Lands End to John O'Groats, Day 17 - More Bloody Beans.

Day 17 Morning

Thankfully I had had a much better sleep and although I struggled to get myself sat up in bed when the alarms went off because my ribs were so sore, I felt better prepared to take on the day's push. We had got our morning routine done as usual but on day 17 we'd been waved off from the campsite by a few of the other campers who had spoken with dad the night before. We passed two castles on the short drive to Killiecrankie to start my push. We weren't far at all from the Cairngorms National Park, the castles made the craggy hills look like a setting from a blockbuster film.
   Dad had said Ed could cycle today and he would drive, Ed was excited to get on the bike, he'd been there from the start but had always been stuck in the motorhome because Ant and Nick don't drive and dad wasn't confident on the directions. I was looking forward to pushing with Ed, I knew he would have me laughing before too long. Day 17 was A9 all the way so dad couldn't get lost! I was dreading the climb into the Cairngorms but I knew I could do it if I'd managed to climb the day before despite the rib pain then I could climb today.

Ed happy to start cycling today.

  Seconds after setting off on my push I knew something wasn't right, not with me but with the chair. I quickly noticed my wheels had been put on the wrong sides of the chair. I shouted to Ed to stop my dad from pulling out of the layby, luckily dad got the message in time so time was saved on him having to find somewhere to turn around and get back to us. I made my way back to the layby and my pit crew had my wheels swapped over in a couple of minutes. I set off again but something still wasn't right, it took me a bit longer to work out what it was but dad was busy packing tools and chairs away so he hadn't set off yet. I found the problem was a missing washer from one of the wheels. Different models of wheels sit on the chair slightly differently and some need washers to hold them away from the frame of the chair or the tyres rub. so we headed back to the layby to look for the missing washer. Four grown men crawling around in a layby at  9:00am must have been a strange sight for passing drivers. Eventually we found it and put it back on. Take three of morning 17 was more successful and we were finally on our way.

Ed the new Nick

Ed thanking drivers for giving me a wide berth.

 Exactly as I feared the journey into the Cairngorms was very tough, the scenery was amazing so that was a little compensation for the dragging climbs. Being a proud Rossendalian I am used to heather covered hills - I see them every day but the Cairngorms were something else. My humble little valley just doesn't compare to the desolate, rugged beauty of this National Park. During the first few miles we passed over the official border for the Scottish Highlands, I was only travelling at 6mph at the time but what a buzz that gave me. I'm not Scottish but I do have Scottish blood and I think it was that coupled with a signpost that made it plainly obvious I was now very high up on the map of the UK that gave me such a big boost. Whatever it was that caused it, I was happy with the adrenaline rush whilst climbing what seemed like an endless climb.

Climbing in to the Cairngorms National Park

  Well endless was a bit of an exaggeration, early on in the climb I had a short downhill but the dreaded Scottish tarmac made it quite a slow downhill, it certainly didn't give me much of a break from climbing. I stopped three times on the climb, I needed to keep my body fuelled. I was using a mixture of MyProtein products and tea & cake. I tried my best to keep going for as long as possible, Ed was an absolute star, cheering me on, keeping me motivated, making me laugh and taking my mind off pushing by asking about bits of history or wild flowers. Ed's enthusiasm seemed to rub off on to Ant and he was much better at keeping me entertained. I think I would of stopped for lunch much earlier if it wasn't for their support. Dad was doing great from the roadside too, stopping in every layby to cheer me on and take photos as I passed by.

The grey area shows the climb and the blue line shows my speed.

High up in the hills

 I was running low on steam after 2 hours, I squeezed out an extra half an hour but that was all I could manage. I hadn't reached my morning target of 23 miles which was a bit disappointing but stopping early for food and a rest might mean I could pull back a few more miles that afternoon. If I'd carried on flogging myself that morning then it risked ruining my afternoon push. 20 miles boxed off, almost all of it uphill wasn't a disaster.
 Dad had been so engrossed in cheering me on he'd either forgotten about or decided against going to get some food for lunch so the choice was beans on toast or beans on toast. On the first 10 days or so beans on toast, especially with cheese, was my favoured lunch but I'd struggled to get it down for a few days now. I knew I had to eat it, I needed to fuel my body but I found it difficult. After craving cake and stodgy food for two weeks I was now craving something healthy.
 After lunch we gave the chair the once over as I was worried the horrible Scottish tarmac could have vibrated bolts and screws loose. With everything tightened up we spent the rest of the break chatting in the motorhome. We checked the maps to see where dad could nip to the shop for food during the afternoon push. He didn't seem keen on leaving us and wanted to go after the push but that would mean extra driving around before going to the campsite, longer time before I could get a shower or use a toilet and a longer gap between pushing and eating which isn't good for recovery. Ed nipping to the shops whilst I was pushing had worked well so far so I wanted to keep things running the same.

Day 17 Morning Stats

Miles: 20.15
Time: 2:29:25
Average Moving Speed: 8.1mph
Top Speed: 29.5mph
Slowest Mile Split: Mile 20 - 10:21
Fastest Mile Split: Mile 4 - 3:54
Total Ascent: 1211ft
Average Heart Rate: 142bpm
Max Heart Rate: 160bpm

Day 17 Morning Progress Maps

Day 17 Afternoon

The afternoon started as the morning push had ended. We were climbing. We were now so high up that almost all the hills and mountains had snow on them, I couldn't believe that there was snow on the last day of June. The snow was another one of the things that hammered home just how far we had got ourselves. Whilst on the climb we saw both an Osprey and a Golden Eagle, I'd not seen either of these birds in the wild before. Ed and Ant were amazed I could tell what they were from a distance so I had to go full geek mode on them and explain about size, wing shape, tail shape and flying patterns. I was in love with the Cairngorms National Park.
 After a few miles climbing I got what I had been hoping for all day, a downhill! At last! We were still on the crappy Scottish tarmac with it's big stone chippings but the long downhill sections made the small climbs and the flat sections much easier to deal with. At 15 miles I thought I was on for something special on this push. My support crew were doing great again at the support. Ant was struggling keeping with me on some of the descents but when he was with me he was cheering me on. Ed was with me most of the time, he was telling me how fast I was going and how well I was doing. Dad was still stopping at every opportunity to encourage me, it was great for him to see me moving at speed for a long period. I had to remind him twice to go and get food for tea. I think he was excited and wanted to be involved, he was scared of missing something but we needed food desperately. He eventually gave in and went shopping for us.

Rough Scottish tarmac

 By 21 miles my maths had me on course to beat my marathon race PB. Yes the route was largely downhill but I had also pushed over 700 miles in the lead up to this and I was knackered from all the climbing over the last 48 hours so I did not expect to be moving this fast.
  Dad was back in next to no time, he was with us when we passed the marathon point in a time of 1:51:09 which is almost 4 minutes faster than my PB, obviously it doesn't count as a new PB but it put a smile on my face. Ed told dad the time for my marathon through the motorhome window and told him I was ready to stop. Dad went ahead to find a layby for me to stop in but there were road-works on the stretch of road we were on so it was another 3.5 miles before we stopped. Dad had set up the deckchairs, made brews, got some cake out and had the tools ready to strip the race chair and rack the bikes. I was more than happy to have a brew waiting for me at the finish after a massive afternoon push of almost 30 miles.

Passing dad in another layby.

 Yet another free campsite was waiting for us at the Dalraddy Estate, it was an unusual campsite in a woodland setting, the buildings were all log cabins and the whole site was really well kept. I was so hungry and looking forward to something healthy for dinner, my heart sank when dad revealed his shopping; there was hardly anything in the bag. For dinner we were on oven chips, fried egg, bacon and baked bastard beans! I'd been struggling with food for days now but I'd managed to force it down my neck. I really tried but I only managed about half of the meal. I could visualise my dad being so scared of missing something on the push that he dumped the motorhome, legged it into the shop and did his own Dale Winton style supermarket sweep just grabbing whatever was close to hand.
For the first time on the trip I was the last one up. Whilst writing my diary I had found a tick on Bonnie's neck so I had been googling how to remove one and if there was anything I could do without a tick remover. I also wrote a shopping list for when dad went shopping the next day so I could have something I had a chance of eating.

Day 17 Afternoon Stats

Miles: 29.88
Time:  2:07:43
Average Moving Speed: 14.0mph (The fastest of the challenge so far)
Top Speed: 28.4mph
Slowest Mile Split: Mile 2 - 8:21
Fastest Mile Split: Mile 6 - 2:37
Total Ascent: 574ft
Average Heart Rate: 143bpm
Max Heart Rate: 177bpm

Day 17 Afternoon Progress Maps

Total Daily Mileage:50.03

Lands End to John O'Groats, Day 16 - Dad's New Positive Vibes.

Day 16 Morning

 The alarms went off on the morning of Day 16, I felt like I'd not been to sleep at all. I had really struggled with my ribs all night, I couldn't get comfortable. Even lying on my good side was hurting the ribs. Moving my arms hurt my ribs. Bloody breathing hurt my ribs. It was not a pleasant night. On my way to the shower block I passed-by a cyclist who we had bunny hopped the day before, he overtook me on the road but somehow we had finished ahead of him and got to the campsite before him. I was going to go and have a chat with him but he was stood in the middle of the campsite naked. Everything hanging out! After the night I'd had I wasn't in the mood to stand talking to some bloke with his todger out in the middle of a field. Maybe the granddad had tried charging him to wear clothes!
   Having seen all the mountains surrounding the campsite I was convinced I was going to need to climb lots during Day 16. I didn't have much confidence that I would be able to climb that day but we made our way to the start to give it a crack. Dad was in his cycling gear again, I didn't try and talk him out of it, he seemed ok so maybe the cycling was doing him some good. I did say he would need to let Ed have a go cycling soon as he hadn't had chance yet. Ant was starting to feel a bit sore but he wanted to be cycling with me which was really cool of him. He could have been sat in the motorhome, in the warm with Ed but he was out with me.

At the start of Day 16 and already in pain.

The start of the day's push was better than I thought, it took me a good few miles before I reached my first real hill so I was nicely warmed up when I needed to climb. I was still in pain but I did ok on the climb.

On the first downhill

We passed through a steep sided wooded valley whilst following the path of the River Farg. I loved it, I felt like we were miles from anywhere It was one of the few areas we travelled through that had a natural woodland and not a pine plantation.
  Shortly after the valley I started to suffer from boredom again, Ant was saying well done every 15 minutes or so but I needed a bit more. Dad had gotten in the habit of telling me how big and steep the hills I was about to go up were. Then as I was climbing them he'd be pointing out how hard work they were and how they were slowing us right down. I was trying to distract myself from the pain and how much I was struggling on the hills today but my dad was reminding me every few minutes. I know looking back that he was actually trying to point out I was doing well climbing these hills with my broken ribs but that's not how it was coming across at the time.

I really wanted to stop at the motorhome!

Approaching Perth

We passed through Perth centre, it was the first built up area in Scotland that I thought looked nice, some of the buildings were amazing looking. We passed a church that had had a stone crown on top of its tower and we travelled along side the River Tay for a while. Although it was beautiful to look at it was a busy place and it was the first large built up area we had passed through without a single donation. On the outskirts of Perth we picked up the A9 which was a busy road and one we would be spending the afternoon on.

The beautiful church in Perth - I was really captivated by it.

Passing through Perth.

 It wasn't long before the ribs and the boredom had me looking for somewhere to stop for lunch, it was another layby. I'd only managed 22.7 miles more than 10 miles less than yesterdays morning mileage tally. We were low on supplies so we had to have beans and cheese on toast again followed by us trying to eat our way through the mountain of cake that had been bought for us on Day 13. I was starting to struggle getting food down, probably due to exhaustion, I wanted something light and healthy but we didn't have anything so I forced the beans on toast down so I had some fuel for the afternoon push. Over lunch I asked Ant and dad to give me more encouragement on the climbs and to have a chat with each other whilst riding. I couldn't hold a conversation when pushing but hearing them chatting and me joining in with the odd word or two would help pass the time. I also asked dad to stop pointing out how big and steep the hills are and how slow we were going, I already knew all that! haha! I didn't want to upset either of them but I needed them to distract me from the push, the pain and the slow speed.

Ed getting arty on the A9

Looking at my stats for the morning push I wasn't actually that slow, it's strange what a bit of pain and negative thinking can do to the way you perceive what you are doing.

Day 16 Morning Stats

Miles: 22.67
Time: 2:05:24
Average Moving Speed: 10.8mph
Top Speed: 28.4mph
Slowest Mile Split: Mile 12 - 8:51
Fastest Mile Split: Mile 5 - 3:03
Total Ascent: 807ft
Average Heart Rate: 135bpm
Max Heart Rate: 156bpm

Day 16 Morning Progress Maps

Day 16 Afternoon

The afternoon push was all on the A9 which is an extremely busy and fast road, it is the main route to Inverness which is the biggest city up in the highlands. The road has many HGV's using it to supply Inverness with all the goods it needs. It seems like a lot of dickheads also drive on this road. We had dozens of cars get way, way too close to us whilst travelling at 80 or 90mph. Lots of people beeping at us but not in the cheery way we had been beeped at in the rest of the UK. It was only car drivers acting like this, every artic lorry that passed us did so with a really wide birth and many drivers mates gave a thumbs up out of the window. We were all thanking the none dickheads as they overtook us with a wave. There was never any point where traffic couldn't get by, people seemed to be angry at me for some other reason.

Heading for Inverness on the A9

Dad and Ant were making a real effort to keep me entertained during this push. Dad must have been cursing inside at the drivers coming too close and beeping. Even with me at 32 years of age he was still over protective and he loves a good rant with lots of swearing thrown in. He definitely listned to me asking him to be positive because he didn't shout fuck off at a single driver! Anybody who knows my dad will know that was a miracle. Dad's new positive vibes and Ant's now more frequent 'well done ant' helped me to 18 miles which was a good effort for an afternoon push considering how tired and sore I was! I'd got myself to a place called Killiecrankie, another place name that made me giggle. The place name and exhaustion had got me imagining Janette Krankie being killed in all sorts of comedy ways. Giggling at my own internal jokes was not good for my ribs, I was on the verge of crying due to the rib pain but I was laughing like mad about the Krankies being twatted in the face with a plank of wood on a builders shoulder as he turned around. It's not even funny, I'm not much of a fan of slapstick comedy so exhaustion must have played a part! I should probably talk to Dave the sports psychologist about why I found the place name and the thought of an old woman dressed as a school boy being killed so hilarious.
 We weren't very far from our campsite Milton of Fonab, yet another freebie. I was a bit down about the day as a whole; I was in a lot of pain and I wasn't happy with the 40.5 miles total for the day. It was 7.5 more than my daily target but I felt like I should be able to do more.

Beautiful but tough.

We had three lots of campers come up to us in the campsite to chat to us about the challenge and they all donated to the charity which cheered be up a bit. It was the first day that we hadn't had a single penny donated on the road so it was nice to get something in the bucket for all my effort. It meant I could stop grumbling about the tight arse Scots! Dad was in his element talking to the people who donated. He loves chatting to new folk when he isn't upsetting them.
Dad had spotted that there were baths in some of the wash rooms so he helped me over the deep gravel roads and I went for a very long soak to ease some of my pain. I was in bed by 7pm that night hoping for some better rest.

Day 16 Afternoon Stats

Miles: 17.97
Time: 1:38:30
Average Moving Speed: 10.9mph
Top Speed: 30.0mph
Slowest Mile Split: Mile 17 - 7:06 (fast as a slowest mile)
Fastest Mile Split: Mile 3 - 3:09
Total Ascent: 531ft
Average Heart Rate: 138bpm
Max Heart Rate: 154bpm

Day 16 Afternoon Progress Maps

Total Daily Mileage:40.64

Lands End to John O'Groats, Day 15 - Two Pounds Mhairi, Two Pounds!

Day 15 Morning

I had a cracking sleep at Helen and Ru's house, it felt good to be in a proper bed and my ribs hadn't hurt half as much that night, maybe because I'd managed to get in a position that didn't involved being wedged against the motorhome bathroom wall! Helen made us all Bacon rolls for breakfast! what a star! After a cracking brew we posed for photos and then left for the start.

Ant, Myself with Bonnie, Helen, Ru and dad after our bacon rolls.

 Yet again dad was sporting his fetching 1990's black Ron Hill traksters - slightly better than his blue ones, he was wanting to cycle with me again. I didn't bother arguing this time, there's no point once he has an idea in his head. We started our day just south of a village called Forth - I'm not sure if its named after the River Forth or not but we were heading towards the Firth of Forth and I was really looking forward to crossing it. Crossing the Firth of Forth would put me further north than I had ever been in Scotland. I'd wrote in my diary that the village of Forth was quite ugly but that the scenery was lovely. I think that was probably a bit harsh, there were lots of building covered in a really drab looking grey pebbledash covering. There were also lots of grey council houses - that was something I had noticed right the way through Scotland so far. The houses weren't scruffy, the village centre and other surrounding villages weren't dirty. They weren't ugly they were just different to the chocolate box cottages of Devon and Cornwall. The rugged countryside was some of the best we had seen up until this point.

We started at one of the few painted houses around.

A lively scene

 I loved the first few miles of this push, I was losing the altitude I had gained during day 14's big climb. We'd driven along the route on the way to the start line from Helen and Ru's house. I knew that every single one of the steep descents was followed by a climb. This meant I could finally let rip on some steep drops. I dropped Ant on the very first one, dad used to be a good club level cyclist so he managed to get back to me on two or three of the climbs after the fast descents but I managed to drop him too after the biggest one. Dropping cyclists is one of my favourite things to do, it shouldn't happen when they have gears and we don't. When you do drop a cyclist you feel good and anyone with a sporty dad knows beating them is a real buzz, however old and crocked they are! I was having great fun, especially when I hit 40.9mph.

Tucked in nice and low ready for a descent.

When we got to the bit where on the advice of Helen and Ru we needing to go straight ahead to avoid a gorge on the route we planned there was a sign up saying the bridge was closed. So we had no option other than heading to the gorge we'd been warned was too steep. The positive spin on this detour was that it took us right past Helen and Ru's house. It took us a while to get there but when I did Helen and Ru had gathered some neighbours and brought them out to cheer me on. Ed must have phoned them to let them know we were coming past. It seemed a nice way to thank them; to let them see me in action - even if it wasn't actually our decision to do a fly past.

The next thing on my mind was this gorge we were heading for. I'd been told it was very steep and winding both down to the bottom and then climbing up the other side. It didn't take long before we spotted the signposts saying Avon Gorge, it wasn't the Avon Gorge near Bristol (thought I'd let Nick know for when he reads this). On my way in to the Gorge I had to keep the brakes on to stop me building up speed and missing the nasty bends. Even with the brakes on I struggled to keep my speed down. Just as I reached the bottom and turned the final downward corner, Bang! My back right tyre popped. 140psi escaping from the tyre makes quite a loud noise. Ed came past in the motorhome, He must have known something was wrong, he slowed down and  wound the window down. We told him and he said he would find a place to stop asap. The road through the gorge was narrow so there was nowhere for him to stop until he got out of the other side. I sent dad ahead to ride to Ed and help him get my spare wheels ready and of course to put the kettle on. Ant stayed with me as I crawled out of the Gorge with the flat. I held traffic up quite badly, it was busier than usual with everyone following the same diversion as us. Two artic trucks struggled to get past. I was going as fast as I could with that flat tyre. Eventually I reached the top, one of the truck drivers had spotted the motorhome and all the spares scattered around. He'd parked up to go and make a donation and wish me luck. I'd been panicking thinking I was pissing everyone off by holding them up. That was proof of me over thinking things. That said, the work Dave from The Academy Of The Sporting Mind had got me through this little mishap. I'd expected to get a lot of damaged tyres on the trip but this was my first one at way over 500 miles, not bad going. It did happen in the worst place possible but I handled it without having a massive meltdown!
I finished the morning by crossing the Firth of Forth on the Clackmannanshire Bridge. It was stunning! There were cracking views up and down the firth and straight ahead of us the Ben Cleuch mountain, still with snow on top. Seeing a tiny bit of snow on the mountain with made it hit home just how far I'd travelled. Two weeks earlier I'd been looking at peoples gardens being extremely jealous of all the exotic plants in the gardens which would have just died if I'd been silly enough to put them in my garden at home.

Clackmannanshire Bridge, not my photo but you get the idea!

I'd now got myself further north than ever before in Scotland. I'd covered 33 miles, a whole day's worth of miles in just the morning session. I was made up with myself. It was day 15 and rather than being the wrecked shell of a human that Brian had suggested I would be if I attempted 33 miles a day I had just done 33 miles in one push. I was obviously tired and my ribs were sore but I certainly wasn't embarrassing anybody with how useless I was like the scenario that had been talked about at that meeting.
We stopped for lunch just after the bridge in what has to be one of the most scenic laybys in the country - We'd visited quite a few of them by this stage so I feel well qualified to say that! We weren't far from Stirling or Bannockburn and as a massive history geek I could feel my Scots blood stirring. It would have been great to go and visit some of the places so pivotal in Scottish history but I had a world record to break so we had lunch instead. Again, it's another area I want to go back to.

Day 15 Morning Stats

Miles: 33.56
Time: 2:50:55
Average Moving Speed: 11.8mph
Top Speed: 40.9mph (fastest yet)
Slowest Mile Split: Mile 21 - 11:12
Fastest Mile Split: Mile 8 - 1:57 (fastest ever)
Total Ascent: 1219ft
Average Heart Rate: 138bpm
Max Heart Rate: 158bpm

Day 15 Morning Progress Maps

Day 15 Afternoon

Ed and I checked the map during lunch, mainly to reassure me that we weren't heading for the bloody great lump of rock the road was aiming straight at! Luckily we didn't have to break out the ice axe just yet. We were keeping to a road that passed between the mountains and the Firth of Forth heading for somewhere called The Crook of Devon, this was another one of those times I missed Nick, I wanted to hear his views on passing through The Crook of Devon and the Avon Gorge.... in Scotland - I imagined him saying something like "Can they not think of their own names up here?".

Thankfully we were heading around the mountains not over them!

 The afternoon was another damp one, I was struggling to with getting my gloves to stick on my wet push rims. I still had my spare wheels on the chair as we hadn't changed the popped tyre at lunchtime. We hadn't modified the spare wheel's push rims with tape for extra grip in the wet like we had done with my best wheels. After 10 miles I'd lost a lot of speed due to the slipping but also the bearings in my spare wheels were old and stiff. I decided to stop and change the tyre on my best wheels so I could use them to squeeze an extra few miles from the day. With leaving in a hurry at the start of the challenge my spare tyres only got delivered the day before we left for Cornwall. Normally I would blow a new tyre up to stretch it so it would be easier to put on, I hadn't had time to do that this time. Getting a tub tyre on a carbon disk wheel is a nightmare. Ed and Ant hadn't even seen it done before let alone  tried to do it. Dad and I both have a hereditary condition with our hands that stops our grip being quite as strong as it should be and alters the way our fingers moved. There wasn't enough room for all four of us to wrestle the tyre in to place so Ant resumed his role of tea maid, He was very skilled at it after all! Ed, Dad and I worked up a proper sweat trying to get the tub on, I don't think Ed believed how hard it was to change them up until that point! You end up with blisters on your thumbs, bruises on your fingers and hands and pouring in sweat. I'd already told Ed about getting a puncture in a race, you have to change the tyre yourself and without taking the wheel off the chair. Many wheelchair athletes choose to push home slowly instead of trying to change the tyre. Quite often your arms are too tired to get a tyre on by yourself, especially if you are new and inexperienced. You also have to deal with the spectators trying to help you. They mean well and they have no idea that if you accept help you will be disqualified from the race. People just don't listen when you ask them not to help you, especially when you are struggling and you need help. The frustration of not being able to accept the help you need, the panic that chairs are going to come streaming past and the fact you are pissed off that all your training has gone to waste as there is now no chance of breaking a PB all adds up to wheelchair athletes looking like arseholes telling people trying to help to go away. After beating the tub tyre in to submission and finally getting it on my wheel I think Ed had a much better understanding of how frustrating punctures in races are.

We started to pass lots of tree plantations.

 Tyre changed I managed to get my good wheels back on my chair with the push rims taped up, after our brew we got back out on the road. My speed was now much better, we pushed through The Crook of Devon and headed for Loch Leven. I think the damp had got to Dad and Ant, they were both pretty quiet again.

Causing a mini stampede was fun, I could feel the vibrations they caused! Beautiful Cooos!

To try and stop myself switching off I was doing sums in my head, I do this in races to take my mind off how much things are hurting or how far I have left to go. I try and work out my finishing time or what speed I need to push at to get a certain finishing time. Paula Radcliffe used to count to 100 when running to take her mind off the running itself. I'd spoken to Dave my sports psychologist about this and he said if it was a tool I found worked for me to go ahead and use it. On this push I couldn't predict finishing times as I didn't have a set finishing point so I started working out how far I thought I could go and what distance would give me some nice numbers for the day. I settled on going for 20 miles in this push, that would mean 53 miles for the day which seemed to sit right as I was pushing for The 53 Foundation. It would also mean a total of 100 miles over the last two days. That's what I aimed for and that's what I achieved, maybe it wasn't just the rain that had quietened Ant and dad down again maybe they were just knackered!

Ant looking proud of his 100 miles in 2 days, me looking knackered!

 We headed for yet another free campsite, Gallowhill Campsite was in the fields around a very old farmhouse. It had breath taking views in every direction, views that worried me for the next day as it seemed like there were mountains in every direction. We weren't much above sea level at this campsite so I knew we'd be climbing on Day 16. Ed went inside the farmhouse which doubled up as reception to ask them where to hook up for the night (the motorhome you mucky lot). He came out crying laughing. Apparently Grandma of the family was sat at her antique desk working the reception, Ed had told her who we were and she had called one of her grandsons to come and take us to the pitch. Granddad had overheard Ed thanking her for the free pitch and jumped right in to the stereotypical Scottish tight arse role. In a thick Scottish accent he'd shouted through from the other room

"Two pounds Mhairi, two pounds. They can have a free spot but get two pounds off them for the electric!"

Obviously Ed wasn't going to argue over two quid so he paid it and then the grandson arrived to take us to the pitch. Ed told us the story on the way, him and dad had some sort of competition in thick Scottish accents over who could ask Mhairi to charge people for the most ridiculous things.

"fifty pence Mhairi, fifty pence. They can have a free pitch but get fifty pence for the air they will breath! see you jimmy!"

More and more ridiculous! The grandson made sure we were ok with the pitch and pointed us in the direction of the showers and other facilities and then shot off on his quad bike. We were still giggling like school kids over granddads Scottishness when the grandson reappeared with the two pounds, clearly he'd been back to the farm and heard from granddad that he'd got a couple of quid out of the cheeky English buggers wanting a free pitch. He was really embarrassed by it bless him, we said we didn't mind and we'd had a joke about it. He threw a bit of change in the collection bucket, wished me good luck for the rest of the journey, apologised again and shot off on his quad.

Gallowhills Campsite.

I went for a shower, entered the cubical, stripped off, then couldn't work out how it switched on until I spotted a notice that said coin operated, place coins in correct slot near the door. The door in question wasn't the cubicle door it was the door of the male changing rooms, I had to bloody crawl past the showers, past the changing areas, past the sinks and past the toilets to put 50p in the slot. I had to make the journey twice more during my shower! You can imagine the comments when I got back to the motorhome and told everyone the shower had cost £1.50! We were all in stiches laughing at how Granddad had found a way to get a bit more money out of his campers. The site was lovely though and I'd have no second thoughts about going back and paying full, even with all the extras it would be a cheap place to stay.

For the rest of the evening dad and Ed would randomly shout out 'two pounds Mhairi, two pounds'

Day 15 Afternoon Stats

Miles: 19.85
Time: 2:03:39
Average Moving Speed: 9.5mph
Top Speed: 25.7mph
Slowest Mile Split: Mile 8 - 8:54
Fastest Mile Split: Mile 14 - 4:00
Total Ascent: 949ft
Average Heart Rate: 140bpm
Max Heart Rate: 157bpm

Day 15 Afternoon Progress Maps

Total Daily Mileage: 53.41

Lands End to John O'Groats, Day 14 - Hearts of Gold.

Day 14 Morning

Day 14 morning was very different to the others, Dad was up before the alarms went off, he walked Bonnie and had the kettle on before the alarms woke Ed, Ant and I. We got through the morning routine quite quickly and made our way to the start. At the start line we were quick off the mark, dad has had my wheelchair in bit dozens of times so he was quick to get it set up and ready to go. Ant packed a rucksack with the Myprotein products to keep me fuelled up during the day. I left the motorhome to see my dad in kit ready to ride. I wasn't comfortable with him riding with his back in the state it was. I didn't want him to be in pain, if he couldn't carry on we'd be a man down for the rest of the journey. I told him I wasn't happy with him pushing himself and damaging his back even more. I also told him if his back went we wouldn't have time to take him to hospital so he'd need to pay for his own taxi. We'd pick him up on the way back from John O'Groats. A bit of tough love. He was still adamant he was joining in.

My new cyclist Ant

Ant was looking very nervous, he isn't sporty at all so I guess he had no idea what to expect from the day. He was going to take Nick's roll of filming me from behind to prove I wasn't getting any help. Elouise had lent him her bike, whilst adjusting the seat dad broke a flimsy little clip. We did replace it when we got home but with nothing on us that could replace or repair it we had to use lots of gaffer tape to hold the seat up. It didn't add much time to the morning routine, we started fairly early. The morning push was really tough. I climbed for over 18 miles, it was so much harder than Shap. I had a nasty headwind so I was forced to try and keep my head as low as possible to make me more aerodynamic. The horrible Scottish tarmac was shaking me all over and making my back hurt as I fought to keep my chair in a straight line.

The road looks smooth but it wasn't!

 I found the morning push really hard, I was missing Nick, dad and Ant were very quiet. With them having to cycle behind me I couldn't see them, after such a lively day on day 13 this was a bit of a comedown. The hill that I was on was a long dragging one but as soon as I saw mountains in the distance I was pretty sure we were heading straight at them! They looked stunning but I didn't want to have a closer look.

Heading for the hills!

The Scottish tarmac, the hill and the headwind were killing my speed, my average speed was way down on day 13 and the same conditions were robbing me of a break from pushing on the downhills and flats. It turned one down hill what would have been 35mph without pushing into a crappy headwind in to a 20mph downhill where I was needing to push to keep the chair moving. I even got out of the chair at one point to check if my wheels were rubbing on the side of the chair or maybe my wheel bearings had gone, I thought there must have been a reason other than the hill, the tarmac and the wind that was making me so slow. The chair was fine so I just had to get on with the push and grind out what mileage I could that morning. I managed 23.07 before boredom and the conditions finished me off.. We stopped for lunch in another layby, whilst Dad and Ant sorted out the bikes and chair, Ed asked how the morning had been with the new cyclists. I was really honest and said that for large parts of the push it felt like I was on my own, with them being behind me I couldn't see them and as they weren't talking I couldn't hear them. I had really missed Nick wittering on like he'd lost his marbles and the way he would take the piss out of me whilst trying to motivate me on the steeper hills. Ed said he'd have a word with them, I told him to do it gently as I didn't want to sound ungrateful for the help. I just needed to hear that there were people with me.

The grey shows the morning hill, the blue line represents my speed

Knackered and bored after the morning push.

Day 14 Morning Stats

Miles: 23.07
Time: 2:43:26
Average Moving Speed: 8.5mph (slowest for a while)
Top Speed: 20.0mph (slowest of the trip)
Slowest Mile Split: Mile 17 - 12:31
Fastest Mile Split: Mile 7 - 5:15
Total Ascent: 1033ft
Average Heart Rate: 138bmp
Max Heart Rate: 157bpm

Day 14 Morning Progress Maps

Day 14 Afternoon

After lunch I again tried to get dad to stay in the motorhome but he wasn't having any of it. During the afternoon push we reached the mountains I'd been looking at all morning. The route through them wasn't flat at all but it was better than I had been expecting. We met the River Clyde and followed its path through the hills. Even on a grey day when I was missing my best pal and the gaggle of cyclists I'd had the previous day the area was beautiful all be it in a rugged way.

Heading north.

Dad and Ant did a little bit better at keeping talking to me and getting me motivated on all the hills. We had a conversation about the place names we were passing and how they sounded like something from Lord Of The Rings or Game Of Thrones. We passed by Elvanfoot, Quothquan, Biggar Bridge, Eastshield, Ravenstruther and Crookedboat. Each time we passed a road sign we were looking for the oddest place name and having a giggle, I was trying to imagine what Nick would make of the place names. Probably something like 'someone was taking the piss when they made up these names'!
  The hills and mountains seemed to be sheltering me from the worst of the wind that had made the morning so difficult, I did keep getting the odd gust which meant my lower back having to work quite hard to keep the chair straight. I managed to grind out almost 24 miles which was the first time my afternoon push was further than my morning push.

A bit of sun.

We then made our way to Helen and Ru's house, we'd been offered home cooked food, a bath and a bed for the night. Helen was my boss's sister in law but I had never met her or even spoken to her but I knew she would be lovely as Liz, my boss's with and the whole family that I had met so far were really kind and caring people. The house was maybe a 5 mile drive from where we had finished I made sure dad knew not to talk politics or anything else he could start an argument over, he promised to behave. When we got to the house Ed went and knocked on the door to ask where to park and Helen said to bring the motorhome on to the driveway. The gate was pretty narrow for such a large motorhome, I was worried Ed was going to hit a gatepost, What a great start that would have been! He managed to get the motorhome on the drive without any damage, I should have more faith!
  Inside Helen got the solid fuel fire roaring and brought a tea tray through for us, I was in my element! A brew and a fire in a lovely house! Helen had organised for her sister in law also called Helen to come and give me a massage. It wasn't long before massage Helen had arrived, she set up her massage table and began working on my back, we spoke about the challenge and how I'd only had one massage up until this point, one massage in over 500 miles! I was so glad to be getting a second massage done, especially with my lower back having to do so much work in the wind that day. We spoke about our experiences of working in massage and running our own little businesses. Helen's company Massage Therapy By Helen was quite similar to my own. Whilst 'massage' Helen was working on all of my niggles 'home owner' Helen was in the kitchen cooking our dinner. What total luxury this was! I'd got used to making do in the motorhome not being pampered! After the massage I even had time for a long hot soak in the bath before dinner was served.
 For dinner we had homemade cottage pie and home grown veg including chard which I love. For pudding we had home grown and homemade rhubarb pie, my favourite, rhubarb is the greatest. I loved chatting with Helen and Ru, we spoke about all sorts of things. They had even had a look at my route onwards and thought I was going to find a gorge the next day difficult and said that I should head for a bridge instead. As local knowledge had served me so well up until now we decided to take their advice, out came the map! We spoke about classic and vintage cars, Helen and Ru had one and my dad used to drive classics. We spoke about gardening and growing your own, travelling, work, global warming - all sorts of things! We got on the subject of the broken clip on the bike Elouise had lent to Ant; Ru thought he might have something in the garage that might fit so him and dad went to look at the car and find a jubilee clip in the garage. Ru didn't have a spare jubilee clip that would fit but remembered there was one on the car that would do the job. He took it off the car and put it on the bike. These people had let us into their home, made us brews, got me a massage, let me have a soak in their bath, fed us and now taken parts off their beloved old car to give to me! Hearts of gold!
  As the company was so good and the conversation flowing I think this was probably the night I was up the latest on the whole trip but I did have a big cosy bed to sleep in! Dad took the other spare bed and Ed and Ant stayed in the motorhome with Bonnie. Helen even volunteered to get up early in the morning to make us breakfast. What an absolute star!

Day 14 Afternoon Stats

Miles: 23.82
Time: 2:23:17
Average Moving Speed: 10.0mph
Top Speed: 24.4mph
Slowest Mile Split: Mile 23 - 8:22
Fastest Mile Split: Mile 5 - 4:09
Total Ascent: 1100ft
Average Heart Rate: 139bpm
Max Heart Rate: 161bpm

Day 14 Afternoon Progress Maps

Total Daily Mileage: 46.89