Day 14 - The ride to the endpoint

Last day – Day 14 – Saturday 25^th August

Today was always going to be a big day, a fair old distance of 83 miles to cycle and today was the end of the journey, we would simply run out of land.  We got up, got dressed, ate a full English breakfast (which has become standard procedure now) and we were ready for the off.  Allen told us not to ‘hang around’ outside as the ‘midges were around’.  He was not kidding, we ran out, got on our bikes and pedalled off as fast as we could, apparently according to him, anything above 6 mph and they can't keep up with you to bite you.  It was lightly raining, drizzle, the sort of stuff that wets you through, we just focused on moving.  For miles and miles they splattered on our faces, arms and legs, they really are a plague.  This is why previously we’ve only ever visited Scotland in May or October, leaving the misery that these little blighters to others.

Team Marshall and Team Wales (Clare and Martin) had a plan and we were on a mission.  By chance we had stayed 8 miles further down the road than anyone else, so we were ahead of the others.  We started out a bit early – we were in the lead!  The miles whizzed by, first at the morning brew stop (still no one had caught us up) and then remarkably we saw the coast and the sea off the north coast of Scotland.  The first to see the North Sea!  The tortoises had beaten the hares to the top of Great Britain.  At the lunch halt we were first in and just leaving as Stefan and his group came in muttering something like ‘cheaters’ under their breath.  They looked tired having spent the whole morning trying to catch us up and wondering why they hadn't been able to.  We left with noses held suitably high.

Needless to say we were soon overtaken, however I was fixing a puncture Martin had picked at the side of the road, the second one for him today.  He had had the first whilst there were loads of midges around so he was trying to move at plus 6mph whilst pushing bike and trying to fix a puncture.  We met up down the road in a pub 7 miles form the end point John O’Groats so we could all ride in together.  The landscape around the NE part of Scotland is flat and barren, and you can feel the Viking influence here and the timeless nature of the landscape.

After a few drinks to celebrate, a theme that would continue for the rest of the day, we pedalled off together to reach the finish line.  We arrived at the famous signpost and there were lots of cheers and ‘well dones’, but with quite a mixture of emotions.  Elation, relief, disappointment, sadness?…if theses emotions were a cocktail, it would definitely be highly alcoholic, a strange kind of mixture, but somehow with a slightly bitter taste...

A very pleasant surprise for us was that my Mum and Dave (and Holly the camera shy collie) were sitting in a café opposite and had made the trip up specially to welcome us in.  What a treat and it made the occasion more special.

Of course lots of drinking, toasting and great conversation happened over night before we left this bleak and strange place by coach in the morning having parted with our bikes to enable them to be couriered home.  ‘How are we going to be able to get about, not sure I can remember how to walk anywhere?’ I thought as the bikes were taken from us.

So why did we do this and what did we learn?  Well there are many reasons why we did this, firstly to support The Hunger Project as they empower people around the world to end their own hunger by seeing and relating to their world and circumstances differently.  Secondly, we wanted to experience ‘making the impossible possible’ in a very real, practical and personal way for us.  In my case if I can drag this 50 year-old, wine soaked body this distance then what else is possible for me and for others?  Thirdly we wanted to do it together, Michaela and I.  I cannot say how much admiration and love I have for Michaela, who is not a cyclist, it wasn’t her idea, but she just took it on to support The Hunger Project and me.  I don’t think I could have done it without her.  And fourthly, we wanted to break the drift of putting on weight, not feeling great, in fact feeling tired rather than energised…and I suppose to be honest we just wanted a new challenge.

So what did we learn?  Well many, many things – we learnt about ourselves, our relationship, our perspectives on what is possible changed, we learnt how wonderful the countryside of the British Isles is, how friendly the people are, but overall, the main thing is this.  We learnt that it’s never too late to get fit, your body is amazing and will adapt and perform in ways you wouldn’t imagine.  We learnt how through exercise you can think and feel differently and its wonderful!  But mainly we learnt that if you throw your hat over the wall, you just have to jump over and get it…

Here are some statistics of the trip;

• ·      Mileage covered by bike - 1007.17 miles – Land’s End to John O’Groats, three countries, England, Wales and Scotland.

• ·      Vertical elevation climbed – 48,212 feet (which is about one and a half Everests!) - and not a single hill walked up...Britain was that all you had to throw at us?
• 
  
• ·      Calories burnt (each of us) – an estimated 39,489 (calories consumed close to 50,000 I reckon!)
• 
  
• ·      Money raised for The Hunger Project – in excess of £22,000

Thanks go of course to JMJ, who have made this possible for us in many ways and to all of the London community of JMJ who have fund raised and generally chipped in to raise this huge amount of cash and offered loads of support and encouragement for Michaela, Stefan and I on this journey.  Thanks to our friends, who have similarly helped and supported us, and clients who have contributed.  Thanks particularly to Dan, Andrew and Ben, who have encouraged their old mum and dad during the training, done many training rides with us (and are in some ways much more qualified to this this than us), and offered much encouragement during the last two weeks. – it meant a huge amount.

I’ll leave the last word to Vera, the sat nav that I have had a love hate relationship with over the last 14 days.  As we arrived at the mileposts at John O’Groats, she said (somewhat proudly and poignantly I thought) –‘you have arrived at your end point’.

 Midge splattered legs, nice!

 The trusty steeds 

 I can see the sea!

 Scottish humour...

 It's official Team Marshall (the tortoises) first to the north coast of Scotland!

 Relieved in the pub with 7 miles to go...

 Team Stefan - the hares 

 The 'obligatory' photos

 Team Hunger (after Stefan had forgiven us)

 everyone made it....

DAy 14 WE MADE IT!

Incredibly we've finished, compete, it's all over.  Thick head and poor internet mean that the final post will be along shortly.  Yippee

Day 13 - the penultimate day!!!!

Day 13, Inverness to Crask, the penultimate day!

The Marshall’s woke up feeling strong, we are really growing into this event just as it is ending!  Real sense of we can do this and that each mile and hill is making us stronger.  In fact each mile and hill is certainly making the smell from my cycling shoes stronger!  Others are tiring, slowing down and looking forward to the end, that’s not what’s happening with us.  As a result we saw a lot more of the rest of the group today, as we are travelling closer to them as we speed up.

The day was uneventful, lots of time to think and relax, this is big country up here, wild, beautiful and with lots of sky.  Lots of moorland, heather, deer, grouse and bloody midges!  So there are some drawbacks to this part of the world.  The countryside is very much like the end scene of Skyfall, a James Bond movie for those of you who are fans. Thinking about it we did actually see a silver Aston Martin DB5 a couple of days ago, so maybe he’s in town?

We progressed northwards and said hello to any locals we saw, they of course all know what we are doing and wish us well with comments like ‘not far now’ or ‘it’s just over that wee hill’ and we pedal on.  Lunch was by the side of a loch in a pub, full of character, the food not.  However it was enough to help us up some steep hills and onwards to the end of the day.  Speaking of ends, apparently there is a club you can join, called the ‘End to Enders’, for people who have made it from one end of GB to the other.  Cool.

For me the miles seem easy apart from the effect it is having on my rear end.  Despite all sorts of cream all sorts of different cycling positions, a double padding strategy and standing up a lot,  it is still a big pain in the bum!  Much complaining during the day went on, and on, and I was glad to finish for this reason alone.

When we arrived at our B&B, I showed Michaela the said bodily part (we have this type of relationship you see) and she said ‘wow you look like a Howler monkey!’  I took this to mean that it was a little red, so more cream and sleeping face down again tonight I guess…

The evening was an evening we will never forget, we stayed in a small B&B run my Mandy and her husband, they cooked us dinner and had provided a plentiful supply of red wine.  We were there with Team Wales, a lovely couple from Wales, Clare and Martin, who were great fun.  The location was overlooking a deer farm, with moorland and hills in the distance.  We watched through the window, the deer roaming across the moorland, and Allen, Mandy’s husband who works on the estate (120,000 acres) told us about the deer, the wildlife the behaviour of these magnificent animals as the show outside continued outside in full HD.  Herds of them.  It turns out he is a full and proper Gillie, a Scots term for man who acts as an attendant on fishing, hunting or deer stalking expeditions.  I have never met one before.  The conversation ranged from animals to the benefits (or not) of the proposal to put 38 wind turbines in the valley.  Anyway a memorable evening with genuinely interesting people who have chosen this lifestyle to be at one with nature and to avoid the rat race.

So here we are, in the Highlands, with just 70 odd miles to go and then Vera (sat nav) with not be able to provide us with any more purple line to follow.  Rain is forecast, but who cares, we’re still going to enjoy it.  Not sure what we will feel when we get there, but one thing is sure - my butt will be relieved!

 The start position, the wobbly footbridge in Inverness

 Scotland, all your road feel like they have a 'Temporary Road Surface'!

 Scottish midges take a few bites out of my arm, you will be glad to know I have not included pictures of any other part of my anatomy.

 The journey so far, not much left!

 The live wildlife show we watched this evening...

the route...



Day 13 - the penultimate day!!!! by Bike27 at Garmin Connect - Details

Day 12 - Thursday 22nd August - Glencoe to Inverness

Day 12 – Glencoe to Inverness – Thursday 22^nd August

The BIG day, the hardest day of the trip, we had been informed.  83 miles and a big climb after lunch. 

Not a good night’s sleep, lots of drying of kit going on and the room was really warm, although most of the kit when put on in the morning was still damp – nice.  My cycling shoes are so smelly they have to be put outside on the window ledge, I am hoping to make them last the trip before hermitically sealing them in a polythene bag so that I can tackle the problem when I have industrial cleaning equipment back at home.  I daren’t wash them as I am not sure I can dry them over night and wet shoes to start the day would not be good!

So we arrived at the morning briefing, smelling and a bit damp but ready to go.  We all sang Stefan Happy Birthday and headed off.

The route out of Glencoe heading north is the A82 and there is no alternative.  This is a busy road with logging lorries and vans and tourists.  We did our best to make ourselves safe, lots of flashing lights, pulling over when big vehicles wanted to overtake etc, but this was scary.  The only time this trip that I have felt worried about traffic and safety, and we were all glad when it was over!  It is interesting watching peoples’ driving habits and levels of attention as you get overtaken, it is very clear that some people have never been on a bike and understood just how vulnerable you feel when overtaken by a big chunk of metal travelling at 30 or 40 miles an hour faster than you.

We continued up the side of Loch Linnhe and into Fort William.  Stopped off at a cycle shop (as you do) for some supplies and noticed a steam train just leaving.  We waited and got the whole thing on film as it built up momentum out of the station – just awesome!

The route then took us to the bottom of Loch Ness, famous of course for the Loch Ness Monster.  In my view one of the best marketing exercises I know of…here’s how (one) story goes. 

Billy Smart’s circus was very famous in the 50s and has now grown into an international business.  But in the 50s the circus business was largely about trained unusual animals, elephants, tigers etc.  Well some photographs got taken while Billy was bathing his elephants in the Loch, which he often did when the circus was in town.  People said they looked like a monster, (indeed I think they look like the trunk of an elephant bathing, but hey ho) and being a shrewd businessman, he heard this and offered a $1m award for anyone who could capture this ‘monster’ so he could tame it and put it in his circus.  A massive amount of money at the time and obviously a safe bet – the legend was born… sorry if I have shattered any dreams, as I said at the beginning, this is just a story.

After lunch it was the hill, 1500 feet up in 5 miles, an average of one in ten, but some sections one in four with some down bits which we didn’t enjoy, because we knew they would immediately have to be made up!  It was easy.  Team Marshall is in its stride, not done at race pace, but done with shouts at the top, ‘was that it, is that all you’ve got!’  We are both really feeling very fit, powerful and to be frank all conquering…we can take on anything Scotland has to offer.  Stefan raced up in 33 minutes, record time is 24 minutes, so disappointing Stefan, especially on your birthday!

We arrived in Inverness at around 5pm, a fair day’s work, but could have done more.  83 miles, we’ve never cycled that in a day before, another first.  Also 4190 feet up hills.  Met up briefly with Stefan, Leizel, daughter and Stefan’s parents who had come up to share his birthday with him.  Washed, changed and team boss ‘fancied an Indian’, (which I took to mean in the culinary sense) so we found one and consumed the said spicy stuff whilst replying to best wishes text messages.

Only two more days to go and then we will have to find something else to occupy our lives….

PS Vera behaved today and dutifully pointed out interesting Lidl and Morrison stores on the way and has now taken to pointing out McDonalds as well.  Not much purple line left though…

 Michaela with Anne (fello rider) at Glencoe

 Sunset at Glencoe - just wonderful

 The view from our window in Glencoe

 The off...before the A82

 The steam train out of Fort William

 Neptune's Staircase, a series of locks to navigate across Scotland

 The morning 'brew' stop

 Vera, usefully instructing us to 'Go North' - useful!

 After the big climb, 'isn't there any more?'

 The birthday boy and family in Inverness - just look at those "Chris Hoy' thighs!

the day...

Day 12 - Thursday 22nd August - Glencoe to Inverness by Bike27 at Garmin Connect - Details

Day 11 - Ballach to Glencoe - Wednesday 21st

Day 11  - Wednesday 21^st August – Ballach to Glencoe

Today was described as hard, but turned out to be the most enjoyable day of the tour so far.  In fact it felt easy.

We started out along westerly shore of Loch Lomond and were soon joined by Veronica and Lawrie, who pedaled with us for about 10 miles before they had to turn back and head home.  The scenery was nothing short of stunning, although as we were to find out we hadn’t seen anything yet!

Vira (the sat nav) was behaving herself today, although seeing as we only had to stay on one road (the A82) for 69 miles, she had a pretty easy day.  As she had little to do all day, I risked navigating her pages to look at some data.  The distance we have travelled so far, including today’s trip, 849 miles, calarories burnt (each), 45,000, feet climbed 32,000 feet, mileage to go 201.  Time spent pedaling, ie in the saddle a bum aching 90 hours!

As we pedaled on, the scenery just got better and better.  Rannoch Moor is stunning and Glencoe awe inspiring.  Today for the first time we tried a bit of music whilst cycling along and given the scenery and the music we didn’t notice the (quiet considerable) hills that we were climbing – a state of flow was experienced by Team Marshall, as we felt very insignificant amongst absolutely stunning countryside, steeped in history and battles that held to shape Scotland as it is now.

We frequently stopped, took loads of photos and film, although none of then will capture the splendor of this place. Truly magical and almost dare I say it worth the pedal up from Land’s End on its own!

Several of the group had punctures today, the record being held by Emily, who managed 5 today.  We met up again with other cyclists who were doing the same thing and swapped stories, mainly it has to be said about saddles…I must remember to invent a comfortable saddle, could make a fortune!

Dinner was in the Glencoe Inn, which started off quite quietly as I think most people were feeling like us.  This is a magical place and really gets you to reflect on your own humanity and in some ways (in) significance.  With this environment, especially the mountains shaped by massive forces of nature over many millenniums, there is a timeless feel that somehow makes you feel reflective as well as sanguine.  As we watched the many cars speeding through this magical world, we felt sorry for them because like most things in life, to really appreciate and learn from something you really have to be with it, rushing through in your own air-conditioned environment just won’t do it.

So we’re now in the Highlands, not just Scotland but the Highlands, and I am sure there are more experiences to come.  However, only three more days to go and it’ll all be over.  Then what?  How will we fill our days?  Life has been so all consuming and frankly hard, that in some ways it has been easy.  You get up, start cycling, stop at the ‘brew’ van, stop at the lunch halt, stop at the next ‘brew’ van and continue until Vera says ‘you are at the end point’, dinner bed and repeat the next day – no decisions, no hassles it’s all taken care for you.  Simple.  However there are a few things that we miss from the ‘outside’ world and I am sure we will soon adjust….

Anyway tomorrow there is a BIG climb in the afternoon, the toughest day of the tour so far, so wish us luck!

PS It’s Stefan’s birthday tomorrow so to celebrate (and help him up the climbs tomorrow) we bought him a couple of nice whiskies tonight, are they strong he said ‘no not really’ I replied, hopefully this might slow him down tomorrow!

  

Lawrie and Veronica joins us at Loch Lomand

 The team (at least for the next 10 miles) - really appreciate the support Veronica and Lawrie!

 Craig demonstrates how to change a tyre without getting dirty - not

 The journey so far

 Michaela celebrating after conquering Glencoe!

click on the below link to see our route...


Day 11 - Ballach to Glencoe by Bike27 at Garmin Connect - Details