Three idiots go cycling

​8:30am outside Merv’s house, the advance party of three met for the photo shoot and press conference. Something more important must have been going on for the paparazzi so the boys took a selfie and set off. Today, on a spreadsheet at least, is the hardest day of the tour. About 80 miles and 4800 odd feet of climbing. Route to Ripon, Masham, Leyburn, Askrigg and then up and down to Nateby, which is the posher village just outside somewhat rundown Kirkby Stephen. Crossing the Pennines diagonally in other words. Good to get a whole mountain range out the way on day 1 says Pete. The weather was kind to us apart from a 15 mile slog into the wind after lunch in Leyburn. Pete was regretting the rather average sausage roll he’d eaten. It was his own fault though as, mindful of the shorter evenings in mid September, he had requested short stops in case of a major mechanical delay. Steve would far rather opt for long leisurely lunches in the poshest cafe available. Doubtless he’ll get his way ...

​One day to go. The lads are all fit and healthy, trained, packed and raring to go. Well, actually, not quite… Steve is training for the York marathon in October. His apex training run of 20 miles yesterday had to be cut short due to knackeredness and he’s feeling a bit sad about that. Pete managed to pull something in his back this morning, while bending over to feed the dog of all stupid things. He’s optimistically eating Ibuprofen for breakfast, lunch and dinner and has had to skip lawn mowing duties. It’ll be a jungle by the time he returns. He’s feeling a bit sad about all that. Andrew has consulted Dr Merv about an ailment too. Merv told him to get to the GP tomorrow. Luckily Andrew’s plan was always to start out a day late and meet us somewhere the other side of Carlisle train station, so he has a bit of time for this. Of course, he too is feeling a bit sad about things. How many will cross the Scottish border in a few days is currently a mystery. Hopefully I won’t find myself c...

​I can’t believe it’s been over a year since the three idiots did their Lands End to John O’Groats journey. You’d imagine they’d have seen enough of each other and never spoke again. But…no!  Some time in the depths of winter, with nothing better to do it seems, Pete went on a hunt for another adventure. Having failed to attract most of our mates for Lejog he looked for something shorter and less challenging. A jolly journey for spring or summer maybe?. He hit upon the relatively new Kirkpatrick C2C. It’s only 250 miles along the Scottish Borders. Nothing can go wrong.  Well… Holidays, grandchildren, marathon training, laziness, house building, Yorkshire county cricket matches, old age and infirmity all had a part to play. Now it maybe didn’t help that Pete suggested riding to the start in Stranraer, and back from the finish in Eyemouth - making 250 miles into nearly 700 miles. He was quite happy to take these extras on the chin, or the saddle (with suitable padding), but the ...

Sensible breakfast as we set off for an easy day. Just a 10.5 hour journey home including two short stops. Scotland is a flipping long place. Glad we don’t have to cycle it - it would take a week! It’s now approaching 10pm and Yorkshire is rather warm. It’s going to take a few days to acclimatise to the forecast heatwave. One of the things about three blokes manly bantering their way along for two weeks is that they forget to rein it in when in the presence of a lady. So poor Clare had to suffer the boys muses on where to get the best full English/Scottish in Britain, are Firths sausages still the best in the world?, how knackered they were at various parts of the route we crossed, as well as advice on Andrew’s injuries and arrangements for sitting comfortably at the Headingley Test Match on Friday. Rubber rings, cushions, and even two strategically placed beer glasses were all mentioned. She looked so relieved when we finally saw a sign saying Boston Spa! On Chris’s strict instruction...

Wow! It’s the last day, the last few miles, the last hurrah! Nice ride today, especially for Pete and Andrew because they had a 14 mile head start on Steve. Wind behind and a gentle rolling Sutherland landscape. They even had faffing time to investigate an old abandoned phone box that had become a sticker board for Lejog and nc500 travellers. Interestingly, as soon as we crossed over to Caithness, the landscape changed to wide open vistas and flat plains. We’d seen the last of the hills. Steve’s Day Log book entry day 15 Tongue to John o Groats - Awoke refreshed after a decent night’s sleep to a lovely view over the Kyle of Tongue. Very good breakfast (yet not in the top 3 - so good have some of them been). - ⁠suddenly in this part of the world, LEJOGGERS and cyclists doing other routes like the NC500 converge and you come across many more than we’d encountered since early in the trip. There were a couple of blokes having breakfast who’d done it on lightweight road bikes with a paid su...

Nice one Pete. My exploits probably don’t merit editing your blog for, as you guessed. Nevertheless:- - loved the cycle along the loch. Would have been a fabulous view if I’d been able to see it. - ⁠there were two hills which went up a relatively long way but v gently and smoothly - ⁠I got the same rain as you with 10 miles to go. - ⁠the first day in several that for some reason I’d forgotten to pre spray with Avon skin stuff. Stopped to put coat on when rain started and noticed the little bastards so decided best to get going again rather than spray there and then - ⁠after the pint I’d had in the Altnaharah hotel I started to need a wee but was scared to stop for fear of being bitten. Hence absolutely bursting when got to hotel - ⁠I appear to have somehow escaped being bitten unless there is a very delayed reaction. I remembered they can only fly at 4mph so did my best to cycle faster than that - ⁠hotel was tuning people away when I arrived so v v v glad I acted when I did especially ...