Day 6 and Day 7

Day 6 - 68 miles Bridges to Warrington

Started off going uphill out of valley we stayed overnight in, massive fantastic view of the valley from the top. Started descending on wrong road, mostly because i was distracted by massive downhill, 45.6 mph, new personal best! Thats bloody quick, bike was wobbling all over, as the week progressed I slowed down, mostly because i wanted to finish the whole ride in one piece!

some days were such a struggle?

Easy riding, barely any hills, just a long day, 70 miles is a lot of pedalling.
Overnight in travelodge, pub for tea, happy days.



Day 7 - 63miles Warrington to Over Kellett

Left travelodge early because we had no breakfast, the roads round Warrington were stiil mad busy at 7:30am. Motorway roundabout M56 was dangerous so we went right round the edge, always seem to be turning right at the big roundabouts? Flew along after that, then things got a bit weird, riding through places very close to home, Wigan, Standish, Coppull, very strange. Rode through the village we live in, we actually went past our houses! Didnt go in as we probably wouldnt have left! Did right not going in, saw family at mums house, fed and watered, nice.

 
Forgetable ride up A6 to Carnforth, we have ridden that road too many times really. Had 3 close encounters with traffic, worst drivers of the trip, far too many!

Rode up to steves dads van, had a dip in the caravan sites outdoor pool, cold once you got in, eased off after a bit, had to be done! :)

Day 4 and Day 5

Day 4 Bristol to Ledbury 56 miles
Bristol early doors, came closer to a bus than is safe, we seem to hit the four lane roundabouts at rush hour?
Leisurely day, barely any hills. Lovely area, great ride, legs felt quite good, we may have our riding legs now after 4 hard days ride. Minor creaking but nothing to worry about. Quality Woodside bunkhouse - recommended. We wheeled the bikes into the room! We had expected a dusty bunkroom but pretty much got a brand new appartment! Bought loads of food in, coulda fed 4 people.

what panniers are for

Feast

view from bunkhouse

Day 5 Ledbury to Bridges 50 miles
Short day, easy ride, quiet roads. We did too many miles too fast and had to slow down or we would have arrived at the hostel far too early, before it was even open.
Lunch in Ludlow, Steve purchased a wooden garden duck for his dad, we christened him Ludlow! Strapped him to the rear rack with bunji chords, very funny.

Ludlow!

 Arrived at another big hill 1000ft again, we knew it was coming, looming at the end of the day. Started gradually and went on and on. Topped out then dropped 100ft, very steep, then went up again 100 ft very very steep, barely rideable. Awesome views of the valley.

Then Disaster struck, the pub next door to the hostel was closed for refurb, I held it together by getting into bed fully clothed in dirty biking gear and falling asleep at 5pm! 
Church Stretton hostel is an Old School, lovely place but very creepy at night, bats in the attic!

Later that evening as i was just drifting off to sleep (whilst listening to Machinehead!) Steve fell down the steps of the room and came running across dorm like a loony, i screamed my head off, ha ha ha
We land in Warrington tomoro which is crazy, still loving it, happy that we have had two easy days in a row, if you call 50miles easy? :)

Lejog Video - second attempt

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAfSS6Rxr60

Better quality, bigger too, call me Senior Spielbergo

Lejog Video - first attempt

its small and blurry, a work in progress?
how do you spell copyright infringement?.... Red hot chilli peppers please dont sue me

Day 2 and Day 3

Day 2 Golant to Exeter 81 miles
Death on a bike! Set off at 9am and finished at 7pm. 10 bloody hours!

view from golant hostel window

any hill that has a percentage isnt good

Near Liskeard we found a fantastic stretch of dual carriageway - 40mph downhill for a long time, like flying, loved it, highlight of the trip so far for me thought i had found god!
Stunning views today, massive downhill sections, wore out some brake rubber today.
Then to Okehampton onto edge of dartmoor. up another 1000ft hill.

Big hills and lots of em, no flat bits around here, your either going uphill or going downhill, theres nothing else!
Plenty of narrow country lanes, high hedges so you cant see anything, had enough of it really, like a rat in a maze!

Road of Death! A30
We finally gave in, after the CTC route took us up every hill it could find, and got on the A30. This is dual carriageway but its pretty much a motorway. We rode in the gutter, dodging cat eyes, grids and a lot of roadkill, and unbelievable amount of dead things actually. Quote of the day was ' dont fall off here or you will definitely die'. Being whipped by branches, dodging wheel trims, there was a truck with a house on the back and people towing speedboats. Quick miles though, never again, very very dangerous.

Ian and Clive had to order our meal at Exeter hostel, arrived and went straight in for it in dirty bike gear, strong cider imbibed, all is well again, legs are wrecked. Exeter is a good city for cycling, from what we saw there were bike lanes all over, impressed!

Day 3 Exeter to Bristol 75 miles
First 30miles flew by, good roads, wind behind us, a couple of big hills. Lashed down after lunch, very wet. Long day, riding was alright, glad to be out of Devon and Cornwall. At the end of the day there is a big hill 1000ft which Bristol airport sits on top of, pretty steep, killer, we got drenched again, long way up on a busy road. Massive downhill into Bristol. Nice. Big cup of tea that i had been looking forward to for hours.

Day 0, and Day 1

Hello All, cheers for your support and donations!
Were back home and the dust has settled, were just about ready to do more detailed write ups for the day rides.
(I am gutted its over and searching for a new mission, but we will get to that later...)

theres a storm comin...

Day 0
Train from Preston to Penzance, as soon as we arrived at Preston station people started giving us donations! Straight away, the signs on the back of the bikes turned out to be a really good idea. The trains went like clockwork even with the bikes, we had booked the bike spaces of which there are very few per train. Landed in Penzance and it absolutely hammered it down with rain before we even got out of the train station. Rode 8 miles over hills into wind to Lands End Youth hostel, noticed the change in countryside straight away. The ride still didnt feel real at this point. Lands End YH is one of the best we stayed in, good introduction to hostelling anyway. We met up with fellow riders who where doing same or similar ride to us. (Ian and Clive)
Whilst checking the route for tomoro we found we were catching a car ferry, king harrys, we think we knew about this just forgot!

Day1 67miles
Set off early to ride to start at Lands End, about 6 miles away, very excited. Arrived at Lands End and it was closed cos we were too early, theres 'tourist tat' there lots of it. We stood there for about an hour talking to various groups of cyclists who came through before photo man eventually turned up. Apparently its private land and you can only take a picture of his sign from outside the fence...

 

Picture sorted, of us and the bikes and the date and stuff, £12 rinsed out of us. A quick shout of Have It! and then we were off. Theres a start /finish line painted on the ground, thats when the ride became very real. We didnt even get out of the car park before we were soaked through!

This day and day 2 are supposed to be amongst the most difficult of the trip, this is true, very hilly today, good job we had fresh legs at this point! I snapped my chain, putting too much force on it whilst changing gear at wrong time on steep hill, dope! We carry speedlinks with us so it wasnt too bad, steve left his chain tool on the ground and we rode off, good job we didnt get far before realising. I also broke my phone cos my waterproof jacket isnt waterproof and got sunburnt today, good start!

broken chain, i am the weakest link!

Fianlly arrived at Golant YH near Fowey and found it was just us and a coach full of schoolkids in there, tea and breakfast the following day were very loud! Golant hostel showers were crap, had to run round to get wet!

First lot of pictures

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150247654726924.317377.521651923&l=9acea35a13

 

Possibly the best pics of our ride!

that was so much fun,

 

Cheers

DB

 

we've done it! finished yesterday,happy days!free day in jog today,goin for a ride!