2008 Land's End to John o'Groat's Tandem Challenge: Blog

Its over ... for now!

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 15:04:39 -0500

Its been a month or two since our adventure came to an end and the ride pictures are now on the blog together with the party pictures kindly submitted by friends. Thank you everyone for your fantastic support and generous sponsorship and as I write, we've now raised over �32,000, which is a wonderful achievement and we just can't thank you enough. I hope we also succeeded in our other goals, which were to raise awareness of deafblindness and inspire others to do a challenge of their own. Publicity has come via radio interviews, numerous newspaper and magazine articles and even a good slot on the Scotland North Tonight news programme. Louise and I have also learnt we are Sunday Mail 'Great Scot' awards finalists so Deafblind Scotland are continueing to benefit.

Before I continue I would first like to say a heartfelt thank you to Jane and Richard for maintaining our blog throughout the fortnight away. How Jane managed to decipher my long rambling late night text messages and keep everybody posted on our progress is beyond me. That Richard was also able to join in the fun, despite his MND, sending messages of support each day and composing his hilarious tandem verse (see 'songs and poems') was too wonderful for words. Since we got back, I have lost my dear friend, but he will always be with us, as will Jane.

Meantime, please allow me a few recollections from the trip ...

The process of getting up, (usually!) having breakfast and jumping on the bikes to explore somewhere new was addictive and the scenery as we moved north through 9 counties in England and 12 Shires in Scotland was ever changing and often spectacular. I don't want to pick out highlights as I loved it all, but Cornwall and Devon had everything including ferocious hills, Wells and Bath were beautiful cities, the rolling countryside of Gloucestershire, Shropshire and Cheshire contrasted with the higher terrain of the Lake District and in particular Shap where we all climbed up to 1400feet. In Scotland, the weather didn't immediately deteriorate when we crossed the border as Martin feared, and Loch Lomond, Glencoe (especially) and the single track Altnaharra road in northern Sutherland were all very spectacular. However it was the people we met on the way that really made the trip for us. In our various parties in Exeter, Bristol, Pershore, Manchester and Glasgow we met some 430 old and new friends, had a marvellous time and raised another �2,700, which was absolutely fantastic. Our heartfelt thanks go to David & Sally Robinson, Jon & Sally Brown and David & Jacqui Shepherd for organising the Exeter Hog Roast, Colin & Jo Stubbings and Debbie Rutherford for the Bristol Ploughman's party, Mouse & Mandy Mouzer for the Shepherds Pie Tandem Bash, Alison & Tony Cookson for the Almost Halfway BBQ near Manchester, all our friends at Deafblind Scotland for the Celebration of Deafblindness in Glasgow and Lenzie and finally, Rogni, Linda & Kerstin Brown for our End of the Road lunch in John O' Groats on June 15th.

Many folk travelled a long way to join us in our various parties, some to several, but I must make special mention of Richard and Jane, who despite everything, made the 5 hour round trip to Bristol and knew perfectly well how special that was to me. It also rendered me temporarily speechless, so it was pretty special to everyone else too! We also had a couple of great dinner parties en- route in Taunton and Carlisle, so big thanks to all who travelled to those too.

The hospitality and welcomes we got along the way will all be treasured and people will be thanked personally, but the fantastic welcome from deafblind members and friends as we cycled into George Square in Glasgow on June 10th was an amazing experience. We also enjoyed meeting Team Canary from Norwich whom we bumped into in Cornwall, Devon and Glasgow, Team Red from Cambridge who were behind us on the last morning in Bettyhill, and many kind folk along the way, who made on the spot donations. These included many passing motorists and pedestrians, someone in a hotel lift, generous caf� proprietors and even a drunk in Sanquhar who took almost 10 minutes to dig out 2 �1 coins from the depths of his pockets before we could carry on! We also met a passer-by in Fort William and Inverness on successive days and he later logged onto our justgiving site and gave us a very generous donation, so this trip really has shown how kind and generous people can be. We were treated very well by motorists along the way, though the combination of the red van (I still look round corners to see if its there!), our t-shirts and bike flags certainly helped and we were nearly always given plenty of space on the busy roads. We were also lucky enough to meet the ex-mayor, current mayor and district mayor in Bridgnorth (thanks Les and Tim), the Provosts of Dumfries, Kilmarnock, East Dumbartonshire, West Dumbartonshire, Fort William, Inverness and in Glasgow, the Lord Provost Bob Winter, who gave a terrific address in support of DBS and our challenge. The downside was that many of these visits put us under real pressure to get to places to a tight timetable, not least Drena who had to coordinate it all, but the hospitality was always great and despite everything, we were nearly always fashionably late!

I also achieved an ambition to cycle as part of a peloton with Murray, Ian, Graham and Alan from the Dumfries cycling club accompanying us from Gretna on the border, to our reception in Dumfries and then onto Drumlanrig Castle in the north. They were great company, seriously fit and mostly turned down our offers of doughnuts, though Ian did eventually succumb near the end of our joint ride! We also enjoyed the company of a number of other cyclists along the way including 2 Caithness riders who rode the final 20 miles with us, Colin who did Marshfield to Stroud, Jonathan who did Cheltenham in his lunch break, Judith and Jerry who took us through Cheshire and treated us to a great lunch and Dr Jim, who struck lucky with a cream tea with the Provost in Dumbarton and a cycle along Loch Lomond!

We were supported with free accommodation and breakfasts by the Thistle in Exeter and Manchester, Premier Inns in Taunton, Telford and Carlisle, the Purple Hotel in Tewkesbury and the Lochside Hotel in New Cumnock. We were also put up by long suffering and new friends in Liskeard, Honiton, Bristol, Pershore, Lenzie and Evanton and had offers of many more, for all of which we are truly grateful. I must also mention Ian Lawrence of Shell Geomatics who drew the route map and will be asked to update it for our photo book, Dot Graham, for driving 600 miles to John o' Groats and back, to join in our last 2 dinners and bring Louise and I home, and last but not least, Douglas O'Malley, Jill Brown and my sister Caroline Greenhalgh for all the work they did in promoting the trip and securing accomodation.

As for the team, it meant a lot to have Martin and Abbie with us, and despite injuries and in Martin's case also a heavy cold, they kept going right till the end, supporting and encouraging us all the way. In Abbie's case, the end was the UK's most northerly city, Inverness, as she had her daughter Camilla's leaving service from Mary Hare to go to. She may have been sad to leave us, but when we reached the Inverness city signpost, her smile was the broadest!

All 4 of us are deeply indebted to Drena and Hammie for being great company throughout, keeping us safe, driving the van and cycling with us whenever they could. In Hammie's case, he also shut up his shop for a fortnight to be with us and keep our bikes on the road and we later presented him with a very well deserved 'Friend of Deafblind Scotland' award (see press cuttings). He has been a big hit at our many parties and on the blog and has all but been adopted as a Mary Hare old pupil! Hammie, we're just grateful you didn't eat all our donuts!! Whilst I have always valued Drena and Hammie's friendship, after that little jaunt, we all do, and some.

However, I couldn't have done any of this without Louise. Having not had a bike since 1985 I started riding with her last October and it took time and miles to learn to ride together and build up our fitness. Louise was amazing throughout the trip and long hours cycling, she kept us both safe, never gave up and it was fantastic to have her company for the entire ride. Words are inadequate to describe how I feel about her and the pride I have in her, but we did it, and we did it together.

Thank you all for being part of it.

Robert

1st September 2008

Pics and Bits

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:34:29 -0500

We have 1000 photos to sort out and they're currently split between 3 cameras in Glasgow, Surrey and Aberdeen so it may take a while to get them sorted. Meantime, the DBS office have put a good selection of Drena's pictures on a single page if you'd like to see some. Take the link to DBS homepage in the Links section, or goto 'www.deafblindscotland.org.uk' and yes, that is Louise and me fixing our bike in Glen Coe! I think Hammie was scouting ahead for doughnuts at the time!

By the way have really enjoyed reading up the blog since we got back and catching up on everyone's comments, poems and songs. When I can think of some that aren't rude I'll put some up myself. Meantime, we are working on the actual mileage, the photos, thank you letters and still getting requests for articles and interviews on the trip.

Meantime the fundraising total has passed �25,000 and is still rising so thanks to everyone who has contributed so far, you've all been amazing. If you haven't yet, there's still plenty of time and every penny really will make a difference.

Afterword! -- Mon 16th June : Report from a Shell office somewhere in Aberdeen!

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 08:23:33 -0500

Can't believe I'm back at work after such a momentous two weeks away. I've just been told by Dot that this week is "Get on your Bike Week"!! Think I would have a mutiny on my hands at home, if I suggested anything!! Poor Louise has not quite finished yet, as she has to get a train to Glasgow to pick up our car, then drive south to Derbyshire tomorrow to pick up our dogs from her parents. I just have the small matter of about 600 emails to catch up on, but if, I can stay awake long enough tonight, I might at last be able to catch up with the blog.

[This is JC, finally (??) signing over and out!!]

Further news -- Sun 15th Jun : The final leg!

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 08:22:05 -0500

[Seems Bob can't do without his daily "fix" of texting me and I've had had a further myriad of text messages arrive over the last 12 hours as he has journeyed back home to Aberdeen, giving news of the final part of their journey, so here goes ... JC]

Bad start to the day as we had a 1pm deadline for getting to John O'Groats, so we asked the hotel for an early breakfast, but the best they could do was 7.30am, so we did the bikes and the luggage first, but as cooked breakfast didn't arrive till 8.10am we were half an hour late leaving. Critical really, as we were then half an hour late arriving in JOG! After the rain squalls of yesterday and Friday night in Inverness, today was bright and sunny for most of our ride.

The first 20 miles, though, were like Cornwall and Devon all over again, we just couldn't believe the hills! Louise kept rambling on about cycling in Norfolk (obviously hallucinating!). Despite the steep hills Martin, Louise and I all managed though I wouldn't mind betting Abbie's not too sorry to have missed this leg! The big hills stopped at Reay, where Jenny Gregory, a very kind deaf lady, had promised us tea and she delivered .. along with chocolate too! Priceless and this certainly revived us for the last 30 odd miles. We then passed Dounreay power station, some lovely coastline and had a final 40 mph freewheel into Thurso with some great views of the Orkneys. There were a couple of blips when our main chain came off again, Hammie says we've totally knackered it! Two local cyclists joined us for the last 15 miles, so we had company for the final stretch.

Rogni (short for Rognivald, old Viking name) and Linda Brown, who live half a mile from John O'Groats, and are parents of a friend of ours, Kirsten, an Usher lady from Aberdeen, who was also there, gave us a great welcome with a huge DBS "Well Done" poster in front of the car park, but we were going so fast, we cycled straight past them. Felt bad about that, but then they all came down to the front for numerous pictures of us all. By then, the sun had gone and the wind was back in earnest, so it was very cold. Dot was so well wrapped up, I didn't even know who she was at first. Then we moved back to their 'welcome' sign and had more pictures there, before going into the hotel for a slap-up meal with Rogni, Linda and Kirsten. Rogni had also organised showers and rooms for us to change, but we ran out of time, so didn't use them. Rogni also kindly paid for the dinner for us all, so was a terrific host for a very fitting End Of The Road Lunch.

Must mention again how great Drena and Hammie were -- they kept us all safe and were brilliant company throughout the trip. Between them, they did most of the cycling too, but do have to say that Drena led exactly the opposite of a charmed life - every time, she took her turn cycling, it was raining (Inverness), very windy (Lairg to Altnaharra) or very hilly (like first thing today) -- poor lady! But she bore it like a trooper and, between them, they helped to make one of my dreams become reality and I will be forever grateful for that.

It was great we had Dot to help out too, as without her we would have been stuck, as the van was only a three seater. Hammie and Drena were able to drop Martin off at Inverness station, for him to get the train back to London, and then they started their long drive back to Glasgow, while we headed for Aberdeen with Dot, eventually arriving home at 11pm, to find all 3 of our children waiting up to congratulate us, give me some great Father's Day gifts including some Rocky Road which Myfanwy had made especially. The eating hasn't stopped just yet!

I do feel sad that it's over, as it's been non-stop for 2 weeks and everyone has been so kind the whole way with their hospitality, time, money, support, attendance at parties and friendship. It's been an adventure!

SUNDAY 15TH JUNE -- 1.30PM -- ARRIVAL AT JOHN O'GROATS!!

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 11:05:08 -0500

They've made it -- their epic voyage is at an end and they've arrived safely at John O'Groats. Louise sent this very heartfelt message -- "We've finished at last, no more cycling forever!!"

Many, many congratulations to you all -- I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say how full of admiration we are for the whole team and what you have accomplished. So it only remains for me to say how much I have enjoyed "caretaking" (ambushing?!) your blog, but now, Bob, it's over to you again ...

JC - Chief Blog Consultant!!

PS. See late entry just in on poems page!

Sat 14th June : Report from Bettyhill 11.30pm

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 11:02:46 -0500

Woooh! Just made Bettyhill for 8pm and am now looking out to sea from the Bettyhill hotel. The last hill was almost one hill too many, but it has been a fantastic, although difficult ride at times. Did 85 miles after an excellent breakfast with John and Edith, who gave us lodgings for the night after that great reception yesterday evening. We started out with some tough hill climbs, which lasted 12 miles, in very wintry conditions up to the top of Struin Hill, which looks out over Dornoch Firth. This was quite a spectacular ride, 660ft up and fantastic views. May just have taken the odd photo! It was also cold but by the time we had freewheeled down again, it was noticeably warmer!

Passed through Bonar Bridge, then headed up to the Falls of Shin for some lunch, some retail therapy at Al Fayed's other store and even popped down to see the falls! From there we went into our 2nd to last shire, Sutherland, through Lairg and up onto the Altnaharra road. The northerly wind was now blowing at 50mph and we felt as though we were cycling backwards! Drena was riding with us and Hammie drove the van in front of us to try and give us some shelter until we got to the downhill bit between the mountains and could cycle at a more respectable speed again.

On the way down, we were overtaken by Dot, a friend from work who'll be driving us back to Aberdeen tomorrow. That gave us a lift and we stopped for drinks and sandwiches in the Alt hotel, before doing the last 25 miles to Bettyhill. When I mentioned to a local that we'd told Martin (he likes his food) that there were a couple of McDonalds on the next road, quick as a flash he said there might be a couple of McKays and McCleods too!!

It was a great road, following the loch for the first 7 miles and, subsequently, the river all the way to the sea at Bettyhill. There was also welcome respite from the wind, fabulous scenery and lots of photo opportunities for me, while we waited for Martin who was still nursing his heavy cold and looking for fast food joints to catch us up. This is despite the fact that he wears five layers on his bum!! I took advice from professional cyclists and just wear cycle shorts and have had no chafing, abiding by the less is more code, whereas Martin wears cycle shorts, compression layer, base layer, pants and something else -- he's from the very much more is more school! It also means his baggage is light as he's wearing most of it!

It was a long ride, but we're here now and well fed and ready for sleep. Dot met us at the hotel and had dinner with us. For Martin, today was his hardest day, due to the wind and the number of miles, but for Louise and I, the non stop hills of Devon and Cornwall still take the biscuit. The plan tomorrow is to leave at 8.00am to get to John O'Groats for 1.00pm. Hope the wind relents a little and I really can't believe we only have 53 miles to go.
Bob

Fri 13th Jun : Report from Dingwall 11.50pm

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 08:19:30 -0500

Been a very full day since we left Fort Augustus with no breakfast. It was cold and wet when we set of at 7.30am, but the rain soon eased and once 10 miles were on the clock, it started to brighten up and when we got to Invermorrison, we saw a nice bridge, but nowhere for breakfast, so opted to carry on to Drumnadrochit. Martin struggled a bit as he famously relies relies on a full English every morning but, after a brief stop at Castle Urquhart, and 20 miles cycling we made it to Drumnadrochit and a BIG breakfast for us all, Louise and Abbie having their second clotted cream tea in 3 days (yes, that's right, for breakfast!!).

Then we had a difficult choice to make -- either do a steep hill climb over to Beuly or take the low loch side road to Inverness to meet the Provost. We were, of course, very disappointed to miss out on the steep hill, but we bore our loss stoically!! The ride to Inverness was very pleasant, the sun was warm and there were not too many hills. On the way, I climbed onto the canal wall, to take a picture of the boats, and a big lorry thundered past and all but blew me in!! When we came to the Inverness sign, Abbie was ecstatic, as it marked the end of her ride from Land's End to the UK's most northerly city. She's had a knee injury and a muscle strain but kept going when she could and we'll all miss her on the last leg.

Before she went, though, we had afternoon tea with the Inverness Provost, Bob Hind and his wife, who made us very welcome. We then said bye to Abbie at Inverness station in the pouring rain as she got the sleeper train back to London. Before that we presented Hammie with two tins of liquorice allsorts for all the bike fixing and being such a great friend and fun to be with. Drena got a big tin of chocs for the same, apart from the bike fixing!!

Meanwhile Martin's cold was getting worse so he decided to forego the pleasure of cycling in heavy rain, to ensure he would be okay to go the next day. Meantime, it was Drena who accompanied us out of Inverness on the new bridge. The waterproofs did their job but it was an "entertaining" crossing! We then followed Drena down a new cyclepath, but it was poorly marked and we ended up doing a pleasant coastal run around the Black Isle instead, shame it added an extra 6 miles though.

As we had an evening appointment in Evanton and were now running late [does anyone else have a sense of d�j� vu here?! JC], we made haste along the A9 in the rain and Drena took shelter in the van. Though it started with a climb it soon became a downhill all the way to Cromarty Bridge and some great views of teh Cromarty Firth. The weather also started to improve and teh sun was shining as we pulled into Evanton after what seemed like a very long 60 miles, to a wonderful reception and "finish" tape on the village high street. There were lots of pictures, lots of great people to meet and chat with, and a great tea which always goes down well with this team! Martin showed he is a natural communicator when talking with local DB member, Billy who is a blind sign language user, and was rewarded with lots of funny stories about the flat in Lenzie apparently. Look forward to hearing some of those! We also met the local councillor and the local minister took the photos! Now at Edith and john's who are looking after us for teh night and my eyes are closing again so will finish here for now, but tomorrow will talk about cycle underwear for men [Oooh! Can't wait! JC]
Bob

Fri 13th June : Report from Fort Augustus 7.30am

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 06:01:20 -0500
Just about to leave and although, it looks as if we will finally get the rain today, it doesn't look as though it will be too bad. Meant to say yesterday, we could see the top of Ben Nevis as we went past, which is not a common occurrence, as when I climbed it a few years ago, we were in cloud from halfway up. As we cycled away, the ben did disappear into cloud as befits a 4,000ft mountain! Have to mention that Martin also became a member of our exclusive 90 mile club, as he missed some of the Dumfries and Galloway leg and this despite his knee injury and cold. Hammie desperately wants to join the club too, but with having to take his share of the driving I think our exclusivity will remain! (Psst! Our mileometer is slightly wrong, hence the high miles. But who cares!). No breakfast available early enough today, so we're leaving Fort Augustus without. Ugh!
Bob

Thurs 12th June : Report from Fort Augustus 9.10pm and 11.30pm

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 05:59:41 -0500
Today has just finished with 90 miles on the clock -- another long cycle! The day started with a donation from Andy and Ellen, whose Glengarry B&B we stayed at in Tyndrum. Because we were 6 miles short of the Bridge of Orchy, we had to make that up first, and started with another climb. We were already 800ft up and it was very cold. The scenery was great though, and after a quick stop at the Bridge of Orchy hotel, we had another climb past a couple of lochs and a few pictures were taken as the scenery got better.
By now the sun had come out now and, even though we've been seeing wonderful scenery all week, the ride down Glencoe topped it all. The mountains were spectacular and wild and we had almost a 5 mile freewheel to boot, though with the ever present northerly wind and all the tight bends we didn't get over 34 mph [You can almost hear Bob's sigh of relief from here, can't you?! JC]. Close to the bottom there was another loch which enhanced the landscape even more. From there it was noticeably warmer and we stopped for tea and cake in Glencoe itself, having done 35 miles already. We met a deaf lady and Martin amazed Hammie with how fast he could sign! If he could ride as fast as he can sign, he'd have been at JOG last week!
Then it was a very pleasant lochside ride in the sunshine to Fort William for our appointment with the provost, Alan Henderson. Alan was the first provost we've met wearing a kilt, and after the by now obligatory photo shoot in the high street, they gave us hot soup, mini pizzas and sausage rolls and presented us with a wooden plaque and coat of arms for the Highlands. Alan and CE, Emma Watson, were very good company but we still had 26 miles to go, so we set off again, up the Great Glen Way along Neptune's Staircase, a series of 8 locks which raises the canal 70 ft in height from its start. From there it was a quiet ride along the canal, almost to Spean Bridge, before heading up north to Fort Augustus.
Abbie was slower because of her knee injury and, as we were in danger of missing out on dinner, she nobly stopped and went in the van, while the 3 of us cycled hard to eventually arrive in Fort Augustus just before 8.00pm, Martin in spite of having a bad cold. Our B&B is fine and we just made last orders for food at the Lovatt Arms, where the food was good, but cost an arm and a leg! It was also Abbie's last night with us, as she will be on the Inverness sleeper tomorrow evening, to get back for Camilla, their middle daughter's leaving do at Mary Hare on Sunday.
Bob

Weds 11th June : Report from Tyndrum 11.00pm

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 05:58:27 -0500
Got away early this morning, and all four of us have cycled all day today. Went along the Forth & Clyde canal to Clydebank, where we had an interview and a photo shoot with the local paper, after which we carried along on the cycle path for a meeting with the West Dunbarton Provost. Accompanied today by Dr Jim O'Neill, whom Louise and Abbie met in Egypt when they did their River Nile Bike Challenge. Also finally managed a clotted cream tea (as we didn't get one in Devon or Cornwall) with the Provost of West Dunbartonshire, Dennis Agnew! First had another local paper interview and some pics with Dennis outside, then inside for fresh scones. He was very knowledgeable about local history and showed us round the council chambers and the gavel, which Abbie was allowed to bang (rather too firmly!). Finally, he presented us all with bottle of local scotch whisky with West Dunbartonshire Council labels on the bottles! [Louise going to be drunk in charge again, is she, Bob? JC]. The Provost has also promised a donation too!
Set off again in sunshine, hardly believing our luck. We know the weather is going to break with a vengeance, so every good day we get now is a bonus. The ride up Loch Lomond was fantastic, with great views of Ben Lomond, which I escorted Gill up in February! [Ahem! for those not in the know, it was more like the other way round and Gill and Iain having to make sure Robert didn't fall off the mountain!! JC]. Also rode across Loch Lomond golf course and along a brilliant cycle path almost all the way to Tarbet. Jim caught a train home from there, having enjoyed a typical day of LEJOG with press, cream tea, whisky, meeting a provost ... and even some cycling!
After lunch at Tarbet, and a donation from the owners of the establishment, we continued up Loch Lomond, stopping for the odd photo, but it gradually became a climb as we got to the head of the loch and it became harder. Also had our first rain since Devon, but only a couple of quick showers and the sun came back each time. Bad news was the midges, which were ferocious, unless we moved quickly enough! Some of us got more bites than others!
After 60 miles, we've finished in Tyndrum, as there's no B&B in the Bridge of Orchy, so it means we have 6 miles more climbing to do first thing tomorrow morning. Had dinner and back in our room by 10.00pm, a slightly better time than usual! Eyes closing now, so going to sleep, but still can't believe we got another good day's weather and assume tomorrow will be very wet!
Bob