Long Way Up 2010

In their moment of glory I got a Portrait shot of each of the riders.

Pete H

Mike R

Barry

Jacky

Tim

David

Mark L

Mark W

Gareth

Rob

I thought this picture needed cropping and showing again.

Sorry to have not posted for the last day or so. This has been caused by not being able to get mobile internet in the far north of Scotland.

We got round this at Betty Hill by re-wiring their Broadband internet connection but we did not have the same option at Helmsdale.

We picked up intermittent service at Perth and I’ve now managed to upload the blogs I’d previously written. We seem to have pretty good service now which I expect will last all day as the Motorways are well served.

So I’m going to blog away for a bit.

Up at 05:30 for a 06:00 departure. We have got something like 500 miles to do and it will take all day.

Not everyone found it as easy as some to get up.

We were leaving Mike R behind as he was staying a day and then going up to the Orkneys. Mike did John O’Groats to Lands End a couple of years ago on his own and carrying all his gear. As we’ve said before, his bike has an iron frame and straight handlebars and he only has three gears. It cost him £273. We are all very impressed by what he managed and how he kept up with riders on bikes costing 20 times more than his – and he was the oldest member of the team.

Well done Mike! You are a Legend.

We set off from the Hostel just after 06:00 as planned.

We headed south to Inverness, Perth and Stirling.

At about 08:30 we stopped in Dalwhinnie just off the A9. Not for some of their famous Scotch but to visit a brilliant Cafe where we all stoked up with full breakfasts and other delights. All well recommended place.

We left there at about 09:30 and headed south again stopping at 11:30 for a comfort break.

As I write we are south of Glasgow on the A74 heading towards Lockerbie.

After the meal and a bit of a freshen up we went to a local bar where us and the remains of a funeral were the only customers.

Some serious celebrating then started hampered only slightly by not being able to spend much time outside due to the midges.

There was Pool Table and able Dave won the first four games before being ousted by the far-too-good Gareth.

A local bloke called Darren rightly rated himself at pool and spent ages trying to beat Gareth but only won one game in five. I joined in and the two of us took turns to try to beat him. I did eventually succeed but more through my determination and Gareths deterioration than skill on my part.

We met a friend of Darrens called Andrea who is in the Navy and will be going out to Afghanistan soon. Pretty girl.

They fed us with left over sarnies and soup from the wake in exchange for token donations to the RNLI.

We asked the gaffer if he did lock-ins and he took more than 0.5 seconds to reply which told us what we wanted to know and we all burst out laughing.

We made our weary and wandering way back to the hostel. Gareth was writing something in the road but he can’t now remember what.

The hostel resisted an attempt to smuggle a wheelbarrow in.

The chuckle brothers had acquired some makeup by the time they got in. I can’t say it was any improvment.

From Thurso we carried on towards John O’Groats. Only 20 miles now.

Me and Mike in the Bus took a high speed run out to Dunnet Head just for a look see and returned to the main road just as the pack went by.

We were all together now – 10 riders, 2 vehicles and 3 support.

Along this road we did quite a bit of videoing and partying with music from the bus. Other traffic wats quite indulgant as we held them up more than we should have done. I think they understood.

Everyone was now quite high as the objective got closer and closer.

Pete H stopped at a pub and replaced his two water bottles with two cans of Stella.

Dave displayed some bare faced cheek while riding much to Jackys embarrassment.

At 4 miles from John O’Groats we broke for the destination in the bus, the van having already headed there.

Our first task when we got there was to locate the Start/Finish line which is all the way round behind the cafe near the now derelict hotel.

Our second task was to get the champagne out.

Pete H was first across the line at shortly after 13:00.

There was a lot of merriment and hand-shaking and congrats going on. It took quite a while for it to sink in that we had got all 10 riders all the way from Lands End to John O’Groats. A brilliant achievement for them all.

Then the formal shots

Then we piled into the van for the journey some 50 miles to Helmsdale where we are staying for the night.

The riders have had to be careful with their diet so first call was the famous La Mirage Fish & Chip restaurant which is rated as one of the best in the UK for a slap up meal.

The partying continues …

We all had a hearty and very fine breakfast at the hotel.

A sunny but cold start to the day.

We got off at about 09:20 for what should be a fairly relaxed journey to our finish line. About 55 miles. The tortoises had an hour or so head start.

No shopping today as we agreed to live off the remnants in the Bus and we are hoping to get to the destination in time for a (possible late) lunch.

Soon after leaving Betty Hill some of the riders couldn’t wait to lose their waterproofs as they were getting too hot.

We did some more videoing, including mobile interviews. Slightly difficult as the road does carry a fair amount of fast traffic.

Wonderful coast views as we travelled.

We stopped at Reay for a quick refresh before heading on to Thurso. Good views of Dounreay as we passed. (If nuclear power is so safe why was the worlds first commercial reactor put here?).

Currently the riders are having bacon sarnies etc in a Cafe in Thurso. 11:30am.

We had a great meal in the Betty Hill Hotel whil watching the sun going down.

I finished blogging while watching the last of the sunset.

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In the bar we relaxed and I showed Gareth how to play pool (score 2-0).

We all know now that almost nothing can stop us. Tired and relaxed is how I would describe it.

Once I got out of the bus at the Crask Inn I realised just how cold it was.

We called Tim and heard that they were only 2-3 miles away and would be arriving within 10 minutes.

We cleared as many seats as we needed on the bus so the guys could sit inside when they arrived

The pack had had a dreadful time as the last 12 miles was aboit a 2% incline but with strong headwinds.

We were slightly worried about our tail end charlie and Tim went back to draft him in but he was in his useual noisy and boisterous mood and coping perfectly well.

While we were having lunch a Tornado did a low and impressive pass. Pleased to have been outside the bus when it happened.

The Crask Inn has one Bitter, one Lager and dozens of whiskies. Once the riders had gone it seemed rude not to pop in and sample the hospitality which did not disappoint.

The view from the front of the Crask Inn was great.

The run from the Crask Inn to Betty Hill was 20 miles of mainly downhill along narrow roads past two Lochs and alongside a great river.

Finally we arrived at the Betty Hill Hotel in Betty Hill. Great views across the Estuary and across the North Sea (or is it the Atlantic).

The day started with the expected light rain. This put a downer on all of us but there is no way anyone is giving up now.

We had an excellant breakfast in the Golf Course club house next to the Travellodge. This was where we had eaten last night and watched the big game (Man U -vs- Newcastle).

Gareth showed his way of coping with the weather.

The pack set of at about 9:05 the two tortoises having got off at about 07:30. The van set off with breakfast baps to fuel the tortoises and we set about shopping.

After three attempts we finally got to the local Tesco to find it was shut for redevelopment so we had to find the other one.

We also did some shopping for personal bits and managed to get Rob the top quality earphones he wanted as replacement for the ones he broke a few days ago. Very well worth doing just for the look of sheer delight on his face to be able to cycle with music again (even if his choice is a little dodgy). It is things like this that can make a huge difference to the riders morale.

We like to ‘brand-up’ the bus with a Help for Heroes banner. It would be unkind if as you were holding the banner so it can be gaffer taped to the bus your support crew partner walked away leaving you.

We also had to fill the Jerry Cans which we managed to do after narrowly avoiding filling one with screenwash – oops. We did this fill at a garage which has the disadvantage that it takes forever as the water comes out very slowly.

With all this shopping we were late and so we headed north from Inverness across the Moray Firth and the Cromarty Bridge via the Black Isle.

We just missed the pack at the second stop. We found them round the corner and did an impromptu stop there.

Barry wanted some water but what with one thing and another didn’t get it before people set off. He wasn’t too bothered and preferred to keep up with the pack.

It was at this stop that I started to get really bothered by the midges. Time to slap on the old Insect Repellant which I’d bought for a trip into the Amazon jungle. That did the trick.

We decided to give Baza a mobile service and half-filled the jug with water and set off after the pack. We managed to pull alongside him, take his water bottle and fill and return it all without him pausing from his riding or anyone falling off. A fine effort I thought.

As we headed deeper into the highlands the views just keep getting more and more spectacular. We got this shot of the riders passing the vehicles at a beauty spot.

We passed through Lairg which had a sheep auction on. You have never seen so many sheep in one place. 10,000 we heard later. Bound to be one or two beauties.

We are now sat outside the Crask Inn waiting for the riders who are less than 2 miles away. Mike is frantically setting up while I skive off in the warmth of the bus to write this.