over the next ten days.
Peace
Iain, Alan and Matt

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Days photo

This is to see if it works

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Day 1

Sorry about how short this is but we are restricted to posting from my blackberry. Left LE at 13:00 after finding out that JOG is the same distance as Prague. Matt is well impressed. We have managed 50 miles in three hours, one puncture, and one idiot in a Ford Probe who tried to run us off the road. More details when we have a better connection

Cheers
Iain, Alan and Matt

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zero days to go

Well that is it. Matt has handed his letter of resignation in today as he has received his offer letter for his new job. Iain has completed his extra last minute work that he had been asked to complete and Alan squared away some last minute messages before leaving work today.

The rental car is now loaded with the bikes and Iain's car loaded with our kit, food and camping equipment all we need now is a good nights sleep before setting off about 06:30 tomorrow morning , oh and some sunshine !!

Will hope to keep you all posted as we make our way through the UK