Previous Posts

DAY EIGHT Breakfast this morning was continental stylee and porridge, which actually made a nice change from the cooked breakfasts. Kate the owner delivered freshly laundered and dried cycling gear, and the dryness met to Pinhead's standards! We left the B&B with promise of showers and Mother Nature never breaks a promise. We had to cycle through Preston running the guantlet of city centre Saturday morning traffic in the pouring rain.

I am proud to say that I am faster than a Porsche Boxster as I beat it away from a set of traffic lights in Preston, admitidally after about 3/4 second and 3 feet the Porsche began to get the upper hand, but let's look at the performance figures. A Porsche Boxster has 280 BHP, I have about as much BHP as a three legged Shetland Pony with a lisp.

Eventually we got back into the countryside and took advanatge of brightening conditions to spend another 10 minutes each fishing the Lancaster Canal. Again no little fishies were forthcoming.

We cycled through Garstang which apparantly is the World's first fairtrade town, I will need to find out what that means?
When we cycled through Cockerham, there was an official cycle event going on, so the high street was lined with railings to hold back the crowds, we got some funny looks as we cycled through there I can tell you!

We then cycled up through Lancaster and could just see the sea on the horizon on the left hand side. We carried on northwards through the outskirts of Carnforth and through Borwick, where we stopped at a pub for a cup of tea and a sandwich.

We carried on until we had to navigate a small section of the A590 on the outskirts of the Lake District, this is where we encountered our 2nd cycling event of the day, this time it was a Time Trial. For those of you reading who do not know much about cycling, these are the guys that have solid back wheels and sperm shaped helmets. A couple of these guys managed to overtake us, but only because we had wind resistance against our panniers!

We then officially crossed into the Lake District. The scenery was fantastic and the sun began to shine. The last 4 or 5 miles took a bot longer than anctipated as a twinge just above the right knee, that I felt just after our tea stop developed into being very painful and i think I may have a slight tear in my quad? So with rest not an option, lots of deep heat tonight, painkillers and taking it a bit easier tomorrow

Tonights Ale (with the sparkler off of course) was a pint of XB at 4.0% from the Hartley Brewery

Road Kill count

New entry: Rat x 1
Usual suspects: Hedgehogs 4, Pheasent 1, Squirrell 2, Blackbird 1, Pigeon 1. UA's 6

Distance covered today 107kms, climbing 884m

As we are half way through the challenge it is time for a stat attack

Total Distance covered:
Metric        909.75kms
Imperial    565.3 miles
Copenhagen in Denmark is 584 miles from London

Total Elevation/Climbing
Metric        9528 metres
Imperial    31259 feet
Mount Everest is 8848m (29029ft) high

We have been out on our bikes (from when we leave a B&B to when we arrive at the next B&B) for 63 hours and 28 minutes. Of that we have been physically cycling (moving) for 51 hours and 26 minutes!

PS. When compiling these stats, Pinhead came out with anothe classic. When I mentioned Mount Everest, Pinhead asked "Is that the highest mountain in the UK?" I don't think they did Geography at his school!!

Bye for now
Fathead

SIMPLES 09/10/2010

DAY SEVEN (I hope you are keeping up with the Geordie accent)

So we have been cycling for a week now, not non-stop you understand. Today was an easy day, we didn't even reach the 100k mark today. We left Cholmondeley under overcast conditions and made our way North through the Cheshire countryside. We tried to blag a discount of the previous nights food but nothing was forthcoming. Incidentally, Pinhead and I both agreed that the toilet paper was not as good a standard as some of the previous places, more like triple velcro rather than triple velvet!

En route I am convinced I saw a Meerkat, Pinhead's eye sight, as I have already mentioned is not as good as it could be so he wasn't sure, have a look at the piccies and see what you think.

20k into the ride the rain started. Just before this there was a field with about 40 odd cows in, and only 2 of them were standing. Now these are my sort of cows, despite the overcast conditions not being in their favour, they were taking the gamble and standing up.
We stopped for a cuppa just before half way at a small services and the kind lady behind the bar threw in a couple of choccy bars for nothing. Can't beat a cup of rosy and Yorkie!

As we peddled on, Pinhead and I were chatting and I said it will be nice to see the Welcome to Scotland sign. Pinhead said he was looking forward to that as he had never been to Scotland. I replied that I had been to Inverness, Edinburgh & Glasgow. Pinhead then said he had been to Glasgow!! Seriously, I am not sure how this boy goes to bed at night without a map guiding him there :-)

We passed through Warrington, over the River Mersey and then the outskirts of St Helen's and into Wigan. So we are now in real egg-chaser country, where men are men. No man bags or exfoliating face scrubs required round these parts. Anyway, PInhead said he needed a pee, so we stopped at a Petrol Garage. They told him that the pub over the road had toilets. Off he went oblivioulsy into the pub. Now as I told him afterwards ignorance is bliss, but it takes a brave man dressed in lycra wearing a mohican helmet to walk into a working man's pub up north. He said that as soon as he walked in, everybody in the pub stopped and looked at him and he had very quick and a very nervous pee. I was chuckling away!

We went past Haydock Racecourse, a photo opportunity for me. Most people who know me, know that I am up to 60 odd of the 92 football grounds and 20 odd of the 59 race courses. So although this doesn't technically count, at least I know where it is.

We stopped at Ashton Cycles to top up our tyres with air and after 7 days Pinhead finally admitted defeat and bought some mudguards. A definite 'I told you so' moment for me. I think Pinhead wanted to kick me in the nuts :-)

We also passed by the Heinz factory, unfortunatley no photo opportunity was forthcoming.

So we are now North of Wigan, just south of Preston. I am now getting a serious nose bleed being this far North.

Tonight's Ale was Natterjack from the Southport Brewery. I had to have 2 pints tonight as the barman was so quick on the draw on the first pint, I didn't get a chance to ask him to take the sparkler off. So I had one creamy pint and one 'normal' pint. The second pint tasted so much nicer!

Our B&B is very nice and Katy has even taken our smelly and damp cycling gear and giving them a proper wash in a washing machine. As they would say down South, "That is a right touch"

A quiet day on the roadkill front - 1 Badger, 1 Blackbird, 2 Pigeon, 2 UA's. The Chesire/Lancarshire wildlife must be road savvy!

Sorry there isn't more piccies, conditions and scenery weren't very forthcoming!

Distance covered today was 95.25kms, climbing was 636m
Totals to date: Distance 802.75kms. Elevation 8644 metres

Bye for now
Fathead

CHASING THE POT OF GOLD 09/09/2010

DAY SIX. I awoke having the best night's sleep so far on the trip, double bed with a firm matress; no we didn't share, Pinhead had the single. Also, duck feather pillows and duvet. I would personally like to thank all the naked and cold ducks that kindly donated their feathers it was much appreciated last night. Brekkie also included black pudding for the first time this trip which was warmly welcomed by yours truly.

For the first 35k we stayed on the English side of the border and then had our final dip into Wales a village called Crewgreen. So as we have finished with Wales, quick langauge lesson, I now know that 'araf' means 'slow' in Welsh, as I have seen it enough times painted on the road. Today's climbing was all in the first 20k and there was only one hill that was really testing, although as the days go on, some of the hills seem a little less difficult than the first couple of days.

We then went through the Ness villages, Little Ness & Great Ness, based on Pinhead's geographical knowledge, I am surprised he wasn't looking for Loch Ness!

We then had our first opportunity to use the travel fishing rod that has accompanied us so far on the back of my pannier rack. We crossed the River Severn and just had to stop. So we had 10 minutes each of trotting a float down the river, we had a couple of knocks, but alas no fish caught yet and no stories of the one that got away.

After my brake pad escapade, I have now designed a new braking system. Cars have ABS, my bike now has Ray BS. This entails me intermittently pressing and releasing my brake levers to slow down the bike rather than slamming on the brakes, which not only causes heat and friction but also causes strain on the old hands. Pinhead tells me that car ABS applies and releases the brake pads about 5 times a second, my ratio is more like 5 times every 10 seconds, maybe not as fast, but just as effective and also my system is not reliant on electrics or a car battery. I will be patenting this when I get home :-)

We passed throgh the town of Wem, home of the Eckford Sweet Pea you know! Here we popped into the local bike shop (Jack Davies) Pinhead managed to get his gears adjusted by the chap working there (Mark) as they were making a bit of a noise, he had a look at mine, but said they were fine. We also stopped at the local tea shop, Wem Treacle Mine for a lovely cuppa and a slice of cake.

Once again Mother Nature showed who was in charge and 15k from our destination, the heavens opened and these were big rain drops that were hitting us really hard when we were coasting downhill. Now I know that a brick wall does not have feelings, but if it did, I imagine this is how a wall would feel if it was getting pebble-dashed!

What the downpour did do though was produce the brightest rainbow I have ever seen. As we came over the crest of the hill, you could see where the rainbow touched down (piccie again doesn't do it justice) and I am sure I saw a Leprachaun.

Just prior to arriving at the Cholmondeley Arms, we passed a stable and gallops which I have subsequently found out is Tom Dascombe's stables.

Tonight we had a divine dinner, I went with the Grilled Mackerel with Gooseberry Puree and Chorizo on Toast, only to find that there was no more Mackerel, so had the Smoked Trout Scotch Egg with Lemon Creme Fraiche & Apple Salad, this was followed by Slow Cooked Neck of Pork stuffed with Spinach & Black Pudding on a bed of Greens and Apple Mash and for desert I had a cheese board. We don't always eat like this, but the options were too good to turn down. This was all washed down with a couple of pints of Westwood Eastgate at 4.2% and I had to ask for the sparkler to be taken off, as they like their ale frothy up here!

Road Kill update. A new entry, although Pinhead and I are not sure if it was a Bullfinch or a Chafinch, the regulars were Blackbird 1,Fox 1, Hedgehog 2, Pigeon 1, Pheasent 2, Rabbits 5, Sparrow 1. I was nearly roadkill, but I knew nothing about it, read Pinhead's blog for more info.

Distance covered today was exactly 100kms (or 100.03 to be precise), climbing was 936m
Totals to date: Distance 707.5kms. Elevation 8008 metres

Bye for now
Fathead

BRING ME MY BOW OF BURNING GOLD 09/08/2010

PUM DIWRNOD (Try saying that in Geordie :-) After leaving Amytaville, we carried on along in the mountains for a while and then descended into the Monmow Valley, now the descent has to be the highlight of the ride so far. It wasn't our fastest decent, but it was long winding and we actually came through cloud!! We were that high up, we could see cloud cover lower than us and then we whizzed through it, it was bracing to say the least, but Pinhead and I both had a big smile on our face when we got to the bottom.
We stopped in a petrol garage to get a few supplies and they had Radio One on playing the Mark Ronson 'Bicycle' song that has the lyrics," I'm gonna ride my back until I get home" we had to laugh.

We made our way along the Monmow valley and then started a climb back up into the hills and ended up in a Village called Grosmont. We stopped at the village shop. This shop reminded me of Open All Hours. I wanted to go in and ask for a can of c..c..c..c..c..c, a can of c..c..c..c..c, a can of c..c..c..c..c..lemonade. But I am not sure the shop keeper would have got the joke. Whilst we were there, Pinhead was filling up the water bottles and got chatting to an elderly lady, Pauline who was on holiday from Lancarshire, she was with her dog Milly (see piccies). When she found out what we were doing, she opened her purse to give us a donation, but only had £1.60 in her purse. Neverless, she gave us an 80p donation each. Which has to be one of the kindest gestures I have ever known and we are both very grateful.

We then weaved in and out of Wales as we made our way up the border and then into an area known as the Golden Valley, we travelled along quite happily and then the Garmin was indicating a right turn and that is when we saw the dreaded road sign.... a 25% hill. (see piccies) By the way for the eagle eyed, you may notice that the 25% is going downhill, that is because we took the photo at the top once we had made it!
As you can imagine this makes the 'b@stard hill' list and it has been named 'Arthur's Hill' as there was also a sign saying 'Arthurs Stone'. I am proud to say that Pinhead and I both made it to the top without stopping or walking. We were going to go and look at Arthur's Stone, but it was up a long muddy and stoney track that wasn't really suitable for pannier ladden bikes. One thing I do know though, is that if the fable is true about the sword being removed from the stone, he damn well didn't cycle up the hill first as I struggled to get my water bottle out of it's cage let alone a sword out of a stone.

The countryside in Herefordshire and Shropshire is divine. So much so I would just like to sing
And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England's mountains green
And was the holy lamb of God
On England's pleasant pastures seen

I would now like to share what it is like to be cycling LEJOG with Pinhead.

After just buying us both a Calippo lolly, he then states, 'ooh these are cold' No shit sherlock.

Cycling along one of the country lanes. PH 'Is that a deer over there?' I then take a look, 'No Pinhead it is a metal sheep trough'!?

After finally arriving at today's B&B, which is lovely, split level accommodation, and I have a double be for the night :-) the following conversation ensued
FH: "well we have made it to Shropshire"
PH "is that in Herefordshire"?
FH "No"
PH "Is it in Glouctershire"?
FH "No Pinhead, we are in Shropshire, Shropshire is a county"!
PH "Oh I didn't know"
FH "The clue is in the shire"
PH "Oh right"

I am glad I am in charge of navigation, otherwise we wouldn't have left Cornwall yet! If you want to know where we are in the country, we are currently in Bishops Castle which is about 20 miles south of Shrewsbury.

Tonight's Ale was a pint of Shropshire Gold from the Salopian Brewery. Had a chinese tonight as well, lots of carbs in rice :-)

Road Kill Update.

Today saw a new big time player. Frogs!! There were 11 squished frogs, 1 frog made it into the the road stunned category and one little fella makes it into the road survived category, he joins the furry catapillar, of which we saw another one today. Today's other casualties were pheasant 2, hedgehog 1, starling 1 (new entry), blackbird 1, squirrel 1, blue tit 1 (new entry) and sparrow 1 (new entry)

Distance travelled today 125.7kms climbing 1466m
Totals to date: Distance 607.5kms Elevation 7072m

Bye for now

Fathead

DAY FOUR - BONUS UPDATE - THE TWILIGHT ZONE!! 09/08/2010

So Tuesday evening we descended into the Wye Valley, past Tintern Abbey and saw some lovely pubs and accomodation, but my Garmin said we still had a 4 kms to go. It hasn't let me down so far, so I followed the route I had plotted. We started to climb back into the mountains and eventually came across 'The Fountain Inn' Now they say first impressions count and our first impression wasn't great, eventually after knocking on various doors a bloke answered the door and said, yeah bring the bikes in, put them in the restaurant area, Pinhead said are you sure, but the proprieter (from this point on will be known as Johnny) said, oh we won't get anybody here on a Tuesday night.

We got shown to our room which was a box room with one single bed and one camp bed, with random velour headboards just wedged agaisnt the wall. Our bathroom was on the other side of the 1970's carpeted hallway. Delights included mould, a spider that had taken residence under the shower (as it obvioulsy knew that the shower is rarely used), a used bar of soap with a pubic hair on and 2 inches of green water in the bottom of the toilet brush holder.

We quickly decided that maybe it would be better for our state of health to eat and drink somewhere else. Pinhead said he would go and speak to Johnny and sort out a cab. 10 mins later, Pinhead came back with a look of horror on his face. He was convinced that Johnny was an Axe Murderer, which I thought was a bit harsh, as I thought he would be more of a claw hammer man myself. Anyway, Johnny had tried all means possible to stop us going elsewhere. He said there was no wifi, but I found to secured wireless routers, we couldn't get mobile signals, he said that the public phone had a fault and when asked if there was any other phones, he said there was in his living quarters. So Pinhead asked if he could call us a cab. The bloke then went to the kitchen (not his living quarters) came back 5 mins later and said, sorry, no cabs available.

Luckliy for us, but unlucky for him, another guest had just checked in and offered to run us back down to the valley in his van. Johnny did not look happy.

Whilst having a nice meal and beer down in the valley in The Anchor Inn (highly reccomended) we found out from the locals that the Fountain Inn had gone down hill in the last couple of years, no-one drank there anymore, the local quiz team had defected and that the kitchen was shut down by enviromental health. Begrudingly, we made our way back to our accomodation for the night and 2 seconds after we had shut our bedroom door, there was a knock on the door. Pinhead and I looked at each other, but as I was closest to the door, I had to open it and there was Johnny to tell us breakfast was at 8am.

We locked oursleves in the room and then both had 5 minutes of uncontrolable laughter about the surrealness of it all. We both slept(tried to) fully clothed (cleanliness of the bed covers left a bit to be desired) with one eye open waiting for the 'Here's Johnny' moment, but as you can tell by reading this, we did make it out alive.

So as you can probably tell, it is not a place we would reccommend. I am only posting this now, as we were worried that if I posted it last night and Johnny happened to read it, we might be currently in pieces in his chest freezer.

DO I NEED MY PASSPORT? 09/07/2010

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DAY FOUR As I type this I am in a different country!! We have made it to Wales. We woke this morning to scattered cloud and sunshine. This put a spring in Pinhead's step straight away, in fact all day he was zooming down hills, attacking hills, it certainly shows that it can be mind over matter when it comes to endurance.

Incidentally, Pinhead will admit that his eyes are not the best. As he was looking out of the B&B'sbedroom window this morning with blurry eyes, he asked 'Is that a mountain out there?' I replied 'Yes Pinhead, they built it overnight' he then said, 'oh no it is a chimney' I am not sure how he made it this far to be honest with his eyes so bad!

Once we had breakfast, we got to work on our bikes with the baby wipes, cleaning the accumulated crud of wheels, frames and chain.

We had a chaperone, or in cycling terms a domestique for the first 10k as Tony our host (see piccies) said he would like to join us and took us a slightly different route through the country lanes to Langport.

We then made our way through Glastonbury, Wells, over the Mendip Hills and then down into the Chew valley. Finally today we were able to appreciate and take in the scenery as visibilty was a bit better, by about a million percent than yesterday (see picices) although the photos do not do the places justice.

During the first couple of days, as we have been riding down the winding country lanes, Pinhead or I have been shouting 'Car' if a car was was approaching from behind or from front to warn the other. Pinhead has now taken this to the next level. Even if we are riding down quite a major road, he is shouting 'Car'. Now as much as I appreciate his concern, I am fully aware that I am sharing the road with cars and he doesn't need to warn me every nano second. In fact today one of the two b@stard hills we climbed today, I christened 'Car Hill' as Pinhead kept shouting 'Car' The other real toughy hill, I christened 'Invisible Dog Hill' we were obvioulsy cycling past a large piece of owners land, a dog was going ballistic for ages, but we could not see it!

After my squeaky bum moment yesterday, Pinhead thought it was his turn to try and kill himself, we came down a hill and he shouted he could hear a tapping sound. We stopped, he checked his bike, couldn't see anything, so we continued. As we continued to whizz down the hill, he said he could hear it again, I dropped behind to see if I could see the problem and quickly shouted STOP. Pinhead had omitted to secure his straps on his panniers properly and the rogue strap was flailing around and tapping the spokes. If the plastic bit had snagged one of the spokes, I think Pinhead might have been added to the roadkill tally. I said to Pinhead that he was a wally (or words to that affect).
We passed over the Clifton Suspension Bridge and then onto the Severn Bridge, just as we started crossing into Wales, Mother Nature gave us a little reminder that she was in charge and the heavens opened for 30 mins. But this then gave us a rainbow over Chepstow racecourse and made the view even more stunning as we descended into the Wye Valley.

We had dinner in The Anchor Inn in Tintern and got chatting to a couple of fellas (Steve & Julian) who were cycling West to East, Land's End to Lowestoft. Before they left, they kindly donated £10 to each of our charities. We wish them the best fo luck on their ride and thank them for their donations.

Tonight's Ale was Butty Bach by the Wye Valley Brewery.

The roadkill count was relatively quiet today. We have one new entry, a Raven and also a new category 'road stunned' as we saw a seagull sitting in the gutter. The rest included 6 UA's, 1 rabbit, 1 squirrell, 1 slug and a blackbird.

Distance travelled today 109.6 kms, climbing 1375metres
Totals to date: Distance 481.8 kms. Elevation 5506 metres.

Bye for now
Fathead

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NICE WEATHER FOR DUCKS (EXCEPT 2 MALLARDS) 09/07/2010

DAY THREE. It rained, end of blog!

Only kidding about the blog, but boy did it rain, ALL BLOODY DAY!! In fact I am going to dedicate today's ride to Marti Pellow, although if he had been with out us today, he may have renamed his group Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet.

I beleive that the Met Office spend millions of pounds on technology to predict if it is going to rain. I use a far more simpler, yet just as accurate technique. There are two parts to this technique. Stage 1, look out of the window and see if there are clouds in the sky and wet stuff is falling. Stage 2, now this is the scientific part and I know it is true, as my mum told me. But if a cow is laying down, it means it is going to rain, today there were cows laying everywhere!

We left our B&B in Okehampton (which by the way was only one of two market towns to be mentioned in the Domesday Survey of Devon in 1086) at 9am, but didn't get cycling until after half nine. A trip to Boots for Pinhead and then we waited for the local bike shop to open, so we could put some air in our tyres using a Track Pump.

The first 30k was predominantly B roads and this is where I managed to reach my top ever speed on a bicycle, 67.4kmh which in old school is 40.2 mph. This was a pleasure and pain moment, the pleasure was going so fast, the pain was raindrops hitting your face. If you don't believe me, next time there is a torrential downpour, get in your car, accelerate to 40mph and then stick your head out of the window!

We passed through a village called Bow, it was proper Bow, I tell thee and there was a sign outside a pub saying '2 course meal for under a fiver, Tuesday to Fridays' The cynic in me reckons that the sign will be saying something different tomorrow. It was still raining

The annoying thing about today, and this may sound strange was a lot of the downhill sections. Some of the country lanes were not in very good condition, couple this with steepness and a raging torrent of water running down meant we were permanently holding onto our brakes to gingerly navigate down some of these roads.

Now I have a confesion to make. Today I had to walk for a bit. Before I started I made a statement that as well as finishing LEJOG, I wanted to try and not walk up any hill and cycle up every one. However, I am happy to say that my walking was not up hill, but downhill. Due to the state of my brakes (see further down) there was one hill that was so steep and with the weight of not only me, but the panniers as well, and the torrential rain I had to actually walk down the hill.

Pinhead and I have deciced to give the 'b@stard' hills names to help us recall them. So yesterday we had' Camel Hill', today we had 'Tractor Hill' where for a change a Tractor was stuck behind us rather than the other way round and 'Electric Fence Hill' I think that is the owners subtle way of stopping people leaning up against their fence!

Quote of the challenge so far came from Pinhead, as we topped a hill, I said ooh it looks like it is getting brighter, Pinhead retorted "that's because we are closer to the bloody sun" which really made me laugh. It was still raining.

We did manage to find a 10 minute window out of the rain, but this was only courtesy of a petrol garage canopy where we stopped for our first class lunch. For me this consisted of a hot sausage roll, a cheese and pickle sandwich and a hot chocolate. Surprisingly there wasn't a big queue for the Jet Wash?

Around the 60k mark, guess what it was till raining, I was coming down a hill and I said to Pinhead "I really need to change my brake blocks this evening", they were not brand new on the bike for the challenge and they had taken a real battering over the last couple of days and were pretty much down to the metal.

At around 80k I was coming down a winding hill, I was braking, but not much was happening. It was real squeaky bum time and the only way I could slow down was to make an emergency stop by dragingg my left foot on the ground which ruined one of my overshoes. I said to Pinhead there and then, I have to change my brakes now, otherwise I am not going to make it to the B&B. Having to change your brakes in the pouring rain is not fun. I have a bit more natural padding the Pinhead and he gets cold very quickly, but even after this 20 minute stop I was beginning to shiver. I am glad I did decide to change them though, as I honestly do not think I would have made it down the next hill.

So kids if you are reading this and think your brakes need changing, listen to your uncle Ray and do them now, don't leave it until the last minute!

The last part of the ride was pretty painless, but it was still raining. We did pass one sign, which I thought was very good. It said 'Drivers Caution, Free Range Children'

We arrived at the B&B( in Somerset, our 3rd county) after being out in the rain for 8.5 hours, of which 6 hours 50 mins was cycling. Tony & Marina our hosts couldn't have been more accomodating, despite us trashing their place with wet gear everywhere.

After a shower, using the power of technology, I had a video call with Mich and Max, it was good to see them both. The little man couldn't quite work out how he could see and hear me but I wasn't there. He looked over his shoulder a couple of times, but he did wave at the camera when I said hello :-)

Tony then drove me, Pinhead and John, another guest (who happens to be a Georide, maybe, I should get him to narrate the blogs) to a pub about 10 minutes away and the four of us had a nice meal. My ale of choice was 'The Barn Owl' by the Cotleigh Brewery. Typically, as we left for the pub, it had stopped raining and there was even blue sky.

I enjoyed today, I thought it was fun. Pinhead disagrees. I think the rain really got to him today and he struggled for the last 15k or so. But he is getting a lot stronger on the hills already.

Now the bit that you have all been waiting for, the roadkill count, I see from comments on my blog and on my facebook page that there is gambling going on which species will top the charts. Be warned, I have heard a rumour that the grandson of 'The General' of Watership Down fame has been caught on camera by the News of the World taking a bribe to ensure that lots of rabbits commit suicide!!

Anyway, it was 20k plus before we saw our first roadkill, probably because most of it had been washed away. There were another couple of new entries. 2 Mallards made a guest appearance and a fox got into the frame.

Making re-appearances were 6 UA's (the rain made them mush), 2 Hedgehogs, 2 Rabbits, another Field Mouse and I thought we were going to have a Badger free day, but alas there was one in the last 5k.

I also would like to apologise as I forgot a new entry yetersday and that was a frog. There was another frog today as well.

There will be no photos uploaded today as my camera doesn't work under water and there was no way that I was getting it out in this weather

Distance covered today was 109.3kms and climbing was 845 metres.
Totals to date: Distance 372.2 kms. Elevation 4131 metres.

Bye For Now

Fathead

PS. It was raining

RAIN RAIN GO AWAY, OH THE WIND CAN BUGGER OFF AS WELL 09/05/2010

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DAY TWO. (don't forget Geordie) We woke this morning and to put it frankly, it was pi$$ing down and it did so for the next 3 hours, which was nice.

Now today in terms of metres to be climbed, today was going to be the worst day and it was tough. I felt OK for the first 100k, but the last 20 odd kms really dragged, going up hill isn't fun, going up hill after 100k is really not fun, going up hill after 100k and into a headwind is really, really not fun!

Earlier in the ride we coasted down into a valley and came across the 'River Camel' now if you have read the 'About Us' section, you will know that some of Pinhead's mates call him Camel Toe, so once again, it was a photo opportunity not to be missed (see piccies). We were laughing and joking how we came across the River Camel, but our laughter was short lived because shortly after we hit the 'b@stard' of all hills. I don't even think a Camel would get up it, now I am not the fastest hill climber as it it, but with panniers, which incidentally I weighed before we started and they weighed in at 26lb, this was a tough test. At one point, i nearly crashed into the hedges as I went to power up a steep bit and with so much weight on the back of the bike, the front wheel came clean of the ground. If only somebody could have taken a photo at that split moment, I could have said yeah, hills were easy, I was wheelieing up them:-)

We had lunch at the Mason Arms in Camelford as I was wheeling my bike into the beer garden I was greeted by one of the friendly locals with 'F*ck Me that's a hair do and a half' he even thought that our Mohicans were our real hair poking through our helmets. After a quick chat, he took one of our charity business cards and promised to sponsor us. Jo the landlady gaves us our drinks for free with lunch as well.

Leaving Camelford, we had a heart in the mouth moment when we saw on the horizon a bike laying by the side of the road and a bloke lying on the grass. We stopped and checked if he was OK and he woke from his doze and said, yeah just thought I would have a break as these hills are knackering, we had a strange converstaion, as he said he was doing LEJOG and he would be in John O'Groats on Friday?, yeah right this is the bloke in Cornwall having to take a rest and he is going to make it to JOG in 5 days. I don't think he was the full ticket. And another thing, don't leave your bloody bike laying by the side of the road you muppet.

We started to cross Bodmin moor and big mouth hear, said well at it is raining and windy. Luckliy the rain didn't materialise, but bloody hell the wind did. It is very annoying when you have to pedal down hill, and there is a lot of surface area on me for the wind to catch.

I felt like I was dogging today as I saw two butterflies mating in the middle of the road, maybe that is the thrill for them, the excitment of getting caught in public!?

There was nearly an addition to the roadkill count as a furry catapillar crossed our paths, I managed to swerve to avoid it and shouted to Pinhead behind me who also managed to avoid it.

I also saw something today, that you would never ever expect to see, in fact you couldn't make it up. There were 3 hand made signs, 10 metres apart starting off with 'Please Take Care' then 'Blind Cat' followed by in road and they had even had a proper road sign of a cat made up (see piccies) I think the road sign should have shown the cat with a white stick or being led by a guide dog though, that would have been excellent!

At around the 90k mark we saw a Welcome to Devon sign which was a nice boost to know that we had managed to cycle the length of Cornwall.

After passing over a bridge over a body of water we had a lengthy conversation about the difference between a brook and a stream, and when does a brook become a stream. These things are important to know. So if anybody out there knows the difference (without WikiPedia) let us know. You can do so my adding a comment to the blog. Also it would be nice for any comments, so at least we know somebody is reading our blogs? Mich posted on my 1st blog, but no one else has since, sob sob :-(

Tonight's Ale was 'Legend' by the Dartmoor Brewery which washed down the roast Pork Belly on Bubble & Squeak nicely.

So to today's roadkill count, we have some new entries. Joint 1st new entry are Hedgehogs and Slugs at four a piece, we had a field mouse which was a surprise, our first squirrel and I am claiming an Ostrich! Now you know and I know that it was not an Ostrich, but it was a bird with a long neck, and despite it being only 6 inches tall, in it's flattened state it looked like an Ostrich. But I am going to have to resign myself that it will be added to the Unidentifiable Animal category. The rest of the roadkill in alpha order were

Badger 2
Blackbird 2
Kestrel 1
Pigeon 1
Pheasant/Partridge 1
UA 3 (including the Ostrich)

Distance covered today was 124.9kms and climbing was 1606 metres, so that brings our totals to date: Distance 262.9 kms. Elevation 3286 metres.

Bye for now

Fathead

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50% Completed 09/04/2010

DAY ONE. Now before I continue, if you are reading this blog daily, each day, when you read the first two words, you must read them in a Geordie accent, just like Big Brother. So before you continue reading, go back to the beginning and practice by saying those first two words.

Excellent, so today the challenge started in earnest. Now you may be wondering how we have managed to complete 50% in the first day. Are Fathead and Pinhead super cyclists? Alas not, we have now completed 50% of the key landmarks, Land's End or as they say in Cornish ' Penn an Wlas' & Lizzard Point (the most southerly point of mainland UK).

Forgot to say in yesterday's blog that we didn't end up getting any food in the evening as it seems to be an unwritten rule that pubs stop serving food at 9pm. We bumped into 2 fella's at Penzance station yesterday who are also doing LEJOG and lo and behold they were staying in the same B&B as us. They said they went to the local pub last night and got there about 9.05 and were begrudingly served a bowl of chips and that was it!!

Anyway had a good chat with them this morning and their names were Richard and, I for the life of me cannot remember the other chaps name, so I will call them Richard & Judy. They are Osteopaths and are doing LEJOG in 17 days. Nice chaps and we wish them good luck, and expect that our paths may cross in the next couple of days.

The good old weather report was accurate as always remember Michael Fish, 'There won't be a hurricane' we were promised sunshine, but as you will see from our photo by the Land's End signpost, me and Pinhead were both wearing jackets. I have now told pinhead that in any conversation that he refers to a jacket, he must know call it a 'Kenny' If you are a Millwall fan, you will understand why.

Anyway, whilst we were having the obligatory photograph, there must have been at least 6 over groups or pairs all arriving to start their LEJOGS.

The route to Lizzard point had a couple of lumps and bumps, but wasn't too bad, there was a 17% hill, but luckily we were going down the hill. En route I saw a sign saying 'Wild Camping, 1 mile' a little later 'Wild Camping, 500 yards' below another sign 'Toilet & Shower'. Now call me old fashioned, but that is hardly wild camping. I would also like to thank the Vauxhall Nova driver who decided to wash his screen as he drove past us at speed, I am sure the Halford screen wash will do wonders for my complexion!

When we got to Lizard Point, we ended up chatting to numerous groups of people and families and not one to miss a trick, I handed out some of our charity business cards and were promised by quite a few people that they would sponsor us. One group (mum, dad, children, Nan, Grandad etc) were very kind, took photo's and Nan offered to buy us both a cup of tea as well.

While I think of it, I would like to thank everyone who have posted kind messages on facebook either to me personally or on their own pages advertising this challenge, sent me text messages for good luck, or who have left me voice mails wishing me good luck and once again a massive thanks to everybody who has sponsored me. I am delighted to say that yesterday saw the £3k threshold broken, I feel very humble!!

We stopped for lunch at Lizzard, which involved a Cream Tea, Carrot Cake & Coca Cola; sugar rush and energy boost guaranteed! (see piccies)

Leaving Lizzard we were finally cycling North which was nice, this is where we met the undulating (sic) countryside. Most of the hills were long slogs, although there was one short sharp hill that just so happened to be called Raymond Road. We also saw a sign, which we just had to take a photo of. Chortle Chortle (see piccies)

I feel really good today. I haven't read Pinhead's blog yet as we have agreed to type our blogs up, post them and then read them, so there will hopefully be two perspectives on the ride. But I think, he struggled a little bit at the end. But I am sure Pinhead will have good days when I am finding it a struggle.

Pinhead was questioning my navigation skills as we rode up a very small narrow lane near the end of the ride and I must admit, I had my doubts, but the Garmin and my mapping did us proud and we arrived at what can only be described as a delightful B&B. Amazing views, jacuzzi bath. Terry the host sat with us on the Veranda made us tea and the 3 of us had a chinwag for half an hour.

We then sorted ourselves out and went to the local for some grub, a wonderful small country pub. One of the bar staff (Arran) was sporting a real mohican, maybe he did it in honour of us. It was a photo opportinity not to be missed (see piccies) and he also kindly offered to sponsor us. My ale of choice today with dinner, was a pint of Doom Bar from the Cornish 'Castle Rock' Brewery

Returning to the B&B we met Mindy, our other host and after having a good chat with her, she said not to worry about paying for the B&B. Considering they had already offered us our accommodation at a 50% discount, this was an extremely generous offer, so myself and pinhead will be adding another £12.50 each to our respective charities.

Anyway, today we cycled 109 kms and climbed 1302 metres, including yesterdays little bit of cycling our total distance to date is 138 kms and ascent is 1680 metres

Road Kill count today in alpahbetical order

Adder 1
Badger 2
Blackbird 2
Kestrel 1
Partridge/Pheasent 2
Pigeon 2
Rabbit 5
UA (Unidentified Animal) 1
Wagtail 1

Bye for now

Fathead