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 Eleven - Stirling to Glencoe

May 16, 2009

Day 11

Stirling to Glencoe

Distance  85.08 miles

Average 11.6 mph

Time 7 hours 12 minutes and 59 seconds

Day 10 began with us leaving Stirling at 10.00 heading for Glencoe.  We cycled up the A84 and the weather to begin with was overcast and a little bit drizzly and unfortunately that didn’t change all day.

We went through a place called Doune and we were lucky enough to have the wind behind us most of the way there.  We stopped in a place called Callander to take some cash out, picked up some sandwiches for lunch and pain killers for Rob’s leg which is still giving him problems.

From there we picked up a cycle path parallel to the A84 which is an old railway track.  It was 25 miles long signposted to Killin which we took but as it was a gravel path, progress was a little bit slow.  The cycle path became very zig zaggy as we passed through Lochearnhead with really sharp hairpin bends and this took us quite high up and we were way above the road looking down onto the A84.  Eventually we re-joined the A84 which became the A85 near to Killin heading towards Tyndrum

In Tyndrum there was a place called The Green Welly Stop, like a services with shops, petrol and a touristy gift shop.  We got onto the A82 at Tyndrum which is when the day started to get very tough because the tailwind we had at the beginning of the A82 turned into a side wind as we turned a corner.  The wind was coming from the right and was blowing us into the grass verge.  It was extremely hairy as lorries passed us and we found that extremely hard going.

As the road turned, the side wind became a very strong head wind which made the going really tough.  Temperatures were dropping as we passed some spectacular scenery through the Grampians. Some of the mountains had snow on the top of them which added to the spectacular views. As the temperatures dropped we added more and more layers of clothing as we found ourselves getting quite cold at this point.

At one point we went into a really strong head wind which is when I felt really bonked - I was lacking energy, food and drink and I really suffered on that part which I think was a mixture of the cold, the wind and lacking food.  We were munching away all day quite nicely but probably not enough for the climate.  Rob force fed me tons of chocolate so that I could complete that leg of the tour.

We turned a another corner and enjoyed the pleasure of a tail wind all the way to the hostel and went at speeds of up to 30 miles an hour on the flat.  Quite impressive!

We arrived at the hostel at 19.45 and we cooked noodles for our dinner in the hostel kitchen.  Need I say that the cheap, packet noodles were nowhere near as good as Anne’s cooking!!  We found ourselves again sharing a dormitory with six other people, it seems Scotland is really popular this time of year!  Let’s hope none of them are snorers as I really need a good night’s sleep tonight!

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Comments

3 Responses to “Day Eleven - Stirling to Glencoe”

  1. Anne on May 16th, 2009 12:52 pm

    My poor babe, you are going through so much to reach John O’Groats……..

    You are so close now and you’ll be home for a lovely dinner soon!

    Missing you lots and hoping the rest of the tour isn’t too tough for you both. Can’t wait to see you again and have a BIG hug!

    Love ya xx

  2. Rob Dore on May 16th, 2009 5:59 pm

    Chins up, heads up. Lord knows you deserve to walk and or cycle with your heads held high.

    You’re doing a great job and retaining all of our pride.

    Not far now papa smurf.

  3. Lara Desroche on May 16th, 2009 11:26 pm

    Can’t believe youhave got so far and still have the energy to cycle up to 30mph, well done.

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