LEJOG days 13 & 14

Day 13: Abington to Kinross: 65.71miles - 3267ft of climbing


It was frosty this morning again. And yet again the camper heater isn’t working so we have to run around or put on loads of layers until we’re warm!  
But this morning it was warming up nicely by the time we’d finished our porridge, croissants (mum spoiling me, though she loves them too!), toast and more toast. So much so, that we had to stop after about 15minutes to take layers off!  
We were heading up towards Livingstone to meet mum. Once again the weather was lovely and the traffic quite light so we made great progress. Well over 20miles in the first two hours despite a few hills. And the scenery was spectacular!

Some of the beautiful countryside today

We got to Livingston and mum hadn’t even left the campsite!  She had washing to do but more importantly had to finish off marking for work and the orchestrations for her orchestra. 
So we decided to carry on. Crossing Livingston was interesting - we didn’t once need to ride on a road. It was all cycle paths and (are you listening Bolton?) glass free! We didn’t half wiggle through the town though so it wasn’t quick. 
Mum suggested we meet in Newbridge which is right next to Edinburgh Airport. Dad even saw a couple of the aeroplanes he flies taking off. I still don’t think he’d rather be back at work though, he’s certainly enjoying himself!  

Another milestone big city!

One of Dad's planes - he flies this one into Edinburgh and Glasgow

By the time we found mum (in the car park of a BP garage, as dad says “it is ALL about the glamour!”), we’d cycled just over 41 miles. Before lunch!  I was definitely ready to eat. 
We decided to head for Kinross for the night. Today was originally meant to be a short day but by reaching Kinross, we’d be a full day ahead of the plan so we decided to go for it!  24 miles to do after lunch didn’t seem too bad. 

Me on the forth bridge - bit scared!

I'm smiling, but not inside! I don't like heights and it wobbles when the lorries go past!

We crossed the Forth Road Bridge. Amazing views but I was petrified - I don’t like heights!  
We then had a few hills to climb including the Heights of Craigencrow (or Mordor, as dad called it😁🙄). A few miles up but not too bad (compared to Devon!) and great fun coming down. And then a really quick couple of miles through Kinross to the Loch Leven shore where mum had parked. It’s wild camping tonight so I hope it’s quiet. It is certainly beautiful.

Loch leven as the sun was going down

Beautiful Loch Leven

We saw LOADS of very tiny lambs today. Sooo cute!  And also a couple of Shetland ponies but they didn’t want to eat from me today. The infamous Scottish midgies are out now - mum thought they came later in the season. there were loads round the camper van tonight. I wonder how many I've swallowed whilst cycling? .....eurgh.....!!!

Midgies on the van!

Midgies on the banner

Day 14: Kinross to Blair Atholl - 53.79miles & 2585ft of climbing

We woke to overcast skies this morning by Loch Leven. Beautiful, especially as the midgies hadn’t woken up yet!  It wasn’t as cold as it had been but think we may have lost the glorious sunshine now. 

Typical scenery today

My legs felt absolutely fine this morning after two long days. Right up to the point I got on the bike!  Dad was the same so he said “let you legs dictate the speed”. So it was quite slow! 

We need more signs like this down south!

Lots of country lane with loads and loads of very cute new born lambs. We also saw some Highland cattle calves. They were a bit too far away to see and get in a photo but hoping  to see more in the next few days. 

Highland cattle - Didn't manage to get any pictures of the calves though

More horses to stroke and feed

lovely country lanes to ride on 

Given the tired legs it was annoying that most of the climbing happened this morning. It was a slow slog up a long climb. But we came down very, very fast!  We’d forgotten to charge my Garmin so I don’t know my speed but dad’s top speed was 52mph apparently!  We both had to wipe the tears out of our eyes and inside of our glasses and it was difficult to speak due to the wind. 

VERY fast down hill - mum was glad she wasn't there to watch!

It was a little more gentle into Perth which we crossed without any issues. Most of it was on the riverside cycle path which was lovely. 

We met mum for lunch in a lay-by on the little country road we were riding. She'd passed us and then found somewhere to park. 
The afternoon was a constant gentle climb, most of it spent next to the River Garry and we passed through some lovely little villages and towns. Like Luncarty, Banfoot and Dunkeld (which might be a city apparently, as it had a cathedral - though from what we saw, it was in ruins). 
At Dunkeld, the cycle path took us up the 3 or 4 mile drive of a lovely hotel on the river bank. We saw lots of fly fishermen and people in boats. It looked lovely. 

Hotel at Dunkeld

Fly-fishing

We then had a very short spell on the extremely busy A9 road through some road works. I don’t think we held up the traffic but it was a relief to be off the road!

Our very on bridge - all to ourselves

Then lots more country lanes (and lambs and some horses to feed too!), with a few gentle hills before we arrived in Pitlochry, which looked lovely when we cycled through. I however, was definitely starting to flag now so we stopped for a biscuit and chocolate break on some benches in the high street. We saw a couple of other heavily laden cyclists heading in the same direction as us so we gave them a wave. 

Our final stop this evening was  Blair Atholl. We haven’t seen anything of it but the campsite but given the other places we passed through, I’m sure it’s lovely.
We've seen lots of signs today warning us about red squirrels. We haven't seen any yet, but have seen lots of pheasants.

I'm having an early night tonight and hopefully my legs will feel less tired tomorrow.

LEJOG Days 11 & 12

Day 11: Lancaster to Carlisle - 54.51miles 3471ft of climbing

We had a gentle start to the day with a 12 mile ride to Kendal. Once again Google Maps didn’t quite show just how steep the hills we’d be climbing were!  Thanks Mr Google😁

In Kendal, we’re rode to Hansen’s Ice Cream parlour to meet Karen Gee, better known online as Cycle Sprog who wanted to interview me! (Ok, and mum dad as well😂😂). 

Karen bought is all a lovely ice cream. I went for my usual chocolate and mint, dad had a gorgeous raspberry ripple and mum had white chocolate and Stilton. Yes, Stilton!! That horrible smelly cheese that only my dad and grandparents eat!!  Mind you, it was pretty nice and you couldn’t taste the Stilton much. Mum got all the bits and gave them to dad😁

We spoke to Karen for about an hour then she led us to the end of town and the road to Shap. It turns out dad knew all about the Shap Road as it’s a famous cycling climb but he’d kept it secret😡😡. It was pretty scary looking up from the bottom but actually, although it was a continuous slog, it wasn’t too bad. It certainly wasn’t as bad as Devon! We broke up the climb into two haves as well as mum caught us up half way and so we had a lunch stop.

Thanks Aunty Natalie for the homemade flapjack!

The only real issue was the strong headwinds which made the downhill bit that we’d been looking forward to so much a real pain. As we crossed over the top and started down we struggled to get to more than 20mph!  The wind died a little as we got lower thankfully. 

Me finishing one of the last and highest climbs. over 3000ft climb in the first 20miles of the day!

We descended through Shap and into Penrith. Mum had found a campsite outside Carlisle which made the distance just over 50miles, almost all of which was on the A6. Thankfully this has quite wide lanes (but no cycle lanes) and wasn’t too busy and passing drivers gave us plenty of room. 

With 8 miles to go we turned onto quiet country lanes. I think in that entire distance we saw one tractor, one runner and one dog walker!  But most importantly, what we did see was a family of horses including two foals!  They were sooooo cute and came over for some grass but were very easily spooked. 

Then Dad got our first puncture for the trip... He also needs to try and get his bottom bracket sorted in Carlisle tomorrow as it's creaking a fair bit!

Today was a fun day. The hill (sorry mountain!) wasn’t as bad as I thought, the headwinds were annoying but a lot of the time the sun was out and it was really nice to meet Karen (and eat the ice cream🍦of course) as mum has spoken about her a lot and read me some of her articles. She's now written one about me which is really cool! Read it by clicking on the link below - Cycle Sprog is a really brilliant website for all things to do with cycling with children so you will find lots of other good stuff on there too.

More stops to stroke and feed animals!

http://www.cyclesprog.co.uk/get-cycling/lands-end-to-john-ogroats/


Day 12: Carlisle to Abington (in Lanarkshire) - 68.3 miles, 2753 ft of climbing

Lovely campsite, but there was frost on the grass this morning. It didn't have a toilet block either... weird!

We got up an hour earlier this morning to get to a bike shop in Carlisle when it opened. The bottom bracket (the bit that goes through the frame and joins the two pedal cranks. Apparently🙄) on dads bike had started making some odd noises a few days ago but yesterday it was really sounding bad. 
The bike shop would have to order the part in which would take a day but dad hoped they could do a temporary repair. Otherwise he would have to send the part to a shop further up our route and maybe ride mum’s bike which is a bit small for him!  
On the way to Carlisle though we passed two more bike shops. Dad said “come on, no harm in trying” and the second one had the part and could fit it!  Yay!  So we went for a second breakfast in a cafe opposite and an hour later dad’s bike was as good as new. Even better, because we’d got up early, we weren’t far behind. 

Second breakfast as we waited for Dad's bike to get a new bottom bracket

Carlisle

So we rode north towards the Scottish border and eventually passed the big “Welcome to Scotland” sign. Cue photo opportunities!

One foot in each country!

Selfie!

We then rode into Scotland, in glorious sunshine and blue skies and up some lovely roads and bike tracks up the valley next to the motorway and railway line. 

We found a little village to meet mum for lunch and also had another visitor. Uncle Oliver had driven up from Chester. He came for lunch then headed back to the lakes for some camping and hiking. Cool!  Hope he has nice weather too. 

Meeting up with Uncle Oliver

Dad and I then had a discussion about how far we should ride that day. We found a couple of campsites and decided to ride to the one that would take us in. Mum drove there while we started cycling the 38miles (we’d already done nearly 30!!). 

The last of Aunty Natalie's flapjack - she says she is going to send some more up with the twins

But the weather was so nice, the distance flew by. We were riding up the valley, big hills on either side and the sun was shining. A lot was slightly uphill, very gentle but apart from a few miles here and there, the tarmac was pretty smooth and we flew along. 
Along the way I got to feed some Friendly Shetland ponies and most of the lambs we saw were tiny. Karen yesterday had said that the further north you go, the later the lambs arrive and that certainly seems true to me!

Dad added up our milage today...so far we have cycled 639.38miles AND we are in Scotland... which is a really big mile stone!

Celebrating in the campsite after cycling a massive 68.3 miles (on top of big miles over the last few days)!

LEJOG Days 9 & 10

Day 9: Stoke-on-Trent to Rivington - 61.31miles 1975ft climbing
To get away from the pub car park this morning, without loads of climbing first thing (and to get back onto our planned route) we had to head back towards Stoke on Trent so actually found ourselves, thankfully briefly, heading back towards Land’s End😂
We turned onto a lovely tow path and managed to make pretty good progress, especially once we’d turned back in the correct direction!

Once off the tow path (and into Cheshire at some point, yay!) we found our way along national cycle route 55. This took us along the Whitfield Valley And Biddulph Valley, miles of old railway track in (mostly) great condition.

This took us through Congleton and before we knew it we were passing the huge houses of Alderney Edge (apparently it’s where the footballers all live😂). It was great smooth tarmac though, got a lovely high speed and at one point, mum passed us in the camper van, horn tooting! 

Here comes mum! tooting and waving

Lunch in the camper

The banner's looking great on the back of the van - Mum's bike does have it's uses - she's not had time to use it herself yet!

Wrong turn dad! (google maps again! - great bike path)

We met her in Wilmslow for lunch then headed off. It wasn’t long we saw the aeroplanes taking off from Manchester airport (including one of dads!) and then we saw a tram, which confirmed we were in Manchester!

We took a slight diversion to Ken Foster Cycles in Chorlton as Auntie Natalie had arranged a quick gear tweak for my bike (they’d been slipping a bit and I was struggling to change gear). Ten minutes later (possibly the quickest service in history!) we were off. It was a simple job apparently, because I’d had new gear cables before the ride they’d stretched a bit and just needed a bit of adjustment). 

Our next battle was to find somewhere to cross the route of the Manchester marathon but a good old canal tow path took us under the stragglers (rather then than me😟). We followed the Manchester ship canal for a while before eventually joining the Roe Green Loop Line (think it’s still cycle root 55) which is miles and miles or smooth and lovely cycle track on a disused railway line. It was lovely!

Manchester tow path

This eventually brought us to Bolton, which was not lovely. At all. At least, not the bits we cycled through😫. We have never seen so much broken glass on the roads and cycle track. It’s a miracle we came through without punctures. Dad suggested the local had been scattering the glass around like seeds in the hope they’d grow into bottles. There was so much, it’s plausible!

The moors were beautiful

Beautiful sky at the campsite as dusk was falling

Thankfully though, we left Bolton behind us and cycled through Horwich which seemed very nice. Mum had found a campsite in a place called Rivington. Unfortunately the last 4 miles were uphill - Rivington it turns out is on the edge of the moors north of Bolton. It was pretty spectacular when we got there though!








Day 10: Rivington to Carnforth - 50.32miles 1614ft climbing

Tried to make a prompt start today but was struggling to get up! We were meeting a friend of Auntie Natalie, Cheryl Law (professional viola player, cyclist, climber - so much in common!) but first had to get down off the moor. This went well initially until Mr Google decided to take us through woods on the banks of the huge reservoir, on tracks suitable only for mountain bikes😟.

Reservoir on the Moor

Dad was enjoying it (well, he does love getting off road and muddy) but even he had to get off in places. A tourer bike is not designed for that sort of track! And we lost count of the number of stiles we had to lift the bikes over. 

But eventually we made it to meet Cheryl in Chorley, a lot later than planned however. Sorry!
Our route today was due to finish in Lancaster, but as we’ve done slightly more than needed for the last couple of days, dad wanted to get a little further. We rode a combination of lanes, tow paths and quiet roads this morning. Yet again, some of the tow paths proved unsuitable but luckily Cheryl had a cool app called Komoot which showed us the way without the worst bits of tow path (dad - take note!!).

Lovely park in Preston

We passed through central Preston which seemed lovely - there was a lovely park we rode through which was amazing. We then joined an A road for most of the journey to Lancaster but although busy, it was fine. The only issue today, in glorious sunshine, was the pretty strong headwinds to battle. Mum had found a car park next to a canal (NOT ANOTHER ONE!!) for lunch. We actually got there after two o’clock having ridden nearly 40miles before lunch! It was cool to ride with Cheryl, she was really lovely and riding in a three is easier. When it’s just dad and me on the road, I ride first so he can keep an eye out and force the traffic to avoid us but in a three, I ride in the middle). Cheryl had a had a physio appointment however that afternoon (I didn’t mention the broken back and leg from climbing😫😫) so after a quick lunch she shot off to the railway station. Thanks Cheryl, lovely to meet you and thanks for riding with us. And thanks for all the chocolate👌🏼😂😉

Mum bought me a chocolatey treat in Sainsbury's

Dad and I continued up towards Carnforth. Lancaster, like Preston was lovely (cities do look much nicer in the sunshine!). We crossed the River Lune (dad thinks!) on the most amazing Victorian (dad thinks!) aqueduct. If was pretty spectacular! We rode around 10 miles on an excellent canal tow path and didn’t see a single lock. We did see some pretty amazing houses and the area was really beautiful. Dad reminded me how lucky we’ve been with the weather though. We spent a soggy week in the Lake District last summer and it rained almost continuously!

Freaky life-sized people along the canal!

Just before we reached mum on the campsite in a tiny a couple of miles from Carnforth, we came across a dog agility club. It was amazing to watch. The border collies were the best naturally, we often look after my Nanna’s border and she’s so intelligent. I really miss having a dog, ours died in February. Mind you, he wasn’t intelligent!! Dad really misses his walks and runs with the dog too so we’re looking forward to looking after Jess again in the summer.