Last Day

So the last day has past, and we are all tired from a hard last 2 days riding. Into the wind both days, but so much relief from all 6 of us, and the supporters. We enjoyed an All you can eat Chinese in Inverness, Thank you very much Dave and Carol Llewellyn for the kind offer of this to us.

No doubt there will be lots of pictures and other information from the others soon once we are all back in contact when home.

Thankyou all for your support throughout the ride, and look forward to giving stories to all soon.

Day 12 -Tuesday 13th April - Inverness to Helmsdale

Click on the link below to follow the lejogers route on their penultimate day of cycling

www.mapmyfitness.com/ride/united-kingdom/helmsdale/567126782573387834

Day 11 - Monday 12th April - Blair Atholl to Inverness

Click on the link below to follow the lejogers on day 11 of their challenge

http://mapmyfitness.com/ride/united-kingdom/inverness/837126782553964599

Day 10 - Sunday 11th April - Edinburgh to Blair Atholl

To follow the Lejogers on their route through Scotland click on the link below

http://www.mapmyfitness.com/ride/united-kingdom/blair-atholl/950126843321013121

Day 9 - Saturday 10th April - Langholm to Edinburgh

Now, let's be clear, LEJOG is most certainly not a race or a competition with winners or losers...but we won! (Dave, Neil, Pamela & Pete that is!)
I won't go on about it, but we crossed the finish line first - that's it, enough said!
Unfortunately, even though Adam and Anders were ahead they may have taken a wrong turn and maybe Anders suffered a puncture or 2, which resulted in them being delayed...but these are mere details...we came first!
The ride up to lunch was glorious. We woke to a frost, but the skies were clear and the sun was shining. The ride up through the hills was stunning, beautiful landscape. Had some steady climbs up, but again rewarded with an impressive downhill. We decided to have a competition to see who could go the fastest without pedalling, and just roll - slightly unfair unadvantage for Pamela who is about 50kg lighter than everyone else, so she cheated and pedalled!
The ride after lunch was nice too, but all we want to do is get to camp. Covered 82 miles today.

Click on the route below to follow the team on Day 9 of the route

www.mapmyfitness.com/ride/united-kingdom/edinburgh/781126774144648266

DAY 7 & 8

Yesterday we covered just over 65 miles from Chequerbent to Kendal. Enjoyed our last night in the Travel Lodge and went out to dinner at the Harvester, but on route we inadvertently became paramedics, traffic wardens and police. We found a chap in the middle of the road, who had literally just come off his bike and in quite a bit of pain. So Nicky was on the case with the First Aid box and, unfortunately for Pamela, her pillow for him to rest his head and Anders and Adam acted as traffic wardens to slow the traffic. Ambulance was called and thankfully he seemed ok, perhaps just a broken leg. So we certainly enjoyed our dinner after that episode!
The campsite in Kendal was really nice and quite nice being back to basics. There was a river by the campsite, so Anders, Adam and Pamela went in the water for an ice bath - they have been duped into believing it will help with muscle pain!

Today we covered about 75 miles, from Kendal to Langholm. We slightly detoured from the original route as we decided going through the Lake District was too good to miss. So we set off and climbed up Kirkstone Pass. It was a hell of a climb, but we all did it and lower down we were rewarded with lovely views. At the top it was pretty misty, but felt like a great achievement and then there was the downhill! Awesome fun if not a little hairy for some. Pamela kept her brakes on, Pete hit over 50mph, Neil nearly slammed into the rear of a car and Adam went slightly wide into the gully and nearly came off! All good then!
But after a couple of days of standard terrain and busy towns, it was great to get back into the fresh air and achieve some climbs.
In the afternoon we crossed the Scottish border - woo hoo! Obligatory photos by the sign of course.
James went to pick up the camper...sorry...motorhome this afternoon, so bit of luxury for the remainder of our trip.

P.s. Support Team were legendary today. Pete had a spoke break on his wheel and we pulled over and called the Fun Bus and Yas and Nicky were there in, like, 30 secs to save the day and we continued on our journey. Praise to the ladies!

Day 7 - Thursday 8th April - Chequerbent to Kendal

To follow day 7 of the Lejogers route, which sees them complete over half of their journey, click on the link below

http://www.mapmyfitness.com/ride/united-kingdom/kendal/943126722647022344

Day 6 Hard Day

Well, what can we say, that was one tough day. A late start due to a large breakfast at Frankie and Benny's. Industrial areas Stone, Newcastle Under Lyme, and then onto Manchester. Roundabout after roundabout, traffic lights after traffic light and traffic was hard going, along with the constant head wind.

Good to see friends Ron and Sandra on route, lucky they were early enough in the ride to see all of us, as Neil and Dave took a detour adding unneccessary miles before lunch. Heavy cold rain for 1 hour meant extra uncomfort for the rest of the day.

Day 6 - Wednesday 7th April - Stafford to Chequerbent

Click on the link below to follow the goup on Day 6

http://www.mapmyfitness.com/ride/united-kingdom/bolton/750126722405022978

Day 5 - Gloucester to Stafford

As this is being written we are currently being treated to a Frankie and Benny's by Griph and Jan, really generous of them. Needless to say we are very excited!
Today was a fairly straight forward ride - unless you're Pete and Anders and decide to go on a 12 mile detour to Bromsgrove! We all covered about 69 miles today and the weather was very favourable with quite a bit of sun. A few rosie faces tonight!
The route took us through Tewkesbury, Worcester, Wolverhampton and Stafford. Negotiating some of the traffic in the towns was interesting and Pamela almost falling off her bike amongst stationary traffic even more!
Anders escaped with no punctures today, but unfortunately Neil did!
Having a break from camping tonight, so Support Team get a night off and we are resting up in a Travel Lodge, wth like proper beds and a bath and everything!

Day 5 - Tuesday 6th April - Gloucester to Stafford

To follow the team on their fifth day click on the link below

http://www.mapmyfitness.com/ride/united-kingdom/stafford/538126705769914054

Day 4 - Update

The Lejogers were in good spirits this morning as they were welcomed into Cheddar by family and friends. Thank you to everyone who was able to make it to KOW today. I'm sure the support will have made Shipham hill a little easier!

The group made good progress after Cheddar getting to Bristol by 12.30 and arriving at Gloucester just before 4pm, despite Adam, Pete and Anders taking a wrong turn! The support team (James, Yas and Nicky) have done a great job in camp tonight - the fine weather and flat field certainly helped with the tent!

Day 4 Route - Monday - Taunton to Gloucester

Click on the link below to view Day 4 Route

http://www.mapmyfitness.com/ride/united-kingdom/-gloucester/423126695904121136

Day 3 Update

The Lejogers team are in good spirits this evening (despite Anders's 5 punctures) in their home county of Somerset (for most of them!). They made good progress this morning across dartmoor, despite the hail! , and were cheered on in Exeter by friends and family and again in Taunton. They are all looking in really good shape after some really rough terrain through Cornwall. They set off tomoorow for Gloucester via Cheddar, stopping at KOW school. The team are viewing the blog via web phones so please keep your comments coming.

Day 3 - Moorshop to Taunton

Follow us on Day 3 of our route across Dartmoor and onto Taunton

www.mapmyfitness.com/ride/united-kingdom/-taunton/400126695803961025

Click on 'show elevation' under mileaage display to see what terrain the team are facing!

Day 2 - Camborne to Moorshop, Tavistock

Day 2 here we come!

Use the link below to view Day 2 route

http://www.mapmyfitness.com/ride/united-kingdom/tavistock/727126695679516770

Day One - Lands End to Camborne

Please use link below to view Day one route

http://mapmyfitness.com/ride/united-kingdom/lands-end/651126695345426328

A week today!

6 brave people, Neil, Pete, Pam, Adam, Dave and Anders will have started their challenge to cycle from Lands End to John O'Groats.

To find out more and sponsor our epic challenge visit www.justgiving.co.uk/lejogers2010

We will put regular updates on this blog to allow everyone to know our progress during our cycle up north!