You will see if you have a look at each day of the blog that we have added the weblink to the information from Gavin Tilsons Garmin unit (Bit of tech that tells him how far, how fast, etc)
From this you can see the exact route we took, and for real fun how Gav did, how high he climbed, the speed etc.
The link is at the top of each day - just click on it and you will see it
For example todays is at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/36496601
The H4H Team
Saturday, 12 June 2010
Day 10 - Preston to Stone - 12th June
Many miles, punctures and Bar-B-Que.
Follow our route and see where we have been by the following link, taken from Gavs garmin http://connect.garmin.com/activity/36587489
Following on from the last post after dinner last night, as mentioned yesterday was Owens Birthday. In true style, Princess had duly provided a cake and to celebrate for the remainder of the evening we all shared a carton of orange juice and exchanged pleasantries . Actually Tour Guide Toby took those of us that were still awake to see the highlights of Preston, and a grand job he did too.... Luckily, the old pubwatch posters have been removed, so Toby wasnt troubled through the evening.
Preston Station had kindly given up the recreation room for us for the night, and eventually everyone made it in, and turned in for the night. Some slightly later than others........
The first risers (Bob) were up at 5am (its an old age thing we think), and eventually everyone had surfaced by 7am. Luckily for us the station had no shouts in the night so we were left to slumber through.
Breakfast was another of Princess's feasts served up in the stations mess room, and as a little teaser for later, sausages were on the breakfast menu along with the usual spread of porridge, yoghurt's, fruit, cereal, croissants, etc.
Today we probably the first more challenging day for navigating more than anything else - first out of Preston, and then down through Wigan, Warrington on the A6, and then over to Stone, finishing at Staffordshire Fire HQ.
Everyone managed to get away fairly well after 9 after another of Bobs photo shoots. First amusement of the day once Andy and Julian had got all the vans manoeuvred and set up in the rear Yard, was Bob cycling back round - saying "where are you - we are doing it around the front...........!"
A selection of England flags were duly attached to various bikes and the vehicles to show our support!
The weather today was fine, and by lunchtime the point of sunburn. A much busier day on the roads, and a lot of built up area's but the main thing has to be the number of roundabouts and traffic light encountered, and how nearly every one was red!
Lunch was to be found in the car park of a pub at 37 mile mark - Lots of comments from the riders as to why it was so close to the start as we were doing 88 miles today! Suggestions that maybe having lunch before we left the station next time, were met with suitable retorts from Princess, however we know she will discipline the drivers later :) It was up to its usual standard
The remainder of the day after lunch was fairly uneventful for most, although Rosie decided that the best thing to eke out the day would be to have a puncture every 15 miles or so, resulting in three changes in the afternoon.
Some of the groups were spotted (Well it was a hot day) in a local hostelry on the way back, however Toby & Pete had the best result of the day with a free milkshake (and the offer of any other food we wanted) from a little cafe type shop in Nantwich. Having asked what we were doing so far from home, they insisted it was on the house and couldn't have done more. We highly recommend 'Fruitini' in Nantwich!
The final 50 miles although not exceptionally hilly, had some little climbs but the heat ended up making it a bit of a slog and a long ride. However the arrival at Staffs HQ for most around 5pm, to the sight of Julian setting up the Bar-B-Que set everyone up for the evening
A few cool drinks to complete the days ride, followed by a fantastic bar-b-que ensued, and we are now ensconced watching the footie in the restaurant at Staffs. A BIG thank you to Staffs Fire & Rescue who have actually put in a TV so we can watch it tonight.
Little mention has been made so far, but we should not forget Kev 'The Lunchbox' Dell and his Honda motorbike who has been patrolling the roads for us, fixing & repairing but more importantly offering a selection of goodies from his mobile lunchbox. Never has so much food been carried on a bike :)
Not to be outdone Julian Green has also been out and about on the local roads, and can often be seen in lay-bys with his camera out.......
We are still waiting to hear how much has been pledged to have Julian's moustached removed!
Follow our route and see where we have been by the following link, taken from Gavs garmin http://connect.garmin.com/activity/36587489
Following on from the last post after dinner last night, as mentioned yesterday was Owens Birthday. In true style, Princess had duly provided a cake and to celebrate for the remainder of the evening we all shared a carton of orange juice and exchanged pleasantries . Actually Tour Guide Toby took those of us that were still awake to see the highlights of Preston, and a grand job he did too.... Luckily, the old pubwatch posters have been removed, so Toby wasnt troubled through the evening.
Preston Station had kindly given up the recreation room for us for the night, and eventually everyone made it in, and turned in for the night. Some slightly later than others........
The first risers (Bob) were up at 5am (its an old age thing we think), and eventually everyone had surfaced by 7am. Luckily for us the station had no shouts in the night so we were left to slumber through.
Breakfast was another of Princess's feasts served up in the stations mess room, and as a little teaser for later, sausages were on the breakfast menu along with the usual spread of porridge, yoghurt's, fruit, cereal, croissants, etc.
Today we probably the first more challenging day for navigating more than anything else - first out of Preston, and then down through Wigan, Warrington on the A6, and then over to Stone, finishing at Staffordshire Fire HQ.
Everyone managed to get away fairly well after 9 after another of Bobs photo shoots. First amusement of the day once Andy and Julian had got all the vans manoeuvred and set up in the rear Yard, was Bob cycling back round - saying "where are you - we are doing it around the front...........!"
A selection of England flags were duly attached to various bikes and the vehicles to show our support!
The weather today was fine, and by lunchtime the point of sunburn. A much busier day on the roads, and a lot of built up area's but the main thing has to be the number of roundabouts and traffic light encountered, and how nearly every one was red!
Lunch was to be found in the car park of a pub at 37 mile mark - Lots of comments from the riders as to why it was so close to the start as we were doing 88 miles today! Suggestions that maybe having lunch before we left the station next time, were met with suitable retorts from Princess, however we know she will discipline the drivers later :) It was up to its usual standard
The remainder of the day after lunch was fairly uneventful for most, although Rosie decided that the best thing to eke out the day would be to have a puncture every 15 miles or so, resulting in three changes in the afternoon.
Some of the groups were spotted (Well it was a hot day) in a local hostelry on the way back, however Toby & Pete had the best result of the day with a free milkshake (and the offer of any other food we wanted) from a little cafe type shop in Nantwich. Having asked what we were doing so far from home, they insisted it was on the house and couldn't have done more. We highly recommend 'Fruitini' in Nantwich!
The final 50 miles although not exceptionally hilly, had some little climbs but the heat ended up making it a bit of a slog and a long ride. However the arrival at Staffs HQ for most around 5pm, to the sight of Julian setting up the Bar-B-Que set everyone up for the evening
A few cool drinks to complete the days ride, followed by a fantastic bar-b-que ensued, and we are now ensconced watching the footie in the restaurant at Staffs. A BIG thank you to Staffs Fire & Rescue who have actually put in a TV so we can watch it tonight.
Little mention has been made so far, but we should not forget Kev 'The Lunchbox' Dell and his Honda motorbike who has been patrolling the roads for us, fixing & repairing but more importantly offering a selection of goodies from his mobile lunchbox. Never has so much food been carried on a bike :)
Not to be outdone Julian Green has also been out and about on the local roads, and can often be seen in lay-bys with his camera out.......
We are still waiting to hear how much has been pledged to have Julian's moustached removed!
Friday, 11 June 2010
Day 9 - Penrith to Preston - 11th June
The day after the day before
Follow where we have been by Gavs Garmin - Click on this link - http://connect.garmin.com/activity/36496601
The first trial of the evening was the discovery by Laonie and Danny that as they had carefully put their small bags uder the stairs at Jubillee house, as it appeared to be a pile of our general bags, that it was acutally just Grahame, Nick and Petes bags, who a few minutes later promptly piled them all in the car to drive home with. Luckily - nothing important in them except Laonies life, make up and various essentials and everything of Dannys that he didnt know he had until he wanted it! In the end this was deposited at Preston station when the theft was discovered, so they have just had to go without for 24 hours :)
A big thank you to both the staff and the current guests at Jubillee house for making us some welcome, for the food and for generally having us. As a way of saying thank you, they held back the start of the quiz into which we entered two teams of four, and we are proud to say we came 1st & 2nd!!! (Well when you come from Oxford - there are expectations!)
Owen was still working out along with Gav an Phil and others until late out the back of the gym carrying out a little maintenance, however most people took around 10 15 minutes to get theirs up to speed. Not to be out done Toby, asked Owen to have a little look at his gears, and 2 1/2 hours later, it was decided the only thing that was going to sort out Toby's problem was a visit to the bike shop in the morning to lavish a good £100 pound or more on a new shifter, cable etc. It is likely that Toby will be riding the same bike when he finishes, but made up entirely of new parts................
A fairly quiet night ensued, as most got their heads down fairly promptly (after the worlds longest raffle, which again we were victorious with, and came away with a lot things we have no idea what they are).....
Back to the early starts (actually we never got away from them - funny that we are up earlier on the rest day than a ride day....)
Today was our first test of our new driving team of Andy & Will, so everyone very helpfully spent a bit of time ensuring they were suitable confused before we left them.
9 o'clock after a group photo shoot, out the front of Jubilee house, saw 12 riders heading for Shap summit, and 3 heading straight for the bike shop, 1 mile 1/2 in the opposite direction. A very enjoyable hour for Toby as his gear was stripped on the pavement in the middle of Penrith using various tools from the bike shop, with a few atmospheric 'ooh's and um's' from Owen as he got it all working again.
The weather has been very nice today, a little cool and damp as we went over Shap, and
Everyone else powered on over Shap summit (which turned out to be ok really) and eventually over an hour to hour and a half, we all passed through the lunch stop at Bolton le-sands Fire Station.
Andy Ford, ever eagle eyed for a fire station, spotted it on the main A6 and pulled in (in the great big furniture village van) and overpowered the watch manager to convince him to let him set up cafe in the drill yard. We are all sure he had no idea what he was letting himself in for.......
Around about 12 o'clock we were out of Cumbria and in to lancashire......
After the bike shop stragglers went through, lunch was quickly packed up, and sent on its way to Preston in the van to meet up with Danny and Laonie's bags.....
Will proceeded to manage to break the van (well he was driving so it must have been his fault), and after having boiled enough water to provide half of Lancashire, the rear compartment battery finally ran flat (it has done 6 days worth) but luckily the only problem this caused was the radio to turn off, and now it needs the radio code.......... Could be a long music less drive for the next couple of days :)
The first boy racers (Dino, Danny, Dino and Andy) were all in the reclining chairs at Preston station by 2.30 (good effort guys), whilst the last rolled around 4.30, having partaken of a scenic stopoff in Lancaster to enjoy the delights of Pennys Cafe.
Bob thought that he wanted more, so had a little 15 mile round trip on the bike to meet the last few in - mad man.......
A fantastic dinner by Princess and the gang at 5.30 of curried chicken, veg, meatballs, pasta, salad, followed by a vat of fruit salad.
Finally it would not be right to end this blog without mentioning the fact that it is Owens Birthday, and so a cake was duly provided, for which he will have to cough up for later....
Tonight see's us staying at Preston Fire Station, thanks to the two watches for their hospitality so far.
If anyone is worried about our physical state we are all pleased to report that the rest day seemed to work, and although we all have one way or the other we all still seem to be alive. Although Toby still seems to be consistently ill and consuing enough medication to supply the entire northwest - but he is manning up!
Follow where we have been by Gavs Garmin - Click on this link - http://connect.garmin.com/activity/36496601
The first trial of the evening was the discovery by Laonie and Danny that as they had carefully put their small bags uder the stairs at Jubillee house, as it appeared to be a pile of our general bags, that it was acutally just Grahame, Nick and Petes bags, who a few minutes later promptly piled them all in the car to drive home with. Luckily - nothing important in them except Laonies life, make up and various essentials and everything of Dannys that he didnt know he had until he wanted it! In the end this was deposited at Preston station when the theft was discovered, so they have just had to go without for 24 hours :)
A big thank you to both the staff and the current guests at Jubillee house for making us some welcome, for the food and for generally having us. As a way of saying thank you, they held back the start of the quiz into which we entered two teams of four, and we are proud to say we came 1st & 2nd!!! (Well when you come from Oxford - there are expectations!)
Owen was still working out along with Gav an Phil and others until late out the back of the gym carrying out a little maintenance, however most people took around 10 15 minutes to get theirs up to speed. Not to be out done Toby, asked Owen to have a little look at his gears, and 2 1/2 hours later, it was decided the only thing that was going to sort out Toby's problem was a visit to the bike shop in the morning to lavish a good £100 pound or more on a new shifter, cable etc. It is likely that Toby will be riding the same bike when he finishes, but made up entirely of new parts................
A fairly quiet night ensued, as most got their heads down fairly promptly (after the worlds longest raffle, which again we were victorious with, and came away with a lot things we have no idea what they are).....
Back to the early starts (actually we never got away from them - funny that we are up earlier on the rest day than a ride day....)
Today was our first test of our new driving team of Andy & Will, so everyone very helpfully spent a bit of time ensuring they were suitable confused before we left them.
9 o'clock after a group photo shoot, out the front of Jubilee house, saw 12 riders heading for Shap summit, and 3 heading straight for the bike shop, 1 mile 1/2 in the opposite direction. A very enjoyable hour for Toby as his gear was stripped on the pavement in the middle of Penrith using various tools from the bike shop, with a few atmospheric 'ooh's and um's' from Owen as he got it all working again.
The weather has been very nice today, a little cool and damp as we went over Shap, and
Everyone else powered on over Shap summit (which turned out to be ok really) and eventually over an hour to hour and a half, we all passed through the lunch stop at Bolton le-sands Fire Station.
Andy Ford, ever eagle eyed for a fire station, spotted it on the main A6 and pulled in (in the great big furniture village van) and overpowered the watch manager to convince him to let him set up cafe in the drill yard. We are all sure he had no idea what he was letting himself in for.......
Around about 12 o'clock we were out of Cumbria and in to lancashire......
After the bike shop stragglers went through, lunch was quickly packed up, and sent on its way to Preston in the van to meet up with Danny and Laonie's bags.....
Will proceeded to manage to break the van (well he was driving so it must have been his fault), and after having boiled enough water to provide half of Lancashire, the rear compartment battery finally ran flat (it has done 6 days worth) but luckily the only problem this caused was the radio to turn off, and now it needs the radio code.......... Could be a long music less drive for the next couple of days :)
The first boy racers (Dino, Danny, Dino and Andy) were all in the reclining chairs at Preston station by 2.30 (good effort guys), whilst the last rolled around 4.30, having partaken of a scenic stopoff in Lancaster to enjoy the delights of Pennys Cafe.
Bob thought that he wanted more, so had a little 15 mile round trip on the bike to meet the last few in - mad man.......
A fantastic dinner by Princess and the gang at 5.30 of curried chicken, veg, meatballs, pasta, salad, followed by a vat of fruit salad.
Finally it would not be right to end this blog without mentioning the fact that it is Owens Birthday, and so a cake was duly provided, for which he will have to cough up for later....
Tonight see's us staying at Preston Fire Station, thanks to the two watches for their hospitality so far.
If anyone is worried about our physical state we are all pleased to report that the rest day seemed to work, and although we all have one way or the other we all still seem to be alive. Although Toby still seems to be consistently ill and consuing enough medication to supply the entire northwest - but he is manning up!
Thursday, 10 June 2010
Day 8 - Penrith (June 10th)
The Rest day (Well sort of)
After the first 5 days of riding our first (and last!) rest day was a welcome break and couldn't have come to soon. We are staying at the Jubilee House Fire Fighters Charity Centre at Penrith for both last night and tonight ready to be back on the bikes tomorrow (Friday)
Last night we took the opportunity to chill out and say farewell to our three stage one support drivers Grahame Davis, Nick Bateman & Pete Savage. All the team would like to say a massive thankyou to them all, and we look forward to seeing ass many of them as possible at Lands End at the end!
After a night in the gym at Penrith for most of us (a few took the opportunity to get away for a night to a local B&B) we were up at 6.45 as unfortunately we had to be completely clear out of the gym as it is in use in the daytime, by 8am.
Jubilee House laid on breakfast (& later lunch) for us and the remainder of the morning after sorting kit, etc saw most of us walking the mile or so into Penrith for a few essentials and a general break! Most could be seen in the cafe at one point nursing a hot drink and a general inability to move far or fast....!
Once we had returned, our new (fresh) stage 2 support drivers Andy Ford & Will Savage had arrived. Then after lunch, and more resting / washing, etc we boarded a coach (yes it was cheaper to hire a coach!) for us to go to a trip arranged by Jon Tilson (One of our cyclists) to the Jennings Brewery at Cockermouth, where they put on a brewery tour and a evening buffet for us (along with some beer sampling - it would have been impolite not to!). Obviously Cockermouth including the brewery was severely damaged during the floods last year, and we saw first hand a lot of the damage and repair work that was going on.
A big thank you to Jennings & our guides for hosting us, & to Jon for organising it. All the team made a personal donation to cover the cost of the tour guides with the balance going to the Cockermouth flood recovery fund.
We are now back at Jubilee house having repacked and tidied the van, sorted bikes, made drinks and prepared for the morning, & taking part in the quiz evening that is currently underway!
Tomorrow - another 75 miles approx down to Preston, having gone over Shap summit. Anyone that hasn't heard of it - google it. Fantastic view (from the top)................
After the first 5 days of riding our first (and last!) rest day was a welcome break and couldn't have come to soon. We are staying at the Jubilee House Fire Fighters Charity Centre at Penrith for both last night and tonight ready to be back on the bikes tomorrow (Friday)
Last night we took the opportunity to chill out and say farewell to our three stage one support drivers Grahame Davis, Nick Bateman & Pete Savage. All the team would like to say a massive thankyou to them all, and we look forward to seeing ass many of them as possible at Lands End at the end!
After a night in the gym at Penrith for most of us (a few took the opportunity to get away for a night to a local B&B) we were up at 6.45 as unfortunately we had to be completely clear out of the gym as it is in use in the daytime, by 8am.
Jubilee House laid on breakfast (& later lunch) for us and the remainder of the morning after sorting kit, etc saw most of us walking the mile or so into Penrith for a few essentials and a general break! Most could be seen in the cafe at one point nursing a hot drink and a general inability to move far or fast....!
Once we had returned, our new (fresh) stage 2 support drivers Andy Ford & Will Savage had arrived. Then after lunch, and more resting / washing, etc we boarded a coach (yes it was cheaper to hire a coach!) for us to go to a trip arranged by Jon Tilson (One of our cyclists) to the Jennings Brewery at Cockermouth, where they put on a brewery tour and a evening buffet for us (along with some beer sampling - it would have been impolite not to!). Obviously Cockermouth including the brewery was severely damaged during the floods last year, and we saw first hand a lot of the damage and repair work that was going on.
A big thank you to Jennings & our guides for hosting us, & to Jon for organising it. All the team made a personal donation to cover the cost of the tour guides with the balance going to the Cockermouth flood recovery fund.
We are now back at Jubilee house having repacked and tidied the van, sorted bikes, made drinks and prepared for the morning, & taking part in the quiz evening that is currently underway!
Tomorrow - another 75 miles approx down to Preston, having gone over Shap summit. Anyone that hasn't heard of it - google it. Fantastic view (from the top)................
Wednesday, 9 June 2010
Day 7 – Wednesday – Melrose to Penrith - June 9th
The day Owen arrived
For the full map of where wehave been , etc take a look at gavs Garmin page !http://connect.garmin.com/activity/36496640
The day started with an unusual twist in the tail, with Toby being pursued by two ladies from
A full breakfast yet again was on the table by Princess, with bacon as today’s added bonus and over breakfast we compared sores and blisters. Some it must be said are suffering more than others
After the long wet miserable ride that was yesterday morning, today started slightly grey, but quickly brightened up into a fairly fine day. Within minutes the first (but only puncture of the day) occurred about 5 miles out, just to get us back in the swing of things…….
85 miles lay out ahead of us, with the A7 to
The rain held off and it actually brightened up so the next stop was Langholm around 8 miles from the Scottish border, with another spread laid on down by the river.
We all left reasonably close together for the final (and more hilly) climb to Penrith with most going to ASDA at
The first riders arrived at Penrith just after 3pm, Andy and Dino being spurred on by the fact that they are no longer able sit down any more……
The Fire Fighters Charity Centre at Penrith had the pool and Jacuzzi on for us, and slowly most that wanted to got a swim or just a chill out in the Jacuzzi…….
An excellent meal afterwards laid on by the Centre of lasagne, garlic bread and fruit salad, topped off the ride.
The time is now 8.35pm and we are all off for a bit of a group hug and to reminince and compare sores…….
Owen arrived around 3pm and has since spent most of the afternoon giving the bikes a thorough service - nice one :)
More pictures should be on the website shortly on flickr when we can get to a part of civilisation with a memory stick that works and a bit of time J – click on the link through the gallery page…
Don’t forget you can follow every live update on twitter, just look at www.twitter.com/heroesride
Tuesday, 8 June 2010
Day 6 – Tuesday – Perth to Melrose - June 8th
Rain, Rain & More Rain…........
For details of where wehavebeen - click on the link to see the map, etc. - http://connect.garmin.com/activity/36496689
It’s fair to say that today has been the most challenging, not only of the ride so far, but for nearly everyone through all the months, and previous rides…
We would have all had more sleep if it hadn’t been for the king of the camp bed Danny setting a new world record for the longest time taken to put together a few bits of metal to sleep on
It was raining when the day started, and just got worse, and worse, and worse……….
85 miles in a torrent, stretched ahead of us when we assembled out the front of Perth Station, after an excellent nights kip laid on by Tayside Fire & Rescue. We set off close together after a quick photo out the front, straight into the rain.
38 miles then to the southern side of the forth bridge saw two punctures on Josie’s bike one after the other, despair and a wee little bit of frustration – Bob trying to lead Rosie astray onto the M90, and a little wrong turn…
Lunch break was set up in the grounds of a very accommodating ‘Premier Inn’ just the other side of the bridge, with people coming in between 12.30 and 1.30 with Princess, Tattie & Sim, putting on a brilliant lunch with hot tea, etc. It’s fair to say that there was everyone was feeling it as it was just massively hard work all the way.
Those that look at the pictures will be able to see an especially.
After lunch, people left in smaller numbers to go through Edinburgh city centre rather than taking the particularly hazardous bypass. Toby & Pete found another cycle path to wander along, and then could be seen staggering along slipping on the cobbles through the city centre.
Several found themselves together and ended up riding up the Royal Mile with Tour Guide Bob, to the Castle. No-one managed to ride it down though………
A few more discerning lady riders (Laonie & Josie) managed to get a little ‘latte’ in the city centre with Danny & Simon to make the journey worthwhile. The lack of anywhere to put any shopping bags was a bit of a hindrance though………….. and then to cap it all Laonie had two punctures of her own whilst in the City as well.
From Edinburgh the A7 lead most out straight into the countryside (although some decided to find their own alternative), and a tea rest stop was put on at the roadside at around the 60 mile mark.
Julian’s comment of (its just past the museum, about a mile, lead to false hopes’ – 3-4 miles would have been more accurate, but all was well in the end. A long ride then finished off the day, although the rain finally eased around 4pm.
In the meantime Pete S and his lorry along with Taity & Sim finally made it to ASDA at Galashiels for around 4pm, having been delayed due to the weather. Unfortunately the pump from the local station had been and gone by this point, and ASDA were not fully aware that we were coming, so Pete S, Taity & Sim held their own on the forecourt of ASDA and raised a very impressive £258.84 in under two hours. Those that made it back to Galashiels before 5.30 stopped at ASDA to meet up with Pete & his team.
Everyone was finally back at the SYHA at Melrose by 8pm eventually to a fantastic hot meal of Spaghetti Bolognese / Haggis / Rice Pudding & Éclairs by Princess.
A night of bike maintenance is planned by lead mechanic Nick, who spent the day dreaming of degreaser, tea towels and bike lubricant………
To be continued………….
For details of where wehavebeen - click on the link to see the map, etc. - http://connect.garmin.com/activity/36496689
It’s fair to say that today has been the most challenging, not only of the ride so far, but for nearly everyone through all the months, and previous rides…
We would have all had more sleep if it hadn’t been for the king of the camp bed Danny setting a new world record for the longest time taken to put together a few bits of metal to sleep on
It was raining when the day started, and just got worse, and worse, and worse……….
85 miles in a torrent, stretched ahead of us when we assembled out the front of Perth Station, after an excellent nights kip laid on by Tayside Fire & Rescue. We set off close together after a quick photo out the front, straight into the rain.
38 miles then to the southern side of the forth bridge saw two punctures on Josie’s bike one after the other, despair and a wee little bit of frustration – Bob trying to lead Rosie astray onto the M90, and a little wrong turn…
Lunch break was set up in the grounds of a very accommodating ‘Premier Inn’ just the other side of the bridge, with people coming in between 12.30 and 1.30 with Princess, Tattie & Sim, putting on a brilliant lunch with hot tea, etc. It’s fair to say that there was everyone was feeling it as it was just massively hard work all the way.
Those that look at the pictures will be able to see an especially.
After lunch, people left in smaller numbers to go through Edinburgh city centre rather than taking the particularly hazardous bypass. Toby & Pete found another cycle path to wander along, and then could be seen staggering along slipping on the cobbles through the city centre.
Several found themselves together and ended up riding up the Royal Mile with Tour Guide Bob, to the Castle. No-one managed to ride it down though………
A few more discerning lady riders (Laonie & Josie) managed to get a little ‘latte’ in the city centre with Danny & Simon to make the journey worthwhile. The lack of anywhere to put any shopping bags was a bit of a hindrance though………….. and then to cap it all Laonie had two punctures of her own whilst in the City as well.
From Edinburgh the A7 lead most out straight into the countryside (although some decided to find their own alternative), and a tea rest stop was put on at the roadside at around the 60 mile mark.
Julian’s comment of (its just past the museum, about a mile, lead to false hopes’ – 3-4 miles would have been more accurate, but all was well in the end. A long ride then finished off the day, although the rain finally eased around 4pm.
In the meantime Pete S and his lorry along with Taity & Sim finally made it to ASDA at Galashiels for around 4pm, having been delayed due to the weather. Unfortunately the pump from the local station had been and gone by this point, and ASDA were not fully aware that we were coming, so Pete S, Taity & Sim held their own on the forecourt of ASDA and raised a very impressive £258.84 in under two hours. Those that made it back to Galashiels before 5.30 stopped at ASDA to meet up with Pete & his team.
Everyone was finally back at the SYHA at Melrose by 8pm eventually to a fantastic hot meal of Spaghetti Bolognese / Haggis / Rice Pudding & Éclairs by Princess.
A night of bike maintenance is planned by lead mechanic Nick, who spent the day dreaming of degreaser, tea towels and bike lubricant………
To be continued………….
Monday, 7 June 2010
Day 5 – Monday – Aviemore to Perth - June 7th
Toby the Destroyer
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/36496736
To see where we have been today, click on the link below to go to Gavs Garmin page and map for all the details
Another slightly overcast but not bad day in the Cairngorms, having stayed overnight at the Scottish YHA at Aviemore (nice place!)
Morning saw the first celebration of Toby’s 29th Birthday (Still a baby at 29!)
Breakfast at 7.30 was a huge spread of porridge, fruit, toast, boiled eggs, yoghurts, croissants and as much as you can eat – Fantastic start !!
A few poorly people for today, Gav feeling a little under par & Toby apparently suffering from tonsillitis!
Packing started in earnest with a 9.00 start planned, to get away to crack on with the 84 miles down to Perth, in groups of 2 or 4 as before.
The day started uneventfully for the first 4 ½ miles with Pete & Toby starting off to get the ride underway. Having hit the A9, the sounds of Toby’s spoke snapping resounded around the cairngorms.
This was the start of a day of disaster for Toby, who they over a period of time managed to break not only his own back wheel, but then after having the spare bike (remember this is the Deps bike) then proceeded to mash the rear wheel and derailleur into a heap of tangled metal within the space of around 800 metres, having promptly fallen off it!
So following this extensive amount of damage (by one person) Team mechanic (Nick) had a splendid day between various bike shops but true to form managed to repair the first bike at the lunch stop in a lay-by, and spent the remainder of the day sorting out the second bike.
Obviously this will have hampered Toby’s career progression path, but that’s a price we are willing to pay J
After 45 miles, another fantastic lunch was served in a lay-by on the A9, by Princess and the team, with the gazebo up and a full buffet served.
From here, our trusty support team moved on to ASDA at Perth with the fantastic ‘Fi’ & ‘Joyce’ providing both food and a fantastic welcome as the team arrived over the next hour. All apart from Pete & Toby who having decided to take a slightly scenic route arrived last having taken the fantastic ‘route 77’ which led through hedges, ditches & various council estates.
A grand total of £425 was raised at Perth with support with the local station (who inevitably picked up a call soon after arriving). A big thank you to the people of Perthshire!
Finally arrived at the station at Perth around 6.00pm to serious hospitality to the guys at Perth.
Birthday for Toby at 8pm – banners, cake, the full works, with a full meal of gammon, egg haggis (Yes - real haggis!) and all the trimmings
Finished off the night with a birthday drink, and then endured an agonising hour watching Danny trying to assemble a simple camp bed. Interesting to note that Sim & Tattie got theirs up in seconds, and our vivacious Training Centre Instructor was still at it over 30 minutes later…………
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