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Chris joined us for today, for the cycle south to near King’s Lynn. We started with the only climb of the day – near Caistor, at around 160m altitude, which is huge by Lincolnshire standards. After a 10% long drop (maxing out at 62kph) to Market Rasen, we followed NCR1 along various pretty – and… Continue reading Day 8 – Lincolnshire

Nice and sunny today, I spent a good while in the middle section of the day’s ride relaxing in the sun, much to Dan’s annoyance! However, first we had the edge of the North York Moors to pass. Some proper hills, a steep descent to Robin Hood’s Bay and then a climb on a rough… Continue reading Day 7 – Yorkshire

Back on the bike today. Nice and dry day for once, except for a heavy shower on top of the North York Moors. We stuck closely to the planned route, passing through Newcastle, over the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, past the Angel of the North sculpture, over various County Durham hills, through Durham itself, and through… Continue reading Day 6 – Northumberland

I took a rest day today as I was still shattered after yesterday. Dan, and Addy (who was joining us for the day) set off at about 10am. Soon after that it started to rain, and kept raining and raining and raining… We dropped Anna off at Edinburgh for a train back to London –… Continue reading Day 5 – The Borders

Not a great day, a bit of a disaster in fact. Anna retired completely with an injury and Dan’s back wheel sheared. It also rained for much of the day. I severely ran out of energy, and morale, and almost threw in the towel. Not sure about tomorrow. 131.6km today in 6h19 moving time, 9… Continue reading Day 4 – The Forth Valley

The forecast sounded promising for today, but we awoke to steady rain. The original plan had been to take a forest track along the west side of Loch Lochy, but the wet weather meant we instead took the A82. At the Commando Memorial, Dan and I diverted along a scenic and empty road, to Gairlochy,… Continue reading Day 3 – The West Highlands

The first half of today involved getting to Inverness, which consisted of two sharp climbs and corresponding descents, and two stints along the A9 to cross bridges – not nice. Anna and I were struggling with the pace a little, after yesterday’s full day. At least the weather was much better – patchy sunshine and… Continue reading Day 2 – The Great Glen

Today started with, as the forecast promised, steady rain and a fairly strong northerly wind. After having a huge fry-up breakfast at the excelleny and friendly Pentland Hotel, we headed west, climbing a number of hills, with glimpses of empty golden sandy beaches and cliffs on the north coast, interspersed with low cloud. Although the… Continue reading Day 1 – The North Highlands

After a long (8 hour) but uneventful train journey through seemingly endless bands of rain, broken up with various cups of coffee and a foot-long Subway sandwich at Inverness, we made it to Thurso on time, the girls about an hour back in the car. Dan and I checked in to the Pentland Hotel and… Continue reading Day 0 – The Prologue