Day 10 - Vince Won!

Ride stats: 38.6 miles, 909 feet of climbing, total time 4 hrs 15 mins, riding time 3 hrs 26 mins

Joy, Julie and Jo woke early to go see the sunrise over the ocean and spend time with their own thoughts about Vince.

The calm before the storm, beautiful Farr Bay

There's not really much to say about today's ride apart from that it was horrendous. Riding into headwinds and alongside side winds of 30 mph gusting to 40 mph was not fun and nor was the rain.  Having said that though we both thought the conditions made the achievement all that more memorable.

On the way to our start today

We were hugely thankful for deciding to ride the extra miles last night as we had done most of the difficult hills.  The fact is that we probably would have had to walk up some of those in today's winds - at times today we were having to pedal downhill to keep our speed at 8 mph and at one point just before John O'Groats we had a gust of wind on a downhill section that almost stopped us completely.  To go on will make us sound like wimps so we'll leave it there.

Our girls have been absolutely brilliant today, cheering us on at every lay-by with Union flags and shouts of Allez, Allez.  We even saw Julie's famous highland twirl with flags aloft at one stage!  They turned the grimace on our faces to huge grins every time and spurred us on.

Allez! Allez!

Allez! Allez!

You would have seen earlier in the blog that Vince asked if we would let him win the LEJOG ride but Jeff told him he would be in his back pocket.  We couldn't let that be and held the photo jointly between us as we crossed the finishing line  in John O'Groats together - a very emotional and special moment for us both as we shed tears for our mate.  We know he would have loved that.

Almost there - photo at the ready

As this is our last blog we wanted to finish with our individual thoughts on what the ride has meant to us:

JOY
Lands End to John O' Groats; we have done it!  it was an amazing feat.  I am so proud of Jeff and Ian: they have worked so hard; at their training, their planning and their execution of the challenge.

This challenge was called The Ride for Vince in honour of my husband.  I feel privileged to have been part of the support team.  I started the challenge with some trepidation as I was unsure how myself and Jules would manage the initial support job between us as those close to us will know that the pair of us can be a  bit scatty at times and our driving and directional abilities are probably not the best you could ask for but I can honestly say that I am proud of what we achieved and more importantly I enjoyed the whole experience.

The other person who was key to this challenge was our friend Robin.  Robin not only provided us with accurate and detailed daily weather forecasts and potential traffic/roadwork problems but he did so in such a humorous way  that we all looked forward to receiving his bulletin each day. 

So I would like to thank you all for following our blog which Jeff did at the end of each day however tired he was; I would like to thank you all for your comments and for your messages of support which meant so much to us when we finished each day and for the monetary contributions that you gave us.

I know one thing for sure, The Ride for Vince would never  have happened if my husband was not such a special man.

JULIE
I have tried to think of words to describe these last 10 days, words that sum up the meaning of "the ride for Vince".  So here goes:

Maps, navigation, wrong turns, lubrication, derrières, energy drinks, energy bars, early mornings, tired evenings, massage lotion, conversations, friendly and welcoming hosts, kind people,  generous family and friends, generous strangers, stunning scenery, busy cities, planning, action, waiting patiently, tremendous efforts, aching limbs, wind, rain, sunshine, sandy bays, long winding roads, highland jigs, hunting rabbits, changing accents,  crossing counties, flag waving, more wind and rain, laughter, tears and lots of pride. 

10 incredible days with wonderful people, here and at Base Camp, and wonderful memories of and in memory of an incredible man, Vince xx.

IAN
I met Vince through an invitation from Jeff many years ago to attend the Varsity rugby match with Vince and the Old Wandsworthians Rugby Club.  It became an annual ritual and from this first meeting I realised Vince was a kindred spirit.  We remained great friends thereafter.  Vince was a big man physically who also had a big heart, massive optimism and an unfailing sense of humour. These characteristics were never more evident than during Vince's illness.  He bore it with amazing fortitude and a complete lack of bitterness that we would all hope to emulate if we were in similar,dire circumstances. I doubt if many of us could match him.

Several years ago Jeff mentioned the idea of a LEJOG trip. I was unsure I could do it and suggested I needed a year to get fit.  As we all know Vince's illness put this on hold.  When Jeff said he was doing LEJOG as a tribute to Vince I just had to do it as well.  I was abroad when Vince passed away and never formally paid my respects to him.  I felt LEJOG was a way to do it that Vince would have understood. 

Thinking back now a day after finishing it all seems slightly unreal.  It is only 11 days since we left Lands End and yet it seems a lifetime ago. The experience has reminded me of all the things in life that really matter: The love and support of friends and family; The lift from facing challenges together as a group and not alone; The kindness and generosity of strangers; Memories of loved ones past and present; The beauty and power of nature. 

We shared lots of memories of Vince and others as we rode across the country or recovered in the evenings. It helped remind me that those we have lost may not be there in body but they're always there in soul, just a memory away.  Hello Vince, how are you doing?

JEFF
Robin was the inspiration behind mine and Vince's original idea to do LEJOG and the Neuro Foundation would have been our charity. Robin has said many times that he would have loved to have been with us - the fact is that he was there with us every pedal turn of the way alongside Vince.  Robin you are one of the most inspirational people I have ever known and it is my honour to have you as my friend.

Ian and I shared so many moments and memories not least of which was the emotion as we finished the ride with the photo of Vince held in front and jointly between us - those tears were very special.  I don't think I could have done this without Ian and the fun and pleasure I've had just chatting and being part of a 2 man cycle team with him was brilliant.  You are truly a great friend.

Julie and Joy have been absolutely brilliant as a support crew.  Fetching, carrying, massaging, refuelling, providing so many humorous moments and taking care of all our needs - it was nigh on Tour De France standard!  It would have been impossible to do this without them and I can't thank them both enough.  If there is anyone out there looking for support crew on their next challenge you know where to come.

Jo and Jill gave us a huge uplift when they joined us and the support they gave with Joy and Julie on our last day with their cries of Allez! Allez! when waving Union Flags at every lay-by got us through the horrendous conditions.  A special word for Jo - you light up my life when I see you and I've never been prouder of you than I have this year.

I've been amazed by the kindness and generosity of people who supported us throughout the whole venture from starting the planning to finishing today and for that I thank you all.  Lastly, I must say a special word for those who have left messages of encouragement on our daily blogs - you will never know how much that spurred us on but it really did.

Vince was my brother in law and one of my greatest friends. We never get over the hurt of losing someone we love but we do get through it and this ride has been a big part of that process for me as it was the last promise I made to Vince before he left us.  Vince you were there with me the whole way through and I hope I've made you proud, especially as I let you win.

WE DID IT! Full Blog to follow.

Day 9 and a bit - A Day of Cycling Pleasure

Ride stats: 87.2 miles, 3,894 feet of climbing, total time 7 hrs 21 mins, riding time 6 hrs 15 mins

We were treated to a hearty breakfast by the wonderful Ros (smashing porridge) and made a later than usual departure because today's stage is a little shorter than usual.

We said our goodbyes to Ros and Robert who insisted that we also accept a donation in addition to them providing all the food.  Robert was very touched by Robin's story with NF2.

Jean and Terry actually run a b & b and were giving up a nights business to put us up but insisted our offer of money for the extra washing we had created was donated to our cause.

As we've said before we have been blessed with meeting so many kind people on this trip - thank you all again.

In contrast to yesterday's weather todays started pretty benign until we hit the north coast, but more of that later. We followed the A9 past Tain until Dornoch Bridge when we headed away from the A9 towards Bonar Bridge and past the welcome to Sutherland sign - this is Ian's (the McKay clan) ancestral territory and triggered another bout of exchanging "Aye" in high pitched attempts at a Scottish accent.

This road was pretty well deserted of traffic and a real joy to cycle along and the views were fantastic especially the view back from Bonar Bridge along the loch.

We arranged to meet the girls after 30 miles at Lairg where we refuelled and Jeff attended to a squeak on the gear cables.

Julie took this opportunity to demonstrate her stretching technique and Ian and Jeff set off in somewhat colder weather.  Shortly after Lairg the route turned off on to a single carriage road that was to last about 40 miles and was a cyclists dream - hardly any traffic, fantastic scenery and a pretty good road service.

The terrain now became more barren and devoid of wildlife and more importantly traffic.  Until the girls decided to organise a stop to take some action photos that is - as Ian and Jeff approached the road experienced something of a traffic jam with 3 motor bikes and 2 cars all crossing at the same time. Undeterred they managed to make up for this at other points along this road.

Shortly after this Jeff and Ian had their heads down on a long downhill section and missed the McKay Country sign.  Fortunately Jill was able to step in for the family photo.

The forecast for tomorrow is pretty grim, with rain and very strong winds (31 mph has been reliably predicted by Robin in his daily W and T report) from the south east hitting us from an angle of 45 degrees but even with this forecast we are really pleased that we took this quiet route up the centre of the highlands rather than the quicker and supposedly much more dangerous A9. In fact the ride around Loch Naver and along the River Naver has to be one of the cycling highlights of the whole trip.


Arriving at Bettyhill on the north coast suddenly brought our minds into focus as the wind was getting stronger and we hit one of the first steep hills that populate the route from here towards John O'Groats. 

Todays ride was scheduled to be 77 miles straight to Bettyhill but given the fact that the sun was now shining and the adverse weather forecast for tomorrow we decided to do a few extra miles from tomorrows route today - hence the title of todays post.

That's enough for today

The bikes were put on top of the car and ferried back to tonight's accomodation and will be ferried back in the morning.

Tomorrow will be a hard and emotional day as we each remember Vince and reflect on what we've done in his name. We think he would be proud.

Fingers crossed for a change in the forecast.




PS. A few more photos from today courtesy of the support team:

Day 8 - Reinforcements, a Dreich and Invermess

Ride stats: 91.2 miles, 2,388 feet of climbing, total time 7 hrs 41 mins, riding time 6 hrs 14 mins

Today's ride was never going to be able to match the highs of yesterday's leg and so it proved but the evening made up for it.

Ian and Jeff set off just a little later than normal this morning - they were strangely very chilled out and the girls kept having to jolly them along, finally leaving about 20 minutes later than normal.
While the boys tackled the first hill of the day Julie and Joy set off back into Fort William to meet up with new support team members, Jill and Jo who arrived via the overnight sleeper from London.  Apparently the Harry Potter steam train, the Jacobite, was in the station alongside their train.  Sadly we don't have the visual corroboration (i.e. a photograph) to show you which is a shame for all you Harry Potter fans.

Meanwhile Ian and Jeff were heading alongside Loch Ness in what is referred to by the locals as a Dreich, a combination of dull, overcast, drizzly, cold and miserable weather.  Although we weren't miserable, we were riding along beside the Loch into a headwind with overcast and misty conditions that made it difficult to take in the landscape. The Loch is 23 miles long and you would have thought the loch side road would be flat but there were lots of short, sharp ups and downs which combined with the weather turned it into a bit of a slog.

The plan was for us to ride around 35 to 40 miles before the girls overtook us and we could have our first refuelling stop. Unfortunately the train was 30 minutes late which meant this didn't happen until we had ridden 50 miles. It was was worth the wait though and it was really lovely to see Jill and Jo - that gave our spirits a big lift.

We fancied a hot drink and suggested that we push on to the first cafe we met but there were none  before we got to Inverness. 
It was at this point that Inverness turned into "Invermess".  Jeff called the support crew to find out where they had stopped and was told to go into the town and follow the route on the A9 over the bridge where we would fine them by the tourist information office.  Not being so well versed in "support crew speak" Jeff and Ian thought the term "the bridge" referred to one bridge and not the three bridges it actually turned out to be!  It caused a bit of a delay but provided many laughs for us all. 
While parked in tourist car park in Inverness waiting for the boys to arrive the girls were given a donation from Rennie and his wife.

Now having only 32 miles left it was decided to push on and complete this in one hit.  A short downhill section led to the last climb of the day and the weather took a significant tuen for the worse.  Heavy showers now started to fall as we went up the hill but then stopped as we came down the other side - a relief that was tempered by a huge downpour we could see heading our way.
This hit us just as we started to cross the bridge over Cromarty Firth and was so heavy that we had trouble seeing the potholes in the road.  This is 1.5 miles long but we had no option but to push on as the rain filled our waterproof Sealskinz socks.  A short stop was required to unload the excess water we now carried.

The rest of the ride was pretty flat but riding into a strengthening headwind and continual heavy showers made us cold but immensely grateful to arrive at Hill of Fearn near Tain where our host and friend of Jill and Ian, Robert was waiting outside his house beneath his umbrella. 

Relieved, wet and cold, Robert took us to his friend Terry's house where he had arranged for Julie, Joy, Jo and Jeff to sleep.  Ian and Jill were staying with Robert, Ros and their daughter Laila.

Ros and Robert were absolutely fantastic hosts and Ros had prepared food that would have put many restaurants to shame - double helpings of everything for everyone proving the case.  We had a really great evening that will be one of the highlights of our trip.

Their hospitality is being extended to breakfast tomorrow and packed lunches for the day.  Generous barely does justice to describe our welcome and we can't thank Robert, Ros, Laila and Terry and his wife Jean enough for their hospitality.

Day 7 - Amazing, Emotional and the Best Day Yet

Ride stats - 94.3 miles, 3,330 feet of climbing, total time 7 hrs 51 mins, riding time 6 hrs 25 mins

Today's leg was the one that both Ian and Jeff had been looking forward to the most - they were not to be disappointed.

We left  Woodvale B & B loaded up with croissants and carrot cake from proprietor Alison who also made double cream porridge for breakfast - the best we've tasted on tour.

While the boys set off in light drizzle, Julie and Joy went on a walk up to Balloch Castle and along Loch  Lomond to burn off some calories and were greeted with their first sighting of the Scottish midges.  A lovely walk after all of those days just sat in the car.

Ian and Jeff had a quiet start round the shore of Loch Lomond by some expensive looking properties before joining the A82.  The ride to the first stop at Crianlarich took 2 1/2 hours alongside the shores of Loch Lomond.  Although the weather was cloudy with intermittent showers it only added to the majesty of the views along the way before we started the first long climb up towards Crianlarich.  The climbs today were very long and we had made the decision before we started to engage the "Granny" gears at the first sight of a long climb, a tactic that may have been frowned on by the Keepers of the Cog but one which was to prove a wise move.

Ian's hamstring had been giving him trouble all morning so when we stopped he asked Joy to try and loosen it up.  This proved to be somewhat of a distraction to passing motorists!

The tea, coffee and cakes gave us a much needed boost but also attracted quite a few wasps, two of which hitched a ride with Julie and Joy and caused something of a panic (for Julie and Joy but we're also sure the wasps weren't too relaxed about it).

The next climb was again a long one but the granny gears made it an easy ascent and allowed the views of the glacially carved mountains to be fully taken in.  The climbing was over for a while and we now had a long exhilarating gradual downhill section that put huge grins on our faces - this was proving to be the best day by far.

Julie and Joy were waiting at Black Mount Estate viewpoint to catch some action shots of the riders as they came uphill. They had a fantastic view and could see them coming for a couple of miles.

Another climb and a short photo stop for the Highland Welcome followed before we were again racing across the mountains towards Glencoe Gorge.

It's difficult to describe the emotions that were triggered for us here as the last time Joy, Julie and Jeff were here was with Vince.  Tears flowed for our Great Man.

We stopped for a coffee in Glencoe and saw our north east friends and "offical photographers" ride past, a surprise as we thought they would be well ahead of us because their LEJOG schedule is one day less than us.  We just caught them as they were being refuelled by Pete's wife Ali who kindly took a group photo of us all. 

Ali then gave us a donation from them all for our cause - what a fantastic thing to do.

Having bid a final farewell to them we set off only to be caught up by them a few minutes later, forming a 5 rider peloton and blasting our way the next 10 miles to Fort William.  The difference between sharing the riding as a 2 man and a 5 man group is huge as your effort goes from 50% to 20%.  It was a real pleasure to meet such a nice group of people.

Our last 9 miles to the B & B was soon over but we pulled into the wrong drive with very loose gravel that resulted in Jeff having the first fall of the trip. Ian awarded 8 out of 10 for artistic merit while Jeff grabbed an ice pack for his bruised hand.

Before dinner we drove up to the national Commando Memorial a mile from Spean Bridge. The location near the commando's training area among the mountains has a special atmosphere and an added significance for the team.  Julie's brother Keith is a major in the marines and his son Chris, also a marine, was injured whilst serving in Afghanistan.  The memorials in the garden of remembrance  include one for Adam Brown , a school friend of Ian's son, who was killed serving in Afghanistan in August 2010. This sombre place reminds us all who the real heros are.

Tomorrow we are joined by Ian's wife and fellow team member Jill and a late but very welcome addition to our team Joanna, Julie and Jeff's daughter who are both travelling up on the overnight sleeper. 





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Day 6 - The "P" Word

Ride stats: 94.6 miles, 3,684 feet of climbing, total time 8 hrs 36 mins, riding time 6 hrs 26 mins

Firstly we want to express our gratitude and thanks for the donations generating the emails from Virgin that continue to arrive in our email - thank you all.
Secondly we want to thank people for leaving comments on the daily posts. It is a huge motivation for us to know that people are following our adventure and we love reading what people have to say so please keep them coming.
Thirdly you may wonder what Joy and Julie get up to in the long hours between feeding us.  These photos may give you a clue!

We woke to a little bit of drizzle and the promise if we were lucky of a reasonably dry day.

We should have warmed up indoors

Today's leg started with 10 miles of reasonably flat terrain allowing us to get the stiffness out of the legs before we started a 30 mile section that was steadily uphill.
We soon came across our "official photographers", the same group of lads from the North East that we met at Lands End and at various points all the way up here.  This time we made a note of their names; Peter, Richard and Jamie (unfortunately the 4th member of their team Matt had to retire yesterday because of knee trouble) and their charity, Martins Children's Hospice in Selby.
We rode together for a good 30 minutes exchanging stories about our rides before they stopped for a comfort break - just as well because we had been pushing ourselves to keep up with them!
They had a pretty bad experience on the top of Shap Fell yesterday.  They told us that they had their first puncture (the P word!) and only had one spare tube which then failed and would have left one of them stranded. Luckily for them a cyclist riding in the opposite direction sold them his spare tube to get them going again.  This is typical of the camaraderie between cyclists, they will never leave a fellow cyclist in the lurch if they can help out.
We have been very careful to date not to mention the P (puncture) word as tradition says that as soon as you mention it you will get one. So guess what, they mentioned it and Jeff got the teams first puncture about 10 minutes after we left them - not bad since we had covered 450 miles.
A new tube inflated with a CO2 canister meant we were soon on our way and the luckily for us Joy and Julie passed us on their way to the next stop - our frantic waving for them to pull over so we could check the tyre pressure and get a new tube was very nearly in vain as the girls thought our vigorous waving was because we were so pleased to see them. Fortunately the penny dropped just before they disappeared from view and they pulled over - bless them.

Service stop 1

And 2 - Nice hair!

Having completed most of the days climbing in the first 40 miles we made pretty good progress up towards Glasgow although the westerly wind was now against us as our route was more west than in previous days. 
Hitting the metropolitan area at East Kilbride and Paisley to the south west of Glasgow brought the now familiar stop start at traffic lights, considerably slowing our progress.  This was all forgotten as we crossed the River Clyde on the Erskine Bridge and witnessed spectacular views in nice sunny weather to the west, to the east over Glasgow and north towards the Trossachs.

With only 10 miles to go we made quick progress on the A82, the road we will be following all day tomorrow, to our guest house in Balloch by Loch Lomond. A quick wash down of the bikes and clean of the chains ended our chores for the day.

TLC for the bikes

Upon hearing the details of what we were up to Alison, the owner of the Woodvale B & B, gave us a discount on the room price and told us to add it to the donations - people really are nice.

We have said in previous posts that Robin's daily weather and traffic reports are really important for the next days ride but he always adds a humorous note to make sure we go to bed with a smile on our faces.  We thought we would share last nights with you -
"I have come up with what could almost be called a cunning plan......
With all the woollen mills you will pass in the next few days which are usually full of Americans having jumpers made in the family tartan for all the folks at home.
Back to my plan, i thought you could go in one of them and get yourself some cashmere underpants !
Now you can’t wear them under your cycling shorts because we know what happens when you do that.
Don’t we Ian .....!
However just think how comfortable you will be wearing them at the end of the day !
One word of warning though gents do not get them wet.
They will be round your ankles faster than your trousers after a hot curry."

Until tomorrow.




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Day 5 - Shap Fell

Firstly an apology about Glympse not working this afternoon but as you will see below the weather wasn't conducive to powering up the laptop. 

Ride Stats: 93 miles, 4,882 feet of climbing, total time 8 hrs 6 mins, riding time 6 hrs 51 mins. 

Thanks Guys

We woke to a very windy and showery start to the day and after a breakfast of that old reliable cycling fuel porridge, retrieved the bikes from the shed. Having said our goodbyes to our hosts Gill and Nick and friends in Lancaster we started pedalling and were immediately drenched by a huge downpour - this is a particularly common feature of Lake District weather.

We headed out of Lancaster and on towards Kendall about 20 miles away, a very pretty town but also the precursor to the big challenge of the day for us, Shap Fell.  This particular climb features prominently in all of the LEJOG blogs we have read and is a long climb of 1,400 feet in about 9 miles. Fortunately we had the wind in our favour today but due to the cloud and rain the views we had been hoping to see we're denied to us which was a shame.
Reaching the summit without getting wet was a major achievement but we were soon put in our place as no sooner than we started the descent the heavens opened and we ended up cycling through a temporary monsoon.  This was a real shame as we were hoping to record some record speeds -instead we looked like drowned rats when we met the girls just the other side of the town Shap.   

Looking back to Shap

Julie and Joy refuelled us with a lovely home made fruit cake from a farmers shop and then went on ahead to meet up with Vince's cousin Les Weller and his wife Jill at Gretna. Les was driving 60 miles to come and ride the last section in to Lockerbie with us.

We meanwhile continued on towards Penrith where we came across Caroline and Phil of "Panda on a bike" (see Day 1 post). They are doing LEJOG in 8 days and have suffered a few setbacks en route but are just riding on through it.  It's the last day we will see them as they are going up the east side of Scotland tomorrow - good luck guys.

We reached Gretna and the welcoming faces of Les, Jill, Joy and Julie on the border with Scotland and posed for the Scotland Welcomes You photo.  Robin had warned us last night that we would be ok with the border guards but that the customs officials may be suspicious of the amount of cream we were smuggling in our luggage (oops rule 5 has forced us to cease this paragraph). 

Les leads the way

Les wanted to come and join us for the last 17 miles on his trusty mountain bike which was a great gesture to his cousin Vince - yet again we have had our day lifted by being supported on the ride.  This provided Jeff and Ian with a great chance to get to know Les and swap stories about Vince.  We are sure that Vince has been helping us with the favourable weather so far and were amused that he had obviously decided this was a great time to let the heavens open again to let us know he was watching.  We miss you mate.

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