Three idiots go cycling

​Best breakfast so far in our bnb in Annan. While eating it, our host mentioned that Andrew who had booked separately to the rest had been charged £110 by the reputable booking site as their algorithm had worked out he had booked the last room. The rest had paid just £55 each. Andrew was happy to pay, and the rest were quite amazed that they had such a good deal for what was a very nice place.  Route today was through Dumfries, castle Douglas, Kirkudbright, Gatehouse of Fleet and on to Newton Stewart, mainly into the wind. Lovely countryside, a few hills and off and on showers. Steve was mortified that his companions stopped off at Castle Douglas Aldi to grab lunch so he wandered off into town to find nice pies and cakes. Andrew and Pete are fans of the quick triangle sandwich so they left him to it. Merv is like a lion; eats well but infrequently, so he didn’t eat and didn’t care! We all met up the other side of town and continued on our way. Garmin said 9 climbs for today. We cou...

​7am Pete awoke refreshed and raring to go at 6:30am. What else do you do with a nice cup of tea but check your email and social media? First thing he sees is that his booking for Friday at the Cally Palace hotel has been cancelled due to an invalid credit card. This is of course utter nonsense as he’s booked all this through a reputable online booking app and his card is fine. Calls the hotel to be told they did have a cancellation but no explanation as to why. They will look into it and call him back.  Stress levels right now are quite high! Does he share the pain with the others over breakfast, or does he keep quiet…? 9:45 am Splendid breakfast including fine black pudding. The three set off a bit lazily for a relatively short 65 miler. Today’s route followed a sizeable section of the Lejog route last year, through some of Englands loveliest, and mostly ignored, scenery between the north Pennines and the Lake District.  Andrew’s train made it to Carlisle before the trio, wh...

​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...