made it!

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end in sight

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very much wetter today

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okehampton to bodmin

Ok, so the heavens opened today, not helped by passing a group of kids out with their teacher and to then pass them again realising that they had got ahead of us with their local knowledge of a shortcut, we just pretended that we stopped for a coffee! After an overcast start with a few showers and blustery wind we made it to camelford with our weather gear keeping much of the wet weather out. We stopped in a pub and decided to eat in the covered smokers hut so we could keep an eye on our bikes, the many locals in the hut took an interest and we even got a couple of donations from them. Being wet already we headed of quite quickly for the 20 miles left - one of our shortest days due to a b&b that cancelled a few week ago. It was on this stretch that we were treated to a continuous barrage of headwind, torrential rain and heavy traffic, luckily a lot of it was downhill and we got to the hotel quite early compared to usual. Tomorrow is the final push for lands end, so looking forward to seeing the family again, but its a long day and we still need to get there before the famous signpost gets put away for the night. Hope the weather picks up.

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downhill at speed

Today i was following phil at speed down a hill and marvelled at his line through one of the bends, shortly after this he lurched to the side and actually hit the kerb/hedge taking a good chunk of it with him, but remarkably staying on his bike. Once i had stopped laughing i decided that i follow a bit further behind in future. Phils philosophy is that it is ok to crash and burn. I will be writing this in his get well card if necessary.

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okehampton

Managed to haul ourselves into okehampton today and actually is was not a slong as the previous four 70 milers. Having said that still plenty of rolling hills to contend with as we got closer ro the end. Met our first friendly coach of the trip so far who gave a toot and didnt try to run us off the road at the first blind bend.

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devon country lanes

Making good progress through devon, plenty of hills but just plodding up them seems to work. By far the most generous in terms of people wishing us well and making donations on route. Had a confrontation with a large tractor on a single width lane fitted with spikes on the front just right for impalling cyclists. Needless to say we gave in and let it past.

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wellington

Really getting south west now, just past wellington where it seems there is a monument to wellies which you might just see in the picture - how odd. Still hot, but good progress in the morning so far.

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down on the canal

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just crossed the avon.

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end of day 12a - taunton

Arrived in our taunton b&b just after 7pm, another long hot dusty day. Again we followed canal paths instead of the A38 which was nice, but means we have been doing around 120km every day for the last 5 days which is going some. Managed to get led off course by somw artist chap who has been travelling for the last 3 months but nothing too serious. Now in 2aunton it does feel like the end is in sight especially as i lived in exeter for 8 years tomorrow will be passing some familiar places. Hoping to get to okehampton a bit earlier than usual as it does not leave much time for cleaning and washing our stuff, although we still manage to fill our faces and i'm guessing that neither of us has lost any weight overall!!. The bikes look like they have been unloved for 20 years but are still running well with no major problems. Staring to think about the last day and how we can arrive before they take the signpost away at the end of the day - could be an early start.

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day 12 a

Still seem to be having issues sending attached photos to blog by email, but we are firmly in the south west now approaching bridgwater on the A38, bit busy for my liking but we made a detour to one of phils suppliers and managed to get a cup of tea. Still seeing plenty of end to enders going the other way, but its our turn to feel a bit closer to the end. No flies eaten today. Phils brake block just fell off his bike as we stood at the side of the road just after coming down a hill reaching 59kmph - all good fun. Still scorching hot and always covered in a thick layer of grime from the road. Just stopping at a pub to have lunch before pressing on

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day 12

For some reason emails with photo's are not getting through the network to my blog at the moment. Must be because we are out in the wilds near bristol! Anyway, we crossed the severn at gloucester yesterday and took the back roads and canal path down to almondsbury near bristoll. The back roada were quiet but it did add some distance so it was a 70mile day again. even so it was a failry reasonable day with just a few steep hills right at the end. Managed another fly between meals but not a big one this time. The road was so dusty we arrived at the b&b covered completely in a layer of grime. Also just as we crossed under the M4( i think) we had our first few spots of rain which added to the effect. Had a meal at the pub in the village joined by sharon, my old friend from when i worked in exeter as she now lives in bristol. That was the (late) end of day 12 and we have decided to name tomorrow day 12a just to be on the safe side.

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day 11 arrived at Bromyard

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15km to go

Thought we had an easy ride from here, but the last few miles were all uphill

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weight

Despite the rumours i am sharing snack bags with phil, you can see from the photo that i am not wasting away. In fact to combat the heat and effort we have upped our beer rations in the evening considerably

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tickleton

An unusual house near and unusually named place. Not sure if mr tickle actually lives here but it made us laugh. Just up the lane a car pulled over and gave us a few pounds for the charity as i now have little sign on the back for the hospital - very nice folks around these parts

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day 11 - back roads

Took the longer nicer routes to keep off the A49. Swallowed my 4th fly which is think is actually a good source of carbs. Seem to get a lot trapped in my hat too but most seem to escape eventually.

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day 11

Passing through shrewsbury, still fresh and not too hot. Seems like a nice town but didn't hang around long as it was a long ride ahead.

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whitchurch

On a saturday night, famous for tower clocks apparently. It seems to have a huge number of lively pubs which were busy filling up with the locals.... Early night for us - really!

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arrived in whitchurch

Arrived in whitchurch just before 7pm. It seemed like a long day. from preston to here is 70 miles. B&b seems very good again, which is always a relief.

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bridge across the mersey

Luckily the bridge shown on the maps was actully there and was part of the pennine way cycle route. This appears to be the only reasonable crossing point inland from runcorn which we had been told was nasty to cycle through. It was quite a tricky route to navigate and probably due to comments made yesterday the gps unit basically gave up trying, so it was back to map work and cubs scout tactics to get through, which took ages. Although it was our longest day at almost 70miles it was not meant to be too hilly, but that just didn't seem to be true. The heat today was remarkable and we drank about 3 times more than we did on hazy days, by the end of it we a bit toasted despite several layers of sunblock.

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start of day 10

Just escaping Preston - hot again today!

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end of day 9

Found these cows half way down the lancaster canal obviuosly enjoying a bit of a drink in the heat. Speaking of which it was very hot today which brings its own problems on a bike and made it a long day. Supposedly this was an easier day, but the climbs early in the morning on the edge of the lake district were some of the worst we have seen yet and got us very tired with a long way still to go. Phils gps gadget had a very different opinion to us on the way into preston and started beeping like mad as we ignored it in favour of the maps, but then as a reprieve it did get us to the b&b which was a bit tricky. Arrived in preston just after 6 after a big push on the last 30km. Bit sweaty and hot on arrival but glad to be here. Phils wife and 3 kids joined us here on their way to blackpool tomorrow so a bit of a lively meal for a change, plus a much needed change of kit has come with her. Heading to whitchurch tomorrow which means getting across the big blob of towns east of liverpool. We have our own route and plan to cross the river in warrington where it seems a bit less busy, hopefully the bridge is still there.

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lancaster canal

Stumbled on this although it was not on our preplanned route, beats the A6 and hgv,s and takes us to preston - a bit more slowly

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day 9, a lot of climbing to start

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arrived at shap

After a long day we arrived at shap via gretna, carlise and penrith. It was over 60 miles and the biggest hills was the lead up to shap at the end which left us a bit tired at the end. Staying at the greyhound in shap, we will prob fit in a few beers juts for the carb content. Today i swallowed my third fly which is always nice and managed to injure myself on a whicker chair after all these miles. Still saw a few end to enders today so we still seem to be on a fairly common route. Bikes looking a bit grubby now as is everything. Will be at halfway point in preston tomorrow, which seems to have taken ages to get to. Hope the sun keeps shining tomorrow.

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made it to england

We just crossed the border after 7 days cycling. Amazingly we didn't get rained on once although there is a black cloud following us right now! Goodbye Scotland

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on way to gretna

Not planning on getting married, but close to the border now. Having our bag of nuts which arrived at the hotel sent form work - thanks

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day 7 stopover

Luxury, arrived in good time at lockerbie and even the bike was in carpeted accomodation tonight.

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day 7

Mainly on decent cycle paths near to the road virtually the whole way. Only saw 2 other cyclists, so the routes from end to end seem to be a bit more varied from here. Only passed one shop and one cafe in 52 miles ish. Saw a big eagle type thing sitting on a post next to the road, will have to look it up when i get home it was off too quickly to get a photo.

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day 7

Glasgow to lockerbie, a bit desolate with not much to see compared to the days before. Quite a headwind today too, so hard going.

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munchie pack

Another hotel, another pack of goodies, thanks for the little treats chaps and chapesses

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action shot, try to spot wasp in helmet

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me and phil at loch lomond

Trying to look as ungay as two blokes sharing a meal can, i took the flower off the table when phil asked the waitress to take the shot. For some reason phil looks like he's escaped from concentration camp and i look like i've eaten all the pies. Must be a dodgy angle.

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route to glasgow

The route today was from the north side of loch lomond and after covering the first 15 miles on a fairly busy road we switched to the path alongside which was a little more windy. Remarkably we were then able to follow this all the way through glasgow and out to hamilton, probably 50miles on decent tracks. Apart from being quieter it was a lot safer, although going through clydebank that was debateable and we didn't hang around too much. Managed to stop at erskin and ask a group of cyclists if they knew anywhere to eat along the canal and it turned out that we were stood next to a pub but it was hidden by a big tree, good find though with big portions. Central glasgow looked pretty smart from the riverside, i suppose the sunshine helped. Took a few snaps as we went which i will post onto the blog. Managed to swallow another fly today which brings the total to 2 and also had a wasp trapped in my helmet for a bit which was interesting. Still fantastic weather all day although because we took the winding route it took us from before 9am until 7pm to reach the hotel which is a long time in the saddle - !?! Plan to leave early and do a bit of a fast ride to lockerbie tomorrow to try to see the football.

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loch lomond from the other end

This is a long bit of water, may be our last view of the lochs and mountains. Next stop is hamilton outside glasgow. So far though the cycle paths have been good and there should be one through the centre of glagow. Starting to get a bit more populated and have just have someone give me a donation for great ormond street, which was unexpected and nice - must remember to put it on the just giving site, i should read this later and remeber!

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loch lomond

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Day 6 - nice start next to Loch Lomond

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day 5

Generally a good day dispite the mountain we had to go over. Met a few other cyclists on the ascent some of which overook us on their way to gibralta, so we,re not the madest ones out here. Again scenery was fantastic and made better by lack of rain again. the roads leading to glencoe were a bit narrow and busy which wasn,t great especially as one car managed to brush phils panniers as it went past - cheers mate. Once over the top we had a nice greasy burger from a van, the only food source we had seen for 40 miles (apart from roadkill that is, but we didn't have ketchup for that). The run into loch lomond was great being mainly downhill for 20miles so we managed to get up a good speed and frighten ourselves a few times. took us a while to find the b&b, which happened to be at the top of a track steeper than anything we had seen so far, plenty of swearing helped though.
Heading for glasgow tomorrow, which is meant to be a good route and mainly on made tracks if we can find the start. It still seems hard to believe that it takes this long to cycle through scotland!!
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day 5

Half way point, up high on a mountain pass somewhere near glencoe.
legs still working, but bum starting to get a bit sore - too much detail maybe?
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made it to the top,

But here,s one from earlier. Weather still good!

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just past glencoe

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day 4 - lunch at fort augustus, with bagpipes playing

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day 4 - the end of the long day

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plaque - alasdair graham's dad,s claim to fame - waking the loch ness monster with dynamite

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day 4 complete

The longest day so far with a few big hills along the route. Scenery in this shot was typical and really amazing to cycle through. The day started with climbing for an hour or so followed by a fast decent for a few minutes. the sun then came out and made it a very nice but hot ride afterwards for the 66 miles. Stopped in fort augustus for lunch and had bagpipes playing. Made a bad choice to nip to the supermarket for water as the swing bridge opened at the lock and we were stranded for a while. Found the plaque that alasdair told me about en route and i will post the picture later. stopped a number of times in roadside laybys just to drink but phil did push his bike to the end of one before setting which i feel means he cant claim to have cycled the whole way, until he goes back and completes that 10 yards which i will remind him about over the next 2 weeks. Had a nice surprise at the last 2 hotels - two bags of sweets from my carillion buddies, all of which has been scooffed - thanks for that. Eating more food than ever at the moment!! Tomorrow is another long day to loch lomond, hope the legs keep going and the rain gods keep away again...

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day 4 shortcut not looking so good

Near loch ness but no sign of monsters yet.

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day 3

Day 3 started off looking a lot like this with dramatic scenery and gentle rolling hills that were quite pleasant. As it was our shortest day on the trip and we were making good progress we stopped of at the glenmorangie distillery, we had hoped there would be a cafe for tea and a bun - honest, but all we got was whisky! Back on the road the road after stopping at Tain for lunch the road got much busier. It felt more like cycling on a motorway, but there are few choices to get south. After going at a pace a lot faster than is ideal, we arrived in dingwall a bit weary and found a cafe at the railway station. The town itself was very nice and left us with only 10 miles to our b&b. Arrived and went for a curry in beauly - well it is saturday. Oddly there had been a big cycling event that finished in the town - the highland cross - so there were dozens of people around dressed in lycra, the one time we would have fitted in and we were in normal clothes for the evening. Fort william tomorrow which is 66 miles and has a big hill in the way so had an early night - again! Will be looking out for the bridge on the road that Alasdair's dad built en route, waking up the loss ness monster in the process.

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day 3

Arrived in muir of ord

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slight detour

Just to really understand local culture etc etc

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arrival day 2

End of day 2 in Golspie. Accomodation is good and surprisingly this little town has a nice sandy beach which looked good in the evening sun. Had a chinese takeaway tonight as all the pubs only seemed to offer deep fried anything. The town is overshadowed by the statue of the chap who started the highland clearances, which doesn't appear to go down well with the locals, but it has been there for 200 years.

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action shot

Notice the sunshine, bathed in it all afternoon. Trip today was hugging the north east scottish coastline so mainly gentle and rolling with a few big climbs thrown in. Met rob and jon heading the other direction who had helped us a lot online in preparing for the trip and by coincidence were doing it the other way at the same time. We thought we would see them today but still strange to have somebody
Shout out your name so far from home.
Legs and body still seem to be working and tomorrow is a relatively easy day although on the narrow roads the hgv,s take a bit of getting used to and create a bit of a wind shock wave. Hope the sunshine holds out tomorrow too!
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