Land's End to John O'Groats 24th May-31st May (8 days)

Report by Andy Quicke

On Saturday the 24th of May, 5 club members set out from Land's End for a journey which would take in over 950 miles of England and Scotland on the way to John O'Groats.

Of course the journey didn't start there - we had been planning and putting the miles in for several months prior to then. At this point I should really put some of the quotes from some of the people who doubted we'd make it around but we'll keep them for motivation!

When I first informed my folks of the challenge my mum's response was "How far would you go in a day?" ..."120 miles!, Why don't you just do one day then? That would be enough. Wouldn't it?". Since the turn of the year Chris, Paul and myself set about building up our bike mileage wherever possible - this culminated in an epic ride out and back to Abersoch a few weeks before LEJOG to give us a real taste of what we were in for both physically and mentally. The conclusion? It was going to hurt - we just didn't know how much!

A few days before setting off Paul and Andy didn't even have bikes. Paul's was in for extensive repairs and Andy was having his practically rebuilt after crashing at Harlech two weeks earlier, whilst nursing various bruises and strains.

The tour began with us cycling into a firm headwind which stayed with us throughout - mainly whipping in from a North / North Easterly direction throughout. Fantastic. We weren't doing this for an easy ride but even the wind was against us... so much for favourable prevailing winds.

Just six miles in Chris's rear derailleur sheared off (brand new bike) resulting in our first major mechanical situation. Fortunately Andy Wright was on hand and helped Chris to get to a nearby bike shop who got him back on the road. Both Paul and I lost rear spokes on the way, but surprisingly we only had one puncture.

We pushed on relentlessly through the Cornish hills - up and down with nothing for recovery in between. After five hours sleep in a camping barn this was energy sapping.

The highlight of the day (for many) was created when I took a spectacular tumble whilst stopping for lunch. Over the next few days three of us came off at low speeds but none were hurt...fatigue doesn't help! The day finished with a big climb up over Dartmoor during which John succumbed to cramp and lost us temporarily.

Over the next seven days both Paul and I succumbed to numb hands which two weeks later still are not back to normal. Incredibly sore backsides were par for the course, as were sore knees, backs and burning quads throughout.

We pushed on over the next couple of days through the bad weather that we seemed to be dragging with us whilst the rest of the country basked in sunshine. The gale force winds on Day 3 were a particular low point as we grimly took turns to break the wind whilst dodging tree limbs and debris on the roads before bringing us to Ironbridge. This was the point where Konrad and John returned to normality after the Bank Holiday and we pushed on for the remaining five days.

Day five began in real style as we pushed on through the minor roads village hopping and taking in some beautiful Lakes and Yorkshire scenery in the light drizzle before crossing into Scotland which was just jaw-droppingly beautiful.

We did well with accommodation with a combination of family, friends and mostly bunkhouses providing us with a place to rest our heads.

The next few days took us along countless Lochs over boneshaking roads up along West Scotland as far as Fort William before crossing up and over to Glen Coe which was simply awesome. We then headed north Easterly past Inverness and on to our eventual goal at John O Groats.

Special thanks go to Becky Baldwin and Andy Wright for providing the back up to get us to and from our start points and helping us get our mechanical problems fixed - not forgetting sourcing some good light lunches!

We decided that we should raise charity funds in exchange for our aching limbs so thank you to all those who have sponsored us to date - when all of the money raised is put together the total will be in excess of £3,000. If you still want to sponsor us, or didn't think that we'd make it, so were waiting to find out (!) please go to our Just Giving page (below).

Have a look at http://le-jog2008.blogspot.com/ for our full story and http://www.justgiving.com/le-jog2008 to add to our online fundraising contributions to date.

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