Dear All - We did it!!!

We, Jorrin, Dirk, Ollie and Damian with Ian in support, cycled 1,148 miles started on Sunday 23rd May 2010, finishing in John O’Groats on Tuesday 1st of June at 4:30pm.

We travelled through... Cornwall (absolutely stunning but gruelling hills) to Tintagel, then to Street in Somerset, then (joined by Deuan for two days) to Llanthony in the Welsh Black Mountains, to Peckforton Castle in Cheshire, to Arnside in Cumbria, to Newton Stewart in the Dumfries & Galloway, over the Galloway Hills to Ardrossan, across to Aran to Lochranza, through the West Highlands, Lochgilphead, Connel, Fort William to Invergarry, the breakfast at the Caledonian Hotel in Fort Augustus with Chris, Johanna Stevenson and family (unbeatable!) up and down the south side of Loch Ness, through Inverness, over the Dark Isle to Carbisdale Castle, then north east over the mountains through Strathnaver to Betyhill for lunch before the final 55 miles to John O’Groats. We did it for Project Peru.

“Project Peru runs a children's refuge in the shanty towns near Lima, caring for over 30 children; entirely funded through voluntary effort, Project Peru is a small, lively, totally voluntary UK-based charity offering food, clothes, education, shelter and fun to those in need in a country where nearly half the population exists on less than one dollar a day! see http://www.projectperu.org.uk

For all of you who have already supported us – a huge big THANK YOU – there has been an enormous amount of preparation gone into the planning and funding of this ride. Thank you to Ian Homer for doing all the driving – So, now we have all done our bit and completed the challenge, please support (if you haven’t already) our chosen charity. We are still some way off our target of £15K – having collectively raised around £4K...

Many of you who I have spoken to have pledged to donate so if you still intend to here’s how you can do it.

Visit: http://www.justgiving.com/1000MilesChallengeLEJOG

Or you can send a cheque to Carole Hudson at Project Peru. Cheques made payable to "Project Peru" and send them to Carole Hudson, Project Peru, 1 St. Catherine's Hill, Guildford, Surrey GU2 4EF

Watch this place for the video DOCUMENTARY

Carbisdale Castle (Invershin) to John O'Groats - The Final Ride

WOW – the final day of our 1000 Miles Challenge!!! I can’t believe we’re here. Breakfast was rushed this morning, as we needed to get going hoping to avoid the oncoming rain. I wasn’t a very happy camper this morning (nor were the other people in our room) because Damian decided to get EVERYONE up in our 12-bed dormitory at 6.30am!!!! This was another short night with only 5h of sleep. As I tried avoiding getting up, desperately putting my pillow over my ears, all I could feel was a swoosh – and my blanket was gone. With Damian shouting “get up, get up, its time, we’ve got to go” the words we heard ever so often, the next blanket was on the floor without much resistance from Jorrin… What choice did we have but to get up! I slowly crawled out of bed into the bathroom, then kitchen, ate yesterday’s vegetable stew followed by porridge and toast (great combination…) and got myself ready. The final 110miles today!!

...the road to JOG

The weather forecast predicted heavy rain and Damian's parents coming up from Gleneagles confirmed that. Nobody fancied getting wet so we all tried to get everything together as fast as possible. We left at 8.15 and took the footbridge to the other side of the river and onto the A836 going North. The A836 then turned into a single lane road with passing places - the most quiet A road we've been on so far. At Altnaharra we went onto B873 along Loch Naver, with just a short 'faff stop' after to eat, drink, waste some time talking about things. The weather had been kind to us with no rain, slightly cold and some tail wind. Damian gave me a pocket history lesson of the Scottish Highlands starting around 16th century. We had a really good ride so far and did 38miles in 1.40h going up and down the hills. Time seemed to fly as we were chatting and pedaling.

...faffstop near Altnaharra

Then, finally, we saw the Atlantic Ocean near Bettyhill where we stopped for lunch. Everyone had a strong sense of achievement being closer to our final destination. Damian had a puncture; Ian stopped and checked the tyre. The tyre got changed and Damian drafted the car to get back to the group. The landscape became less barren and the hills were lined with yellow flowering gorse and the smell of pina colada was in the air. As we changed direction from going North to go East, we encountered good headwind and we chainganged to Thurso where we waited for Damian. We had apple pie and tea sitting in the pedestrian zone watching the main road. All of a sudden we saw a flesh of lightning racing through traffic - Damian. He didn't look like stopping to pick up his train tickets (an excuse to make us wait for him whilst he sneaks to John O'Groats???). We also missed Ian who tried to find a parking space. There was no time to waste. We had to catch up with Damian now.

...apple pie & tea @ Thurso, waiting for Damian

Leaving Thurso, Oli got onto what can only be explained as an 'apple pie' rush and I had real difficulty staying behind him. At some point Jorrin turned left to go to Dunnet Head, the UK mainland's most Northern point looking at the Island of Hoy. Oli and I continued to John O'Groats by ourselves going at incredible speed to the finishing line. We overtook a couple of LEJOG'ers en route, speeding past these guys with their panniers, backpacks etc - stuff we transported in the car - lucky us....Close to JOG we were then overtaken by Ian in the car.

We got to our final destination at about 5.30, record time also for us doing 110miles in 8hours with 3 breaks faffing around for only 1.5h. At John O'Groats we had pictures taken, did another few shots for the documentary and then waited ... Damian was the next to arrive and we took more pictures, video and were invited to the local cafe/bar for celebratory drinks by Damian. His parents also joined us in the cafe/ bar and we reported on some of the highlights of the journey and, waiting for Jorrin coined a new phrase: "We are now at the place named after a dutchman, waiting for a dutchman." Damians parents had booked a table at the Seaview Hotel and we decided to find the youth hostel to shower and get changed for the evening - no Jorrin in sight at that time (6pm).

...in front of the cafe/bar at JOG where we had celebratory drinks

Entry in LEJOG Book:
Olli, Damian, Dirk (Not Jorrin) arrived at faffheim today and wont be coming back ever again

The youth hostel, West of JOG (2 1/2miles) was the least accommodating SYHA and the facilities were ok, but actually a bit sub-standards having just come from Carbsdale Castle, Lochranza, Arnside etc...we had a 6-bed room, there was ONE shower in the men's bathroom, and the place locked up at 11pm sharp - no entry/ exit thereafter...we all felt a bit like being on a school trip.
I quickly showered and dressed to take the car back to JOG to pick up Ian and hopefully also Jorrin who should have arrived by now. I got there, parked the car and walked to the new arrival being inteviewed by Ian. I rushed them to the car as we only had another 35min to get ready for dinner. Damian had called the cab company in the meantime to investigate prices - £44 for 5miles was a bit steep and we decided to get back onto our bikes for a last ride!!!! Ian sprinted off like a young deer, dressed in his complete cycle outfit. Everyone else wore comfortable clothing ;)

We were met at the Seaview Hotel by Damians parents who treated us to a superb dinner with all ‘bells and whistles’! That felt good. We stayed until it was time for us to go back to the hostel, got a few more celebratory drinks to go and made our way back. It must have been 10.30 and it was still pretty bright outside. Its really amazing that it stayed like that for almost another hour (nice in summer but in winter the tables turn with long hours of darkness). At the SYHA we met some of the other guests of the hostel: fellow cyclists, walkers, holiday makers. We had a few more drinks before the warden turned the light off. We sneaked into Damian's bedroom to continue our well-deserved celebration for a little while longer before going to bed too. We will have to get up early next day to go from JOG to London - a very looong drive.

Things cycling:

Oli: "We are now at the place named after a dutchman, waiting for a dutchman."

Unknown: "It does take a while before the peanut butter enters the blood stream."

Invergarry to Carbisdale Castle SYHA (close to Invershin)

We stayed in an independent youth hostel, south of Loch Ness, near Invergarry. The rooms, facilities were ok and we even had access to free Wifi, something we struggled to get anywhere else. After a quick breakfast the riders got into their gear and decided to make a quick detour to see one of Damians school mates. Today was my rider/ cameraman support day driving the car – staying well clear of any bicycle. After only a 5mile mile ride we got to the CALEDONIAN HOTEL at Fort Augustus. Arriving at the Caledonian Hotel also known as "The Caley,” run by the MacLellan family, we were greeted by Chris and shown into the dining area where we got a superb cooked breakfast. It was also ‘fafftime’ carried out by the specialists - The Faffbrigade (Jorrin, Ian, Damian, Dirk) with some having their 2^nd and Oli his 3^rd breakfast. We had the chance to hear Damian on his back pipes, the MacLellan children accompanying him on flute and drum, after fixing Damian’s finger for him to play his instrument. This was very entertaining for the guests and us. We then said our good buys, went outside, talked about motorbikes, looked at our bicycles, some weighing and discussing technological advances in bike manufacturing, exchanging vital information about Scottish families Damian knows and so on, and so on – anything to prevent actual cycling….hours seemed to go by...

its fafftime...

We then left for FORT AUGUSTUS ABBEY, at some point a Benedictine School which Damian attended. There, Damian told us all about his school time there and all the naughty things he and his mates were up to. At some point they sneaked out of the school and the school called a huge rescue operation involving the coast guard, police, mountain rescue as they did not know what happened to the boys – only to find them the next day at mate’s house sitting comfortably outside eating their cooked. This netted them a good naming and shaming ceremony in front of the whole school and as a punishment they had to extend the schools' pier into Loch Ness (picture below). With the faffbrigade at work yet again, it seemed to take forever before they finally went onto the road to do some cycling.

The route then went alongside Loch Ness on the South side. We encountered a few steep hills and some very nice downhills, spectacular views and the most impatient caravan/ car drivers so far. They must have been locals who don’t really care about their surroundings and just want to get from A to B as fast as possible on the very narrow lanes which are equally shared with walkers, cyclists, and… horse drawn carriages… Ian took some good photographs and shot video whilst he instructed me to drive here and there to follow the riders. He then missed ‘the money shot’ going downhill in front of the drivers but actually only filming the grass, back of the car, rather than the riders speeding down…. Opposite Castle Urquhart (on the North side) we had lunch, shared stories of people drowning in Loch Ness (at a constant 2C very cold), discussed the use of heavy water for submarines with everyone sharing their half knowledge on chemistry before being enlightened by Ian that heavy water is known as deuterium oxide, D2O or ²H2O, or as deuterium protium oxide, HDO or ¹H²HO and used for submarines – thanks Ian, always wondered!

We then drove to Inverness, where the riders following the Garmin and Jorrin waited on the Bridge over the Moray Firth where the support car overtook him going onto the Black Isle. The cycle group met up little later. In Munlochy, Damian turned off into a side road to get money from the cashpoint, Oli and Jorrin waited, waited some more and then proceeded to Colbokie.We all went into the Highlands (via Evanten), avoiding the A9, where the riders had to cross an unguarded railroad opening the little gates to pass it. Then onto the B9176 towards Bonar Bridge (what would Beavis & Butthead have made out of this...). The lads were making an average speed of 16mph with the threat of rain behind them. All of a sudden, Damian started singing dirty songs and picking up the speed to 26mph facing strong headwinds and going uphill - nobody knew where the extra energy came from after having done 80 miles already, knowing its another 13miles to our luxurious SYHA. We passed the Struie peak (1218 feet), where Ian and myself met a group of fellow LEJOGers doing it for holiday (in 16 days). They were on a completely different challenge – the breakfast challenge! Each day one of the riders was in charge of breakfast and it had to be better than the day before – if that wasn’t the case the rider had to do it again the next day. Theirs front and rear panniers were not full of clothes but food stuff!!! Having chatted with them for about a hour and none of our group showing up we went down an amazing downhill to Westerfearn, with 10 miles to go to the Carbisdale Castle.

At the hostel, we marveled at the grandeur of the castle, took a few pictures, talked to some guests and started to make dinner: spicy vegetable stew, salad, celery & humus. The riders got there by 5 and got changed and came for dinner. We had the soup and drinks and then Damian went on to make Haggis. This was followed by the traditional Haggis toast by Damian, startling of the Slowenians and receiving a good round of applause from everyone...

We all slept in a 12-bed dormitory, I updated the blog and chatted to come other cyclists (on their bikes since 1948) discussing British bicycle manufacturers, Ian sorted cameras/ pictures and Jorrin, Damian and Oli went to the pub. Bedtime by 1.30 (unsure for the others)...

Tomorrow - last day of the 100 Miles Challenge - LEJOG 2010

Things cycling:

Faff (verb) - to waste time doing nothing. 2. to waste time doing stupid things 3. to delay, dilly-dally, especially before leaving the house to be on time somewhere.

Example 1: "I didn't do anything on Sunday; I just faffed around the house."

Example 2: "I can't decided between these 2 jackets to wear to the movies. Which one? Where is my black hat? Oh wait, let me get my phone. Do you know where I put it? Oh and did you feed the cat dinner? Maybe I can just check email really quick right now; we have time." ...faffing at its best

Oli - "Gentlemen, you are now in the faffzone! I've had 3 breakfasts, we played several instruments, took over 50 photographs, said our good buys and have done only 5 miles so far.

Damian - "Being lost is just another way to improve your geography"

Unknown: "..and I think this is Loch Faff"

Dirk to Oli: "Whats on radio Oli today? - Oli: "Interference..."

We've measured distances in Brightons (London to Brighton is about 60miles) and also in trips to work (Oli 34miles roundtrip, Damian 30miles, Dirk 3miles...)