Summary

1016 miles in 6 days plus a marathon a day later. This has been by far the hardest challenge I have ever set myself. It was not just a massive physical undertaking but also mentally testing (stress levels were often high, navigating, often having to improvise with routes etc.) , a test of my notoriously bad time management and organisational skills but most of all was a test of character. My legs are now getting better but my fingers are still tingling/numb which is slightly concerning. However I went to see a nurse today and she concluded that is wasn't Carpal Tunnel Syndrome which I feared and that it should get back to normal fairly soon as long as I avoid cycling and try to avoid drilling/ anything which subjects excess vibration to my hands.

 First of all I'd like to thank Mark Beamont, Dean Karnazes (The Ultramarathon Man), John Bishop (Sport Relief) and Eddie Izzard (Sport Relief) - all have been truly inspirational role models.

But most importantly I'd like to thank anyone who has sponsored me for this, Gary for the route, David and Justin at Blue Door Bicycles for sorting the bike out/ giving very useful advice on everything, the many, many people who have pointed me in the right direction along the way, Guide Dogs for giving me the marathon place and giving the much needed massage after the race, Guy for being very kind allowing me the time off work plus a few extra recovery days but most of all I'd like to thank my Dad - without your help I would not have made it - the daily conversations helped tremendously as did locating the bike shop in Greenock/looking up ferry times, but most of all for coming all the way up from London to meet me in Edinburgh and riding the bike to and from the marathon finish and then again from Kings Cross Station back home - for someone who hasn't riden a bike in many years to cycle from Kings Cross in the nighttime London Traffic you did an amazing job and couldn't have done it without you.

Day 8 - The Final Marathon Challenge!!!

Woke up at around 6, had a shower (shower was dodgy and needed to pull the pull cord fuse switch above the toilet as dial on shower wouldn't work). Then after a little while in the toilet (no toilet paper - had to use communal toilet in hallway) went to the breakfast area - there was some cereal but no milk, bread or juice. It was now approaching 7am so I found the hotel kitchen in search of some food (light didn't work so had to take bedside lamp from room and plug it in in the kitchen to see what I was doing). So I helped myself to some toast and was soon joined by a few other guys who were also doing the marathon who also helped themselves to some food. We then went to the breakfast area to eat and shortly later the breakfast lady came in and wasn't best pleased that we'd raided the kitchen (despite being told breakfast would be at 7 (it was now around 7.30)). Anyway we finished our toast, packed our stuff, sorted out marathon kit and checked out. Dad had a little try on my bike as he would have to ride it around 10 miles from the start area of the marathon to the finish area. We stopped at the Sainsbury's local I'd seen the previous evening and stocked up on food and water for the day. Time was now getting on so it was a brisk walk to the marathon baggage trucks to give them my bag (made it with about 5 minutes to spare) then headed up to the start area and stopped for a pre race sun creaming, half a banana and half a mars bar before a quick photo and jogging over to my start zone (faster runners go at the front and slower ones at the back - I think I was roughly in the middle) just in time for the start of the race. Immediately after starting I knew this would be tough as my legs were stiff from the cycling so stuck to a comfortable pace just hoping to complete the course. After about 3 or 4 miles the route led to the seafront which was very nice running and I was in good spirits. However after 8 miles or so I was starting to struggle a bit and needed some jelly babies. Thankfully I was able to grab some pretty quickly  and this gave me a much needed boost. Somewhere between 10 and 12 miles were the first casualties of the day lying at the side if the road being treated by the Red Cross paramedics. Along the next 6 - 8 miles there were a good few more casualties who had obviously been badly effected by the intense heat (it must have been at least 30 degrees and the course was mostly under the direct glare of the sun) and lack of water/jelly baby tables along this section of the course. This made me run cautiously and take on water and jelly babies whenever possible. Around mile 15 some charity people were handing out some little rice crispy cakes - I gobbled down 2 and these helped massively. After mile 18 it was psychologically easier as I new I had completed over 2/3rds of the course and still felt ok although was now running with minimal leg lift/knee bend. The next big milestone was mile 20 (I know from previous marathon experience that after 20 miles is always a struggle). However I still felt strong and my pace started to quicken and found myself overtaking a lot of people. These last few miles had a lot of water stations - the marathon organisers should have spaced them out better and had them at least every other mile rather than about 2 in 6 miles and then every mile for the last 5 miles or so. Anyway I took on a last few mouthfuls of water with maybe 3 miles to go along with a few more jelly babies and upped my pace right to the end even somehow managing a sprint finish. It was a mixed feeling of relief and jubilation as i crossed the finish line - glad that it was all finally over and happy with what I'd managed to achieve over the past 8 days. After a slow walk through the finish area collecting my medal, t-shirt and goody bag I had a stretch and headed towards the baggage trucks. I got my bag back in no time and fished out my phone to call my dad (the phone was on it's last bar of battery and had been so for the past few days (I took the wrong phone charger with me so couldn't charge the phone all week)) so it was a relief that the phone still had enough juice to call my dad and ask him to come over and meet me. He found me easily and I flopped on the grass and gobbled down a few donuts and shortbread biscuits to get my sugar levels back up and then (with dad's help) got up and walked over to the marquees in search of a desperately needed massage. The Guide Dogs marquee were giving massages so went there and had a ribena and bag of crisps whilst waiting. Then came the massage. Painful but needed - the masseuse could tell that my muscles were shot. So I got a gentle massage on the front and back of the legs before heading off to find the shuttle bus to take me back to the station for my 5.30 train back to London. There wasn't a huge amount of time (it must have been around 3.30 by now) so I walked as  fast as I could towards signs for the shuttle bus. This walk was seriously long (probably about a mile uphill with the sun pounding down the heat. So after this long old walk there was a massive queue for the bus. It was around 4.15 by now and I was getting worried about not making it back to the station in time. Eventually I boarded the bus at around 4.35 and was told the bus should take 35 - 40 minutes so should be ok. The bus got back to the town centre at around 5.10 and I still had a little walk to the station. So I gingerly stepped off the bus and walked as fast as I could to the station. Got to the station at maybe 5.18, had to go down about 3 or 4 escalators (couldn't walk down them like I normally do so had to stand still and wait for them to reach the bottom). Then reached the train times on the monitors with less than 10 minutes to spare - 2 trains were going to London at very similar times. I went with the 5.30 train as stated on my ticket so hobbled down the stairs to the platform. Now about 6 minutes to go. Walked quickly down the platform and to my great relief saw my dad at the far end of the train. we got on and the next challenge was finding a seat. thankfully although the train was packed we managed to get some seats and slumped down and got the food out. I polished off a few more donuts a shortbread, a sandwich and a mars bar straight away and finally the stress and rushing around was over. After a few hours I was very drowsy when we reached York Station. A few people boarded and we were sitting in the seats they'd reserved. I could have cried. So we threw all the food etc. into the bag and gathered all our stuff and squeezed along the carriage to find another seat. There didn't seem to be any seats and I'd had enough and was gonna just sit on the floor by the luggage - at least here nobody could tell me to move and I had loads of space to stretch my legs/lie down if desired.      My dad did however manage to find a couple of seats a bit further along so i begrudgingly went with him  and sat down. Then realised that these seats would also have to be vacated at the next station. I was not happy. Thankfully we were able to just move across to the seats next to us on the other side of the train at the next station and remained there until London. We finally got off the train at London Kings Cross Station just after 10pm and I took a few photos of dad on the bike before me getting the tube/bus back as was unable to cycle and dad rode the bike back. I got home I think about 11.15. My dad had already made it back but had suffered a fall on the way back - some drunk girl had stepped out in front of him as he was approaching West Norwood and he ended up going over the handlebars. Thankfully he was ok (just a grazed elbow and understandably a bit shaken up) and the bike was ok too. I jumped straight in the shower and threw a Goodfellas pizza in the oven. After the bath and pizza I watched an episode of Casualty (sad I know) before eating a few more snacks and going to bed.


Reviews

Edinburgh Marathon 5/10 - atmosphere pretty good, a nice course along the seafront but failed majorly in supplying enough water/jelly babies for the runners  resulting in many casualties. Also the shuttle bus was too far away.

Lessons Learned


Make sure you book specific seats when ordering your train ticket to ensure you get a seat.

Day 7 - Recovery Day for the Marathon/getting the train to Edinburgh

Woke up at around 6 felt relieved that I didn't have to ride today (I decided to wake up this early because I wanted to keep the same sleep/toilet routine for the marathon tomorrow and also wanted to get my breakfast early). After mostly lying in bed listening to Radio 1 on the freeview box for an hour I headed over to the breakfast area where I was served a Full Scottish Breakfast (sausage, mushrooms, black pudding, haggis, egg and 6 halves of toast). This was delicious and also managed to have a couple of yoghurts and couple of glasses of milk and orange juice also. After feeling satisfactorally full I went back to my room, lay in bed a bit longer, grabbed my stuff and checked out just after 9am. I had a nice easy ride to Wick going at a fairly pedestrian pace and got there at around 10.30. I still had 2 hours until my train was leaving so went to a cafe and got a macaroni cheese with jacket potato followed by a 'large' tub of toffee ice cream. I then went to the Co-op next to the station and got my final meal deal of the trip - a tuna and sweetcorn sandwich (good energy food for marathon), crisps and water. I got to the station just after 12 (half an hour early) and the train staff were telling me I should have had a reservation for the bike and might not be able to fit it on if other passengers that had bike reservations were to show up. Thankfully there were no other bikes so I secured the bike in the designated bike area found myself a seat. It was yet another stiflingly hot day and was a relief when the train finally got moving letting a breeze in through the window. I then discovered the train would stop at Thurso despite ending up in Inverness, so I could have just stayed in Thurso and got the train there ha ha. Anyway the train ride was really nice (not many passengers so I had a whole 4 seat table to myself, also went passed the amazing section of coastline between Helmsdale and Golspie again this time even closer to the beach and even saw a few seals on the beach!!!). After finally getting to Inverness at around 5.20 there was more uncertainty as to whether I would be allowed on my next train with the bike with the train staff again saying I should have had a bike reservation. Like before I explained that I had contacted the train company before getting my ticket who explained to me that a bike reservation was not needed. They disagreed but again let me on as there were not many other bikes boarding my train. This journey was another pleasant one with plenty of seats and the train passed through the Cairngorms National Park offering spectacular views of snow-topped mountains and forests. After getting off this train there was thankfully only one more train to catch - from Perth to Edinburgh. No train staff asking about the bike this time as I simply changed platforms and boarded the final train. On here I met a couple of other older male cyclists and we shared cycling stories - I told them about my past week and my London to Prague ride last year and they told me about some trips they'd taken around the Himalaya's and trips about europe they had done. Their bikes (one in particular) was a massive beast of a touring bike (very similar to Mark Beaumont's Bike) and when fully loaded with everything for a major expedition would have probably weighed 3 times more than my relatively light road bike (10 - 11kg). This conversation seemed to make the journey pass much faster and I was soon getting off the train in Edinburgh. I met up with my Dad on the platform who had very kindly agreed to travel up from London to support me on the final challenge of the marathon, and we headed off to find our hotel. The Hotel was easy enough to find and thankfully close to an Italian restaurant and there was a Sainsbury's local on the way for where we would be walking in the morning to get to the marathon. There was a bit of a performance checking into the hotel as we had to knock on another hotel opposite to be given the keys for this one. Anyway we were shown to our room and told breakfast would be served by 7am. The room was pretty awful and shower didn't seem to work so I gave up and got changed to go out for my meal (my dad later discovered a little pull cord above the toilet that turned on the shower). So we headed out and walked the short distance to the Italian restaurant. I ordered a carbonara and dad ordered a Calzone pizza. The waiter gave me ravioli and my dad another type of pizza. So after waiting a little while we were served with the meals we had ordered and they did turn out very nice and good portion sizes. Then got a desert each and asked for the bill. We left shortly after and went back to the hotel and straight to bed.

Reviews


Meals ;
Breakfast - 10/10 - it was included in the price of the £30 room and was good size and good quality.
Brunch (cafe in Wick) - 8/10 - good service, decent value, pretty good food and reasonable portion sizes.
Dinner (Italian restaurant in Edinburgh) - 8.5/10 Although we were served the wrong meal to start with when the correct meal did come it was really nice and a good size. Also excellent value (around £33 for 2 main courses, a beer, 2 deserts and a coffee).
B&B (Annfield House, Edinburgh) - 3/10: Decent location and was allowed bike in room otherwise poor - dodgy shower, breakfast late, a performance booking in, and extortionate marathon price of £82.50 for 1 star room for 2 people for 1 night).

Lessons Learned


Insist on getting a bike reservation when ordering your train tickets, check train route before leaving (could have avoided a 25 mile cycle).

Day 6 - Fort Augustus to John O Groat's, John O Groat's to Thurso (180 miles) Job Done!!!

Woke up at around 4.30 and for the first time so far in the trip the sun wasn't shining - it was a misty start to the day. This made getting up and leaving even more of a chore than normal and didn't relish the prospect of having to cycle in the damp mist. I turned on Radio 1 on the freeview box with the tv and listened to this whilst eating breakfast/looking at maps/packing my bag. After getting ready i felt too tired to leave so decided to have a 10 minute snooze at around 6am. I then woke up suddenly to the Chris Moyles opening music for the start of his show at 6.30. I felt a little more awake now and managed to get going by 6.55. The first section of the day remained misty and cold (the mist was blowing over from Loch Ness that I was riding alongside). Still I guess it wouldn't have been a true reflection of Scotland to have hot sunny weather everyday. I prioritised not stopping even more now as I was just about warm enough without having to put on my jacket and I knew if I stopped I would be cold within 5 minutes or less. Anyway I churned out this first section of the day telling myself that I'd treat myself to a hot chocolate and scrambled egg on toast when I got to Inverness. However when I got to Inverness I decided to stay on the A9 (which would take me all the way up to Thurso) and not waste time looking for a cafe in the city centre. Inverness was then behind me and I was onto a very busy stretch of the A9. There were no petrol stations or shops shortly after Inverness so I had to settle for putting my jacket on and having half a cheese sandwich, crisps and mars bar on a bench at the side of the A9. This actually didn't turn out bad as it was time-saving as I wanted to get going before getting too cold and didn't have to waste time looking for somewhere to get food. So I set off around 15 minutes later with my jacket still on feeling better having eaten and knowing that I knew I should be able to make Thurso comfortably today (around 110 or 115 miles to go and it was before 10am. 10 minutes later after a small incline the jacket was back off and into the bag. The temperature was rising slowly and the mist was easing which was a relief. I reached my half way destination of Tain by around 12.15 (I was doing well for time) so decided to take the mile or 2 detour into town to find a cafe to get that hot chocolate and scrambled egg on toast that I'd wanted earlier. I found a decent cafe easily enough and got my hot chocolate and scrambled egg on toast which was lovely. Thankfully there was a Co-op next to the cafe so I stocked up with more water, more mars bars and some jam donuts, a banana and a bottle of Lucozade for later. I was on my was again at about 1pm and by about 2pm the mist had completely cleared and once again it was another gorgeous hot and sunny day. The scenery improved with the weather as the stretch of A9 between Golspie and Helsdale especially was pretty special with miles of glorious deserted sandy beaches and little traffic with only a few houses dotted around. After Helmsdale The scenery remained great but I was expecting to see the A9 going inland towards Thurso but this did not seem to happen for a long time (probably due to this being a rather hilly section of the route so progress was slow). After somewhere between 115 and 120 miles and after another long climb I needed to stop so sat on the grass at the side of the road and had my donuts, banana and lucozade whilst looking at the maps. I was doing well for time (i think it was around 5pm) and I realised that if I made it to Wick in an hour (around 20 miles away) I would have enough time to make John O Groats and then to Thurso by no later than 10pm. Game on. So I set off as fast as I could towards Wick and made it there by around 6pm, found out that it was less than 20 miles to John O Groats and another 22 miles to Thurso (should be well within what I am capable of) and had a quick pastry and downed a Lucozade in about 5 minutes before leaving on the last push to John O Groats. This section offered some of the best/fastest riding of the whole trip with long, flat and smooth stretches and just a few small hills. I made it to John O Groats by around 8.30 and went down to the seafront in search of the sign. There was a sign fixed to a harbour wall (the other 'official' sign had been taken down for the day and would not be put back until the following morning) so I found an older couple who congratulated me on completing the ride in 6 days and informed me that there was a very old woman (I can't remember her exact age but think it was between 85 and 90) who had just finished walking here from Lands End since starting in March - amazing. They were more than happy to take a good few photos with me and the bike next to the sign. After the photos I had a below par apple turnover I'd bought back in Wick before heading off to find my hotel in Thurso. It was another great fast paced section flat smooth section of road and was comfortably able to achieve an average speed of 20 mph so I didn't have to push myself too much to get to my hotel in Thurso by 9.45ish. I checked in, dumped my stuff and had a quick shower before heading into town in search of food (the hotel as all hotels seem to do in Scotland stopped serving food at 9pm). I had to settle for Battered sausage and chips from a fish and chip shop as all the restaurants had also shut in town. I walked back at what must have been about 11pm and it still wasn't properly dark!!! Anyway got back and went to bed setting my alarm for 6am (a lie in compared to the previous 5 days) and went to sleep feeling relieved that the cycling ordeal was as good as over and looking forward to my full Scottish Breakfast in the morning.

Reviews 


Food: (cafe in Tain) 8/10 - great quality tasty food and good value but miserable waitress.
         (fish and chip shop in Thurso) 7.5/10 - food decent, not too expensive, took a little while to                               s        serve, portion not very big but free ketchup which you don't always get in chip shops
Hotel: The Weigh Inn Lodge (Thurso) 10/10 - friendly service, was allowed to take bike in room, great value, free biscuits in room, nice enough room, amazing breakfast in morning.

Lessons Learned


If you need a snooze in the morning set the alarm again (I could have slept in much later - pure luck that I woke up when I did).

Day 5 - Irvine to Fort Augustus (180 miles)

Woke up at around 5.00am felt pretty hungry so went and got my bacon sandwich that the hotel owner left in the fridge for me the previous night and helped myself to some cereal in the breakfast area and checked the route for the day. Set off at maybe 7.15 after another painful toilet episode and headed towards Greenock for the Ferry across the estuary to Kilgreccan. The roads round Irvine are pretty bad - very busy and again some dodgy road surfaces. After about 10 miles the A78 I was on headed towards the coast which made for much nicer riding scenically as well as thankfully a better road surface and less busy roads. A few miles later I'd realised I'd left my water bottles back at the hotel but I had done 15 miles and it was definitely too late to turn back. So after maybe another 5 or 10 miles I stopped at a petrol station and got some bottles of water with the sports caps which would have to make do as my new cycling water bottles. The remainder of the first section of the day was nice as the A78 followed the coast with nice seas views. I made it to Greenock in good time where my Dad had earlier informed me of a cycle shop that would be open at 9am. I had found the bike shop by 9.45 and it still wasn't open. So I headed towards Gourock a few miles along the coast where the ferry was departing where apparently there was another cycle shop somewhere. I then asked a cyclist and he said that the only cycle shop was the one that I'd been to in Grenock that was shut. So I headed back to Grenock again and thankfuklly the shop had finally open. The shop was a mess crammed with bikes and rubbish but they did have what I needed (a pump to borrow and a spare inner tube (although this did cost an extortionate £5.95)). The guy in the shop was very helpful however and he talked me through the day's ride. With this delay I had to make do with getting te 11.18 rather than the 10.18 ferry crossing. The ferry ride was nice - a small boat with a maximun capacity of about 30 people. So I used the 15 or 20 minute crossing as an opportunity to eat my brunch of donut, pastries and shortbread. After the ferry crossing I had a top up of the sun cream as it was yet again a very hot day before setting off up the Gare Loch coast towards my next pit stop at Crianlarich 40 or 50 miles away. The Gare Loch coast was gorgeous with nice roads and villages along the way. Then when I got to the next town of Garelochhead I took a wrong turn which resulted in some harsh hills/mountains but was rewarded with some truly stunning views and nice roads so not all bad. After a while I reached the A82 which would take me all the way to Fort Augustus. This runs along the Loch Lomond and is in the national park so more amazing scenery for most of the way. Crianlarich seemed to be taking forever to reach (perhaps because of the wrong turn earlier, or the heat was getting to me). I stopped at the sign for the Distrist of Stirling for a photo (I had taken photos of every county/district border that I'd crossed) and went over to a pub opposite to ask how far I was from Crianlarich. The pub was filled with stuffed animals and the men working there were in traditional kilts which made me fear that I could be miles and miles from anywhere. Thankfully however they informed me that I was only 9 miles away from Criarlarich and kindly filled my water bottles whilst I was there which was a relief as I'd run dry. So I finally reached Criarlarich and thankfully managed to find a Londis where I devoured a breakfast sandwich (egg, bacon and sausage all in 1 sandwich - oh yes), 2 more pastries, a callipo, a bottle of lucozade) as well as a few mars bars and more water. So after another sun cream top-up I set off at around 3.30 still with 60-odd miles to go. The next section of road between Criarlarich and Loch Lynne offered amazing mountain views (some mountains still had snow at the very top and saw a sign for the Glencoe Ski lift) as the road primarily stuck to the valleys at the bottom. After Loch Lynne I was getting tired and very achy and so just ground out the final miles to Fort William. I stopped at Fort William to get some food and called the B&B I would be staying in that night to ask about whether I should buy breakfast for the morning or if they would make me something for the morning as I knew tomorrow would be the last big day and I wanted an early start. The lady at the B&B agreed to make me something then informed me that I was over 30 miles from Fort Augustus (I'd thought it was around 15 from what someone had said at Criarlarich earlier) and that nowhere would be open serving food by the time I would be arriving. Crap. I quickly bought something to eat there and then as well as a couple of pasta salad's that I would have for dinner later. I quickly ate my food and slaggily tied the pasta salad packets onto the outside of my bag with cable ties before rushing off as fast as I could as it was about 8.20 and I still had over 30 miles to go. These last 30 miles were a real test and the fear of not reaching my B&B by nightfall carried me through the exhaustion and kept me focused reaching my destination. At around 9pm all the cars started putting their headlights on which worried me. Thankfully though by the time I'd reached Fort Augustus at just after 10pm it was still light. The B&B was a pretty long way down a little country road and it was getting hard to see under the cover of the trees. Eventually I was mightily relieved to find my B&B down this little road at about 10.20pm (it was still not dark thankfully). I left the bike by the side of the isolated house and went in to an immaculate room, jumped straight in the shower and went into the dining area for my pasta salad. Then found the food the lady had made for my breakfast in the morning, took it up to my room and went to bed.

Reviews


B&B (Mavisburn B&B, Fort Augustus) 9/10 - nice service and food, great value, great shower. however room too clean/nice (not suited for a smelly dirty cyclist like myself) and I was afraid of making a mess/ staining the immaculate carpet/bedding and bike was left outside.

Lessons Learned


Make sure you know how far you have to go until you reach your destination and again try to leave earlier.

Day 4 - Keswick to Irvine (141 miles)

Woke up at around 5.30 not feeling too bad considering yesterday's ordeal. Went down and had some cereal then decided that i'd give the bike it's first (and only) clean of the trip. This of course took longer than expected as despite the dry weather the chain and chainrings were filthy. Didn't set off until about 7.45 and as soon as I stept on the bike my derierre was very painful particularly with my fingers still tingling and palms still sore from yesterday. Was also very tired and stopped after less than 10 miles to eat my complimentary hotel biscuits to give me a bit of a boost. It was another hot day and was a slog to Carlisle at around 32 miles for the first break of the day. Bought and consumed my standard service station meal deal of a pasty, bag of crisps and bottle of water along with a few mars bars, withdrew some more money as had underestimated the £30-35 per day I would need for food and water. I managed to cross the Scottish border and get to Dumfries at around 12.30, and was doing ok for time so decided to find an internet cafe to update the blog. There wasn't an internet cafe but did find a library which let me use a computer. So I updated the first few days of the blog whist carefully eating my lunch trying not to get any pastry crumbs on the immaculate keyboard. After finally doing the first few days of the blog, quick facebook update/emails I set off at around 3.30 still with 60 miles to go. Maybe an hour or so later I got my second puncture of the trip. I went to open my saddle bag to get my puncture kit out to discover that i'd clearly not put the top back on the chain lubricant earlier and so everything was covered in oil. great. So I emptied everything out of the bag and gave it a wipe off with a flannel and set to work trying to repair the puncture. It turned out that the patch i'd used for the previous puncture had come loose so I initially tried to rip the old patch off and put a new patch in it's place - this failed. So then I replaced the inner tube which eventually worked (the CO2 cannister I'd bought at the bike shop in Weston Super Mare would either not work or I was doing something wrong so went back to using my small hand pump. This was all very tricky (far harder than the first puncture repair on day 1) as the tingling/numbness in my fingers was making life much harder - especially fiddling around with the presta valve, as well as lorries thundering past every other minute. Eventually I managed to fix the puncture and clean/repack the oily saddle bag (taking around an hour)  and was on my way with still 40 or 50 miles to go. I was pushing myself as much I could as new I was pushed for time (everything ached - again a case of mind over matter). The route was again only a few A roads which were easy to navigate but the roads were again inconsistent (sometimes smooth sometimes bad). I managed to find my hotel near Irvine easily enough by about 8.30 and checked in/had a shower/ went to the hotel restaurant for a meal. Had my below par lasagne and chips for dinner, went back to my room and went to bed.

Reviews


Hotel (Kidron Hotel, Irvine) 6/10: expensive, food not good, service ok, room ok, safe place for bike

Lessons Learned


Learn how to use a C02 cannister before leaving the shop having bought it, take more care to ensure lubricant lid is on before putting it in saddlebag.

Day 3 - Hereford to Keswick - ‎5 counties, over 12,000 calories burned, 211 miles. all in a day's cycling. Back on schedule!!!

Woke up to my phone alarm at 3am. felt awful. had a shower to try and wake myself a bit - this did help a bit. had the Greggs meal deal I'd bought in Chepstow the day before and looked over the maps again marking the easiest to navigate most direct route. I eventually set odd just after 5 (I was intending on leaving at 4.30 but being so tired and having to mess around unlocking the bike/putting wheel back on bike delayed me. The first couple of hours cycling were a real chore and I was far too tired for this. I made it to my first destination of Shrewsbury by around 8.30 however which was good (I was aiming to be past Shrewsbury by 9) so I realised that the target destination of Keswick was acheiveable. The next section of the day - the A49 between Shrewsbury and Warrington was (like the first section of the day) great riding with lovely scenery, little traffic, nice road surface and relatively flat. I reached Warrington Roughly half way) by around 12.30 and after a big lunch was away just after 1pm. I'd like to thank the council in Warrington for making the city extremely easy to navigate thanks to the A49 being shown alongside the street name on the street name signs - something that would be a good idea everywhere and would have made my life much easier on the rest of the trip. By this time the temperature was getting seriously hot which didn't help matters and also added 'applying sun cream' to my already tedious routine of buying food and water, eating food whilst checking route, filling water bottles and repacking handlebar bag with wallet, camera, suncream and chocolate bars/chocolate brownies to snack on whilst riding. Anyway I made it through Wigan and Preston to the next pit stop at Lancaster by around 6, still following the A49. I'd now covered around 160-165 miles so was still on track for Keswick around 50 or 60 miles away. After a couple of Solero's and some Lucozade I set off on the final gruelling stretch. When I first entered the Lake District the cycling was phenominal with a good stretch on flat smooth road with amazing scenery. However after a while whilst the views were still amazing the same could not be said for the roads - very inconsistent surface (some areas good some areas very uneven). I eventually made it to 200 miles and was instantly greeted by a mile long uphill stretch which was extremely tough but I knew I had to keep the momentum going to get to Keswick (stopping would have been game over). By this time my fingers were tingling from the constant vibration of the dodgy road surface and the palms of my hands were very sore, not to mention my triceps and lower back were majorly aching and my knees and feet were starting to ache too. These last 10 miles were simply a case of mind over matter and I eventually made it to my hotel in Keswick by 8.45 having cycled for 15 hours and 47 minutes. I then had the ordeal of having to chain the bike up and went upstairs to my room. I felt pretty dreadful so had a shower and had to have a sip of Lucozade as was feeling a bit faint. I went downstairs to try my luck with the receptionist to get my very smelly cycling gear washed and thankfully she was very nice and put it all straight into the hotel's washing machine on a quick wash so that it would be ready when I got back from my meal - result!!! I then went out to get some desperately needed dinner. Thankfully there was an Italian restaurant right near the hotel where I managed to get a big portion of tagliatele and meatballs. After almost falling asleep eating my meal I went back to the hotel and fell asleep more or less straight away.

Reviews


Hotel (The Queens Hotel, Keswick) - 9/10: Very helpful receptionist/free washing, reasonable value, nice room, cereal put out for the morning so didn't have to wait for breakfast times. Only downside was had to chain bike up.
Restaurant (Casa Bella, Keswick) 10/10: Excellent food, excellent value, big portions, good service.

Lessons Learned


Allow at least 2 hours to get ready in the mornings, stick to the A roads.