The BIG bike ride - Land's End to John O'Groats

Some of you may already know that I'm cycling from Lands End to John O'Groats from 5th to 20th of May.
  I'm cycling with a friend of mine Rob Dentry who is 14 yrs my junior and a whole heap fitter, however he currently has the scars of a paintball pellet to the bum which makes sitting on a saddle extremely painful :o)
  1000 miles of pure hell I'm sure, but it will be for charity. Before you all reach for your wallets I won't be asking for your money. What I would like you to do is to donate a bit of your time to a charity or worthwhile cause.
  You'll be able to track our progress via this blog. Please feel free to leave some words of encouragement :o)

I'm not asking for your money!!(but...Rob is!!)

Fed up with the usual "give me your money" approach to charity. An idea came to me one day of asking people to donate their time instead. I thought my idea was unique until I found a whole host of sites and organisations who do such a thing. One such organisation can be found at
  http://www.volunteering.org.uk
  You will be able to find your nearest centre. There are a large number of different ways of donating your time. So don't feel that you will be pushed into something you're not comfortable with. Alternatively you can give blood for the first time or help out at a local youth group. The options are endless. There is no time limit on when to do this. Anytime from now until whenever. Your help will always be invaluable.
  It would be fantastic if you could post a comment on the site to say what work you would like to do and how many hours you have donated so that we can keep a running total. If you prefer send an email info@donatemytime.org.uk . If everyone I know can donate even just 1hr of their time to a worthwhile cause or charity then we would have achieved a great deal.
  If you'd prefer the easy option of giving money, Rob is cycling to raise money for the Wiltshire Air Ambulance and you can visit his fundraising page here.
  Thanks
  Peter & Rob :o)

The Final Push - Day Fifteen - Tongue to John O’Groats

May 19, 2009

Day 15

Tongue to John O’Groats
Distance 64.42miles
Average 12.8 mph
Time 4hours 53minutes and 40 seconds

Day 15, our final day began at 07.45 when we left Tongue and headed for our final destination; John O’Groats.



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
We were under pressure as we had to cycle on from John O’Groats to Wick to catch our train at 16.00 and therefore set ourselves a target to make it to John O’Groats by 13.00. In total that was 64 miles to cycle. To begin with, we set a good pace but progress was hampered as there were some very difficult hills. We headed along the A836 all along the coast although a little inland so we only had some good views of the sea now and then. Probably about half way along the last leg of our tour, the road flattened out and we made good progress from there on. Within five miles of arriving at John O’Groats, the heavens opened and we had to get the wet weather gear out so that we didn’t get absolutely drenched.

We passed through a place called Dunnet which is quite apt as we had very nearly ‘Dunnit’!! Boom boom. Not long after passing through Dunnet we were bombarded by some huge bugs and you could feel them constantly hitting your face and hitching a ride on your clothing!

Eventually we arrived at John O’Groats at 12.45. Hooooooray!!!! Just as we arrived in John O’Groats, the sun came out and made our day. There were great views from John O’Groats across the sea to the Orkney Islands and of course the sun shining made everything look quite spectacular. We were ecstatic and overjoyed to have reached our final destination.

We had a great feeling of accomplishment, having completed such a massive tour and all the hard work with training was well worth it.

We had our pictures done although we didn’t wait the five minutes for the guy to come back from his break as the sign said, because we had to push on and get to the train station in Wick! That part of the journey was very tough as we were cycling straight through a head wind and it took us a good couple of hours to get there and it was only 17 miles.

Our heartfelt thanks and appreciation go to all those who sent us text messages, emails, comments on both Facebook and the blog and all the lovely telephone calls. Those messages certainly helped us along our way and we found them morale boosting and inspiring.

We would also like to thank those who have already donated their time and/or money. Remember it’s still not too late to donate your time or make a financial contribution to Rob’s charity Wiltshire Air Ambulance http://justgiving.com/robertdentry

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Comments

3 Responses to “The Final Push - Day Fifteen - Tongue to John O’Groats”

  1. Anne on May 19th, 2009 9:57 pm

    Wey Hey, you made it!!! Fantastic job you guys!!! We all love you and we’re all very proud of you.

    Bet nothing can beat the feeling you had when you finally got to John O’Groats!!!

    Babe, I can’t wait to give you big hugs and lots of kisses when I see you tomorrow!!
    xx

  2. Rob Cockburn on May 20th, 2009 8:35 am

    Fantastic, well done!!

    I hear team Quick Step are after a couple of riders for the Tour de France - that’ll be a dodle after this ride!

    Enjoy a well deserved rest, and Pete, thank God you’re back home for a taste of Annes cooking :o)

  3. Simon on May 20th, 2009 1:44 pm

    WELL DONE TO THE TWO OF YOU. A SUPURB ACHIEVEMENT

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