Last post

We have finished the ride and it looks like we will have raised around 6.5k to date and that’s not bad bearing in mind we started the PR late this year due to Joe’s tour and our ride from Bristol to Barcelona.

As lord Hanh would say it’s been emotional

Here is another few facts about our trip-

We have drank 50 gallons of water
We have drank 20 pints of milk
2kg of porridge
20 loafs of bread
32 fish and chips
120 bananas
8kg of electrolyte powder
150 eggs

We have climbed 12k feet
We have rode 290 miles
We have burned 12k calories

We have a new member of our team, the lesser spotted swamp dipper

At Blyth almost there

We are at blyth and we have had a damaged chain and another puncture the wind has been really strong today and we have been fighting it all day with 40mph gusts! whilst this is only a 65 mile day it has been really hard so far And we still have a further 15 miles
Paul’s knee has gone

to go

Last day Seahouses to South Shields

We have stayed in a fantastic hostel in Seahouses ,lovely clean and welcoming and we all had an early night. ( apart from joe and Amanda who chased each other around till 11pm like a couple if school children)
The last leg is about 65 miles which will take us to just under 300 miles over 4 days
This has been a huge challenge for so many of the group as some have never done this many miles in their life and also 8 of us are closer to 50 than 40!
How did Joe do I hear you ask? As David would say
‘The boy did good’ he was at the front of the group for most of the 4 day’s

We think if all goes according to plan that we will be at the sand dancer between 4.30 and 5pm but we have had quite a few issues over the past 3 days to name but a few –

Jacquie fell in the canal
Paul S bottom bracket on his bike snapped
Bens back wheel bearing broke
We have had 3 flat tyres
Amanda’s back end blew 🙂 and she fell off her bike
Dan fell off his bike due to his new clip on pedals
Chris’ bike fell off the trailer
Joe and Mard nearly god sucked under a bus is Seahouses
Eileen nearly fell in the canal

It’s really has been great fun whilst it has been hard work, and it has been nice meeting you all along the way and also to see your comments

Just as a side note we noticed a comment on men not hanging washing out 😦 well I can tell you that one of them was behind the camera and the other ones were sorting all the bikes out for next day, but Paul young was doing his own washing and making his bed like an army commando 🙂

More pics later

What’s the crack with Paul young’s bed

Paul has a slight hint of OCD and the topic of of the last few days is how neat his bed is when he sets it up, we have stayed in bunk house’s all weekend because there are so many of us and we have had to make our own beds up.

Paul doesn’t like his washing in the same machine as us! He doesn’t even want it hanging on the same washing line see pic of our washing and his 🙂

Just a little note if thanks to all of the riders who have funded this trip themselves each rider paid £300

A note on the sponsors

Shirt sponsor
Nrl & Mowbray sports

Support vehicle sponsor
SES

The upside isn’t always a positive

When your cycling people love more of the downside than the upside
I can’t count how many times someone has said ‘is it all down hill’ what’s for sure is that with ups there are downs and with downs there are up’s.
A quick reminder that we are doing this for teenage cancer trust and everyone on this ride is well aware that all the teenagers who are currently going through treatment would jump at the chance to do the ups and the downs if they were well enough!

We are now at Seahouses and we have done about 65 miles today and for sure there are a lot of weary people amongst us, here is a list of the riders young and old, not mentioning the obvious one 🙂

Steve (blogger and sausage fingers)
Sue
Amanda
Paul S
Paul Y
Skitch
Chris
Ei
Mard
Dan
Jacquie
Phil
Tracey
Ben

Our two excellent support drivers and helpers are
Rach
Rebecca

Great that everyone is commenting last day tomorrow!!!!

Day 3 Ben’s bikes bust

Were off on today’s trip after staying in the friends of nature (prisoner cell block H) KIrk Yetholm it was strange as Paul woke up and there was a horse in the next bed to him!

A bit more info Ben is riding the spare bike but it has clip on pedals and he hasn’t got any shoes to fit them so we have taken one of his pedals off and put it on the spare bike so he has had to hobble along all day

We stopped for a tea at the masons arms in between Coldstream and Berwick for tea and cakes they really looked after us

We have spent most of the morning crossing in and out of Scotland

Good to see all at the barn at beal here is a few pics

Great comments by the way keep them coming.

More pics later

Finished for the day

We have arrived at tonight’s stop over and here are a few stats
We have done 90 miles today
We have climbed 5600 feet which is 1200 feet higher than Ben Nevis
Ann stop worrying jacquie is fine!
Mard said ‘ I am so tired I can’t speak’ it is a pity Amanda doesn’t feel the same!
Tracey said she can’t believe she has rode 90 miles!
Today really tested tested everyone but were all here were all safe and we are halfway home

Long hard climb

We have had a long first half to the day with a 25 mile climb out of Edinburgh boy there are a few sore bums and tired legs we are at 55miles 25 to go!

Leaving Edinburgh day 2

After a very long night with 16 of us sleeping in the same dorm (apparently there was a loud snorer in our midst but I didn’t hear him)we are setting off in our way to Kelso (by the way we ended up doing just over 60 miles yesterday) today we have 80 miles to do over a few hills and this is the day that will challenge a few of us.

🙂
Look out for updates on photos throughout the day.

Arrived at Edinburgh unit

Did you know that 7 young people are diagnosed with cancer every day!!!!
We arrived at the teenage cancer trust unit in Edinburgh this evening.
One thing is for sure is that some young person is getting some bad news every few hours, this is why we are doing this ride and believe us when you walk into the unit you can feel the inclusive atmosphere, if you can find it in your heart to donate there is a just giving link on this site.

We met the staff Sharon Melissa and all of the nursing staff (see photos)
This unit cost 1.35 million to build and it has been open for just over a year the staff and patients were fantastic Melissa is a former patient and she now works in the unit after having her last treatment June last year.

We all left feeling extremely humble