Group photo the evening before the ride
Lands End
Jack, seeing how far west he can go
at Lands End, the night before the ride
B&B
Sunset the night before the ride
Toast to a good ride
The Start!
First Chain problem (Lands End in background)
Mount St Michael
First long hill
First Puncture
First A road
Day1
Day1 first break
Dartmoor
Ian scares sheep
looking back from Dartmoor
morning view
Chillin out eating Rock cakes
Cycling through the countryside
Brent Knoll
a village somewhere in the South West
Taking the back roads through Somerset
Break time
Country lanes
Rich gets a puncture
Mark takes some time out while Rich fixes a puncture
Ian makes a break for it
It looks alot like it's Summer
Does my bum look big in this?
Avonmouth bridge
Avonmouth Bridge
New Severn Bridge
Severn Bridge
Nice glasses
Ian pulls
GPS says “400 miles to go”
blog time
nice outfit!
on the Severn Bridge
On the Severn Bridge
Looking back from Wales
The view from Ian's Aunt's house : amazing
hmm, what food is hidden in here
We're over here
Mark fixing a broken chain
The welcome party on day 2
Ian and Aunty Joy
BBQ on day2
Civilisation
Skol, Skol, Skol, Skol, Skol, Skol, Skol, Skol, Skol.... a few drinks on day 2.
Mark checks on the washing.... and updates the blog again
arty
Sunset in Wales
Sunset on day 2
Causing a traffic jam
ah, the bike shop: take a left, a right, another left, over the roundabout, left again, right for 2 miles, 3rd right after the pond, over the hill and up the alleyway, you can't miss it.
Do you know where the bike shop is?
Excuse me, do you sell spare tyres?
Rich considers cycling down
Saving 2 miles by climbing under a fence and down an embankment
Ian heads off road
ready, set, go
mind the bike!
Shrewsbury
Rest time 30 miles from Liverpool
Essentials for the well groomed, and lightly packed cyclists
Checking the website to see where we are....
Covered in dirt after spending too long on busy roads
Liverpool in the Morning
Dozy across the Mersey
Rich plays with GPS
Facing the wrong way to get Liverpool in the background...
Ferry cross the Mersey...
Joining the bike commuters in Liverpool
The less trod path
The non-tourist route out of Liverpool
Lets get outta here
Aintree
Back onto the quiet lanes
Into the countryside again
My jacket will fit into my shirt pocket
Lancaster
Kenny Herriot also doing Lands End to John O'Groats
First sight of the Lake District
The flat route into the Lakes
Hunting for food in Windemere
Marina on Lake Windemere
A pleasant ride along the lakes
Resting atop a hill
Looking down towards Keswick
Post Dinner munchy time
First non sunny morning
Cycling into the wind
Wind Turbines passed the Lake District
Leaving the Lakes
Nice road, well done Carlisle!
Winner of the 'most casualties listed on a road sign' award
Horrible road surface heading into Carlisle
Carlisle Castle
Overestimated the amount of water needed
They knew we were coming and got the bunting out
river
Typical stop.....
Still a way to go to Edinburgh
Heading through the Borders
Borders
The Borders
Lunch
Rich becomes one with the telegraph pole
Ian does an impression of a yeti
A random Tibet center in the Borders
Welcome to Tibet
near Cardrona
Jacket time
Heading out of the borders
Danger: Sheep
Hi there
y
First Rain of the ride (50 miles from Edinburgh)
When we could still cycle fast up hills
Food stop
Rain storm over Edinburgh
The Pentland hills in a rain storm
Entering the Darkness
It's dark
Finally making it home
The wet cyclists finish for the day
“Is my hair alright?”
Smile for the camera
Luckily you can't see the dirt from this far away
Ian does Ice bath
Ice Ice baby
Arthurs Seat and Edinburgh Castle
The Pentlands in the background
Looking North from Corstorphine
It's not that way
Traffic heading into Edinburgh
Cycle path heading towards the Forth Bridge
Enjoying a cyclepath
First glimpse of the Bridge
Heading to the bridge
On the decaying Forth Road Bridge
Forth Rail Bridge
Crossing the Forth in Edinburgh
Nice socks
A leisurely ride across the bridge
TXTing on the go
Blog time
..... and relax
Product placement
looking back towards the Pentlands
More Wind farms
Gone to Lunch
Glen Eagles
More wind farms
Emptyness
The shop was shut
Mark makes a compromise between fashion and warmth
“Do you think anyone will notice?”
empty empty empty
Wee
Nearing Pitlochry
Aberfeldy distillery
The Road to Hell (A9)
A Rainbow... Must be more rain ahead
Rich makes a quick stop...
The A9 north of Pitlochry
The Cold and Windy Lay-by on the horrible A9
SNOW on the Cairngorms
Snow and Raindows. Pretty but cold!
A9 Cyclepath
Cold Wind
Dalwhinnie Distillery
Open expanses
Ian spots someone to overtake
err
We went left, we should have gone right
This doesn't look like the main road to John O'Groats
Where am I?
cycling together
Mark slipstreams Ian, Rich slipstreams from the sweet spot a few metres further back....
Ian steels an old lady's headscarf, and Rich dances to keep warm
“If I tuck all my clothes into my shorts I might look really cool!”
Local Knowledge said it was this way
Very few people doing LEJOG on road bikes have come via this particular field
A local man made us do it
Boat of Garten golf course
This wasn't strictly on the planned route
Rich keeps smiling despite being lost and on an unfinished road
“It's only 2 or 3 miles till you get to a proper road again” said the couple passing by on mountain bikes
An old bridge somewhere in Scotland (We didn't pay much attention to sites of historical significance)
Ian thinks about taking another shortcut
That'll be the rain again (only 60 miles to go!)
A grimace while eating biscuits to keep warm
Approaching Inverness in the dark afternoon
Just do what the GPS says
Crossing the bridge in Inverness
View West from the bridge in Inverness
You've got mail says the Postman
look at me, I'm wearing all my clothes at once
A Jacobs Sheep Goat
Possibly a Unicorn
The Black Isle
On the Black Isle
Rainbow over Fortrose
Ian carries his bike into a field (it had been a long day)
Team photo
Looking North from the Black Isle
The end of a 13hour ride
Finally the weather breaks as we reach Cromarty
Looking across to Nigg from Cromarty
Working out where the B&B is. Batteries dead on phone and no printouts.....
It's this way
It may not have been this way! The bikes are indestructable by now though
Safe and secure for the night
Mark's luggage
The Cromarty Rose
Striding out on the final morning
Getting off the ferry
Speeding along in the morning
Dornoch bridge
I can fit a packet of biscuits into my back pocket
Approaching the Dornoch bridge
Dornoch Bridge
Back on the A9
The end is near
Sunshine and Showers
Having passed through the storm
Clear ahead
Rain all around
The new road passed Helmsdale
Wet road passed Helmsdale
One of the last long hills
Ian and Rich decide to take the hill at their own pace...
The quiet A9
more rain ahead
Slipstreaming
Looking back to Wick
Coatline near Wick
Rich has gone for a pee
The final hill in sight, rain approaching
The last hill
The Orkney Islands in sight
Entering John O'Groats
John O'Groats
John O'Groats after 950 miles
Mum's hired MPV to take us back to Edinburgh from John O'Groats
Packing up
what goes where......
Lands End, 950 miles by our scenic route
Celebration time
Drink anyone?
Cheers, the END.
