LEJOG Finished

We left JOG in the car on Tuesday morning. It felt surreal traveling a days distance in one hours worth of driving. It took us 7 hours to get to Coldstream on the English border when it had taken us 7 days of cycling to get through Scotland.

The weather gods must really like us because it was very blustery yesterday morning (probably F5 NE) and wouldn't have been a nice cycle if we had been a day later. I think we must be in the driest 5% of the population present in Britain over the last 3 weeks. Soo jammy. Maybe driest 2%!

We saw a bunch of guys on road bikes climbing the Berriedale Braes and then a loaded down couple climbing the Helmsdale Hill and it was a weird mixture of emotions seeing them. I sympathised for the pain they would suffering climbing the hills but envied the fact that they were still cycling and were yet to have all the feelings that go with completing the ride. Don't think I don't fancy cycling the A9 north of Inverness though unless it was a real challenge not a supposed holiday. Too busy and not as scenic as the route we took.

The road home passed close to much of the route we took north from Edinburgh. From the A9 cycletrack to the Forth Road bridge it was nice to relive some of the experiences so soon after. I think when ever I drive that way in future my brain will fill with memories of cycling whether its where I hit a bad pot hole, had a tea stop or did a brilliant bit of road.

Today our knees feel pretty normal again, although also like they would be extra succeptible to ligament damage if twisted, and thighs no longer burn whenever I walk up the stairs.

Need more time to put it all in perspective.

I'll do some proper stattos when I'm back home and post a link for the photos.

Lejog day 18 bettyhill to john o'groats

Not enough superlatives for today. Perfect weather with sunshine all day and only a light easterly. A bit odd heading eastwards into the sun as we climbed out of bettyhill after so many days of heading north. Great road with views out to sea and orkney and back to the sutherland mountains. A decent stretch of cyclists fantasy tarmac into melvic. The road was surfaced dressed in the centre but there was a 50cm strip of the smoothest tarmac of the trip. Ace. The country got progressively flatter as we neared thurso where we had scotch and macaroni pies for lunch. Bit of a drag to dunnet before we went out to the headland. See blog photo below. Not many people will have had as northerly a pee as me! Best pee view yet. The remaining 15 miles passed quickly enough although we had a false dawn at a village a mile short but finally got to jog and met dad down by the harbour. A few photos but it didnt feel like the end. Mad photo booth man chipped in that it was really hilly and rubbish to duncansby head but he was only trying to protect jog as the end. We cycled back through jog village and headed to the real end at the lighthouse. It felt much more fitting and the surprise little hill was a suitable final hurdle. The pentland firth looked mediterranean and the sea stacks impressive. Finally we could stop peddling. Woo! distance 100.00 (cos i cycled round the carpark twice to make it so) average 15.5 kph cumulative 1589km

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Lejog day 17 lairg to bettyhill

The park house in lairg is definately the best stop of our trip. Great rooms good views and poached haddock for breakfast. Today started off sunny and warm but i regreted not putting my jacket on after about 300m. Long gradual climb from lairg into flow country with big views big hills and big forests. The landscapes were so big i now know how sam and frodo felt looking out over the emlyn muir. Lunch stop for soup and sandwiches at the crask inn which is amazingly remote and feels like a 30year timewarp. Wind hindered downhill to altnaharra and then along the shore of loch naver. Beautiful bit of cycling here and then along strath naver to bettyhill. Think i saw a peregrine falcon but need to check a bird book. Probably the best day ride of the trip. Met a spanish guy called carlos from horsham who is about finish his end to end walk. 3 months! A much more immpressive challenge than just cycling it. distance 74km average 15.2kph(we mosied for much of the day) cumulative 1492km (we will end up just six of 1000 miles i think)

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Lejog day 16 inverness to lairg

I forgot the stats yesterday. Distance 80km average 17kph cumulative 1320km. Back to today. Cold blustery f5 ne wind made the kessock bridge alarming and the the ride out to cromarty a real pain into the wind. The black isle was lovely but ill probably only remember the wind. Pizza at a nice cafe in cromarty before getting the ferry over to nigg. The smallest ricketyest car ferry i have been on and all the better for it. The photo below should show it. It was rolling around in a 1m swell and had trouble getting the ramp to hold on the slip. The two cars that it can hold went on gingerly as the ramp was up and down with the waves. We had to time perfect bike human leaps to make sure our feet stayed dry. The cars were then turned on a turntable. Best ferry ive been on. More windward work before a tea stop in tain and then a nice loch side beam reach to bonar bridge. Along this section all the cycling finally altered sarahs brain and she now thinks all sheep bleat "graaaeme" in declaration of their undying love for me. Bit of a drag from bonar bridge up to lairg but the kyles of sutherland were nice. I hadnt realised how much we had to ascend to get to lairg so found it mentally tough when i just wanted to finish. Not sure how far we would have got on our trip if the wind had blown like this every day. Devon? Anyway v nice room in lairg which is rightly proud to be home to the largest one day lamb sale in europe. Wooyaay. Road kill update: our first alive lejog hedgehog scuttered into the track as we walked back to our b&b. North coast tomorrow hopefully. Dude! distance 98km average 15kph cumulative 1418

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Lejog day 15 kingussie to inverness

Woke to an amazing valley bottom mist and it was quite a bit colder. Not quite frost but the heavy dew that shows how busy spiders have been all summer. Spooky cycling along in the half weird light lined by scots pine and birch . Aviemore for hot chocolates and a warm up and the mist burnt away while we sat. Nice road to carrbridge with a long gradual decent through thick conifer forest. We were back on route 7 and chose the on road route up to slochd summit. Local roads and then more great old a9. Saw some of the off road route and it looked great but for off road bikes only. Very bouldery. Best descent of the trip down to findhorn bridge and we tried tomatin distillery for a cafe but no luck. Most industrial and least picturesque distillery i have seen. Bit of a headwind nagging away now when ever we werent west of north and we descended through forest to daviot before heading east to culloden battlefield. A nice ride out there generally downhill. The visitor centre was a bit of a spaceship but the moor was very atmospheric even in sunlight. Found lunch there and then whizzed into inverness with wind assist. Nice riverside b&b and sat outside still mit beer after a walk around the castle (not as good as launceston)!

Lejog day 14 perth to kingussie

Another lovely morning but the coldest yet. Anyone would think we were travelling north in autumn! Were read a poem to the lost biker and regaled with tales of previous deviant guests over breakfast but the grub was decent. Slightly hairy dual carriageway after perth to avoid the circuitous part of route 77 but we joined it when it became more direct. Tay valley was splendid in the sunshine and best cake and hot chocolate stop yet in dunkeld before the worst tourist tax lunch in pitlochry. Good off road bit of cycleway through some posh estate after dunkeld but roadies should take the alternative road route. Not that sustrans tell you what to expect though. We got on cycleway 7 just before the big pit and the first lane it took us down was a bit steep but after that it was great all the way. Old a9 now a b road past blair atholl before a brilliant section of disused road through birch woods. The sun dappled on the river, the broom popped in the heat and the seeds from the rosebaywillow herb drifted gently on the breeze and clogged the eyes and choked the lungs of passing cyclists. we met some other lejoggers just as the first shower came on and they abandoned the cycleway for the road when it turned to shaley stuff. The rain came on stronger as we continued the steady grind up to the pass of drummochter but stopped before the summit. The cycle track was a bit uppy downy and bendy but also kept up the interest compared to a road. Overall i think it added 4 miles. Not great for skinny road tyres tho. Finally we got to the summit and started the equally gradual downhill. It was a bit cold by now so we stopped in dalwhinnie for a cup of tea. The other lejoggers were there and had been completely soaked on the road. I now understand why sustrans dont usually tarmac! As we left sarah lit her "nearly there afterburners" and i didnt see her for ages. Seemed a long drag and downhill wasnt steep enough to coast. Finally got in at just before 8pm with our longest day ever. Bit of a rush to get for food and we ate like very hungry people. distance 121km ave speed 15.7kph (good given off road nature of a lot of the trail) cumulative 1240km

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Lejog day 13 edinburgh to perth

After the exertions of the last two days we decided an 80miler to pitlochry was a little excessive so we opted for perth. Very hard to leave this morning and also passing stations with a direct train home! It was a bright and sunny morning and really cold. We fought our way down to haymarket and hopped onto sustrans route one out to the bridges. Cycleway had some pretty bumpy sections and one so bad i was depanniered for the third time this trip. At least no scary run into traffic this time for the rescue mission. On a road surface note scotlands are bad and lothians are the worst so far. It became a game of spot the cycle route sign as we got further out the city with comedy behind tree positioning and ambigous arrows but route one got us right out to the road bridge. Had great views in sunshine as we crossed the forth and then the first haggis suppers of the trip in inverkeithing. Rolling farmland with good views to kinross for afternoon tea and then a long decent down glen farg that sarah loved and i found too flat to build decent speed on the bad surface. Sarah didnt even feel the bumps and got to the bottom minutes before me. Short drag to perth and fin. Its cold here! todays photo is looking back to the bridges cos i forget as we were actually on it so its rubbish. distance 80km average 16.3kph (surprisingly high considering how easily we took it) cumulative 1118km

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LEJOG Day 12 Langholm to Edinburgh

Left Langholm in bright sunlight but with wet roads from an earlier downpour. It felt very autumnal and thermals were worn. The ride up to Eskdalemuir was beautiful in the sunlight with the river and burns all very full from the rain. Had tea and chocolate at the Samye Ling Tibetan centre. A strange place but certainly tranquil. Would have been nice to look around the gardens and buildings but we had to move on. We were overtaken by a heavy shower as we crossed from the Esk (Dumfries and Galloway) to the Ettrick (Scottish Borders) valley and got pretty wet coming down the other side. Not as shoe squelching as yesterday though. Lunch at Tushielaw inn would have been perfect timing but it was randomly closed for lunch today. Never mind, there was a hotel over the next hill in the Yarrow valley so we plodded on as the sun came back out. Unfortunately the hotel had just closed for refurbishments so we had some muesli bars to keep us going until Innerleithen. Best downhill of the day to Traqair and then we crossed the Tweed to find the first hotel now closed for lunch as it was after 2pm. grrr. Starting to get a bit annoyed by this point. Finally found somewhere still serving on Innerleithen High Street and the grub was good. Amusingly the Tweedale Hotel had reopened 2 days before after refurbishment.
Up next was a bit of a drag along the Tweed to Peebles and from there over to Penicuik. This was the worst leg of the trip yet as a long day, bad road surface, long gradual climb, muppet drivers and plenty of vehicles combined to have us raging at ourselves and each other. Once over the top the road surface got even worse so Penicuik has now overtaken Lancaster in the Bad Roads category. Of particular note are cycle lanes/strips at the side of the road that are so full of potholes you end up cycling in the traffic anyway and have longitudinal cracks wide enough to swallow a wheel.
Finally got to aunty Leslie's near Fairmile head both very tired and very glad of Shepherds Pie.
This blog probably sounds a bit grumpy but as far as I'm concerned the day to Innerleithen was the best of the journey so far. Quiet roads, glorious scenery, no killer gradients and long sweeping downhills.
back by popular demand is the interesting roadkill category. Today: a tawny owl
distance 115 km
average 16.7kph
cumulative 1039km
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Day something - milnthorpe to langholm.

Here comes langholm (is what the sign says). We are now in our third and final country of our epic journey. We started out cycling some small country lanes to kendal which seemed to take ages which i think was largely due to the anticipation of shap. We decided not to stop in kendal so that we would be warmed up for the long climb ahead. Graeme gets the prize for worst motivational manager ever as we went past a shap mileage sign which said 14 miles and graeme remarked "its uphill for all of that" , "great just what i wanted to hear" i replied. So we started our ascent in a cool light drizzle. As we continued on the road i realised the pass wasnt going to be as bad as i had anticipated. Although the majority of the hill was straight up there were some little downs in between which gave recuperation time. It became ever mistier and the drizzle became downpour as we neared the top. We got absolutely totally soaked for the first time. Who would have thought that could happen in the lakes! As we descended the water on the road was so bad we could barely see to cycle and the wind chill was pretty extreme in our wet clothes. We arrived in shap sodden tryin to find somewhere to warm up but none of the pubs were open so we were starting to get a nasty sinking feeling that we would have to cycle wet and cold to penrith. Luckily the local chippy was open so we really enjoyed a warm up and cumberland sausage and chips for lunch with a big pot of tea. Bit of a slog to penrith as we were quite tired from the hill climb then had to climb a pointless hill in penrith navigating around the town centre on the one way system. More ups and downs into carlisle on the pretty straight roman road. Then cycling up the a7 in the sunshine. Graeme lost a pannier for the second time this holiday. Then in a later tiredness related incident he did a gravel dive by misjudging the edge of the road and ending up in the grassy verge after a "controlled bail". Yeah right! Lovely pine smells coming along the a7. Finally arrived in langholm having done our highest pass and mileage of the holiday so far. Also managed to get over 10mph avg speed too. A good day! Stats - 116km(although odo failed for a short while so this is probably understated by a couple of km). Cumulative 924 km. Avg speed 17.5 although could have been faster if not waiting for graeme to get back on his bike!

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