Day 6 - Comin down the mountain

We left our cabin and headed south again. It was clear but bitterly cold -  time for face mask.

The cycle track basically runs parallel to the A9 but is rough in a few places so you need to be careful.

Although I took Ibruprofen for breakfast my left knee was still giving me jip but I just put a brave face on and pretended I was ok but Im sure Phil could see that me trailing him for most of the way south that something wasn't right.

Spectacular mountainous scenery kept my mind off my dodgy knee and we cracked onto Pitlochry passing what look like a number of Lands End John O'Groats cyclists looking somewhat cold and shattered... they were heading for dark clouds and high terrain where we were heading in a downwards direction to fair skies only to be caught by a short heavy shower just before Pitlochry.

Hot soup and a Toastie and we were off again as the mountains with snow gave way to rolling countryside and our only Football stadium of the day at Perth (St Johnstone).

A quick photo and we were off again heading for Auchterarder. It appears that any road out of Perth means you have at least 1 mile of steady uphill climb.

5 miles short of our destination we were bombarded with hail stones and face mask was duly lifted to the nose position. Actually.... I prefer hailstones to rain as they bounce off you but it was bitterly cold.

A couple of rounds of Thunder were chucked in to keep us on our toes and pedal faster to Auchterarder.

Bottle of wine, box of chocs and a bunch of Flowers to hand we stopped at my cousin and his wife for our overnight stop.

A very kind thank you to Alan & Christine for hosting us - very much appreciated and good fun walking their dogs.

85 miles done and countless clubs to tackle in the central belt tomorrow with our friend Craig joining us - the question is can we keep up with him?

View on Auchterarder Golf course from where our overnight stop was.

Day 5 - ICT (nothing to to with computers)

Day 5 - Dingwall to Newtonmore

Another day another blue sky sort of. Bikes at the ready and we were of again but this time with the wind behind us which was useful as we had a long steep climb out of Dingwall with a slight snow shower chuckef for good measure.

We absolutely horsed it to Inverness - we were that early we even had time for photos on Kessock bridge.

ICT (Inverness Caledonian Thistle) was in sight as we crossed the bridge and popped into the stadium where a nice young lady at reception then took us through the tunnel to pitch side and took a photo of us with one of the stands in the background.

A few minutes later and we were of and running again dodging the traffic through Inverness and up towards Culloden although we didnt actually Go to the site itself as we took a more direct route towards Newtonmore.

However after all the hills of the morning and climbing out of Inverness I could feel a pain in my left knee. This was beginning to slow me down big time which is not good.

We battled onto Carrbridge via a hail storm where Phil is a regular at a cafe here only to find the place full of 30 Japanese tourists having a good main meal and the staff of 3 rushed of their seat. Luckily for us the tourists were finishing up and got a table and filled our boots before we took of again.

We swept down to Aviemore, Kingussie (where Boots supplied me with Ibruprofen) and into Newtonmore where we stopped at another of Phil's local haunts for a well earned drink.

Ever tried cycling loaded with luggage and trying to carry carrier bags full of food and drink? We will tell you - its not easy. However, I went extra for the bag for life which seemed to be a lot easier than the usual pladtic bags they hand out.

A few miles down the road and we were at our Inveralmond wooden lodge which was absolutely fantastic and very different to what we have been staying in for the last few days.

The pain in my knee was not good and I was absolutely shattered with one leg having to do the work of two!

70 miles done and time for bed.

Day 4 - Screw loose

Just like to say a big thank you to the Rosemount Guest House in Buckie for their kind donation. They were marvellous hosts and the breakfast was superb especially the fruit bowl.

So... off we went again or so we thought... Phil's bike was making a scraping noise but we then realised a screw was missing from the metal pannier down near the hub. The first attempt to fix using cable ties was not great as this pulled the frame of the carrier to one side. It was out with my Nail scissors to cut them off.

Phil then had the bright idea of using a screw holding the carrier to the frame. Success. We were off and running again.

Low and behold it was another headwind of 10/15 knots - this cycle would be a lot easier if we were heading in the opposite direction.

On through some quiet back country roads until we hit Elgin. I was so busy trying to use the satnav through road works that I didnt see Elgin City football club in front of me!

However .. photos done and we were off to Nairn for lunch.

The A96 into Inverness is hairy and to be avoided by bikes but we felt we needed route 1 and to get to Dingwall at a reasonable time. 1645 and we had arrived at Ross County's ground and were met by the manger of facilities there who took a picture of us on the pitch. A big thank you to him as he donated a signed football (now deflated for carryi g on bike).

Food and drink consumed at a lovely pub called the Mallard and time for bed.

Another 70 miler tomorrow which a massive hill to get out of Dingwall back to Inverness.

Day 3 - Bird strike on chocolate box an buffeted to Banff

It would appear that Phil's fitness arrived last night and he was well up for the cycle this morning.

Up at 7am and big breakfast at the Travel Lodge Aberdeen Central. Couldn't fault the food or the price.
Out and on the road for 8.30. First stop Pittodrie some 0.5 miles away. 

The weather has diserted us today. Its a cold one. The gloves and foot covers are on for warmth and there was fog on the coast. 

We didnt hang about and we were soon on the roads to Peterhead for the 2nd and last stadium visit of the day.  

The roads we used were mainly farm roads. Very pleasant but quite hilly. What Phil didn't realise was that the side wind we had would become a big part of discussions later in the day. 

Peterhead was 35 miles in and also seemed to be the best place for lunch. A short stop and we were off and running to Buckie. 50 miles into the wind. 

The Garmin and Live tracking had been right on the money until we hit Longside - Garmin died quickly followed by Live Tracking. Garmin re-booted and we were off again but Live Tracking was stuffed. What became apparent for the rest of the journey is that mobile reception is absolutely mince in this part of the world.

Worse was to follow - bird took aim and jettesoned its poo and scored a direct hit on my front box.

The gusts of wind made made it difficult to get up to any speed and also meant that you had to cycle to get down a hill?! The hills were challenging but were now feeling up for them.

We plugged away and visted some lovely towns on the way, including MacDuff, Banff and finally Buckie. 

When you lose a lot of ground (height) to visit a town on the coast you know there will be follow up pain coming out of the town. Buckie I suspect will be no different tomorrow.

Well pleased to see our destination for the evening, which appears brand new. Very friendly family staff who seeing we were a bit tired got the kettle on plus a juice for the wee boy.

So in the place where fish is the catch of the day where did we go for tea..... yep, the Indian. 

Dingwall tomorrow. Off to bed now.

Day 2 - Factor 50 floods back box

Big thank you to staff at Travelodge for looking after us. For breakfast it was a case of nipping around the corner to a wee cafe for a bacon roll and a cup of tea to set us up for the day.

Satnav set up and off we went along the coast. Sunshine and zero wind again. The satnav was enjoying itself so much that it decided to keep us on a cycle track all the way to Arbroath regardless of what I had programmed it to do.

After Abroath Football club was done we headed back on ourselves but in NW direction for Forfar and Brechin where we stopped for lunch before heading for Montrose.

Then the long hike to Aberdeen ensued with a bit of a tailwind. Hot day again.

The roads in to central Aberdeen have bike lanes but some cars liked to hog both making it an interesting approach.

Reached Aberdeen about 1830 and time for a rest after 93 miles only to find my factor 50 had leaked all over my back box. Arrgh...

A good evening in Aberdeen followed but tiredness kicked in fairly early on. The 'one for the road' was in the the Monkey House on Union Street. It was busy from Expo Scotland that was taking place and as happens a lively woman called Heather from  Rowan Tree Travel in New Hampshire USA donated £20 to the cause - a big thank you to Heather! Also thank a big thanks to Gail and her team from Borthwick Castle who filled our glasses with a beer as they could see we needed it!  However it was getting late and it was time to call it a day and catch up with blog.

Day 1 - 7UP

Good day and what a fine cycle we have today. A mere 83 miles today with blue skys, zero wind and 21c.

Staff and parents from the PTA at the school have been fantastic and with their help this has generated much publicity.

So 8.30 on Tuesday 21st April 2015 and we were off and running. First stop Livingston. I lead the way in what becomes the norm for the day. With gps by my side and various strange hand movements that resembled corkscrews, wing flapping and pointing fingers giving directions.

Great to see Smithy at Livingston and was kind enough to take some photos of us.

So, all was well for the first couple of hours and soon we were heading for Fife. With the bridge in sight, Phil realised he had left his wallet. Gutted so he was as he had been reminding me to make sure I brought my money for this trip.

So problem solving is what its all about and a quick call to Phils dad and 30 minutes later wallet was in hand. As much as I was keen to pay the trip that would have been one step beyond.

In Dunfermline we met up with Prentice Events (Ann and Allan). Great to see them and thanks for the goodies includingg the bananas (hoping for no slip ups for the rest of the journey).

On we went to Cowdenbeath, Raith Rovers and East Fife. The gps had a wee laugh to itself and sent us on a  wild goose chase. A quick text to Alan Murphy and the reply 'just follow the coast'. We did ....problem sorted.

The last stop of the day was now looming. Dundee. 2 grounds within a wedge of each other. But 35 miles away from us. 

Off we went over some fairly punishing hills and after a few comments like "are u having a laugh Graeme" and "are we nearly there" we got there via the Tay Bridge which you cycle up the centre carefully avoiding pedestrians and then cycling straight into an elevator to take you to ground level - bizarre but did the job. 

Dundee was not what we were expecting. A modern dock area that is getting a lot of money spent on it. I was well impressed and goes against the usual comment about Dundee. 

What Phil didn't realise is that Dens and Tannadice are at the too of a very large hill. I did but only admitted at that point. So one more climb to the finish. 

Once the selfies had been taken (as we did will all the clubs to prove we were there) it was back to the digs in the dock area. 88 miles, 3500 feet (a munro) and a sire bum from sitting in the saddle for 8 hours. 

Looking forward to a 90 miler tomorrow to Aberdeen. Nite nite.

Page 3 Stunna!

We never thought we'd make the dizzy heights of page 3 in our lives but that is what we have done in today's Edinburgh Evening News (keeping our pecks well hidden btw).

42 Club Charity Cycle News report