Lands End to John O'Groats

Twitter: @johndcaudwell

Photo's: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjAofJyf

Just Giving: http://www.justgiving.com/John-Caudwell

I thought Day 6 was by far possibly the worst cycling day I had ever endured in my life.  But, I was not prepared for what the final day had in store for me.  Only approximately 70 miles to do to get to the finish line, but took us around 9 hours to complete!

Again, the weather was against us from the moment we set out. The relentless rain, the cold strong biting head winds and the horrendous fog all conspired against us, setting us back hours.   It was a constant battle fighting against the weather.  Many times we just wanted to give up and surrender, but we were sponsored to do the entire distance and, in any event, failure is not a happy soul mate, so we pushed on through the pain and torture, and kept going yard after gruelling yard for the last agonising 15 miles.

Finally, we made it to the finish line - feeling mentally and physically destroyed, exhausted and battered from head to toe - our bodies in pain.  I truly hope that I don’t experience anything quite so close to my breaking point so many times in a week ever again.

To put it into perspective, 8 years ago we cycled from Athens to Stoke-on-Trent, did 125 miles each day for 17 days, experienced lots of traumas, breadowns and crashes, but nothing like the pain that we have just suffered.

I am not sure why it was so difficult, whether it is my age, whether it was because I had the flu two weeks before, whether it is the distance of 135 a day or whether it was the completely atrocious weather conditions.  Maybe it was all of these things just conspiring to be a bridge too far. 

As I sit here at my desk this morning writing this blog, feeling awful, the two consolations that I have are that one, we finished it and two, we raised a lot of money for Caudwell Children.

We are just so relieved to have achieved the goal we set out to do.  We definitely couldn’t have done it without our wonderful support team and the support of our friends, family and everyone who has followed us, especially those who have donated.  So, a huge thank you to you all, for really helping us through the emotionally lows.

Lands End to John O'Groats

Twitter: @johndcaudwell

Photo's: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjAofJyf

Just Giving: http://www.justgiving.com/John-Caudwell

Garmin - locate the riders: https://my.garmin.com/mygarmin/login.htm

Username: Landsend2012

Password: caudwellchildren

 

I have had thousands of fabulous days cycling in my life, with quite a few bad days and I think yesterday was by far possibly the worst ever! It was only 110 miles from Glencoe to Tain, we have been doing 20+ miles more than that on previous days, but against really heavy headwinds and with everybody in a state of exhaustion, it seemed much further.

Brian and I are still nursing extremely bad knees; and the pain now seems never ending.

Again, we didn’t arrive at the hotel until 11.30pm last night, having gone through about 5 hours of rain, with temperatures of 7 degrees. We were completely soaked, frozen through and absolutely exhausted!

The last day is going to be another hard day – we all just want to be at the finish now.

Lands End to John O'Groats

Twitter: @johndcaudwell

Photo's: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjAofJyf

Just Giving: http://www.justgiving.com/John-Caudwell

Garmin - John's personal history: Day 5 http://bit.ly/NcRtzM

Garmin - locate the riders: https://my.garmin.com/mygarmin/login.htm

Username: Landsend2012

Password: caudwellchildren

Yesterday we cycled 140 miles. Libby’s bike broke completely, so the support van had to turn around to bring us a spare bike. On top of this we were fighting against a strong, relentlesshead wind, making it one of the longest days so far. On the positive side, the weather did decide to support us, with the sun finally showing its face – I can tell you we needed this!

We had late afternoon tea at the Drovers Arms, a lovely pub filled with lots of character, which left us with 50 miles to do. However, after having two pints of beer, a plate of Haggis, liver, onions and mashed potatoes made it extremely difficult – possibly the worst nutrition we could have had for the road!

Richard our physio, decided to join us for a while, which was a lovely ride for him as the scenery was beautiful. However, for us it was still a huge struggle and we didn’t arrive at Glencoe until late evening, around 11.30pm!

At midnight, Brian approached me and thought it may be a good idea if we did the whole 200 miles today but, he obviously didn’t get the answer he wanted from me! Therefore, we are planning on completing just 120 miles – destination, just north of Inverness.

As you can imagine, we are all extremely exhausted, battered and our bodies are simply destroyed. Today (the penultimate day) is another fight as we need to keep up the pace, to ensure we meet the finish line on schedule.

Lands End to John O'Groats

Twitter: @johndcaudwell

Photo's: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjAofJyf

Just Giving: http://www.justgiving.com/John-Caudwell

Garmin - John's personal history: Day 4 http://bit.ly/Na667d

Garmin - locate the riders: https://my.garmin.com/mygarmin/login.htm

Username: Landsend2012

Password: caudwellchildren

We started off in glorious sunshine, which was unbelievable and a welcome change - we enjoyed  3 or 4 hours of it, as we climbed 1400ft to the top of Shap.

A guest rider joined us, Matt Moran, who initially only came to cycle an hour and we ended up persuading him to do 6 hours! The weather soon turned against us and we had 3 hours of pouring rain. Once again, we were getting drenched! At this point I’m sure Matt then regretted joining us.

After lunch, we had 65 miles remaining to end up in Sanquhar. A total of 145 miles that day!

Partly due to sitting on the saddle for so many hours, day after day, and partly due to all the wet and rain we have been enduring - getting soaked wet through - the nappy rash is getting worse for everybody. It has become agony just to even sit on the seat! It’s not as bad as it sounds because after the first 30 minutes of pedalling, it goes numb. The problem is if you stop for a rest, it comes back to life and the pain starts all over again.

It really has turned out to be the biggest challenge.  A constant race battling against the clock makes it only just borderline possible.

Yesterday, a typical day, up at 6am, on the road for 7.30am and arrived at the hotel for 9pm. Had a quick bath, quick dinner, quick massage and then organised everything for the following day, charging Garmins, phones, cameras, computers, route plan and finally bed for 12.30am. On top of all this I’m getting no sleep as I am so wound up, “I’m cycling all through the night” - I just wish I could add those miles into reality!

Why so long on the road? With a group of 7 people, there is always somebody with a new injury, a back spasm or a breakdown and yesterday we had, failed gears, bad knees, back and ankle problems, etc etc.  Combining all these vital stops with a lunch break just continually conspires to keep us on the road.

There has been a time or two when I have felt my knees were just going to become so painful that I might have to give up, but somehow a combination of heat rub, massage and ibuprofen, up to yet, has kept me going! I do now think that they will last the distance, since each day they seem to cycle through the pain and gradually improve before getting worse again.

Today we are heading towards Fort William, although we all will probably finish somewhere south of there.

Lands End to John O'Groats

Twitter: @johndcaudwell

Photo's: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjAofJyf

Just Giving: http://www.justgiving.com/John-Caudwell

Garmin - John's personal history: Day 3 http://bit.ly/MWVk5B
Garmin - locate the riders: https://my.garmin.com/mygarmin/login.htm

Username: Landsend2012

Password: caudwellchildren

Day of three thirds.

First third – awful drizzling rain, with breakdown after breakdown after breakdown, one set back being, Libby’s front brake calliper dropped off and I ended up riding her bike.  At this point it was obvious and clear to us that we weren’t going to make Lancaster.

Second third - the skies brightened up and the whole highlight of the day was arriving at Whitchurch, with friends and family to welcome us, giving us all a much needed boost of support!

We set off in reasonably high spirits with 80 miles to do to get to Garstang, just south of Preston.  But, the heavens opened with the most almighty thunderstorm. I wasn’t prepared, I hadn’t got my waterproofs on, as I thought I had seen the last of the rain. We got absolutely drowned and the temperature dropped to 12 degrees -  we still had approx 40 miles to go, our spirits were taking a battering. The water was cooled on the road in places, up to 10 inches deep and as cars came past they sent a colossal wave of water, drowning us from head to toe.

We arrived at the hotel at 9pm feeling completely and utterly destroyed and to top it all, my knee is continuing to deteriorate.

The good news is, we’re up this morning; the sun is shining and spirits are raised, albeit we are very very weary.

Hopefully if all goes well today, we will get into Scotland somewhere north of Dumfries.

Lands End to John O' Groats

Twitter: @johndcaudwell

Photo's: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjAofJyf

Just Giving: http://www.justgiving.com/John-Caudwell

Garmin - John's personal history: Day 2 http://bit.ly/Rab1JI

Garmin - locate the riders: https://my.garmin.com/mygarmin/login.htm

Username: Landsend2012

Password: caudwellchildren

Yesterday was Tiverton to Leominster. The pace slowed dramatically to an average of only 14mph. I don’t know whether this was pure fatigue or the weather and the steepness of the hills, but it was one of the toughest cycle rides ever.

My knees, back and backside were all screaming the whole way and it does make me worry about my body’s ability to cope with the extreme distances ahead. It is the distance that is the problem. We get into the hotel so late that there is little time to eat and to prepare for the next day and then it is up at 6am and away again.

Anyway I am hoping, that somehow today is a better day, that my ibruprofen knees hold up and that we do Leominster to Lancaster in better style then we did yesterday.

Lands End to John O'Groats

Twitter: @johndcaudwell

Photo's: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjAofJyf

Just Giving: http://www.justgiving.com/John-Caudwell

Garmin - John's personal history: http://bit.ly/LiisA0

Garmin - locate the riders: https://my.garmin.com/mygarmin/login.htm

Username: Landsend2012

Password: caudwellchildren

Months of preparation couldn’t possibly have prepared us for the British Summer. Day one was 135 miles from Lands End to Tiverton, in dewy rain. There was no protection, the rain just went through the helmet, down the neck and into the shoes until the shoes overflowed!

Brian had a puncture on the front wheel - a combination of that and the greasily wet road, meant falling off into a ditch.

At last it was lunch stop, 80 miles in. As soon as we stopped working the wet turned icily cold so it was not much comfort, other than the wonderful taste of chicken soup, tinned boiled potatoes and hot dog sausages, a broth fit for a king!

Eventually, group 1 arrived at the hotel at 8pm in the evening, group 2 arrived an hour and a half later, having had some mechanical problems. We just about gulped down dinner and got to bed for a 6 hour sleep.



It's clear that this whole ride is a race against the clock. We're out on the road so many hours, that it is just difficult to fit everything in. As I'm typing this blog, the rain is pouring down and the forecast is to get worse so it is more of the same today.