£8356.66 Raised!

This is the final blog post. After some last minute sponsorship we have raised a total of £8356.66 (£7, 170.82 + Gift Aid). This is a fantastic amount split evenly between Raft & ChildHope who are both really appreciative of all your donations. In fact we have made it on the front page of both Charity's newsletters:

For RAFT (check out Autumn 2011) : http://www.raft.ac.uk/our-news/newsletters.html
For Childhope: subscribe to the newsletter distribution list



We are delighted with what we have achieved and would like to thank everyone who donated and helped us complete the journey.

Day 10: Porthtowan - Landsend

Start Time 08:00

Finish Time 11:30

Actual Mileage 31.2 miles

Average Speed (14.6 mph)

So the final day (or what was meant to be the final day – did we make it? – I think the majority of you know by now but lets keep the suspense going a little longer…)

We woke up to strong winds rattling our bedroom window but were not deterred as it was our last day and nothing was going to impede us. We set out to get back to the A30 only to find high hills blocking our path (a lot of you ‘out on the town’ girls will know how we were feeling). Once we overcame that obstacle and got on to the main road we thought it was only right to take a rest stop at Mcdonalds. Little were we to know that we would meet our old school teachers (Mr Philpot, Mr Padgem & Mr Hartley) in the car park taking Year 12’s on a school trip to St Ives. Luckily there was no embarrassment on our side as they did remember our names so we had a little reunion before finalizing our journey.

The last 20 miles were not complete without a trip to Tesco’s to pick up treats to celebrate with. Joe got a DibDab, Rhys got nougat, Steve got Kinder Eggs, Rob got champers and Ollie got his standard can of coke and a pasta. The last ten miles from Penzance concluded the journey with only one minor incident when Ollie failed to realize his foam massage mat (yes its as girlie as it sounds) went flying into the wind and Joe had to lug it 3 miles cycling one handed as he failed to realize it was missing.

An eventful day would not be complete without Ollie Houston spilling his whole cup of tea on himself and Joe on the train journey home....

Cycle of Life Moment (sponsored by Rafiki and Simba): Completing an epic journey with everyone still standing at the end of it for a photo next to the Landsend sign.

Day 9: Tiverton - Porthtowan

Start Time 07:45

Finish Time 20:15

Actual Mileage 105.4 miles

Average Speed (13.2 mph)

The day started as the previous day ended…cycling up and down really narrow country lanes trying to get to Tiverton then to Crediton then to the A30. What made the day that little bit more interesting was the following:

(please read slowly for a slow motion replay or read fast if you want real time events)

So Rhys was flying down a hill with the wind in his hair with a tractor behind him when unbeknown to him there was a reasonably tight corner to turn around (as tight as Joe Clarke in a supermarket). Rhys did not want to brake because he might upset the tractor so he went into the corner at pace and due to this reason he mounted the curb fell into the bushes and his bike went flying into the road. Rhys remained emotionless and emerged from the bushes to rescue his bike before it got run over by the tractor. His helmet was broken, both his wheels were buckled, he looked like the green giant from the sweetcorn adverts but he maintained a cool calm and collected composure only seen by a robot.

Our technicians had a look at the already questionable Mongoose bike and managed to patch it up so the wheels would turn at an odd angle and the handlebars would stay on as long as the exerted pressure was not too great. The bike had also lost its 5^th and 7^th gears leaving Rhys with only 5 to choose from but he was pleased that even though it was on the brink of destruction, it could still chug him along to Lands End.

The day continued to fill our boots with excitement and anticipation. As we went through Crediton Joe received a standing ovation from a little girl as he cycled along, as we stopped in Tesco’s Ollie managed to find a new variety of pasta he had not eaten and as we tried to get on the A30 we found ourselves on a 10 metre bridge arching over the A30 with no plausible way down. However in the face of adversity we scaled a fence with our bikes and gradually passed the bikes down a 60° slope with Robert acting as Spiderman crawling up and down the slope.

Finally we were on our way on the A30 with 85 miles still to do and the clocks fastly approaching midday. Then the rain came down for almost 4 hours and I want to say it was fun and enjoyable cycling in the rain alongside a very busy dual carriageway but it was not. Robert even managed to get his first puncture on the trip. At 4pm the clouds left us and we managed to complete the last 49 miles in just over four hours to arrive in to the seaside surfing town of Porthtowan. 

Crash of the day (sponsored by Richard Hammond): Rhys taking a chunk out of the Devon countryside with his heavy Mongoose Bike

Day 8: Chepstow - Tiverton

Start Time 08:30

Finish Time 19:00

Actual Mileage 89.6 miles

Average Speed (15.5 mph)

 

To begin… We hopped past Chepstow missing out on a visit to the castle and the opportunity to dress up in armour but giving us plenty of time to cross over the River Severn in strong headwinds. We skipped past Bristol (although got delayed going round the one way system) – Joe was admiring the Clifton Suspension Bridge when he ran over a dead pigeon. Then we jumped through the West Country, each of us breaking our top speeds (Rob took the gold reaching 42.8 mph) and each of us having incidents…

Joe’s pannier bag fell off while going downhill and made a clunking sound, Rhys’s impenetrable Mongoose bike valued at 39 pence suffered its first ever puncture, Robert took some stimulants and could not seem to stop cycling, Steve was screaming every few minutes enjoying the ecstasy of his Achilles tendon and Ollie found out he is identical twins to the Ferengi from Star Trek.

What else have we learnt on our journey today?

1. Don’t trust Rhys to book up accommodation unless you want a farm in the middle of nowhere only accessible by a country road about the width of a sheep.
2. Morrisons have 8 different types of trollies including your standard ‘daily shopper’, your ‘disabled trolley’ and your majestic ‘twin seater’.
3. Rob found out that cars do not slip on banana skins
4. Other pro cyclists are not very sociable if you beat them on an up hill stretch

When we arrived at the B&B for the night there was a lot of bemusement over the questionable ‘luxury accommodation’ and Rhys managed to have a late night spat with a group of imaginary ducks which apparently kept him awake most of the night quacking.

Moment of the day (sponsored by American Beauty: being dazzled by a whirlwind of leaves while begging outside of Morrisons.

Day 7: Shrewsbury - Chepstow

Start Time 08:15

Finish Time 18:30

Actual Mileage 89.7 miles

Average Speed (13.4 mph)

Today was a very big day for England. Some C-list celebrities were getting married but more importantly the Cycle of Life Team was skirting along the England-Wales border keeping those welsh sheep at bay. There was no time for play as we set off at a very early time of 8.15am (compared to our 8.30am the previous morning) and took in the delights of Shrewsbury and Ludlow before arriving in a ghost town of Leominster for lunch. We stopped off at 3 pubs to grab a beer but none of them were showing 'the big event' so we carried on tirelessly and managed to reach our half way point in the day by midday!

Beggers Feast

As usual we sat on the floor outside a supermarket (Co-op this time) and ate our wonderful varied lunches. A highlight of our time in Leominster were the space toilets whose doors automatically sealed when you walked in, whose toilet seats slowly came down as the doors sealed, whose water taps started running after you finished the toilet and which cleaned themselves when you left the vicinity. More exciting than that was the fact that you had a maximum of 12 minutes to complete your 'business' before god knows what happened....

But enough about toilets - what happened for the rest of the day? We continued our cycle ride and stopped in at Hereford, stopped in at Monmouth and then had an hour of 'chilled out' riding going downhill to Tintern listening to classic tunes over a stereo speaker (such as Tina Turner- Simply the Best and Miley Cyrus - The Climb, real go getting music...) We finished up the day checking out the delights of Tintern Abbey with our coach and retiring for the night just outside Chepstow.

Tintern Abbey with Coach Bill Clarke

Hereford's finest

Crashed the Wedding Moment' of the day (sponsored by Busted): Rob threw a hissy fit when he found out the donuts on offer were custard not jam.

Day 6: Catterall - Shrewsbury

Start Time 08:30

Finish Time 19:00

Actual Mileage 96.5 miles

Average Speed (14.4 mph)

Some claimed this would be the toughest day but with a bright and blissful start at an M6 service station hotel we were well on our way to answering those critics. Our route master Ollie Houston did manage to lose us within a mile but due to Rhys's knowledge of navigation we managed to meet up again with no qualms. The morning session was delightful passing through enriching towns such as Preston, Wigan and Warrington. We then stopped for lunch at a Tesco's and as usual looked like beggers as we sat outside on the floor with a feast laid out (we managed to get a very generous donation of 91p from one woman). Rhys managed to drop his sushi on the floor but was so hungry he lapped it up in no time. The afternoon session was pretty ordinary but we did manage to top up our tans, get lots of flies in our faces (which felt like being shot by a really weak bb gun) and increase our cycling injuries to double digits:

Our Injuries Key: 
Yellow =  Minor
Red = Major
Blue = Serious

 Our Injuries Key: Yellow =  Minor / Red = Major / Blue = Serious

Guess who's hand from the glove tannage...

As the day had very few highlights here is top three list of our favourite roads so far:

A9 - very scottish with lots of highland cows fleeting around its edges - cycled 213 miles on it

A6 - very minor A-road but superb tarmack at times - cycled 104 miles on it

A45 - pretty direct but could have had more imaginative surroundings - cycled 63 miles on it

Energy Booster of the day (sponsored by Mcvities Jaffa Cakes): completing 30 miles in 2 hours in a speedy afternoon session.

Day 5: Canonbie to Catterall

Start Time 08:15

Finish Time 18:45

Actual Mileage 90.2 miles

Average Speed (13.3 mph)

Apologies for the double dossage of bloggage today but we failed to get internet up and running again in Scotand last night (the country is living up to its stereotype of being far behind England...)

First comment to make was that Joe asked for cooked breakfasts to be served at 7.30am on the dot and that it was... he managed to lean too heavily on the plate and it all ended up in his lap! Within a mile of setting off we came face to face with no-mans land (a 300 yard stretch of road that was neither in Scotland or England!!) So we decided like usual to get a photo to prove that we actually did cycle from Scotland to England.

We then headed down to Carlisle and on the way Steve managed to terrorise a learner driver and Ollie manage to pick up a cheap 4-pack of fake lucozades called explodade...(available in your local Aldi for £1.29)

Once Carlisle was eating our dust we headed for Penrith and visited our second supermarket of the day (Co-op) to stock up on provisions for some more hillage (first 50 miles was an uphill climb). But we were making steady progress so Joe decided to treat the team to a box of Roses and some Fab ice lollies which no-one really wanted so he ended up eating the box and 4 lollies by himself! (he actually got quite an energy buzz from them!)

The next part of the day saw us descend a very steep mountainous region into Kendall which was a good ten-mile stretch. What we didn't know at the time was a bolt had come off of Rhys's dodgy (for want of a better word) Mongoose bike and he had cycled down the steep incline with it jingling away like 'coins in a pocket'. Our third stop of the day was a Morrissons in Kendal where we failed to pick up any Kendal Mint Cake :'( but where we did manage to have a pleasant conversation with a stranger who managed to lecture us on the fact that bikes are now a lot cheaper than the olden days and so are washing machines and so many other things and how he had lived in so many places but preferred the north as it is very 'multi-cultural'.

Finally towards the end the day we headed for Lancaster and stopped off in a Tesco's (all we seem to do now is eat, sleep and cycle...) Rob had an awesome standstill fall, Steve went through red traffic lights to oncoming traffic, Joe got some nice leg tan, Rhys ate a 'space bar' and Ollie got his phone out every other minute to check directions to a country lane travelodge.Worthy mention is that this was our 3rd day in a row with no punctures - shows either that we are getting better at cycling or the roads further south are better laid or that Ollie has been told the story of the 'boy who cried wolf too many times'...

Red Nose of the Day (sponsored by Rudolph): a closely run contest between Steve and Rhys who both seemed to have caught the sun as much as England seems to have caught wedding fever (that's right we have been keeping up to date with the news...)