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GLAJOG ‘08 - Day 6

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/GLAJOG-Day-6-Bettyhill-to-John-O-Groats

GLAJOG ‘08 Complete!!!

Yes, we’ve made it to the top of Scotland in one piece. A very tough morning riding up from Bettyhill over some pretty steep little climbs and blustery winds. It tool us a while to get over our various aches and pains and get the muscles warmed up, but pretty soon we were setting a good pace.

Over the past few days we have met up with other people riding the Lands End to John O’Groats route and passed a few of them again today. Some good chat and banter on the way.

The wind was helping us a bit and we ended up hitting Thurso at lunchtime. We are staying there tonight and had toyed with leaving the last leg till Friday morning, but we all felt strong and there’s nothing in Thurso so we just cracked on.

A lovely smooth run through to John O’Groats saw us arrive in good spirits by 3pm. Big Grant arrived in the van shortly afterwards to pick up the bikes and start us on our journey home.

It looks like we will raise at least £1500 for the Special Care Baby Unit, so it has been an enjoyable and worthwhile trip

Some pics here….

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gimrie/

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GLAJOG ‘08 - Day 5

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/GLAJOG-Day-5-Bonar-Bridge-to-Bettyhill

Day 5 Complete!!

An excellent day’s cycling today, despite a dodgy start. Paul had a puncture, it was raining and we had stayed in a horrible hotel in Bonaar Bridge.

The first 20 miles of the day were uphill, so it was a long slog, but surprisingly we were all feeling pretty strong, with Adrian in particular making a storming comeback from his heel injuries of the past few days.

We had planned a lunch stop at Altnahara, but it turned out that the hotel has closed and there was nowhere else around for miles. This put us in a tricky spot, as we hadn’t had a beer all day and still had 30 miles to cover. We soldiered on and had a great descent with a few fellow cyclists we rode with for a little while.

The last 10 miles out to the coast at Bettyhill was a great fast ride over undulating countryside and the views when we got to the coast were fantastic.

We are staying in a lovely little inn called The Farr Bay Inn and are just leaving now for a walk down to the beach.

Some pics here….

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gimrie/

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GLAJOG ‘08 - Day 4

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/GLAJOG-Day-4-Drumnadrochit-to-Bonar-Bridge

Day 4 Complete!!

Day three was a toughie. We knew it was probably the longest day and we also had a couple brewery and distillery trip planned, so time was going to be tight.

We had a pretty good run in the morning, up to the head of Loch Ness and then on to Inverness. From there we took a detour to visit the Black Isle Brewery and sample some of their produce, which was excellent.

We pressed on towards the Cromarty Ferry, which would take from the Black Isle to Nig. Ade was having some problems with his heels so was lagging behind slightly.

After an excellent lunch in Cromarty and a trip on the ferry, we set our next target to be the Glenmorangie Distillery near Tain. We were too late to take in the tour, but we did manage to blag some free samples.

We left Tain around 5pm, with 16 miles still to cover to Bonar Bridge. I was feeling good so went ahead and got us checked in before 6. Paul has done something to his knee, so limped in a bit later.

Hopefully all injuries will be healed by tomorrow!

Some pics here….

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gimrie/

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GLAJOG ‘08 - Day 3

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/GLAJOG-Day-3-Fort-William-to-Drumnadrochit

Day 3 Complete!!

We awoke this morning to torrential rain in Fort William and it’s fair to say we were all at a bit of a low ebb. Could we face cycling on the A82 in these conditions? The weather offered a little comfort by promising brighter weather in the afternoon, but the thing that really got us motivated was finding out we had topped the £1000 barrier on our charity site! No giving up now.

We all felt pretty good on the road, despite the horrible weather. The only real problem was cold hands and feet caused by the rain. As we pulled in to our lunch stop at Fort Augustus the clouds were breaking a bit and a nice hot lunch (cullen skink, toasties and chips) and a pint, invigorated us enough to set out for the afternoon stint.

The sun broke through as we cycled along the banks of Loch Ness and I just felt stronger as the day went on. So much so that I powered on ahead and arrived in Drumnadrochit well before the others. Hopefully I’ll feel just as good tomorrow and the weather will be more favourable.

No more injuries or mishaps to report, so all is well for tomorrow’s 65 miles to Bonar Bridge.

Some pics here….

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gimrie/

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GLAJOG ‘08 - Day 2

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/GLAJOG-Day-2-Crainlarich-to-Fort-William

Day 2 Complete!!

I awoke today thinking the old legs might struggle to recover from yesterday’s exertions, but it turned out the opposite was true. I felt pretty strong all day and showed the youngsters a thing or two on the hills

The big climbs today were up to Tyndrum and then up to and across Rannoch Moor, which was as wet, windy and desolate as it was when I walked through there last year on the West Highland Way.

The descent down from the moor was spoiled by a tough headwind, but heading up Loch Linnhe to Fort William was fast and felt good.

Only issue today was when Paul tripped over a metal gate and cut his toe open. Luckily the restaurant we were heading to for dinner had a nurse working there, so with a bit of TLC he was back to normal. Wonder what will happen to him tommorow :/

Another hard day tomorrow, so I’m off for an early night

Some pics here….

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gimrie/

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GLAJOG ‘08 - Day 1

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/GLAJOG-Day-1-Scotstounhill-to-Crainlarich

Day 1 complete!!

Not too bad today, although we are all feeling pretty tired now. The extra weight of panniers etc, really makes a big difference. The route was quite straightforward apart from a long climb up to Crianlarich, which was hard work.

Paul took a tumble when his back wheel slipped out on some wet leaves, but no real damage done.

Hard day tomorrow, so I’m off for an early night

Some pics here….

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gimrie/

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GLAJOG ‘08 - Glasgow To John O’Groats - Update

The final route has been decided and we start in less than 48 hours!! I’ll try to provide daily updates if I can get an internet connection in the Scottish wilderness

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/GLAJOG-Day-1-Scotstounhill-to-Crainlarich

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/GLAJOG-Day-2-Crainlarich-to-Fort-William

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/GLAJOG-Day-3-Fort-William-to-Drumnadrochit

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/GLAJOG-Day-4-Drumnadrochit-to-Bonar-Bridge

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/GLAJOG-Day-5-Bonar-Bridge-to-Bettyhill

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/GLAJOG-Day-6-Bettyhill-to-John-O-Groats

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Solid Rock Cycles

Took my Specialized Sirrus Comp here for a service recently. I was impressed with the speed they turned it round (1 day) and also by the friendly guys working in the shop.

Solid Rock Cycles

The bike is feeling 100% better than it did when it came back from it’s last service at the cycle shop in Helensburgh, so I’ll definitely be using Solid Rock in the futre.

Only £20 for the service too, which was great.

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GLAJOG Update

Our Glasgow to John O’Groats charity cycle ride begins on Augut 23rd, only 7 weeks away as I write this.

Due to work commitents, we haven’t been training as hard as planned, so will have to focus on putting in a lot of effort through July and August to ensure we are well prepared.

One slight change is to the charity we are supporting. We have decided to lend our support to the Special Care Baby Unit, who did such a great job when little Michael  Henderson was born five weeks early.

The link below will take you to the website where you can register donations. Don’t forget to register for gift aid when you make your donation.

Click Here to Donate

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GLAJOG ‘08 - Glasgow To John O’Groats - Update

The GLAJOG ‘08 planning phase is well underway thanks to a constructive session in the pub on Saturday afternoon.

The route will be refined over the coming weeks and there may even be an extension to take in Cape Wrath if we can find a route that has some decent accommodation.

The route as it stands at the moment is:

Day 1:
Scotstoun to Bridge of Orchy
58.5 miles

Day 2:
Bridge of Orchy to Spean Bridge
48.8 miles

Day 3:
Spean Bridge to North Kessock
60.7 miles

Day 4:
North Kessock to Lairg
45.4 miles

Day 5:
Lairg to Bettyhill
45.5 miles

Day 6:
Bettyhill to John O’Groats
50 miles

There’s a nice graphical view in Bikely that shows each days route and elevation profile (thanks Paul), just click on the links above to see the routes, then click the “Show” option on the Bikely menu to see the elevation profile.

Next task for me is to arrange 5 star accommodation on our £50 per night budget.

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