LeJoG Day 12 - A sunny day in Scotland!

Our main memory of today will be of the heat!  It was too hot for cycling, really, and Joel in particular, really struggled.

We set off from Gretna in good time this morning, and things went very well until lunchtime.  We even found time for an extra ice cream stop, when we found ourselves going right past an ice cream farm which we remembered from our holiday two years ago.  Well worth a break - I chose rhubarb and ginger flavour - yummy!

At lunch, even the bikes were flat out (see below)!  We found another shady tree, this time at the edge of a public playing field, which suited us very well.

This afternoon we spent most of our time on the A76.  Not an experience I would recommend on a bike!  It wasn't quite as busy as some of the roads we cycled in Gloucester and Herefordshire the other day, but it was hard work.  The surface was in reasonable repair, but very bumpy for bicycles, and consequently very slow.  So even though we were going downhill most of the time, and under trees out of the worst of the sun, it was a long, hard slog.  We were stopping frequently for a drink of water, and eventually gave up about 8 miles short of where we'd hoped to finish for the day - 8 miles which we'll have to cycle on the same road tomorrow!

Tomorrow afternoon, we're due to catch the ferry over to the Isle of Arran, so we need to complete 52 miles by 5.30 pm at the latest - it would be nice to do it sooner, and catch an earlier ferry!  So please pray that we'll be fit and ready in the morning, and that nothing untoward (eg accident, illness or puncture) delays us on the way.  We're very grateful for everyone's prayers - and in general we're doing amazingly well, enjoying good weather, and not suffering many problems.  Nathan's not feeling too good this evening, so please pray that he'll sleep well and feel better in the morning.

I didn't take any photos today - these are Steve's:

Even the bikes were flat out at lunchtime!

A shady spot to enjoy a delicious ice cream

LeJoG Day 11 - Fàilte gu Alba!

After a restful time from Saturday evening until this morning, being very well looked after by Geoff and Brenda, it was hard to say 'goodbye' this morning and continue our journey.  It was a beautiful day, and we started by cycling through the lanes from Sedgwick into Kendal.  From Kendal, we took the A6 to Penrith over Shap Summit.  For about 10 miles, we climbed steadily to the top, and then enjoyed the pay-off - much of the rest of the route to Penrith was downhill!  For the first time, we broke the 30-mile barrier before lunch, which we enjoyed sitting under a shady tree in the churchyard of St Andrew's Church (http://www.standrewspenrith.org.uk/welcome.htm).

From Penrith, we took a more cross-country route to Carlisle.  At one point, about 6 tractors came roaring past us on quite a narrow road!  It was one of those days when it's a joy to be out cycling - blue skies, a cooling breeze (not too strong!), beautiful countryside to cycle through, and stunning views of distant fells.

Carlisle provided an ice-cream and toilet break, before we pedalled on to Gretna.  So we're now north of the border, but as Nathan says, 'the end is still not in sight'!  We're over half-way now, but there's still over 400 miles to cycle.

We couldn't do this without Steve - we left him behind at Geoff and Brenda's to pack to car; he caught us up (having been chasing us along the A6!) in Penrith, and recharged our water bottles and provided edible encouragements; after sharing lunch with us, he continued to Carlisle, where he met us again with more water for our bottles and good things to eat; then he drove to the B&B and unloaded the car before meeting us in Gretna where we loaded the bikes onto the car and went to find some tea before coming back here.  He's spent the evening sorting out food and water for tomorrow, and generally making sure that we'll be ready to leave in the morning.  And tomorrow, he'll probably do the same all over again!  

Right at the end of the day, we crossed the border!

The River Kent in Kendal this morning

Looking up Longsleddale on our way up to Shap Summit

Looking back down the road from Shap Summit

Distances from Gretna,
including Lands End and John O'Groats -
we really are more than half way!

LeJoG Day 10 and Rest Day!

Yesterday (Saturday) was exhausting!  We started in Orrell, which was 15 miles short of where we'd hoped to finish on Friday evening, and cycled 63 miles to Sedgwick, just outside Kendal, where we'd arranged to stay with friends for Saturday and Sunday nights.  It rained on and off all day, and we had to find our way through Leyland (we got lost!), Preston and Lancaster (which were both easier, as there are National Cycle routes through the cities, which greatly help navigation - although it was still useful to have a pre-planned set of directions for those times when the route signs just seems to disappear!).  Most of the rest of the time we were ploughing up the A6, which isn't much fun, although at least there aren't many heavy lorries, as they tend to stay on the M6 motorway.  It all seemed to go slowly, but we were determined to go the whole distance, so we could have a proper rest today!  Geoff and Brenda were very understanding of our turning up at just after 7.30 pm, tired, wet and dirty!  They fed us a good meal, and have allowed us to relax today, and do some 'catching up' jobs, such as cleaning and lubing bikes, doing a load of washing, and so on.  It was great to go with them to church this morning as well.

Today has been glorious - it's good to have a brief look at the Lakeland fells in sunshine!  It's also helped us to dry out wet gear and get everything ready for the morning.  Tomorrow we go over Shap, so there'll be lots of climbing!  It's a good thing our legs have had a chance to rest today, because they'll have to work very hard to get us up to
1,400 ft.

The sun came out very briefly as we crossed the
River Lune in Lancaster

LeJoG Day 9 - Experience is useful - sometimes!

We enjoyed a night in the luxury of our own beds, and while we were at home, did a major repack to reduce the amount of luggage we're carrying - we were picking up some extra stuff which we'd left until now, but needed to offload as much as possible.

It's not always a good idea to stay at home for a night on such a trip.  Ellie Bennett, in her book Mud, Sweat and Gears: Land's End to John O'Groats via the Pub, says that she and her friend regretted having done just that - setting out from home seems like starting all over again, but with a better idea of what you're letting yourself in for!  On the plus side, as well as your own bed, it's free accommodation, free use of the washing machine (!), and plenty of space to spread out in!  Anyway, we managed to drag ourselves up and out this morning without too much trouble.

Today started with a trip to Barkers Lane Primary School (where both Nathan and Joel are past pupils), to do an assembly about our trip.  The school is following our adventures, and next week they're planning to see how many miles the children can clock up collectively on their bikes, round the playground!  They're going to donate any money they raise to a charity (but having cycled nearly 55 miles since then, I can't remember which one!)

We were joined at the school and for the first few miles afterwards by Steve B, Churchwarden at St John's.  We're so grateful for the support that many people are giving us - in prayer, in reading this and making supportive comments, and in Steve's case, coming out with us today.  After he and our Steve left us, Nathan, Joel and I made good progress for the rest of the morning, and had lunch at Frodsham.

After lunch, we set off to negotiate Runcorn.  This is where experience proved very useful.  When living in Liverpool, I cycled through Runcorn a number of times, and still remember a lot of a fairly quiet route between the A56 and the Runcorn Bridge.  It was a bit slow today, because it was quite windy, but we found our way to the Bridge with no real problems.

Widnes was a different story!  We knew the place is one huge set of roadworks at present, as they rebuild the road system around the new 'Mersey Gateway' bridge (due to open this autumn) - but we failed to realise that they'd also closed a section of the cycle route along the St Helen's Canal.  So we found ourselves cycling amongst heavy traffic through the roadworks, trying to follow the diversion to the cycle route!

Later on, we proceeded to lose our way in Sankey Valley Park, which I have cycled before with no problem.  Today, that experience was no help at all!  It took a while before we retraced our tracks far enough to find the turning we'd missed.  Once we'd found the track, and crossed underneath the M62, it was very pleasant for a few miles to Newton-le-Willows.

After that, we were cycling busy roads through urban areas and industrial sites - not much fun!  We eventually gave up at Orrell, where we will have to return in the morning to carry on. 

'The Assembly Crew'!

Part of the Manchester Ship Canal,
from the Runcorn Bridge

The Mersey Gateway nearing completion -
the cause of some of today's problems!

LeJoG Days 7 and 8 - What a Contrast!

We spent a lot of yesterday (Wednesday) on very busy roads between Gloucester and Leintwardine (in north Herefordshire).  It's really not much fun on a bike, when there's a constant flow of traffic going past, especially when a lot of the vehicles are big lorries.  The part of the road where bikes travel is also the part where the nearside wheels of those lorries travel, which means it's rutted and potholed, which makes cycling over it at best bumpy and at most quite dangerous - your wheel could get stuck in a pothole just as a lorry is trundling past.  But generally those roads are faster to travel, even on a bike, and in that part of the country there's not much choice.

We hadn't managed to be as well organised on Tuesday evening as we were on Monday, which meant a later start.  A couple of unplanned stops also took some time, so once again we didn't quite get as far as we'd intended.  But it was lovely to be able to relax at my Mum's overnight, and enjoy her cooking!  If anyone had asked me 20 years ago what we'd be doing on our 20th Wedding Anniversary, I don't think this would have been at the top of my list of possibilities!

Today (Thursday) we got going early - thanks to Steve who sent the rest of us off on our bikes and then went back to pack the car.  We spent most of the day on quiet country lanes, as we travelled on from Leintwardine towards Wrexham.  We made sure that we planned our stops more carefully.  The result was that for the first time we finished where we intended - at home!  As St Joseph's School is fundraising on the back of our ride, we came into Wrexham past the school gate, where there was a welcoming committee of a dozen or so school staff waiting to cheer us on!  It really is a boost to have completed more than 60 miles in a day, and to be on schedule!

The only photo from Day 7 - an 18th century
commemoration of a 15th century battle

We've been through a few counties since Devon,
but this is the first time we've managed a photo!
(Actually, we'd only seen one other county sign since Devon)

The Crown Inn at Wentnor very kindly let us use their toilets

Looking back towards the Shropshire hills

We stopped in Ellesmere for an ice cream,
and noticed this sign - our route is longer than this suggests!

There was no indication that we'd just entered Wales -
but we knew we were close to home when we saw this one!

The two boys were very embarrassed to be greeted by
a crowd and required to pose for a photo!

LeJoG Day 6 - Around and about the M5

A minor miracle or two occurred today - we got ourselves organised and out of the hostel by 8.40 am, and we cycled further than any other day so far - only 3 miles short of the intended end for today, which was fantastic, given the conditions this afternoon.

I'm so proud of Nathan and Joel - they're getting on with everything with the minimum of fuss and complaint.  They won't admit they're enjoying it (!), but they're both determined to complete our whole challenge.  Nathan was quite disappointed that we didn't quite manage to cycle 60 miles today!

Our route today took us up the Severn valley.  It's amazing that it's so flat, so close to Bristol and all its hills!  After the excitement of crossing the Avon on a footpath/cycleway alongside the M5, and then crossing two or three different motorways several times, we got into a good rhythm and trundled steadily along back lanes and through quiet villages.  We were very pleased to find that the church at Olveston (http://www.stmarysolveston.org.uk) had a porch to shelter us from a shower as we had our lunch (it was even one of the those church porches with a stone bench down each side for us to sit on!).  We had a quick look inside the church and were glad to make use of their toilet!  Despite the weather forecast, we managed to dodge most of the rain (apart from a couple of showers) until mid-afternoon.  By then we'd just left the towpath of the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal with great relief - it had been a real boneshaker.  We stopped for ice creams in Frampton on Severn - which is a beautiful village - and the lady in the shop, (who apparently lives in a boat on the canal, and has cycled the towpath frequently) told us that we'd do much better to go back to the towpath and cycle up to Gloucester that way, than follow the suggested Sustrans cycle route round the lanes.  She assured us we'd just cycled the worst part of the towpath and the rest "isn't too bad".  I'm not sure what she'd call "awful", but I certainly wouldn't recommend that towpath!!  

We arrived in Gloucester thinking of Dr Foster (in case you don't remember, he went to Gloucester in a shower of rain, stepped in a puddle right up to his middle, and never went there again!)  In our case it was a bit more than a shower, but although we found plenty of puddles, none were quite as deep, thank goodness.

Tomorrow we'll be cycling into Shropshire, so there'll be more hills than the last two days.  We're due to spend the night at my mother's house, where there's no internet, so there'll be no Blog post.  On Thursday we continue to Wrexham, and get to spend one night in our own beds!  

Thank you again for all your prayers, and the messages of support on Facebook and elsewhere - please keep praying that we'll stay on track, and be as well organised as we managed today.  

Yes, we were about to go across there!

The footpath/cycleway across the Avon by the M5

The river Avon from the middle of the bridge

Motorway traffic was very close to us 

We enjoyed this message in the porch of Olveston Church

'Bikes of the day' - one of several similar
installations in Berkeley

Another of the Sustrans Millennium signposts -
there are four different styles -
I'm not so keen on the yellow!

A barge going through one of the swing bridges on
the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal

Day 5 - The Levels

"There won't be any hills today.  It'll be easy . . . " (we said).  "We'll be able to pile on the miles . . . " (we said).

It was certainly (relatively) flat, as we started out through Taunton, then along the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal, across the Somerset Levels, and ended the day along a disused railway.  But we failed to pile on the miles - we did quite well, at just short of 50, but tomorrow's route is supposed to be about 65 miles, and our plan to do some of those today failed to materialise.  We weren't helped by my failure to take a turn before Bridgwater, and then losing my sense of direction completely when we found ourselves in the town centre.  Eventually, the combination of downloaded OS map combined with the GPS on my phone helped me to get us back on track - there are definite advantages to modern technology!

The Bridgwater to Taunton Canal is home to the Somerset Space Walk.  I remember cycling past a similar installation between Selby and York 10 years ago - a scale model of the solar system.  This one confused us though, because the first 'planet' we noticed was Neptune, then we saw Mercury, Earth, Jupiter, Uranus (in that order, I think!)  We didn't see the Sun at all.  It turns out that there's one Sun, halfway along the canal, with two sets of planets stretching in each direction.  How we missed the Sun, I'm not quite sure!

We discovered that there's a problem cycling across a very flat area . . . the wind whips across, and no matter which direction you're travelling, it always seems to be against you!

To round the day off, we found that the second section of the disused railway was closed.  The diversion took us along a footpath through a wood, which someone in their wisdom had decided to cover in wood chippings to make it 'bike friendly' . . . whoever they are, they've obviously not been on a bike in a long time!

We passed The Fat Pig Forge, and this caught our eye!

A view of the Bridgwater and Taunton Canal

The Earth installation on the Somerset Space Walk

It's amazing to think that the conditions on Earth
are just right to support life

Kings Sedgmoor Drain is big enough to look like a river