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 Six - Goodrich to Clun

May 11, 2009

Day 6

Goodrich to Clun

Distance 69.5miles

Average 10.8 mph

Time 6 hours 11 minutes 17 seconds

At 09.30 we began Day 6 of our tour and left Goodrich heading for Clun with warm conditions and the weather forecast saying 17 degrees.  We both got a bit burnt in the sun today and I now look like I’m wearing white cycling gloves at the end of my bronzed arms.  We went up through Hereford and through a place called Leominster which wasn’t too exciting but we did pass through a place called Eardisland which was very picturesque with lots of lovely houses and buildings.

The terrain was mostly flat today with hills that weren’t too serious which was a bit of a relief until we went over one called Blackhill which was over 400 metres high just before entering Clun and we only averaged about 3mph!  We were out of the saddles again and zig zagging which was extremely difficult at such a slow pace - you know you’re in trouble when you have to do that but we managed to make it to the top in one go. .It was a very tough hill but we saw some fantastic views looking down over Clun from the top of it.

We passed through a little place called Brockhampton where we saw a church with a thatched roof today - very unusual and nothing like I’ve seen before.

We had trouble getting all our clothes dry last night because the drying room at the hostel was full of wet suits.  We had to pack our stuff up wet and Rob had to wear his top while it was still wet.  We tried to dry some things en route and Rob had his socks and pants hanging from his bike at one point earning him the name ‘PANTani’.  It was quite a comical sight seeing him cycling along with his pants hanging over his handlebars!  We stopped at a Little Chef in a place called Hope under Dinmore half way between Hereford and Leominster and while we were there we hung some of our wet clothes out to dry on the bench while we were stuffing our faces with cheese sandwiches. Anne left us a lovely coconut cake last night which we ploughed our way through during the day today.  It was delicious!

We arrived at the youth hostel in Clun at 18.00 and we were again lucky enough to get our own room.  We went down to the local pub called the White Horse which is the only pub left in the village out of 13!!  We made our own dinner tonight; pasta with pesto and chicken with vegetables.  Again, the food was great but still not a patch on Anne’s!

We have been able to spin our clothes as there was a washing machine in the hostel and hopefully they will finish drying overnight.  We got chatting to a bloke at the hostel called Lindsey who is a youth hostel volunteer and happened to be staying at our hostel while he’s doing some walking. He came down the pub with us and has published over a thousand books and written about 50 mostly about travel and history.  His latest book is about the islands off the coast of Scotland.

We are anticipating a tough day tomorrow so we’re heading off for an early night.

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Comments

3 Responses to “Day Six - Goodrich to Clun”

  1. Anne on May 11th, 2009 4:48 pm

    Hey babe,
    I’m still so proud of you both and glad you are enjoying yourselves. The images in my mind of Rob airing his pants in public are hilarious!!

    Glad you enjoyed the cake - bet you didn’t think you’d get to sample my food while you were away from home did you???

    Just over a week to go now babe almost half way there……..

    Love you and missing you lots xx

  2. Maria Morgan on May 11th, 2009 5:09 pm

    You guys are amazing. Keep it up! Remember, Anne’s cooking will be waiting for you when you get home. Actually, there may be none left as everyone reading your blog will have been round to your house to eat it first.

  3. Heidi Hughes on May 11th, 2009 9:52 pm

    well done , you’re doing great! see you soon xx

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