Saturday 9th August 2008
Wrexham to Lancaster
All week long the weather forecast had predicted a really wet and windy day on Saturday and they were right! It started raining within minutes of us starting and did not stop all day. One really good thing in our favour was that the wind was behind us.
We absolutely flew along with Ness and Ian leading the charge. We were through Chester and on the way to Liverpool in no time at all, unlike the support vehicle which had a nasty looking nail in a rear tyre. The bikers got to Birkenhead well ahead of the support who were having their tyre inspected by a fitter called Nick from, of all places, Tavistock----see notes from Day 2. The kindly garage owner didn't charge for the attention. The plan was to take the ferry across the Mersey as none of us had done it before. When we got to the terminal and found that we had to wait 50mins for the next boat whereas we could have taken the train under the river and save 30mins. As the bikes are wider than a train and longer than the lift to the underground railway we decided to have another mars bar and wait for the boat. The only really disadvantage to this was how cold we got. The river was surprisingly rough and flowing very fast. Once on board we all had a cup of tea (except Gill who was driving the van through the narrowest tunnel she had every driven through in her life) and enjoyed the view as the tannoy system told us all about Liverpool (European city of culture 2008)!!.
As we landed the system blasted out the old song Ferry across the Mersey which to the discomfort to the other passengers we all joined in with.
Back onto our bikes, cold, wet and stiff and with the best part of 60 miles to go it was not much fun.
Our next stop was to meet up with Doreen and Jim Jackson (Ness’s In-laws) in Magull. We were reluctant to stop as we were so cold and so far away from our destination. However we did stop and the hot food inside us made us feel much better.
On the road again we made fantastic progress with the wind at our backs and the next time we stopped was about 30 miles later about mid way between Preston and Lancaster. This was in the semi dry of a make shift tent between the van and the Lancaster county council sign post (sign was missing). After a cup of tea and another mars bar we were off to complete our day at about 4pm.
After showering and drying out we were arrived to hear a bang from inside the guest house but in the direction of the bikes!! IT WAS A FULL ON BLOWOUT of the real wheel. After spending another ½ hour replacing the wheel we had again to get dry and clean ready for meeting our guests for the evening.
We were joined by Marie, Jeff and Linda. Using Tom Tom to find the local J.D. Wetherspoon pub we proceeded to down the customary 3 pints and replenish the protein and carbohydrates ready for retiring to see if we could get a good nights sleep ready for the longest and possibly the hardest day of the trip so far.
Distance: 85.56 miles
Riding Time: 6 hours 7 mins
Weather Rain!!!!!
Total Mileage - 448 miles
Beer of the day - Clark's Westgate Gold
Overnight at - Lancaster Town House
Sunday, 10 August 2008
Day 5
8th August 2008
Bromyard to Wrexham.
The day started with a long climb out from ‘The Old Cowshed’ to the main road to Shrewsbury. The first hour and a half had seen us complete just 10 miles. This was partly the amount of pit stops, or as they became known lulu stops.
Once on the A49 we started to pick up our pace, although today was the first day that the wind was no with us so our progress was harder work than we would have liked. Our faithful support team had gone to the butcher capital of the UK ‘Ludlow’ to buy us some pies, and we were blowing along quite well when this sharp little hill split the pack and Mike and Rob were free wheeling down the other side when a passing car shouted ‘your friends have fallen off!’ Mike and Rob stopped in the next lay-by and both immediately had a pee, followed by an anxious look back down the road they started to call Phil and Gill, but with perfect timing they appeared to say Ness and Ian were fine and on their way.
Ian who is quickly becoming an expert on falling off bikes assured us this was a minor slip rather than a full fall. Anyway once regrouped we decided it was time to try the pies and judging by the speed that they were eating and the mummmmms of approval it would be safe to say Ludlow deserves its reputation. After our break it was onto Shrewsbury. The plan was it go to the city centre and find the road to Wrexham, some of the party thought that Rob may not have done this the most efficient way, this could have been the hills we climbed in town or the fact that we stopped and asked the way, but were all were mightily impressed when we stopped at the bike shop for Ness to buy some new shoes. The straps were hanging on by a thread, and Ness in a throwback to her ballet dancing days got the brightest, whitest shoes that she could find.
The last 15 miles into Wrexham was a good blast and only a few hill to notes.
Distance: 80.62miles
Riding Time: 5 hours 57 mins
Weather Good – dry and cloudy
Beer of the day - Cains Bitter
Total Mileage - 362 miles
Overnight - Grove Guest House, Wrexham.
Bromyard to Wrexham.
The day started with a long climb out from ‘The Old Cowshed’ to the main road to Shrewsbury. The first hour and a half had seen us complete just 10 miles. This was partly the amount of pit stops, or as they became known lulu stops.
Once on the A49 we started to pick up our pace, although today was the first day that the wind was no with us so our progress was harder work than we would have liked. Our faithful support team had gone to the butcher capital of the UK ‘Ludlow’ to buy us some pies, and we were blowing along quite well when this sharp little hill split the pack and Mike and Rob were free wheeling down the other side when a passing car shouted ‘your friends have fallen off!’ Mike and Rob stopped in the next lay-by and both immediately had a pee, followed by an anxious look back down the road they started to call Phil and Gill, but with perfect timing they appeared to say Ness and Ian were fine and on their way.
Ian who is quickly becoming an expert on falling off bikes assured us this was a minor slip rather than a full fall. Anyway once regrouped we decided it was time to try the pies and judging by the speed that they were eating and the mummmmms of approval it would be safe to say Ludlow deserves its reputation. After our break it was onto Shrewsbury. The plan was it go to the city centre and find the road to Wrexham, some of the party thought that Rob may not have done this the most efficient way, this could have been the hills we climbed in town or the fact that we stopped and asked the way, but were all were mightily impressed when we stopped at the bike shop for Ness to buy some new shoes. The straps were hanging on by a thread, and Ness in a throwback to her ballet dancing days got the brightest, whitest shoes that she could find.
The last 15 miles into Wrexham was a good blast and only a few hill to notes.
Distance: 80.62miles
Riding Time: 5 hours 57 mins
Weather Good – dry and cloudy
Beer of the day - Cains Bitter
Total Mileage - 362 miles
Overnight - Grove Guest House, Wrexham.
Saturday, 9 August 2008
Day 4
Thursday 7th August 2008
Cheddar to Bromyard. We were sent off with several of Mike and Ians friends gathering at Gordons, including Nigel and Helen on their tandem. Once out of Cheddar our 1st stop was Clevedon where we were to be treated to a full English breakfast. Unfortunately when we arrived we discovered that this type of breakfast as only available at weekends, so with buttered tea cakes we remounted to take on the challenge of both the Avonmouth Bridge and the famous Old Severn Bridge. Access to both were made a lot easier for us by the scouting work done by both Gill and Phil.
An indication of our improved confidence on the tandems was the way that Mike and Ness passed the camera between each other to take photos of the team whilst crossing the Severn Bridge. Once through Chepstow we travelled up the Wye Valley. This was one of the high points of the journey so far as we had the wind behind us, the rolling road and the view. The total distance covered was 91miles.
Everything was going splendidly until we had just 3 miles to go when we turned the corner to see the wall of tarmac that we had to climb. ½ mile to go we saw the welcome sight of Phil who directed us down the hill to ‘The old cow shed’ only to then find out that we had to climb back up the hill the following morning.
Within 10 minutes of arriving the heavens opened. Luckily we just had time to pack the bikes away and get the bags inside. Once in the house we were offered a pot of tea with hot scones and jam which was very gratefully received and devoured in a mille second. Helen (the owner) then recommended a local hostilely for out evening meal at ‘The Three Horseshoes’.
Distance: 91.39 miles
Riding Time: 6 hrs 35 mins
Weather Good – dry and cloudy
Beer of the day - Wye Valley Bitter.
Overnight at - The Old Cowshed, Bromyard.
Cumulative Mileage - 281 miles
Cheddar to Bromyard. We were sent off with several of Mike and Ians friends gathering at Gordons, including Nigel and Helen on their tandem. Once out of Cheddar our 1st stop was Clevedon where we were to be treated to a full English breakfast. Unfortunately when we arrived we discovered that this type of breakfast as only available at weekends, so with buttered tea cakes we remounted to take on the challenge of both the Avonmouth Bridge and the famous Old Severn Bridge. Access to both were made a lot easier for us by the scouting work done by both Gill and Phil.
An indication of our improved confidence on the tandems was the way that Mike and Ness passed the camera between each other to take photos of the team whilst crossing the Severn Bridge. Once through Chepstow we travelled up the Wye Valley. This was one of the high points of the journey so far as we had the wind behind us, the rolling road and the view. The total distance covered was 91miles.
Everything was going splendidly until we had just 3 miles to go when we turned the corner to see the wall of tarmac that we had to climb. ½ mile to go we saw the welcome sight of Phil who directed us down the hill to ‘The old cow shed’ only to then find out that we had to climb back up the hill the following morning.
Within 10 minutes of arriving the heavens opened. Luckily we just had time to pack the bikes away and get the bags inside. Once in the house we were offered a pot of tea with hot scones and jam which was very gratefully received and devoured in a mille second. Helen (the owner) then recommended a local hostilely for out evening meal at ‘The Three Horseshoes’.
Distance: 91.39 miles
Riding Time: 6 hrs 35 mins
Weather Good – dry and cloudy
Beer of the day - Wye Valley Bitter.
Overnight at - The Old Cowshed, Bromyard.
Cumulative Mileage - 281 miles
Friday, 8 August 2008
Day 3
Wednesday 6th August 2008
After day 2 which had been a monster all of us, including the support team, were tired and battle worn. We had breakfast and in the mist of indifferent catering were found a real gem, the poached eggs were suburb.
As we were not allowed to reclaim our bikes before 8am, for fear of inconveniencing anybody, we did not start until about 9 o’clock.
The first 8 miles on country roads up hill and down dale were hard on our tiered legs but once we hit the A38 at Cullumpton things started to look up. We were now entering Somerset and the weather improved and the wind was at our back. We were going along at about 20mph. We were also in the county of friends and relations and were not too embarrassed to use them. First victim was Hugh who is Phil’s bother in law who kindly provided tea and chocolate biscuits. Further up the road at Brent Knoll we met David Hall who for a picture was willing to buy us a pint of black training fluid as Mike and Ian called it. Then onto Cheddar where we made further stops at Lanes, Westwood and we took the bikes to Cheddar Cycle Store for running repairs. We then unloaded our stuff at Gordons where we were staying that night. Operation reload was a village wide effort we had the Bike shop sorting the steeds, we had Helen washing 3 days of dirty cycling gear, we also had Sue at Gordons where we were staying providing Moet Champagne and canapés.
Since 5 of the team came or originated from cheddar it was great to be joined by 38 supporters for our evening meal at the Riverside Inn. Leaving the supporters to carry on with the celebrations we all retired to Gordons and were tucked up by 10pm.
Beer of the day; Gorge Best (Cheddar Ale)
Mileage - 55 miles
Riding time - 3 hours 57 mins
Cumulative Miles - 190 Miles
Weather - Dry, Wind behind.
Overnight at -Gordons, Cheddar
After day 2 which had been a monster all of us, including the support team, were tired and battle worn. We had breakfast and in the mist of indifferent catering were found a real gem, the poached eggs were suburb.
As we were not allowed to reclaim our bikes before 8am, for fear of inconveniencing anybody, we did not start until about 9 o’clock.
The first 8 miles on country roads up hill and down dale were hard on our tiered legs but once we hit the A38 at Cullumpton things started to look up. We were now entering Somerset and the weather improved and the wind was at our back. We were going along at about 20mph. We were also in the county of friends and relations and were not too embarrassed to use them. First victim was Hugh who is Phil’s bother in law who kindly provided tea and chocolate biscuits. Further up the road at Brent Knoll we met David Hall who for a picture was willing to buy us a pint of black training fluid as Mike and Ian called it. Then onto Cheddar where we made further stops at Lanes, Westwood and we took the bikes to Cheddar Cycle Store for running repairs. We then unloaded our stuff at Gordons where we were staying that night. Operation reload was a village wide effort we had the Bike shop sorting the steeds, we had Helen washing 3 days of dirty cycling gear, we also had Sue at Gordons where we were staying providing Moet Champagne and canapés.
Since 5 of the team came or originated from cheddar it was great to be joined by 38 supporters for our evening meal at the Riverside Inn. Leaving the supporters to carry on with the celebrations we all retired to Gordons and were tucked up by 10pm.
Beer of the day; Gorge Best (Cheddar Ale)
Mileage - 55 miles
Riding time - 3 hours 57 mins
Cumulative Miles - 190 Miles
Weather - Dry, Wind behind.
Overnight at -Gordons, Cheddar
Thursday, 7 August 2008
Day 2 The Day from Hell
Tuesday 5th August
Contrary to popular belief Rob (TL) decided that we would go via Dartmoor and Prince Town to see the View!!!
Rain Rain and More Rain.
Hills, Hills and More Hills.
Bottom hurting
Pasties at 330m we were told we were at the top yet we discovered that we had still another 110m to climb.
Contrary to popular belief Rob (TL) decided that we would go via Dartmoor and Prince Town to see the View!!!
Rain Rain and More Rain.
Hills, Hills and More Hills.
Bottom hurting
Pasties at 330m we were told we were at the top yet we discovered that we had still another 110m to climb.
1 dead Garmin!! it did not like the wet!!
Beer of the Day
Otter Ale
Overnight stay
The Thorverton Arms
Distance 69 Miles
Riding time 6hours 35 mins
Weather - see above!!!
Cumulative
Distance 135miles
Beer of the Day
Otter Ale
Overnight stay
The Thorverton Arms
Distance 69 Miles
Riding time 6hours 35 mins
Weather - see above!!!
Cumulative
Distance 135miles
Day 1
Up at 6.30 am for a 4 mile training ride to Lands Ends and back.
After a marvelous breakfast, we set off again to Lands End to check in and as tradition demands have our photograph taken by the famous Signpost. At 10.02 am we set off on our epic end to end journey. The first hour or so went smoothly until we took a detour to shelter box HQ, which was sat the top of what at the time we all thought must be the steepest hill in the UK ( on day 2 we discovered we were wrong). The Shelter box is a charity that sends relieve emergency boxes to disaster areas where ever and when ever they occur around the world. Shelter box treated us all to some very fine Cornish pasties, which helped us on our way, and also guided us on our to Bodmin, where we stayed at the Casi Casa. Whilst in Bodmin we had an excellent dinner in Bodmin Jail. Beer of the day was appropriately "Jail Ale".
Distance: 66 Miles
Riding Time 4hours 30 min
Weather Mixed but mainly sunny (Rob got sun burnt)
After a marvelous breakfast, we set off again to Lands End to check in and as tradition demands have our photograph taken by the famous Signpost. At 10.02 am we set off on our epic end to end journey. The first hour or so went smoothly until we took a detour to shelter box HQ, which was sat the top of what at the time we all thought must be the steepest hill in the UK ( on day 2 we discovered we were wrong). The Shelter box is a charity that sends relieve emergency boxes to disaster areas where ever and when ever they occur around the world. Shelter box treated us all to some very fine Cornish pasties, which helped us on our way, and also guided us on our to Bodmin, where we stayed at the Casi Casa. Whilst in Bodmin we had an excellent dinner in Bodmin Jail. Beer of the day was appropriately "Jail Ale".
Distance: 66 Miles
Riding Time 4hours 30 min
Weather Mixed but mainly sunny (Rob got sun burnt)
Day 0 Sennen
Overnight @ White Sands Hotel
Made very welcome by Terri and her team.
Both Tandems checked over ready for the off.
The beer of the day was Sharps Doombar.
Excellent meal, followed by an early night.
Made very welcome by Terri and her team.
Both Tandems checked over ready for the off.
The beer of the day was Sharps Doombar.
Excellent meal, followed by an early night.
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