Summary

We picked the dates for this ride to get long hours of daylight and also hopefully to benefit from warm and dry conditions. Of course we expected some rain courtesy of the great British weather and having to travel through the Lake District and Scotland. However, in our most pessimistic dreams, we never envisaged the wettest June since records began!!  We had only 2 days when it was completely rain free although luckily that was in Scotland in probably the most spectacular scenery we cycled through.

Also the South to North route is intended to have the benefit of the normally prevalent south westerly winds but again we were to find most days involved battling into strong head winds.

The route was deliberately selected to go the scenic way avoiding main roads wherever possible and with this comes an expectation of some hills. Days 2 and 3 turned out to be extremely hilly with 1 hill signed at 30%, 1 at 25% and several at 20%.

Overall the ride was more physically and mentally challenging than any of us had expected. A typical day involved leaving at 8am and arriving at the overnight stop at about 6:30 having cycled 90 miles. We allowed 3 scheduled stops and the average ride time was 7.5 hours each day. This doesn’t sound too much but with the terrain, weather and carrying our own luggage, this was a tough daily slog. Our latest finish was at 8pm and following this we had our earliest start at 6:15am.

As the route and overnight stops were all pre-planned we had to cycle whatever the conditions and get to each of the planned destinations every night. Two days in particular were very hard because of incessant heavy rain and head winds.

Despite all this, the three who started out soldiered on and successfully completed the full end to end ride on schedule. In the challenging circumstances it feels like a great achievement.

Planning

Many things we had planned went very well:

Ä      The travel arrangements by train, minibus and plane (although our flight home was delayed by 3.5 hours because the plane was struck by lightning after leaving Heathrow and had to be checked out in Edinburgh before being allowed into Inverness)

Ä      Bag and bike transport

Ä      Overnight accommodation

Ä      The GPS we used for navigation with map back up

Ä      Bikes used

Ä      Panniers and kit taken

Memorable moments

In spite of the challenges we faced it was also a whole lot of fun, made all the better by the guest riders who joined us at various stages. The following moments stand out:

• Tim getting locked into the bike carriage in Swindon before the train departed
• The lucky escape - we cycled through Boscastle in the dry and found out later that 2 hours after we passed through it had flooded again!
• Lunch of crab sandwich and salad in the sun at Crackington Haven
• The ride out through a  virtually traffic-less Cheddar Gorge in good weather
• The fantastic “Carlsberg” standard B&B in Market Drayton.
• The crazy evening out in Market Drayton culminating in the Karaoke pub.
• Dave Birley managing to destroy a pub’s hot air blower whilst trying to dry off his clothes
• The coffee shop in Slaidburn which, despite having 4 staff, struggled to cope with getting 4 customers at once
• Richy’s short cut from Slaidburn to High Bentham in the Lake District
• The wildlife we saw (curlews, a red squirrel, a badger, seals and an eagle carrying a  mouse)
• The 7 mile climb to Wanlockhead (the highest village in Scotland) and to find we were the only guests in the hostel
• The last gasp arrival of Gordy, Tony and Phil at the Ardrossan ferry just a few minutes before it was due to depart for Arran
• The Gaelic Coffee at the Arran whisky distillery
• Avoiding Glasgow by going via Arran and Kintyre
• 2 rain free days from Lochgilphead to South Laggan to view the best scenery we travelled through including views of Ben Nevis and along the banks of Loch Ness
• Advice from a Scotsman as to how best to avoid midges…. “pedal faster”
• The grumpy chef in the Inn in the Loch at South Laggan
• Lunch of smoked salmon panini at Ballachulish overlooking Loch Leven
• Staying at Carbisdale Castle - an unbelievably well appointed youth hostel
• Coffee break at the Crask Inn in the most remote part of Scotland we travelled through
• Lunch at Bettyhill followed by a tough battle through the rain and wind to Melvich
• Gordy’s clumsy dancing skills in Inverness
• The many long downhill glides and occasional races at breakneck speed

End to End Riders

Andy Wallis, Ian Watson & Tim Hunt.

Guest Riders

Steve Broadway – Lands End to Hereford

Dave Birley – Cheddar to Blackburn

Richy Middleton – Cheddar to Ambleside

John Mason – Kirkby Lonsdale to Keswick

Gordy Owen, Tony Broughton & Phil LeCappelain – Glasgow to John O’Groats