The Last Post

I have really enjoyed myself on our little ride. The puffing and panting, the rain, the wind, the idiot drivers, the shocking road surfaces and the aching backside will not be the main memories. They will be replaced by the scenery, the wild life, the people and places where we stayed. Even dressing in Lycra for that long will be forgotten. I will however, never forget the crucial part played by Sudocrem.

Now it is all over I will have to revert back to a more sensible diet and it is going to be hard. Fifteen Full English or Scottish breakfasts have been a bit of a treat. We really have eaten what we liked including cake with morning and afternoon breaks and a full lunch and dinner. The energy bars that were bought have remained largely uneaten due to their tasting like pooh and the availability of chocolate.

Cycling for 5 ½  hours a day for fourteen days with the same companion has resulted in some strange and amusing conversations. The back-up team has caught us laughing at stuff that I am sure they could not find funny. On several occasions it was inferred that we were in fact, due to the arduous nature of our task, on the edge of hysteria. This of course is not true as we always found our drivel to be erudite, pertinent and humorous. Ha......Ha Ha......Ha Ha Ha! 

Is there going to be another challenge, well speak to Gary, as he was the fool who came up with this one. Signing off for the last time on this blog. Enjoy below a Glossary of Terms that have arisen on this trip and also a list of useless information !

Glossary of Terms

Draught;      Slipstreaming (don’t do this in the rain unless very thirsty)     

Dietary Supplements;     in our case, taken totally inadvertently, because it’s difficult to keep your mouth closed whilst panting up a hill.

Take the weight off your twer’nt;      The clean version being that the twer’nt is the place where a gentleman’s anatomy comes into contact with the saddle.

“Oi   …..ing get back here!”     Gary’s attempt at talking to the animals. ( A deer made off before he could bring the camera on his phone to bear.)

Defunct Airline;   To describe a particularly difficult hill. (Not BEA, the other one.)

A Bell Ringer;    A pothole severe enough for my bell to ring by itself.

Useless Information

Cycled 1044 miles

Average speed 14.2 mph

Average cadence ( speed we turned the pedals per minute ) was 80 throughout the period

Average daily mileage on bike 73.5

Average time in saddle daily 5.17 hours

Total time in saddle 72.3 Hours

Total turns on pedals 347830 each !!

Total counties passed through 20

Overall mileage 2400 driven by support van

Our views on the accommodation and restaurants sampled over the two weeks

Best B & B - Muddifords Court Country House, Cullompton, Tiverton http://www.muddifordscourtcountryhouse.co.uk/

Best Breakfast - Hilton Lodge, Dornoch
www.hiltonlodgebedandbreakfast.co.uk/

Best Dinners - Red Lion, near St Tudy.  Douglas Arms, Langholm and Luigis in Dornoch  http://www.luigidornoch.com/

Best View -  Ben Loyal Hotel, Tongue
http://www.benloyal.co.uk/

Best Shower - Ye Olde Talbot, Worcester
www.oldenglishinns.co.uk/worcester/

Best Bath - Muddifords Court Country House, Cullompton, Tiverton

Biggest Bed - Hilton Lodge, Dornoch

Best Duvet - Border House, Langholm

Smallest Bed and Shower - Sunnybank, Sennen and Border House, Langholm

Longest wait for dinner - Ye Olde Talbot, Worcester

Best Value for Money - Preston Premier Inn for B/B and dinner.

Friendliest/Most Helpful Staff - The Garth, Granton on Spey, Premier Inn, Preston and Muddifords, Thrumpster House, Wick. 
www.garthhotel.com/

Award for faded glory, Thrumpster House, Wick, Scotland www.thrumster.co.uk/

Best impression of chocolate box B&B pipped at the post for best breakfast, Polrode Guest House, St Tudy, Cornwall www.polrodeguesthouse.co.uk/

Day 14 - John o'Groats

The Final Leg….

Yes the sun was shining on us today, and we have to say the views from the rooms at the hotel of choice were superb to say the least, with water to one side and fantastic mountain ranges to the other.

Our day finished yesterday at the top of Bettyhill, where the ever faithful support crew collected us, this time we travelled west wards to a hotel for the overnight stay in a place called Tongue, a venue the girls had researched and as said earlier the views were well worth it.

We were reliably informed by locals, that the route we had mapped out along the north coast was truly rewarding, the small but valid point that had been missed out on the praise of our decision was b....y Hills again, lots of them, but hey we are getting very very used to them now !!!.

We had decided to take a small deviation to the route to visit Dunnet Head, which is in fact for the uninitiated, the most northerly point of mainland Britain, and yes they only way to get to it is strangely up a 5 mile long hill, and obviously into a northerly wind, the benefit if you can call it that , is it is downhill on the way back.

After our detour we resumed our course to John O’ Groats, now firmly on the last leg of the journey, all quite excited that we were now going to achieve the goal of End to End.

We finally crossed the line at about 3.30pm, still enjoying the luxury of sunshine, it soon became apparent that absolutely no expense was ever budgeted for in making the most of this natural tourist attraction, apart from the fact that for the first time in days we were able to enjoy a Costa Coffee, how’s that for timing ?

Have since obviously opted for champagne though.

This brings us to the end of our End to End journey, we did it, and we are very proud of the fact we didn’t walk a step, not bad for a couple of old farts on  tour………

Please note :

This blog has not quite finally ended just yet, as we will also be posting a few thoughts / observations that have happened during the course of our journey, and naturally the listing the obligatory useless facts that none of you will be the slightest bit interested in.

The Old Farts and the very very patient and efficient support crew , whom both Chris and I owe a great deal to

59 miles average speed 14.0 mph

Day 14: Bettyhill - John O'Groats

Boys Completed at 15.25 this afternoon update to follow