Lands End to John O'Groats, Day 18 - Pelted by Drawing Pins.

Day 18 Morning

I'd slept much better on the night of Day 17, which meant I woke up on Day 18 in a better mood. I was still tired, I'd woken up a few times during the night with rib pain but waking up a few times is far better than being awake all night! My target for the day was to get to Inverness or just beyond as that would leave me a good chance of finishing after another three days pushing which would be 21 days and a whole week ahead of schedule. Looking at the map over breakfast to check the route and where we thought might be a good place for lunch and where we might need to book a campsite. Whilst looking at the map it suddenly clicked why Inverness had its name, I like to think that I'd fairly bright and pick things up quite quickly. I have to admit that I didn't even know that Inverness was near Loch Ness until I was looking at the map that morning! I'd been noticing  places with the 'Inver' and 'Firth' prefix anytime we got close to the coast in Scotland. The penny finally dropped that an Inver was an estuary or river mouth and a Firth was a narrow area of sea between two bits of land. So Inverness was where the River Ness which runs through Loch Ness meets the sea. I'm not sure if Ed already knew that but he humoured me as I told him my discovery anyway.

Getting underway on day 18!

  We were going to be on the A9 all day again which made us all a little nervous especially getting closer to Inverness. The A9 was a really busy road. We were pretty sure all the traffic must have been heading to Inverness as there is nothing much north of the city in terms of built up areas. When we got going on our push I was actually surprised how quiet it was.

Quiet A9 climb during the morning push.

I had a nice start to the day with a one and a half mile downhill, the Scottish tarmac was vibrating the chair like mad so instead of pushing to try and get a fast speed I decided to put weight on my handlebars which helps keep the front wheel on the ground and allows the chair to work properly. I didn't want to be fighting for speed in the first mile of the push. Despite not even pushing my wheels the descent had gotten me over 30mph which is always a nice figure to see on the speedo.
After that initial drop I was then climbing for 15 tough miles. Ant seemed to have a new confidence in shouting me on. He was brilliant all morning, I'm not sure what had made the change, maybe it was just learning from Ed but I think maybe he was just feeling more confident we would both get to the finish line. If we did make the finish Ant would have cycled around 350 miles which is not easy from someone who really isn't sporty.

On another climb

  The long climb was followed by a nice 5 mile long downhill section that was broken by only one short flat and one half mile climb. The long downhill took me past the tiny village of Tomatin which is home to a famous distillery of the same name. Its an odd little place, surrounded by beautiful but rugged hills and mountains but Tomatin sits in a picturesque green valley, it looks like the grasslands of the south of England not the Scottish Highlands! Two bridges cross the valley, an old railway bridge and a modern road bridge. The views were great from the  road bridge.

The green valley at Tomatin

I wanted to have a geek fest over the views with Ed and Ant but unfortunately I'd just dropped them both on the long descent and they didn't catch me up until I was working my way through the undulating climbs over the next mile or so. We were soon back in rugged countryside and passing pine plantations near Loch Moy.

Just keep pushing.

Ed being special.

  I decided to stop for lunch at almost 26 miles so 3 miles over my target for the morning, I was happy with that in the Highlands as I thought going too far over target up there would be a bit difficult with all of the hills. I was 10 miles from Inverness so I might be able to get myself 5 miles past my target by evening time. As we didn't have anything other than beans on toast on the lunch front I opted for cereal instead. There was no way I was going to be able to stomach more beans!
 My dad got chatting to some old guy in the layby about his antique bike that Ed was riding, he kept coming back and knocking on the motorhome window to start yet another conversation with dad. Ant, Ed and I were in stiches laughing at my dad being stalked by the most boring man on earth, he was a right Norris Cole wannabe. I didn't rescue my dad though, it'll teach him not to talk to strangers in laybys! haha!

Lunch Break.

Day 18 Morning Stats

Miles: 25.9
Time: 2:27:39
Average Moving Speed: 10.5mph
Top Speed: 35.7mph
Slowest Mile Split: Mile 14 - 9:28
Fastest Mile Split: Mile 20 - 2:29
Total Ascent: 1026ft
Average Heart Rate: 143bpm
Max Heart Rate: 160bpm

Day 18 Morning Progress Maps

Day 18 Afternoon

I had made sure dad had the shopping list before we set off on the afternoon push in the sunshine. We had looked on the map for the closest retail park and given dad instructions to head to it as early as possible so he would be back with us before too long. Ed and Ant put extra supplies in their bags so we could perform minor repairs without the motorhome if we needed to. We then got on our way to Inverness.
The afternoon push started with a cracking downhill on normal tarmac for a change! I hit 44.7mph which is my fastest ever speed in my wheelchair. I left Ant and Ed trailing behind me. Ed had a go at sticking with me for maybe a quarter mile, Ant didn't bother trying, he already knew his legs wouldn't go fast enough. There was a big climb after 2.5 miles so Ed was soon back on my tail. It took Ant a good 3 or 4 minutes to catch us but we could see him in the distance gaining on us. I may have worked a little bit harder on the climb to keep Ant chasing us, I'm cruel like that! I think it's the coach in me that likes making people put effort in!

A nice wide berth from a tanker!

 It didn't take long to conquer the climb and get my self going down the amazing hill that leads in to Inverness, again I dropped the lads pretty quickly. My speed was building up well, I was tucked down low to make me nice and aero dynamic. I crept up to 42mph and had lots more hill left to gain more speed, I was easily on for 50mph before the bottom, I was loving it. Then a tosser in one of those Hymer motorhomes from the 70's that look like a giant VW camper but with tiny wheels pulled out in front of me. The most annoying part of it was that he pulled up to the edge of the layby, stopped, looked straight at me and then decided to pull out on me. If he hadn't stopped and just carried on driving there wouldn't have been a problem, he would have accelerated and got away from me. His acceleration from a stationary position was nowhere near fast enough to pull out when he did. I managed to slow enough not to hit him but I got close enough to tell him what I thought of his driving skills. Slowing down so quickly had torn a big chunk of rubber out of my gloves. A 50mph opportunity well and truly ruined.
Not long after it was the junction that dad needed to take to go shopping. I was now pushing on the hard shoulder so I didn't need shielding by the motorhome anymore. I pointed at the road sign and the exit and tried waving him off the dual carriageway but he was having none of it and carried on driving with me. I managed to get the message to him that he had to leave at the next junction or we would not have any food for dinner. At this junction he did leave but I was worried now because he would have to find his own way to a retail park and not follow the directions we had given him for the previous junction. The A9 was almost gridlocked at Inverness, it's basically a motorway but it didn't feel too dangerous because we were on the hard shoulder and the cars were only moving about 10mph.
We crossed over the Moray Firth on a bridge with some serious views and then the hard shoulder disappeared on the Black Isle. Some of the drivers shouted abuse out of their car windows at us here. I think they were frustrated with being sat in the road works traffic for so long.

The bridge over Moray Firth

Whilst climbing over the Black Isle it got really cold and started to rain. I could have done with stopping here but dad wasn't back yet so I just kept going. I had another belting downhill to tackle to get onto the bridge to leave the Black Isle by crossing the Cromarty Firth. This downhill wasn't fun, the rain was hurting my face as I was descending at 40mph again. It felt like I was being pelted with drawing pins, My hands and forearms were so cold they were hurting. I was also worried about Ed and Ant and how they were feeling. You could never have guessed it was the first day of July, it felt like November. Ed Caught me up when I was just leaving the bridge but Ant wasn't even in sight now. It took a long time for him to get back to us.

The Cromarty Firth Bridge

The busy, wet A9.

 I really wanted to stop so when we crossed the bridge Ed phoned my dad to see where he had got to. He was stuck in traffic. I was struggling because of the cold so sitting and waiting in wet clothes wasn't really an option. I'd already done 21 miles when I left the Black Isle. That was 48 for the day. The A9 was hugging the coast now we were back on the mainland do it was much flatter, another 40 minutes later it had dried up so I warmed up slightly and managed to work my was back to a respectable speed. After clocking 32 miles for the afternoon push I was ready to find a layby to wait for my dad but we were in a huge area of road works and we didn't find anywhere suitable to stop until over 35 miles.

Not looking too bad to say we'd pushed and cycled 61 miles.

 Ed phoned my dad again to find out where he was and direct him to where we had stopped. It took him another 20 minutes to finally get to our finish line I'd done 61 miles! I couldn't quite believe it. Part of me wanted to phone all those trustees at 'that' meeting where they had spoken to me like I was an idiot for thinking I could push 33 miles in a day. I wanted them to know just how wrong they were! I hadn't gone out that day with the idea of pushing anywhere near that far but circumstances had almost forced me into it. I was just happy my body was capable of doing that even with two broken ribs! If I had a good day on day 19 It might be possible I could finish on day 20, just a few hours earlier I had been hoping I could manage to get it done in 21 days.
There was fruit and veg in the motorhome!!! At last something healthy to eat. We had pasta with a tomato and herb sauce with mince beef, peppers, onions and mushrooms thrown in to bulk it up a bit. I was so happy to eat!

Day 18 Afternoon Stats

Miles: 35.62
Time: 3:01:17
Average Moving Speed: 11.8mph
Top Speed: 44.7mph (Fastest yet)
Slowest Mile Split: Mile 16 - 11:07
Fastest Mile Split: Mile 7 - 1:24
Total Ascent: 1175ft
Average Heart Rate: 141bpm
Max Heart Rate: 161bpm

Day 18 Afternoon Progress Maps

Total Daily Mileage: 61.52

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 13 - Goodbye Nick

Day 13 Morning

We were up nice and early on Day 13 as we knew we would take a bit longer to get ready as we were expecting Danny and his fella Ben to drop Ant off with us. I was looking forward to having Ant back with us, I really enjoy chatting to him and he makes a good brew! It was good to see Danny when they arrived, I'd not seen him for a while. He tried his best to congratulate me but Danny suffers from an extreme form of lack of enthusiasm and is just as blunt as me. It was nice to get a "you're doing well." out of him! I have a lot of time for Danny, I like people who's faces can't hide what their minds are thinking! I'd not met Ben before, he seemed nice but I was a bit embarrassed shuffling about in my lycra the first time I met someone!
It wasn't long after they arrived that my dad and Elouise arrived at the campsite. Elouise was just here with us for the day, she was going to cycle the full day with me and then get a lift back to her car with Nick when his dad was taking him home. Dad was staying until the end of the challenge to share the driving with Ed so that Ed could do some cycling. When Dad and Elouise started unpacking the car I noticed there were two bikes not one. I asked dad who the other bike belonged to
"It's mine, do you like it?"
My dad has a serious damage to his back that has resulted in him having two operations on it. Some days he can't get out of bed, quite often he can't stand up straight and walks like he's crapped his pants. Here he was with his bike telling me he was going to cycle. My dad won't be told when he has an idea in his head. Luckily, with Elouise cycling I needed someone helping coordinate the other people coming to see me that day. Nick's dad was coming to pick him up, my mum was coming to see me after the push and an old running friend Vicky Breeze was also coming along to see me at the end of the day. Dad agreed to help Ed coordinate and to take some photos too. I was worried that he would hurt his cack and then not be able to drive which would hinder my progress plus I just didn't want the bloody minded old git hurting himself.
 We needed to set off to the start as I was getting an escort to Scotland by some cyclists from Carlisle Reivers Cycling Club, this was what I'd hoped every day would be like but with everything that had gone on that resulted in the date change I hadn't had time to contact cycling clubs and ask for help. This had resulted in one big advantage, I hadn't needed to stick to a time table, I could stop for a rest when I needed to and push miles further each day when I felt like it. I now know that Amanda for Carlisle Reivers had been messaging the dream team quite regularly trying to pin down when I was going to be in the area, thankfully it landed on a day she wasn't working and she was able to gather a little team to ride with me. At the start point I met the Reivers and introduced them to Bonnie and the gang. We posed for photos and then got ready to leave.

My little crew at the start.

 I let every one know all the do's and don'ts of riding near me. Don't get too close to my hands, don't stop suddenly if I am behind because I can't stop quickly and more things like that. I also warned them all that I am very slow on climbs but quite fast on downhill sections. I told them I wouldn't wait for them on the descents because they would catch me easily as soon as the downhill ended. With that we set off. I quickly learnt that I was actually further from Carlisle than I thought. I needed to push almost 10 miles to get to Carlisle. The road was an undulating one so I soon demonstrated how slow I was on the ups and how I could drop my little pack of cyclists on the downs.

Amanda waiting for me as I struggle up a hill with Nick and Elouise

We spent the morning getting to know each other. I really liked all of the cyclists from Reivers, Amanda was nuts but in a good way and she had me laughing quite a few times. There was a lad called Dan who had a stutter or another similar speech impediment, I had plenty of time to let him get his words out so that didn't matter to me. I enjoyed chatting to him. Then there were two more lads who were really interested in how the chair worked and the technical side of pushing and racing in general.
 As we started to get into a busier area I gave Amanda one of the collection tubs and she was brilliant at collecting, waving it at cars and stopping at bus stops and asking folk in a really happy, bubbly way. When we got in to Carlisle itself there were large numbers of people doing the Sunday morning walk of shame. Amanda was straight on to them and in their still drunk, bewildered state she managed to get them donating. In the busier areas of the city I had three cyclists collecting donations and another three keeping me company.

Carlisle with my crew.

 Carlisle looked like a lovely place, somewhere I'd never been before but somewhere I do want to explore again in the future. Not long after Carlisle I was pushing really well on some super smooth roads. I was really enjoying my day and showing off a little bit. I upped the pace slightly on a relatively flat road. At one stage I was flying along at almost race pace, I was at the front of the group and I missed a turn off I should have taken. I had no idea and I was pushing hard. Dan appeared at the side of me trying to talk to me, he was struggling slightly so I just carried on pushing whilst he found his words, I didn't want to put pressure on him. Eventually he said
"Wrong way"
I looked behind and it was just us two the others were at the turning waiting for us to go back. Fancy sending the lad with the speech trouble to hunt me down and stop me! It's like asking me to teach someone the Argentine Tango! What a cracking lad for actually doing it and stopping me. I could have gone miles out of my way if Dan hadn't stopped me.
With that little drama over, the local cyclists told us we were very close to the border so Ed, Ant and Dad left us to drive over the border and get ready to take photos as I crossed the border. I was really excited, I'm not sure why. I knew nothing would change over the border. It was just another big step forward and another landmark ticked off. Maybe I was excited for Nick to reach his target in memory of his son Charlie. I was really happy for Nick, cycling the whole of England with no experience and no training wasn't easy. I was relieved that I'd got him to the border but a bit upset that I knew he'd be going home in just a few hours time. We spent 10 minutes or so at the border taking photos with the various landmarks, we were a bit longer than I wanted to be as when Nick and I were posing for a photo with the way marker signpost that matched the one in Lands End and the one in John O'Groats some dizzy mare wondered into the back of shot just as My dad was about to take the photo. She was reading an information board but kept stopping to gawp at my in my wheelchair. After a few minutes I was getting bored of waiting for her to bugger off and dropped a few hints, she still didn't bloody move so after another few minutes I asked her if she was waiting to be in our photo. She tutted a walked off. There was a queue of traffic on the England-bound side of the road so just before we left Amanda ran down the traffic jam with the collection bucket, I think she got plenty of change but she did get a telling off from one guy, you always get one miserable sod.

Me and Nick at the way marker signpost.

Photo's taken, photo bombers and tight arses upset we got back on our way, passing through Gretna Green and seeing the famous buildings of the town. Nick hadn't heard of it but when we explained the history of English couples popping over the border to get married without all the English red tape he seemed to be taping note, maybe he was planning his own hasty wedding! We crossed over the motorway bridge and joined the old road that ran parallel to the motorway, it was here, not yet 2 miles inside Scotland that I was introduced to Scottish tarmac! Who knew it would be so different to the English stuff?!?! It had lots of stones in it which made the surface really rough, at the time I didn't know that most of Scotland is covered in the stuff, I thought it was just a stretch of shoddy workmanship. The stones were vibrating the whole chair and making the push uncomfortable. My bust ribs and my shins were hurting due to the vibrations and my speed dropped too.
 After 4 or 5 miles of being shook about whilst trying to climb I decided it was time to have lunch. Nick spoke to Ed, Ant and Dad as they overtook us and asked them to stop at the next available spot. When we caught them up they were in a layby busily brewing up and preparing cheese sandwiches. They were being eyeballed by some cows and half the team were straight over to the fence to pet the cows! Not me, I was gagging for a brew. With Ant being back I was handed recovery drinks, a recovery bar and a brew within seconds of finishing. Top notch service! Dad was trying to work out how many sandwiches were needed but Amanda and her team were turning back at this point. I wish they could have done more cycling with us because I'd had such a good morning with them. We said our goodbyes and waved them off back to England. Elouise, Ant, Ed, Nick, Dad and I sat down for lunch.

Amanda, Elouise and Dan petting the cows.

Day 13 Morning Stats

Miles: 23.35
Time: 2:12:30
Average Moving Speed: 10.6mph
Top Speed: 38.9mph
Slowest Mile Split: Mile 4 - 7:52
Fastest Mile Split: Mile 3 - 2:44
Total Ascent: 978ft
Average Heart Rate: 140bpm
Max Heart Rate: 161bpm

Day 13 Morning Progress Maps

Day 13 Afternoon

It had started to rain during lunch so we waited a while longer hoping it would dry up but it didn't. It'd been a really sunny morning so I don't think any of us expected rain. We finally plucked up the courage to go out and start the afternoon session. It felt much quieter without Amanda and gang at first, it was just Elouise, Nick and I now. They soon got chatting away and we were laughing about the conditions, it was meant to be summer!

Wet through!

 5 or 6 miles in ant the end of a dragging climb I could see a group of people stood watching me, I assumed it was just people from a layby that Ed had got out of their cars to cheer me on. I put my head down and gritted my teeth up the hill and as I got closer I could hear that it was Mother Hubbard screaming like a woman possessed. When I looked up she was waving her McLeod tartan scarf around. I pulled over for a quick chat with her and Ste my step dad. I posed for photos with mother hubbard and of course the tartan scarf.  She said she didn't think we'd stop so I think that cheered her up. I didn't know she was coming to watch me push I thought that she was just coming to the campsite after I'd finished.

Me, Mother Hubbard and the Mcleod Tartan scarf.

After a quick chat the three of us got on the road again but now with Mother Hubbard and Ste joining the motorhome bunny hopping us. Mother hubbard was screaming out of the window every time Ste drove her past us. It had Elouise and Nick in stitches.
"Your mum's nuts"
"yep I know!"
After around 10 miles the rain became very very heavy. We were soaked and cold but we had another boost to morale when at the side of the in the pouring rain my bosses wife Liz, her sister Fran and some of their friends were cheering and beeping as I passed. They were on their way back to Lancashire after a night out, I had no idea we would pass them! I would have liked to stop and chat but we were going downhill at the time and there is just no way my brakes would have stopped me in that weather so I just tried to wave whilst also trying to keep control of the chair.

 We carried on until almost 17 miles and then called it a day. Ant had a brew and my recovery stuff waiting for me, we all tried to get a little dryer before setting off. I was cold, wet, tired and hungry so I just wanted to get to the campsite. We had another free pitch this time it was at Moffat Manor Country Park which was a huge campsite, a lot of the caravans had gardens so they must have been owned and used by one family. The touring pitches were all in the centre of the park which was on a bit of a hill. When we arrived Mike, Nick's brother was stood waiting for us near reception, his dragon must have let him out for a few hours. The thing is, I think she must have dressed him too. He was wearing one of those extra long T-Shirt things. I wound the window down and asked him why he was wearing a dress. I don't think he found it funny but Nick did! Nick's dad Pete had already found out where our pitch was so Mike told us to follow him round. We parked up and Pete parked behind us followed by Ste and Vicky who had just arrived. It took a few minutes to work out what the next step was but Nick started to collect his things (and some things that weren't his the little tea-leaf took some cycling shorts and so 51 foundation kit that left us short) he packed them into his dad's car. I gave him a hug to say thanks for everything and he told me off! haha! Elouise decided to stay a bit longer and come to the bar with the rest of us... So it was time to say goodbye to Nick, he'd kept me entertained the whole way so far, saved me from rolling back down hills in Dartmoor, saved me from rolling off the edge on the old railway path, followed me around the ring roads of Gloucester and Shrewsbury, he'd kept my gloves in working order and just been a good mate. We waved them off and I went for a shower whilst the others sorted themselves out. The shower room was absolutely freezing and the shower didn't let much more than a dribble out so even after my shower I was no warmer.
When I got back to the motorhome I was met with Ed, dad and mum all trying to pack away the cakes biscuits and sweets everyone had brought with them. I'd mentioned that I had a craving for sweet things so all my visitors had brought bags of sugary, cakey, goodness with them! The only trouble was we didn't have enough cupboards to fit it all in! Elouise didn't have a change of clothes with her so she was in borrowed trackies and a T-shirt  way too big for her. I ushered us all along to get to the restaurant, I was starving!
 Elouise, Vicky, Dad, Ste, Mum, Ant, Ed and I found ourselves a table in what was the nicest campsite bar and restaurant we'd visited. We had a really good evening, lots of laughing and story telling. I had another pint to celebrate getting in to Scotland. People were making bets on the day I would reach John O'Groats. It was nice that it had gone from 'if' to 'when' now. Before too long it was time for Elouise, Vicky, Ste and mum to head off home. I tried to talk dad through the morning routine and then got in bed. It had been a long day and the weather had made it hard work but it had been a good day because of the people involved. I ended my diary for the day with:

Great Day!

Day 13 Afternoon Stats

Miles: 16.87
Time: 1:38:01
Average Moving Speed: 10.7mph
Top Speed: 28.0mph
Slowest Mile Split: Mile 5 - 8:34
Fastest Mile Split: Mile 8 - 3:05
Total Ascent: 697ft
Average Heart Rate: 147bpm
Max Heart Rate: 170bpm

Day 13 Afternoon Progress Maps

Total Daily Mileage: 40.22