LE 2 JO’G
Lands End To John O’Groats
Whilst in sixth form, a good friend of mine who has a tendency of coming up with hair-brain ideas suggested unicycling from Lands End to John O’Groats. He always had a desire to make it into the Guinness Book of Records and was pretty good on one wheel so thought why not give it a go. We found out the previous record was set at 14 days something… a challenge but perhaps possible. Anyways, he asked me and a couple of mates if we fancied being the support crew for the journey and that’s how it all happened.
Below are some links to our daily diaries that were written on route and a few newspaper cuttings about the trip. Needless to say, we, well Rob, smashed the record by about 2 days which still stands now 4 years later and raised over £5000 for charity at the same time.
Definitely the best two weeks of my life to date. I have never felt so stressed, survived on such little sleep, ate such terrible food, felt such sorrow and had so much fun crammed into two weeks. BRILLIANT.
Day 1: Sunday 13th August 2000 - Lands End to Bodmin, 60 Miles
We traveled down in Jay’s VW camper to Land’s End yesterday all ready for the challenge ahead. Once we hit Cornwall we joined a huge queue of traffic which gave us the opportunity to put our collection pots to use for the first time. Whilst I unicycle between the rows of queuing cars, Paul & Gavin went from car to car banging on windows & asking for donations. We raised about £50 from that.
Once we were down at Land’s End we had a quick look around, saw some basking sharks in the bay there, and sorted out how to register our departure for the following morning. Jay’s parents have a cottage about 2 miles from Land’s End for the week so we kipped there for the night.
I didn’t sleep too well as I was quite anxious about the big day ahead. We got up at 8am and started the day with large helpings of porridge & mugs of tea. After packing the van, and a few last checks on the unicycles, we went down to the start line at the Land’s End attraction to register. At 9.30am I had a call from BBC Radio Cornwall - they wanted to do a live interview before we set off. I probably confused a few people as I said I planned to do 8-9 miles a day (I meant hours cycling!) oops. I was a bit preoccupied by the fact that our witnesses for the start (a necessity of Guinness) hadn’t turned up, but fortunately the local vicar appeared at 9.55 & the lady in the post room acted as the second witness. With a countdown to the start from Jay, we were off at 10am. We were clever enough to have chosen the most rainy day of the summer so far to start our ride. It was tipping it down from the start. We passed one or two cyclists finishing the end to end stretch going the other way. I guess I should tell you about the unicycles I’m riding. I have a 36″ wheel for flattish areas, and a 28″ for the bigger hills. I started on the 28″ but we quickly realised that we could manage using the 36″. Paul was cycling with me, and Jay & Gavin were in the van. Much as the rain wasn’t ideal, the views around Penzance in the mist were amazing. As we went on the rain got heavier, and the mist got thicker.
Just passed Penzance we were stopped by a crazy bloke who claimed he’d unicycled Land’s End to John O’Groats before and that he’d missed the record by 3 minutes. He insisted the record is held by a Scotsman. Oh well, I think he was a bit of a nutter. We stopped for lunch after 29 miles - in Redruth where we were met by Jay and Gavin. The hills on the way down had looked pretty huge, but we were still making fast progress on the 36″. After cheese & pickle sarnies, snickers, bananas & lucozade tablets, we ventured into Redruth to find some people to ask for money. The place was deserted and so we carried on.
Having passed the famous wind turbines, we encountered a really bad accident. We found out later that it happened just in front of Jay and Gavin in the camper van, and they only just avoided being involved in the pile up. Jay and Gav had gone on to set up camp, and we finished off the 31 mile stretch we had planned for the afternoon. Just before we reached Bodmin we met some people from my college who’d been down in Cornwall. We managed to have problems with both mobile phones at Bodmin & so Gavin & Jay hadn’t got a clue where to pick us up from, and we didn’t know where they were. After a half hour wait, we met up and having marked our finishing point for the day, we traveled off to the campsite. A warm shower, fresh clothes, huge platefuls of spaghetti bolognaise, and ambrosia rice were all warmly welcomed at the campsite.
I’m in trouble now ‘cos I forgot to check my tent & it hadn’t got the poles in the bag. oops. So we’ve got an interesting night ahead as we’ve got to fit 4 of us in a 3 man tent. Let’s hope that weather’s going to be better tomorrow.
Day 2: Monday 14th August, 2000 - Bodmin to Okehampton, 41 miles
The campsite at Bodmin was amazing - gorgeous free showers and very friendly people. Having said our jolly farewells to the ever so lovely and pleasant campsite lady, we returned to the Bodmin junction of the A30 with the 36″ wheel. Paul was riding with me again. Jay and Gavin went down to Bodmin in the van to buy a few things and get logbooks stamped at the post office. The weather was better - the mist had cleared overnight and by the time we’d left the campsite it was a fairly bright day, grey skies, but we had clear views for miles during the morning ride.
We passed Bodmin moor which was nice. No sight of the beast as yet. I was quite pleased with the progress we were making - there were a couple of big hills but it was basically flat & I was able to keep up about 15 mph for most of the way. We were in Launceston for lunch at 12.45pm. I had hoped to meet with some German friends there, but we were 45 minutes late, so I guess they gave up waiting.
Soon after heading on we left Cornwall & entered the county of Devon. We had left Jay & Gav to collect money in Launceston, but we stupidly left my phone in the van, so having returned it to us they went on to Okehampton in the hope of collecting there. Paul and I were making really good progress again, though it had started to drizzle again which didn’t help. Just before we reached Okehampton Jay & Gavin phoned - the van had broken down by Okehampton. Not realising this was about 2 minutes away from where we had stopped, we carried on into Okehampton. We got there at 3.l5pm. Those were the easiest 40 odd miles I’d cycled in a long time and I was keen to press on to get 20 miles or so ahead of schedule. Unfortunately we had to wait to hear what was happening with the van….
The drive shaft had broken, which to the non technical minded people out there, is a pretty terminal failure. After numerous phone calls and lots of different conversations, in the end the RAC came to tow it to Yeovil to get a spare part. Jay & Gavin went to sort it out, whilst Paul & I had to backtrack 5 miles to the campsite - I knew there was a reason we had only planned 40 miles for today. More frustration when we got to the campsite - Jay and Gavin in a mad rush, only left one set of clothes, and the showers needed tokens & we couldn’t work out where the office was to get them from. As we could face the idea of cooking we went to Burger King across the road to have a slap up meal.
The guys had to enlist the help of Dave Liska from DCB motors - THANK YOU Dave! - who helped them get the van back on the road and they finally made it back to the campsite at 12.30am. Whilst the van was stuck in DCB’s, Jay & Gav decided to pick up our fifth and final member of the team. Steve has been in Birmingham for the past couple of days doing a debrief from his time in Africa but was in Yeovil packing and getting ready to go when they turned up. It was gone 1.00am before the second tent was up & we had sorted everything out. We all settled down to try and get a good night’s sleep in the hope that tomorrow will present us with slightly fewer challenges as the quest continues.
Day 3: Tuesday 15th August, 2000 - Okehampton to Bridgewater, 73 miles
We woke at 7am having slept reasonably well for not very many hours after yesterday’s excitement. We saw blue sky for the first time & the sun was shining yet that didn’t last long! Having been as constructive as a bulldozer with a touch of faffing and sorting stuff out, we left from where we’d stopped yesterday in Okehampton centre (it was about 9.30am). Both Steve & Paul were cycling with me. Jay & Gavin went to get the logbooks stamped etc. The road out of Okehampton was pretty hilly - having been on the A30 for the first 100 miles we’d got used to long flat stretches & now we had some big hills to cope with, ohh dear!!
Many people that we passed were very nice and generous too. One kind bloke gave us a tenner and his business card and said to phone him because he had a “revolutionary idea”!! If your reading this mate, then we probably shall be contacting you soon because we have no clue what you mean. We were met by Rog (a friend I was at school with) after about 1.5 miles & he cycled with us into Crediton where we stopped to collect some money for about an hour. It was now nearly midday & I was hungry so we pressed on towards Tiverton where Steve’s Grandparents were going to give us lunch at a Christian book shop/cafe called New Creation. The food was great and the people were lovely there. Steve and I then left for Taunton, leaving the three others to collect money in Tiverton. Traffic in Taunton was expected to be busy, so Paul joined the cycling so that there were two people to help me get threw safely. We realised that the progress was good going so decided to go further and get ahead of time.
Bridgewater was our next destination as the rain got worse. We ended our ride after some nice young girlies blew us all a kiss from a passing car; cheers girls, Paul enjoyed that very much. We ended up doing 73 miles today, ending up just past Bridgewater, well chuffed. Even though we had a great day due to some impressive cycling, we were immediately saddened by the thought that Gavin was about to leave us. Back at camp we were greeted by our loyal groupies, JJ and Jo (Jo is Gavin???s lovely girlfriend and JJ… well, isn’t). After a lovely meal, Gavin, Jo and JJ left for home. Gavin, thanks mate for all your help, cheers dude, the Camper van will never smell the same again.
Day 4: Wednesday 16th August, 2000 - Bridgewater to Tewkesbury, 87miles
Well, today has been a good but long and hard day. We got up at 6.30am to set off in the van at 8.30am after lots of lovely porridge (thanks Paul!) and packing up the site and all that. We had about a 20 minutes drive to the start because we couldn’t stop Rob at the campsite yesterday! We had a good start with Paul as the support rider and me (Steve) and Jay in the van. Jay and I managed to find a nice guy in a shop called the ‘Agricentre’ who let us use his phone to upload all the web stuff.
After a good morning’s cycle we found ourselves in Bristol, and getting slightly lost. Thankfully after numerous phone calls we met up with a newspaper photographer with whom we had a good if long photo-shoot. One good thing to come from it if nothing else was that she was able to point us in the right direction to get out of Bristol with no problems. From Bristol I took over on the bike and we continued to swallow up the miles. Today, unfortunately has seen the beginning of saddle-soreness for Rob so it’s gonna be tough from here on. It sure seemed a challenge at times today to convince Rob to stay on the unicycle but I guess it’s only to be expected and we have a bit more of that to come our way yet.
Anyway, Rob didn’t let a little soreness get in his way - today we covered 87 miles, making us roughly 30 miles ahead of schedule which is good. Hopefully we’ll be able to give Rob a bit of an easier time in days to come thanks to getting the miles covered early in the game.
Eventually we arrived in a nice campsite just outside Tewksbury, arranged just earlier today due to being further ahead than expected - nice one Paul and Jay and campsite owners! A bit of admin and a nice big meal and now we’re all off to bed. Good night, see you again tomorrow!!
Steve
Day 5: Thursday 17th August, 2000 - Tewkesbury to Stafford, 62 miles
Well day S started fairly well, we left at 9.00am from the campsite in Tewkesbury 30 miles ahead of schedule and a little saddle sore - well Rob anyway. The sun was shining and it was nice and warm for the fist day since we have actually started at Land’s End in the pouring rain and Steve cooked us a fry-up for brekkie so it was a pretty good morning all around really. Rob was riding well and keeping up an average pace of 12 mph. I went off with Steve in the Van to Tewkesbury to get the logbooks stamped and the form from the Land’s End to John O-Groats Club. All seemed to be going well until we got a call from Rob and Paul saying that Rob was in a bit of pain with his Achilles heel. Paul, the sports expert reckoned that Rob would benefit from some ankle supports so we visited Boots on the way out to buy some of the most expensive supports I have ever seen. Anyways, off we went to catch up with Rob and Paul who by this time were only a few miles from Worcester. After a bit of searching, we met up to find Rob in a bit of pain both with his Achilles heel and saddle soreness. The Achilles problem was being combated with the ankle and Rob???s mum has come up with a solution for the saddle soreness but I will let Rob tell you about that one!!
After the pause at Worcester, we headed off to Kidderminster for our lunch break. Rob was pleased to get off the saddle and let everything cool down! Rob was starting to feel a little tired by now but was still keeping up a very good pace and was well on target to finish in Wolverhampton in his brothers house which was our planned stop. After about half an hour of filling our faces, Rob remounted the 36″ with an expression of pain and wearily carried on. 9 miles later, Steve and myself parked up just into Wolverhampton waiting for Rob and Paul. On his arrival, Rob was phoned by Radio Beacon, one of the radio stations that Steve and myself contacted in the morning to do an interview about his ride. After a five minute break we carried on to Stafford, another 1.6 miles further up the A449.
Rob was beginning to feel really sore by now and was more than happy to finish just the other side of Stafford about an hour later. Steve and me had to stop to try to fix the drivers side window which was bust and got a free bottle of oil off a really nice bloke we happened to meet in a car park in Stafford. Anyway, the day ended with a drive to Rob’s brother’s house in Wolverhampton (Thanks Tim and Jane!!) and a nice warm shower, not forgetting the really nice meal that we were provided with on arrival - brilliant! All???s well that ends well really, Rob is walking like he’s got rickets but other than that all seems to be fine.
Thanks for reading, Jay.
Day 6: Friday 18th August, 2000 - Stafford to Leyland, 78 miles
Today has been a great day. It started with porridge at Tim’s house (my brother) - thanks Tim & Jane for all the lovely food & a place to stay. We left Wolverhampton pretty early, but didn’t actually start riding until gone 9.30am from the junction past Stafford that we’d finished at last night. I then made Jay & Paul drive all the way back to my bro’s house where I???d left a pair of cycling shorts - sorry guys.
It was a very slow start - the saddle sore is getting very painful now! I was stopping & starting for ages, trying different sorts of padding on the seat. After an hour or so we got through Newcastle-under-Lyme. By 12.30pm we’d stopped for our first lunch of the day. It was close to Northwich, where the planned stop for today was. We were very sad to have to phone the lady at Elm Cottage Camping Site (where we were due to stay) to let her know we wouldn’t be staying after all - they were the first campsite to get back to us to say they’d let us stay for free & very friendly people.
After filling up on peanut butter & jelly sandwiches & more of Jo’s cakes, we headed on towards Warrington. Again it was slow going and we still were 4 miles short by 3.30pm, so we stopped for a second lunch at McDonalds. I was finding it really tough going & wondering whether I’d be able to make it very far beyond Warrington. But a change of cycling shorts made all the difference. I then managed to cycle for 3 hours with only a couple of stops - one for a photo as we entered Lancashire & the other to collect some money from some friendly people at a pub. The people in Warrington & Wigan were the friendliest we’ve seen so far - we had loads of people beeping & waving & shouting encouragement! We stopped cycling soon after 7pm in a place called Leyland - 4 miles south of Preston.
We have just arrived in our campsite for the night - it’s amazing - we needed an electronic key to get in - good job in getting us in free here Jay & Paul. The place is packed - there are hundreds of kids here & they think we’re from the circus! I think I’m going to have to do some juggling for them later! Well, the first 3 days were enjoyable; the last 3 have been endurable; I’m trying not to think about what the next 3 & beyond will be like - instead I’m off to have a shower & pasta feast before getting a good night’s sleep.
Day 7: Saturday 19th August, 2000 - Leyland to Penrith, 82 miles
The End of the Van.
I’ve entitled today’s report, ‘The End of the Van’, for reasons that will become frighteningly clear later on. Day 7 started with grey skies and a bit of a nip in the air. We left one of the poshest campsites ever at an unusually early time of 5am, and headed off to Leyland (Building trucks since 1960, according to the sign!). Steve stayed behind with the tents and a few of the unicycles so that we could get Rob off early and pack the tents away after. Only 5 minutes down the road, the campsite owner came swerving up behind us flashing his lights trying his utmost to run us off the road! All because he thought we’d left with the gate pass. He obviously failed to notice a pile of unicycles, 2 tents and Steve, all waiting for us to come back! Speaks for itself really!
Anyway, we finally got under way and started our longest day, with a wild 83 miles to cover. NICE!! Rob was riding well, Paul was support cyclist, and Steve and I were in the van. The morning went well, with Rob keeping up a very good pace and the weather holding back for once. Just as we entered the Lake District, the heavens opened, and out fell raindrops large enough to bruise! After 5 minutes of torrential rain, Rob and Paul were well and truly drenched, if not a little concussed, yet still riding well. We stopped for lunch 50 miles later in Kendal, where we met up with Roger, who has just got back from the Unicycling World Championships in China, where he won the 10km marathon in under 24 minutes! We left Kendal and headed for Penrith, well Steve and I did. Rob, Paul and Roger headed off to Windermere - the wrong direction! DOH! After riding a mile up the wrong road, they decided to call Steve and I and were ecstatic to hear that they’d taken a wrong turn and just had to come back.. opps!! Not to worry.
The roads were starting to get hilly now so Rob was finding it hard going, but having Roger to ride with helped. Steve and I stopped at Kendal Caravans to upload the website. After being invited into a well nice office and offered a cup of coffee, we uploaded the required ASP’s and headed off after the guys. We met up 10 minutes down the road, checked that they were ok and then pottered off to Penrith. Just as we entered Penrith, on the A6, I decided it would be a good idea to plant the front of my 1971 VW that I have been restoring for the past 3 years into the back of a Land Rover! NICE!! Spitting out a mouthful of glass, I climbed out to see the front of the van caved in and a big burley northern bloke swearing at me and about to knock my block off! GREAT! We soon calmed down, called the Police, exchanged numbers and stuff, and called the RAC… AGAIN!! Then the tears arrived as it slowly dawned on me that I’d just written off my much loved van and wrecked our chances of completing our challenge. Rob and Paul then arrived and with a few more tears and a bit of a supporting hug, we started our biggest challenge yet. Roger called a few of his mates to see if a repair was possible, but it soon became perfectly clear that we were in trouble. Simon from HOPE had sorted special cover so that if something like this did happen, we would be provided with a new vehicle from the RAC. What the RAC failed to tell us is that you have to be over be 21 to get a replacement vehicle… errr cheers RAC!! After a few more calls we decided to stay the night at Penrith, our planned stop for the evening anyway, to buy us some time.
Things always look better after a good nights sleep, don???t they?
To be continued!
Day 8: Sunday 20th August, 2000 - Penrith to Dumfries, 58 miles
..continued from Day 7..
We woke up this morning to blue skies, a bit of a chill and one hell of a mess to sort out! After a breakfast of a piece of flapjack each, (thanks Mum!), we packed up and headed off from the campsite down the longest drive, I’ve ever seen to the garage where the van had been left for the night. After a few calls to my parents and Simon from HOPE, it became evident that the team had to split, and Rob, Paul and Steve, were going to have to carry the stuff that they needed with them.
At 9.30am, James from the RAC came to tow myself and Marge (the van) back to Yeovil. We separated what was left of our belongings, bid fair well to each other and off they rode. So here I am in the tow truck on my way back to Yeovil, with a lot to think about and a lot to tell you about.
Sitting here at this window, you know what it makes me wonder? Why is it that some flies have red blood and some have yellow blood? Either way, hitting a pane of glass at 60mph must really sting!!
Well that’s it, day 8, the lads continue up the country to break the 14 year old World Record and raise £10,000 for charity. What else can happen??
FOR SALE: Blue 1971 VW camper, fully restored, 67,000 miles (3rd time round), 7 months MOT, needs some work!, new drive shaft!.
….So today saw us saying our farewells to Jay. My parents had kindly offered to finish their holiday on the Isle of Wight a day early and travel up north to help us out, so it seemed a possibility that Jay might return with them. But this was by no means a certainty & having been planning this whole thing with Jay for several months we were really sad to see him go; we had started the trip as a group of 4 & I was determined we’d finish it that way. Well, we had to leave this worry to see how it would sort itself out. Today we reached Scotland!! We started from the stop point from yesterday - the accident spot - memories we were happy to leave behind for the day. It was a late start (10am) and an early lunch at Carlisle McDonalds, with killer wasps outside. About 10 miles on from there we arrived in Gretna Green. After a brief photo stop we carried on. We met a couple from Iwerne (a camp I was on a few weeks ago) on the A75. We had expected Scotland to be hilly & rainy; it was the flattest route we’d had so far & the first day without any rain. Having said that, there was a very strong headwind which I found really hard work to cycle in. The combination of wind, wet feet (our shoes were wet from yesterday’s rain), aching Achilles heels, saddle soreness & 2 painful knees (I fell twice in the same way taking the skin off my knees), and the fact that Steve & Paul were both doing the saintly but very tiring job of carrying all the stuff, led us to give up after 58 miles and we stopped in Dumfries - the planned stop for the day. We have lost our 30 mile gain & are very tired but are looking forward to a really good nights sleep ready for an early start tomorrow.
Day 9: Monday 21st August, 2000 - Dumfries to Glasgow, 80 miles
Right this is going to have to be a quick diary entry as its getting late. The big & great news of the day is that Jay is back with us! - he drove up in his family’s Volvo today - a long trek, but it means we’re all together again & we can now get home at the end!. We started at the earliest time yet - 7.30am! We were determined to catch up some of our lead that we’d lost. The planned stop was Kilmarnoch. The wind was less of a problem in the morning. We had amazing views of the hills, big pine forests and fantastic rivers. Other than a few stops to enjoy our surroundings, we made great progress. We reached Kilmarnoch for a late lunch.
It had been sunny all morning & it looked like another dry day. We decided to bypass Kilmarnoch to get food the other side. 2 minutes down the road there was a sudden hail storm - none of us had seen hail that big before. We had to backtrack into Kilmarnoch to find shelter. Another McDonalds meal interrupted by wasps served as lunch. We pressed on towards Glasgow at about 3.30pm. Jay caught up with us soon after that. We were glad for another reasonably early finish at Glasgow.
Huge thanks to Jane & her family for putting us up for the night & for a fantastic meal etc - greatly appreciated.
Day 10: Tuesday 22nd August, 2000 - Glasgow to Fort William, 97 miles
After a very comfortable and enjoyable evening and night at the Piggot’s house in Glasgow (Thank you very much!!) we didn’t really want to leave, however eventually we did and made our way slowly but surely through the Glaswegian rush hour traffic to our start point in Paisley. Paul was riding with Rob and I (Steve) was having a nice rest in the car with Jay! After a little way we came to the large Erskine Bridge which made for interesting riding and great views over the Firth of Clyde. Me and Jay drove ahead to Loch Lomond to settle down and wait for the others. The view was lovely and weather great too. We have had rain every single day of the trip spent in England but now we’ve got to Scotland the weather is so much better - the rumours aren’t true I tell you, Scotland has much better weather than England! Anyway, it was a lovely drive and ride up the side of the Loch, we even managed to have a nice picnic lunch on a beach, thank you again Piggot Family! Me and Jay had a lovely day relaxing on the shores of the Lochs, with not too much to do really. However it was a different story for Rob who was struggled a bit in the heat and found that he was getting quite dehydrated, however after a good drink and a bit of a rest he soon managed to pick up the pace a bit.
Me and Jay headed off to Crainlarich expecting a big bustling town where we could use cash machines and stuff however we were shocked to find just a tiny place with a few house and a small newsagents! The views continued to be lovely the whole way and we have now entered the Highlands which is quite exciting. It’s very funny how we just can’t understand people’s accents and they can’t understand us either, we have had a few interesting conversations now! Our planned destination for tomorrow night was going to be Fort William however Rob was determined to push forward and get there today making the day nearly 100 miles. Eventually arriving just outside Fort William at about 9pm, Rob has done very well and we are now a whole day ahead of our schedule which is excellent. So, looking forward to tomorrow, it’s me riding the bike again. It should be a great ride up the side of Loch Ness to somewhere near Inverness. Hopefully it won’t be too chilly.
Cheers, Steve.
Day 11: Wednesday 23rd August, 2000 - Fort William to Dochgarroch, 75 miles
(Paul) - We stayed at a very nice campsite called ‘Glen Nevis, caravan & camping park’ which is situated just at the foot of the famous Ben Nevis, which was a fabulous sight to see from the tent, as we munched on our super noodles. It was an extremely chilly night so we all basically slept in the cloths we wore (yes I know, very hygienic). After an absolutely tremendous day of scenery followed by a glorious display of clear night stars yesterday; we all awoke with a renewed sense of refreshment in the knowledge that we’d have the same kind of day today riding along side Loch Ness, so maybe we can see the wee beastee. Also we have under 200 miles to go and are way ahead of schedule, so are still very motivated for more riding. As predicted, the day is great, with no signs of rain (as yet!!), and the boys are riding well and have done 42 miles before lunch.
(Rob) - as Paul said, it has been a fantastic day’s riding, with most of the route being alongside Loch Ness. After a long day yesterday I was ready for a more relaxed day - from where we stopped last night it was 75 miles to the campsite we had planned for tomorrow night & this seemed a reasonable day’s ride. To make a change we decided to start the day early & without the hassle of cooking so we went to what will probably be one of the last McDonald’s we will be seeing on this trip to use up some more of the vouchers they gave us. It seems really strange to think that a couple of months ago I would struggle to do 50 miles in a day - Steve & I had done 30 miles by mid-morning and it just felt like a normal relaxed day. It was probably the sunniest day we’ve had so far, and though it’s been a bit hillier, this isn’t the Scotland that I’ve heard about - I’m anticipating heavy rain and mountainous hills for the next couple of days to the finish.
At one of the crossings over Loch Oich (just before Loch Ness) there was a cycle path following the canal that joins the Lochs. We decided to take it to make a change from road riding - this made for more interesting riding for both Steve & I - without the traffic I decided to be a bit more wreckless in my cycling - I broke a spoke in the process, oops. But the rocky ground wasn’t too good for the saddle soreness! Having been cycling for 11 days now it’s getting pretty tough going. I think I’ve gone through the worst of it though - my legs are still working, the Achilles problems I had earlier aren’t getting worse, and I’m not too sore. When I was in contact with Mike Day (the present record holder for unicycling Land’s End 2 John O’Groats) he told me how they were cycling on raw wounds by the end of their cycle! I am very glad to say that I don’t think I’ll be in the same predicament - thanks mainly to using an air seat I guess. I am even more glad to say I have not needed to resort to mother’s helpful suggestions for dealing with saddle soreness.
Well, we’re at the end of day 11. We finished nice and early (about 5pm) which means we can relax for the evening. We’re also a day ahead of schedule which is pretty satisfying. The guys are doing an amazing job, I can’t thank them enough & everyone is being very generous to us with sponsorship, food etc… so thanks everyone for your support. Not long left now.
Day 12: Thursday 24 August, 2000 - Dochgarroch to Helmsdale, 78 miles
Day 12 started fairly early with a 7:00am wake up call ready for our 8am ride from the quaint campsite known as Dochgarroch Campsite. After a nice chat to Luke (an 8 year old kid from Leeds) about his fishing the night before, Steve and myself left to try and get the logbooks and official forms stamped. The phone lines seem to be a little few and far between so we have had a couple of problems uploading our website, sorry about that. After a bit of confusion with the lady in the post office, we finally managed to get everything uploaded and all of the forms stamped.
We caught up with Rob and Paul 3 hours later on a bridge just outside Tam, nearly 40 miles down the road. Both Rob and Paul were riding well even though they were starting to feel tired by now. We paused for lunch 20 miles later in a little Scottish town called Golspie and munched on our peanut butter and jam sangers! Beautiful.
The afternoon went well but now we are beginning to reach the hills of Scotland. So far it has been fairly flat with only a few climbs out of the lochs but today and tomorrow are getting rapidly hillier. It was also fairly windy today too, not just in the tents but outside. Rob found it fairly hard work riding due to the open space and the coastal roads.
All went well though and Rob managed to cover just over 73 miles in 6 hours yet the hills brought an abrupt end to the days ride. Paul decided to try a bit of off road uni at the campsite and in riding down one hill as fast as possible, he lost it and cracked his head open on a rock just as Rob’s parents arrived to see how we were getting on! oops! Once Steve had stopped laughing, he soon bandaged him up and thankfully we caught it all on film. It’s will make pretty humorous viewing!
Anyways, I must go since I’m being attacked by a mass of blood sucking midges. Lots of people have warned us that they are really bad in Scotland but you really do have to experience them to find out how bad. I can recommend it to all of you. Well, we are all excited about our final day and really can’t wait to cross the line, eat lots of food. drink some champagne and put Rob on ice - so to speak!
Day 13: Thursday 24 August, 2000 - Helmsdale to John O’Groats, 54 miles
A REPORT COMING AFTER WE’VE BEEN FOR A SWIM & GOT BACK FROM THE PUB.
Jay - It has been a long 12 days and I am pleased to finish. We have had our fair share of problems and also of successes. I’d like to say that I have enjoyed every minute of the trip but would be lying so instead I’ll say that I have enjoyed none of it and it was a complete waste of time. No really, it has been fun to get to know the guys so much better, to travel the country and to complete our challenge even though we have had so many difficulties. I think that Rob???s name should become known throughout the nation as a guy who is completely mad and never looks for things before asking if anyone has seen it and always leaves his food to go cold before he eats it! I like him really but you know, after two weeks of “where are my pants?” and “Has anyone seen my wallet?” it starts to wear a little thin. I think that what we have achieved is pretty darn amazing and I wish we could have raised more money for HOPE. I have enjoyed most of it, especially the finish and I can’t wait for something, could be anything, but something.
It’s been a good 2 weeks, an amazing challenge and something I wish to remember for years to come. Thank you all for your support and I pray God will work through all that we have done.
Paul - First things first, I am so glad that I can finally get home after a week of these smelly loons. Please guys, take a shower (I of course, being the epitomy of cleanliness). No I do love these guys really. I think that anyone that I can stay in such close proximity with for such a long time, without wanting to throttle them, can’t be all that bad. I think that we have all learned rather a lot about ourselves and each other for that matter. I hope that now I know the guys a bit better; I wish that our friendship can continue to grow, even though we are all splitting off to Uni again when summer is all over. But Jay is absolutely correct about Robs ‘roughing it’ skills. One thing to remember for the future Robby dear, it might be an idea to let down the inflatable mattress before you try and pack it into the car! I have really enjoyed myself in these last two weeks. I haven’t seen that much of Britain before and there certainly has been a fair wack of beautiful scenery for me to experience. I love Scotland, especially the Highlands. I am, on the other hand, very ready to return home. Not just because of the tremendous lack of sleep that we all have experienced, even the fact that I can have a lovely relaxing bath when I get home, or even the fact that I now have a continuous head ache after ramming it into a rock after a disastrous attempt at downhill Unicycling. No, I feel that I’ve now got all the experience I can off this trip (and I have enjoyed myself thoroughly), and can’t wait to rejoin ‘normal’ life again. And anyway, if l hear one more “0i mate, you’ve lost a wheel ain’t yu!! Haaa haaa” joke, I’m going to go quite mad. Cheers guys for a great time, Paul.