Day 13 - Lands End and The End...well nearly

Firstly, I will apologise again due the lateness of this blog, in Watergate Bay, Newquay we have had no mobile reception and I must admit after finishing Friday my mind was on family and alcohol and not updating the blog....so the combination of everything has meant I am now updating this in the comfort of my home!!! So here goes.....

On day 12 we managed to complete 84 miles in the torrential rain basically riding down the A30 as this was the most direct route to Lands End although awful in terms of safety...not really recommended as a cycle route, but when needs must!!

We awoke this morning in our luxury holiday accommodation in Watergate Bay (The Beachcombers accommodation), my wife and kids and Steve's wife had been there since Tuesday so things were already setup and organised for us when we arrived Thursday night. We went to the The Phoenix restaurant on Thursday evening, defintely recommended, they have fantastic food and a good selection of beers (local and other)....I cant wait to read back over these blogs as I get the feeling it may have become more of a pubs\beer guide of the UK rather than a cycle challenge!!! We only had 27 miles to cover today and we decided to take it a bit easier this morning and not set off in the van to Redruth (our stopping point of yesterday) until about 8:15 this allowed me to have a family breakfast which was great. Today was not bad weather at all, completely different to yesterday so it already felt the right thing to have done to stop yesterday and complete our ride this morning. We were all feeling good today, its amazing how the aches and pains soon disappear when things are looking up and the adrenaline starts to take over. We got to Redruth, got our bikes out, had a group hug...well kind of..you have to be careful having group hugs at roundabouts off main roads wearing lycra!!! Off we went back onto the A30 for our last 27 miles of this challenge...this felt good...the roads were undualting and although hills will never be the same as those round Loch Ness on our way to Fort Augustus there were still some challenges for us to overcome on our way to Lands End. We all had different timings for when we felt the adrenaline really kick in that we had made the end....mine (Damo) kicked in at the 16 mile sign for Lands End....I was like Tigger on drugs and couldnt stop talking and becoming the american style motivator..at the 8 mile stage Steve and Jen and to give me some sedation to bring me down as I was on a really high (p.s. for the children reading this, no drugs were really taken this is all metaphorically speaking....do kids understand this word?) I think Jen and Steves adrenaline kicked in at the 4 miles left stage.

The ride to Lands End wasnt as bad as we had imagined given all the stories you hear about lands end being very hilly etc..we will admit it did have its hills and some were definetly unwelcomed when you are trying to get to the end but nothing to major to slow down the adrenaline. These last 27 miles were ridden straight out, so there is not much in terms of events on the ride itself......a few things I can think off were the hills (already mentioned), seeing others cycling towards having just set off on their LEJOG adventure and us being very glad that wasnt us and perhaps my most memorable moment of the ride was seeing my family drive past us as we cycled up one of the hills racing towards Lands End before we got there to great us...see them this just found me more speed. Upon seeing the finish line we all lined up to cross the line together with John and Laura holding congratulations tape across the line and our families and a crowd of tourists all cheering and clapping us as we finished....this was just a wonderful feeling and something I don't we will ever forget. This was also the point (just as we finished) that a complete stranger came out of the crowd and gave me £5 sponsorship. As I have commented so many times throughout this blog, we am humbled and overwhelmed by the generosity of people throughout this whole experience..this started from our friends, family and work colleagues donating so much money to get us to our £10k target before we started to the complete strangers who gave us cash on route across the whole of the UK....a huge thank you to everyone you know who you are.

At the finish we had banners wrapped rounds us, champagne was popping and photos were being taken by the dozen. We also went and sorted out our certificates with the End to enders club and then as per usual went in the bar at Lands End to celebrate...all in all we were at Lands End for about 4 hours before we left. ...we left back to our base in Newquay and went back to the Phoenix to celebrate and have dinner. Tomorrow (Saturday) we are booked in at Jamie Olivers restraurant (Fifteen) at watergate bay (just across the road from our accommodation)...which is our proper celebratary lunch.

We covered 27 miles, at an average of 14.5mph in a riding time of 1hr 55mins.

Why The Title: Well has you can tell the weekend continued for us so although this is Lands End and the end of our cycle challenge...we want to update you on the next few days after our ride and for you and for our memories we want to read over the blog we captured and add lots of other stories to it that we never wrote during the ride and finally I would like all the team to write something of their personal experience of the challenge, the highs and the lows, the experiences, favorites memories, what it felt like when we finished, how it was to support the challenge etc etc....so Lands End and the End .....well nearly.

P.S. not forgetting putting together a slideshow of all the photos....so keep this link and come back soon.

Day 12 - The best shower we have had!

Firstly I must apologise for the delay in updating the blog over the last few days. My excuse is that where we have been staying each night has not had the connection for me to update. I can honestly say it is nothing to do with the fact that my alcohol intake has increased each day and that a very fine Cornish beer called "DOOM" something or other has taken over my life! Anyway, on with Day 12. Day 12 started very early; we awoke at 06:15 and were on the road by 07:05. We wanted to make an early start and a good inroad into the mileage today. After I wrote the blog for last night the landlady of the pub gave Dave his money back for his dinner which, given that he did actually eat most of it, he has donated the total to the cancer research fund. I think I mentioned it already, but the Dolton campsite was truly awful and for the first time in history Damian didn’t have a shower (nobody else did either for the record) ...purely based on the fact that you came out dirtier than when you went in! What I forgot to mention was that in the pub last night we decided to scrap the planned B-road route and go for the A30 road all the way which meant a 12 mile shorter route, with it now being 110 miles to Lands End although a very fast and boring road. We set off and after about 10 miles Steve (The Puncture Man) Ball suffered his 1st of 3 punctures for the day - just unlucky really but good fun taking the Mick - not sure he appreciated it though. The big issue with today was initally the terrain as it took us twice as long as normal to cover the 17 miles from Dolton to the A30 and the rain...this was no ordinary rain - this rain was the worst of the challenge yet and was torrential, relentless and bouncing. We then had to ride through it on the A30 with serious visibility issues, soakings from lorries as they went passed us and floodings in places which really don’t suit road bike tyres. As you can tell, the weather wasn’t good! We had this for 65 miles of the 84 miles we covered today and the roads were very dangerous ,and just as we decided to call it a day at 65 miles the weather started to change and we decided to continue as far as we could either before we ran out of energy or when it started raining again.

Due to the violence of the weather we skipped stopping for lunch just eating what we had in our frame bags which isn’t normally the best of decisions, but based on the fact that we were drenched and cold it worked out OK. Apart from Steve’s punctures and the weather, today was very uneventful due to being on one road all day. We eventually called it a day, after 84 miles, at Redruth and headed to our base and luxury accommodation at Watergate Bay just outside Newquay. The accommodation is fantastic here and although quite expensive the location, size and quality of it really does justify the cost... which is a first for me in saying this about UK accommodation. We now have less than 30 miles to complete tomorrow to get us to the finish line.

All of us have drunk more tonight than the last fortnight.... pretty much like we finished today... I hope our heads don’t bang too hard in the morning. See you soon.

The Smiley Milers.

1. See the spray from the car

2. At Redruth

Day 11 - Stairway to Devon and a 1976 cod found

We awoke this morning determined to get on with what we thought would be one of our more difficult days, having to cover 73 miles on Day 11 of our challenge. We got up early (ish) and sorted ourselves out and got on our way by about 8:30. We left the campsite expecting the hills we had heard so much about starting straight away... however we were in for a bit luck as the first 35 miles were pretty easy going, and how thankful were we! We were going to stop after 20 miles for breakfast, however there wasn’t really anywhere to stop, so we decided to eat what we had on us and continue on to the first real stop at the 35 mile stage. The weather at this stage was that fine rain.. the kind of rain that soaks you through! We stopped at a roadside cafe that was really good called "Poppins". They provided us free tea and coffee and donated £4 to our cause.... yet again, we meet generous people along our route.

When we left here this is when we had a few climbs which by now we are all climbing in 1st gear...a bit of steepness of the hill and a bit of the old muscles not having the power anymore. After one of the big climbs we came down the hill to Dave standing there offering us chocolate ... what a silly question... would you like some chocolate?!! This went down very well, just before another big and long climb which we didn’t mind as it was steady and powered by the chocolate.

We then met the support guys again at another roadside cafe called the log cabin where they sold fantastic Cornish pasties.. it would have been rude not to have one, so we indulged! The support guys then left us to get to the campsite and we headed off on what turned out to be quite a good route with just a couple of very steep down-hills followed by very steep inclines, however all in all not as bad as we expected.

We eventually arrived in Dolton at 4:30. The campsite is not that good and not recommended. The facilities are somewhat missing... all very old and dirty... don’t come here. This follows through to the pub at the end of the campsite... although very friendly, the food was somewhat deep-fried. Now the title - why? Dave ordered fish and chips and the fish had been caught during the cod wars of the 1970s where it had been frozen until this week and deep fried for 42 hours and presented as a main course in 2008. Dave is now going to use the batter as flip flops for use in the shower block!! As you can tell we are impressed with this place! We now have 1 full day of cycling left and we are going to head straight for Lands End and see how close we can get to it... depending on the terrain. Our aim is to complete at least 90 miles tomorrow which would leave us about 30 miles for Friday, which will mean a finishing time just in time for the pubs opening ... hooorah! Thanks for reading and please continue with the comments...we are nearly there everyone...We covered 74miles at an average of 13.5 and a riding time of 5hrs 35.Toodle pipThe Smiley Milers









Pictures -

1 (top) Leaving Glastonbury
2 Steve & Jen entering Devon
3 Damo & Steve entering Devon
4 Chocolate Break
5 Lunch at the Log Cabin
6 In the pub

Day 10 - more pictures

Good tarmac

Map 4 of 5 complete Setting off from Travelodge to Glastonbury

Severn Road Bridge
Steve & Jen on Severn Bridge

View from Severn Road Bridge

Day 10 - Uphill and Rainy

This morning started off promising in terms of the weather. We were able to sort the bikes out and pack off Lynn, Jaimie and the kids, and we set off on our 66 mile bike ride heading for breakfast in about 15-20 miles. Within 20 minutes the heavens opened and that lasted for pretty much the whole ride. Today was always going to be a fairly tough ride as we were heading into the hilly south and it didn't fail us - we hit a huge hill as soon as we started which really helped the old muscles warm, and all the way to breakfast we had some good(?) hills. After breakfast we headed for Bristol and again the hills did not fail us as we passed through Chepstow and headed towards the Severn Road Bridge. This was definitely a highlight of the trip, as just riding across the bridge and the views were amazing... really glad we got the chance to go across the bridge. We hit Bristol city centre, which seemed a very nice place and somewhere we would like to visit again, after asking a couple of people to point us in the right direction and out the other side of Bristol we had got through it and were heading towards lunch. Before I continue, it must be stated that the signposts in England are not as good as those in Scotland. This is really noticeable and doesn't help, as you end up stop/starting throughout the ride. The rain did stop as we passed through Bristol and the sun came out for a bit. We stopped at the Travellers Rest for a pub lunch; they had stopped serving but still gave us lunch to help us on our journey. The landlord also donated £20 to us. The support we are having and the donations have just continued throughout this journey which is fantastic. From here the support guys headed for campsite at Glastonbury as we did, however there were a number of huge climbs to tackle and then a wonderful descent into Wells which made the climbs almost worthwhile, and it did lift our spirits to push on to the campsite. We arrived at the campsite at about 5pm ish to the tents already being put up... which, after the ride and hills, was really really welcomed.. not forgetting the nice cuppa as well. The campsite (the Old Oaks touring park) was fantastic with excellent facilities and we would definitely recommend this to anyone. We went into Glastonbury for the evening and had great pizzas at Gigis - again definitely recommended. Damian (as usual) over ordering head on, but on this occasion the gannets finished it all off. We then went to the pub for a bit of rescue remedy, otherwise known as beer. (Dave keeps going on about him driving and drinking so I have pointed this out here). None of us had been to Glastonbury before and we all really liked the town and would like to head back there again. So all in all, a tough wet, muggy and hilly day - but we did it. We covered 66 miles in 5hrs 13 mins riding time at an average of 12.6. Tomorrow we will be very near to the landing spot of Lands End ... we will be in Devon at a place called Dolton. Apologies for the deay in the blog updates, but we are having problems with phone reception... pigeons are on order! See you tomorrow. The smiley milers.

Day 9: Downhills and Sunshine

Kenley Barn....what a fantastic campsite; well recommended for any camping/touring holiday not just for those of us doing a JOGLE. Today the sun continued to shine even hotter than yesterday and even earlier. We got up this morning, had a great shower as this is amazing at Kenley Barn campsite, and before we got on our way had a couple of donations. The first came from one of the other guests (out of the 3 groups of us) the granny of the family came up to us and blessed us on our ride and gave us £20, how fabulous is that? Also when we were leaving ,the campsite owner told us that the cost of our stay was going to be donated back, which equalled another £45. So another £65 for the pot. We have had this sort of generosity all along the ride.

We rode out of the campsite and immediately hit a very steep hill and because it was within the first mile of the ride it was pretty tortuous.. well it warms the muscles up quickly! The roads were undulating today but, with the sun shining, we quickly got 20 miles under our belt and were in Ludlow having some breakfast and a cuppa. We didn’t stop for long and decided to get another 30 miles completed before we stopped for lunch. The 30 miles took us the whole length of the A49 to Wormelow which is where we had tea and cream scones for the first time ...must mean we are getting closer to our final destination :-) After lunch we had a further 20 miles to cover which were fairly uneventful apart from a few very unwelcome climbs, particularly into Monmouth and with sun beating down (not complaining though) this made it even harder. We made it through Monmouth and tonight we were staying at a Travelodge at the A40 services. This did mean a horrible ride along the A40 but we eventually made it to our Travelodge not long after 4pm. This is where Damian's wife (Lynn) and kids (Isabelle and Olivia) were waiting to meet him after 10 days apart. We went to a local pub in Raglan called the Beaufort Arms for a lovely meal.. definitely recommended.

We finished the 4th of the 5 maps yesterday which definitely means we are close. We are now heading into hilly country again... which, with already sore muscles, is going to be tough. We covered 73 miles yesterday ...I will need to update the rest of the details when I get hold of them again. Off to Glastonbury for Day 10. See you then. The Smiley Milers

Apologies for the state of the pictures - new girl in the print room!!

Day 8 - No Comeback

Big up and big shout out to my home boyz...Kath and Tart for taking care of us, supplying us with Vimto, amazing home cooked food and incohol (hic) ...oops and not forgetting the home baked Victoria sponge and smarties ice cream!! We had a wonderful relaxing evening...thanks guys. And a very special hello and thank you to the kids - George, Annie-Grace and Connie for being so wonderful!!

We left Wigan after our cuppa and bacon balm cakes (as said in Wigan - butties to the rest of us) in gorgeous sunshine and this only got better/hotter as the day went on. The roads were fairly flat and helpful to us today so we motored on and covered over 20 miles very quickly. We were in Warrington before we knew it and had the welcome of the journey so far and this is the title of the blog. As we rode out of Warrington a elderly gentleman with a bulbous red snout and who obviously had meths on his cornflakes for breakfast shouted across to us (children turn away now) from the other side of the road "YOU DAFT B******DS" and the irony of it was we had NO COMEBACK (i.e. we couldn't disagree with him!). We continued with our ride onto Whitchurch where we met the the support team and had lunch. We met another guy at lunch who was doing the LEJOG mostly on his own over 3 weeks...total admiration for him as this is hard enough with support never mind doing it on your own. The ride was again fairly OK today and uneventful until the last 4 miles when we were looking for the campsite and started to hit some very steep hills...after 75 miles this was definitely tough and particularly one which was almost vertical!! We eventual arrived at the campsite which is the best yet by far, we arrived at 5pm which has meant we can have our first BBQ, sit in the sun and fully relax. The campsite itself is extremely nice, as it says on their website the facilities are exceptionally clean and new with the shower being the best have had so far (http://www.kenleybarn.co.uk/).

We have now completed around 650 miles of the challenge we have also map 3 (Ordinance Survey Maps of the UK) today and are halfway down map 4 out of 5. Tomorrow we had to Monmouth which means we are a day away from south of England!! We have looked at the map of Britain tonight and it is amazing how far we have come in 8 days. Damian sees his wife and children for the first time in 10 days tomorrow which is so motivational. It is also Monday and the start of our last week on this challenge. The mood is good and positive tonight and we are ready to tackle the remaining parts of our challenge. Thanks again for all the comments and words of support, it is really appreciated!! Stats for today are mileage covered 83 miles, 5hrs 27 mins riding time and an average speed of 15.3mph. Thanks for reading and see you tomorrow. The smiley milers

Lunch at Whitchurch

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Carry on Camping...

Could he be Camper?