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.
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| 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.
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| Ed the new Nick |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| The grey area shows the climb and the blue line shows my speed. |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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
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