Searching for Nessie

Day Three

From Inverness to Glen Nevis
Distance travelled: 70 miles
Ave Speed: 11.2mph
Max speed: 32.4mph
Weather: Sunny intervals for most of the day, rain at end. Headwind all the way
Cycling time: 6 hours 10 mins
Total distance so far: 194 miles

Nice big beakfast at Morrisons to start the day and then onto Halfords to stock up on inner tubes. (Thanks Richard for your comment). Got away at 9.20 heading for Loch Ness. Soon came to realise that today was going to be tough as we were cycling into a headwind, which was pretty much continuous throughout.

The ride along Loch Ness was fantastic and sitting by Uruquhart Castle having our mid morning snack we had another fly past by the jet planes. At one stage Shaun thought he found Nessie, but I wasnt so sure....you will have to make your own minds up!

Following lunch at Fort Augustus, we rode down past Loch Oich and Loch Lochy. As we arrived in Fort William the rain began to come down (as forecast to be fair). We had tea in a local hotel before having to get wet again by heading 2 miles up the road towards Ben Nevis to find our hostel.

We both came to realise today when riding into the windhow much effort could be saved by riding closely behind the one in front (without telling each other!) During this time we made up a little poem, and it went something like this....

Click, Click, Click go our gears
Round, Round, Round go our wheels
Riding to our destination
Heads down, into the wind with determination

All the Best from Shaun and Rob

(Dont forget to add your comments of support / abuse !)

A Day of two halves...

Day Two

From Hemlsdale to Inverness
Distance travelled : 70 miles
Ave Speed: 12.7mph
Max speed: 28.6
Weather: Sunny intervals, breezy
Cycling time: 5 hours 31 minutes
Total distance so far: 124 miles

We planned on getting going by 9am and by 9.15am we were on the road heading out of Helsmdale and onto Inverness. We kept an eye out for those snipers how have been shooting at Rob's front tyre, but luckily we managed to avoid them and make it through to Inverness without any further problems.

The first 35 miles took us along the A9 passing through the towns of Brora and Golspie. Generally this a fairly flat trip which had some spectacular views and scenary. We passed over Dornoch Firth and thank you to the people who organised the fly past by the jet planes.

We stopped for lunch in Tain, a beautiful market town. After lunch we followed the busy A9 down to Black Isle, which included breaking through the first 100 mile barrier. Our test for the day was a long steady climb of approximately 2 miles before picking up the cycle path into Inverness.

This was the first time we had ridden over 60 miles and yes we now have sore bits! A friendly local has directed us to the nearest halfords for those damn inner tubes, which will be our first stop of tomorrow morning. Tonight we definitely need our sleep

We're off

Day : One

From John O’Groats To Helmsdale
Weather: Showery, and strong side wind
Distance Travelled :54 miles
Ave Speed: 12.3 mph
Max speed: 34.6mph
Total Distance so far: 54 miles

Set off from the hostel for John O'Groats in good spirits, only for Rob to announce that he had another puncture. We came across two other guys who were about to do the trip, one of the guys Roy, was very helpful and kindly gave us a new inner tube. We later learnt that he had been diagnosed with cancer for a second time, and was completing the journey for cancer research.

After the photo shoot, we finally set off on our cycle adventure at 11.40am, only to get one mile up the road and guess what happened next….? Yes that’s right Rob’s front tyre blew! We were now worried as he had no inner tubes left, and the rate he was going through them we wouldn’t even make the end of the first day. Rob was beginning to get paranoid about even riding his bike, and even blamed Shaun for deliberately sabotaging his ride!

Anyway we made it to Wick, some 18 miles away with a fair wind. Tesco Wick unfortunately did not have the necessary inner tubes, so the only option was to try and repair it. In an effort to fix the valve, we had to harass the Sunday Tesco shoppers for a pair of pliers. Shaun then occupied a corner of the canteen and repaired the damaged tube.

From Wick it was onwards to Helmsdale, some 35 miles along the road. We perhaps underestimated the length this would take and the severity of a couple of the climbs. We have come to realise we need to eat more and at regular intervals. Still it was a particularly scenic ride along the north east Scottish coast line.

We eventually arrived at the hostel just before 7.00pm and dined at the Bannockburn inn. Still worried about the inner tube situation, but fingers crossed we make it to Inverness tomorrow, to enable us to stock up!

Potholes, wind and ready to go

So here we are, John O’ Groats. Yesterday’s initial excitement and expectation has given way to a realisation of just how far we have to cycle! We have spent over twenty fours just getting to our starting point and the short trips cycling with full panniers means our destination at the moment feels a very long way away. Still as is said we are taking one day at a time!

Booking overnight accommodation turned out to be a good call, even though we weren’t in our room for long. Rob had initially thought we could loiter in Inverness overnight, but the weather was’nt ideal for loitering and we were warned by a friendly female police officer that bike napping is rife in Inverness! We managed to catch the 7.15 am train journey from Inverness to Wick, which took over four hours, meandering through the beautiful Scottish Highlands, spotting the wildlife – Seals; Hawks; Deer and lots of sheep

After lunch at Wick and stocking up with provisions at Tesco Wick, we headed off for John O’Groats into a strong headwind. Everything was going well until our first problem! Rob failed to avoid a pothole, which blew his front tyre. Great! We have since spoken to a number of people who have completed the trip, who did not had a puncher over the entire trip, and we have had one before we got to the start line! As shaun put his bicycle maintenance skills into action, the heavens also opened up. But he soon had the situation under control and we were off again in ten minutes.

Arrived at John O’Groats, had a quick look around, then checked into our hostel. Tomorrow our adventure begins for real….

So here we go....

Arrived in Heathrow in plenty of time to find Shaun comfortably settled in Wetherspoons watching Pompey play Liverpool in the (tinpot) Asia trophy final.

Shaun has managed to get t-shirts printed with the website details on the back, which have already attracted the attention of other passengers, who were impressed enough to agree to visit our site. Also found that our boxes were very good at creating a passage through the Heathrow crowds.

Check in was easy enough, and we spent an hour watching planes take off and land. Boarding was delayed as Shaun received commentary of Pompey’s penalty shoot out (full time score 0-0), which they eventually won 4-3, to bring home Pompey’s first silverware since 2003.

Flight to Inverness was good, no delays, and we then spent the next hour and half in the airport terminal putting together our bikes, which took longer than we had anticipated because of rob’s tyres.
You now find us in the Snow Goose, next to our travel lodge, drinking Caledonian deuchers having cycled the 7 or so miles from the airport. We have been debating whether or not to gamble on the later 10.39 train to Wick tomorrow, to have a lie in, but after speaking to the nice lady in the youth hostel we are getting our pre booked train at 7.15!!!

Who and Why?

We are two good friends who have known each other for over ten years. Met whilst working at a school in East Grinstead, West Sussex. Shaun's a diehard Pompey fan and former PE teacher, now having an easier life as a PDM in Basingstoke, whilst Rob is currently putting in the hours as the partnership director of the Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire county sport partnership. Both are former runners - shaun a talented middle distance runner, until injury forced him to stop and try something else and Rob, liked to run a bit further, and stopped after completing 6 London Marathons, the last in 2000 with Shaun, to take up golf. But both of us are new to cycling. Our previous cycling experience is no more than cycling to work and spending three hours on the side of a kentish hill waiting for 40secs of le tour . Hardly the potential, you might say, of taking on the challenge of cycling nearly 1000 miles in 2 weeks. So why this madness? Simple really,

in June 2006, Shaun's daughter Angel was born with Hydrocephalus -a condition in which the primary characteristic is excessive accumulation of fluid in the brain. You will be pleased to know she is doing really well and is growing fast! Shaun wanted to do something to support ASBAH (Associtaion for Spina Bifida and hydrocephalus - http://www.asbah.org/) an organisation which has given him and his wife Debbie a great amount of support, particuarly in the early months of Angel's life. So he takes the credit for coming up with the idea, but i didnt take much convincing because it was something I had always wanted to do. That was last summer, and like most good ideas, that seem good at the time, particualarly at new year over a few beers, the reality soon begins to sink in!