Done and Dusted

19 days and 1200 miles later and we’re all finished.  Thanks loads to everyone who’s been so generous with their dosh and donated to our justgiving sites.  I just had an email from Cancer Research UK thanking us and you….so thanks!!!!  We couldn’t get the internet connection to work properly on the mobile phone and when we did it was pretty impossible to add to this blog, so for what it’s worth here a retrospective account of Le Jog.  There’s so much to add to this blog that I don’t know where to start.  Actually I do know exactly where to start, I just won’t know when to finish.

The journey was:
– Hard work
– Rewarding
– Full of friendly, helpful, unfriendly and angry people
– Loads of other amazingly supportive bike riders
– Lots of other people doing, done the ride already
– Good and bad advice
– More B&Bs than I thought
– Best campsite was the first one we stayed in ‘Lower Treath Campsite’ at Landsend.  We were welcomed with a cold beer!!
– Amazing weather for the first half, pretty much for our ride through England.
– Rubbish weather the second we got to Gretna… that put me in a real stinker of a mood. The whole thing changes when the weather turns bad.
– Some very friendly landlords – Mark at the Temple Bar Inn, a very warm welcome after a ridiculously hilly and tough day in Wales. Even did our laundry for us. The people at Bank farm in Wales, both not only gave us discount rates but sponsored us on our quest too…thanks!!

Here is a link to some of Pete’s snaps (there trillions more on my flickr site)

This was one of the coolest, epicist views of the trip.
This was one of the coolest, epicist views of the trip.

Us at the very begining of the trip outside Penzance train station. Photo taken by a guy we met who had just finished John OGroats to Landsend, for the second time in as many years.
Us at the very begining of the trip outside Penzance train station. Photo taken by a guy we met who had just finished John O'Groats to Landsend, for the second time in as many years.We were all trying to ween our way off fryups

A Healthy Glow

Perhaps a little aftersun Julio?
Perhaps a little aftersun Julio?
Bridges, Canals and General English Pleasantness
An attempt to ween ourselves of fryups
An attempt to ween ourselves of fryups
Everything. So much colourful, prepackacked, un-organic goodness for lunch that day!
Everything. So much colourful, prepackacked, un-organic goodness for lunch that day!

Let’s Go!!

I think this is everything. Car at mum and dad’s. Rottable food out of the house. Bin goes out in an hour. Hours spent creating smart playlists on the iPod I’ll probably forget to put in my bag. Milk needs a drinkin. Bike needs loading. Need to rememeber the chilled rose and chocolate mouse for the boat journey. Pack everything into little ziplock food bags, then into bin bags, then into bike bags, then onto bikes. Worry  about what keys do what and go where. Brother to water plants. Weather to get good. Boat and trains to run smoothly. Bikes to not get nicked. Farmers and landlords of pubs to be generous with field space and scrumpy. Make sure I put the right stuff into my bike bags and not (secretly, without myself knowing) replace the correct kit with bags of flour, big books and lead weights….only to be discovered in Portsmouth tomorrow morning. Let’s Go!!!

Saddle

Before the ride. Apparently in needs a good 300 miles of useage before it begins to get comfortable...so half way up the Welsh border I can start to
Before the ride. Apparently the Brooks B17 needs a good 300 miles of usage before it begins to break in… so half way up the Welsh border I can start to enjoy the ride.

More essentials

I’m actually going to try and make good use of most of my head for this ride. Here are pictures that I’ve uploaded from my computer of my head. Maybe we should call this blog Headbook.com

the other one