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)

Day Eight - Chester to Slaidburn (wear the fox hat?)

May 15, 2009

Day 8

Chester to Slaidburn

Distance  79 miles

Average 11.4

Time 6 hours 26 mins and 6 seconds

Just before leaving Chester, I was giving Rob a massage on his left calf in the dormitory which we were sharing with six other people and he was lying on the floor when a young Canadian guy who we were sharing the dormitory with walked in.  His face looked a picture as he walked in at the point when I was rubbing oil into Rob’s leg!! This isn’t what you think it is I said!  Chester was a beautiful place with a lot of Tudor buildings and a lot of history.   We left the hostel in Chester at 09.05 and following advice from the chef at the youth hostel in Chester, we took a different route to the official one again and we went along to Birkenhead which is just south of the Mersey river.  We decided to take the ferry across the Mersey and saw some nice scenery going across - impressive buildings etc.  We had to wait over an hour for the ferry on which they pointed out some familiar landmarks and played the famous song ‘Ferry across the Mersey’ at the end and Rob and I joined in for a little sing song!!

It was bright and sunny day but the wind was very strong and right in our faces.  I am glad my massage techniques which were expertly taught to me by my wife over the phone seemed to do the trick because Rob stayed out in front again and sheltered me from the wind.  Even then I still found it very tough going.  We poodled along the A59 all the way up to Preston which was quite a dull and busy road.  It certainly wasn’t a very scenic route.  We stopped to have tea at Tootsie’s which was in a place called Much Hoole somewhere along the A59 half way between Lands End and John O’Groats.  The lady gave us a free coffee which was very kind.  This was our 500 mile marker which spurred us on to sing the famous Proclaimers song ‘500 Miles’.

We went through Preston and out the other side, not a lot to report but it was pretty dull.  From there we followed country roads all the way then to Slaidburn and the wind never let up at all.  Within about the last 10 miles even though Rob was out at the front, I found myself flagging as it was such a tough part of the tour.

We are still sick of the sight of chocolate so we ate mostly cakes, peanuts and cereal bars along with our lunch during the day.

We arrived at the hostel at 20.15 which is right in the middle of nowhere hence our not being able to get a signal on our mobile phones.  Thank goodness for good old fashioned payphones as I was able to use the one in the hostel to speak to Anne to update the blog!  We cooked pasta again for dinner yawn, yawn.  I can’t wait to get home again for Anne’s cooking and I’m halfway there now!

We are both very tired now and we are having a relatively early night to try and recuperate for another tough day tomorrow.

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Comments

2 Responses to “Day Eight - Chester to Slaidburn (wear the fox hat?)”

  1. Rob Dore on May 15th, 2009 9:59 am

    Prince Charles was opening the new leisure centre in Slaidburn and arrived wearing a fox hat. After the ceremony, the local Mayor said “your highness, I hope you don’t mind me asking but why are you wearing a fox hat?” Prince Charles replied “oh not at all, I was talking to Mummy this morning and told her I was opening the leisure centre in Slaidburn, and Mummy said “Slaidburn? wear the fox hat?”"

  2. Anne on May 15th, 2009 10:06 am

    Glad your massage skills have helped Rob…… I guess I should promise you a massage on your return for all the hard work you’ve been doing to reach John O’Groats.

    You’re both doing fantastically well and we are all really proud of you.

    Not long now babe, you’re nearly there!! Good luck with the rest of the days and as Big Rob says, may the wind be always at your back!
    Luv ya xx

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