Joined by Kirsty & Matt

Day 8

Tewkesbury to Bristol – 56 miles

Planned mileage: 56 miles

Actual mileage: 56.8 miles!

Cycling time: 3 hours 51 mins

Average speed: 14.7 mph

Maximum speed: 34.1 mph

Route: http://gb.mapometer.com/en/cycling/route_1395223.html

(NB actual route differs from this link!)

Accomodation: Staying with Kirsty & Matt

Ankle seemed a lot better this morning helped by: a good night's sleep; excellent first aid by Anne; tlc from Jenny; and some ibuprofen. Still considerably larger than usual and turning a nice colour, but fortunately it didn't get in the way of our cycling.

Now into our second week of cycling!

We had a very nice breakfast of Tewkesbury ham omelette (complete with pineapple!) plus cereal and toast, packed up and sadly said our farewells to Anne & Michael. We whizzed down the hill into Tewkesbury and found Kirsty, then Matt, then Kirsty again and finally Kirsty & Matt in one place. They had agreed to join us for the day and so had got the train up from Bristol and it was nice to have their company for this leg of our expedition. On advice from Michael, we avoided Gloucester itself but instead took the series of little roads that run through villages between Gloucester and Cheltenham, before turning south-west towards Stroud. This took in an impressive climb up past Paradise (it was actually quite pleasant, despite the hill) and on to the souther Cotswold escarpment. The climb out of Armathwaite? Nothing by comparison to this! We then had a pleasant rapid sweep down into the really very attractive village of Painswick. How pretty a place it is – a real Cotswold country village. Fortunately it also had a good tearoom/cafe, where we made a rapid beeline to for coffee, chocolate cake and scones – yum!

Suitably refreshed, we had an exceedingy steep descent down a very narrow and twisty lane – doing no more than 10 mph – and then (of course) an equivalent ascent up the other side of the valley – again considerably less than 10 mph but for a different reason. Then it was on into Stroud, with another rapid descent, followed, after a busy urban section by more climbing up and up (and up) towards Woodchester, still heading south-westerly.

We were now rewarded by a magnificent few miles along the ridge, with great snapshot views over to the Severn in the west, however we were of course hungry again so we didn't hang around to enjoy the views but pressed on towards Wotton-under-Edge, again amending our route slightly to avoid a descent and the re-ascent through Uley.

As we approached Wotton, the road started to drop away in front of us and we started a fantastic rapid descent into the town. Well, it would have been had we not met a tractor and line of cars behind it, steadily and sedately driving down the twisty road into the town. A slight pity, but we had all enjoyed whizzing down until that point, and it did mean than we saw a bit more of the approach to the town.

We bought lunch at an excellent local bakers in the high street, then ate it sitting on a bench by the road looking further down the road. It was cloudyish again today, with the occasional glimpse of hot sunshine – definitely brighter and warmer than yesterday.

After lunch, there was more descent, a few more climbs and before we knew it we were out of Gloucestershire and into Bristol. Kirsty & Matt then took over the navigation and other than a slight change of plan caused by a road closure (we assumed it was the sort we could cycle through, but discovered that it really meant it, as did the glares from the workmen at the site!) we had an eventless zig-zag through the northern perimeter of this Metropolis of the south-west. Taking a slight detour across a sports field, we emerged looking at a rather smart dark red MGF (one careful previous owner, from Edinburgh) standing outside Kirsty & Matt's house.

It had been a couple of hours since we had last eaten, so a delicious snack was rapidly prepared and we all sat outside eating this and drinking tea, before much-needed showers and then getting ready to go out. We are all meeting up with Nina, Ken & Jan at Bordeaux Quay in Bristol tonight (table booked for 8, in case you wish to join us) and are looking forward to a jolly evening of fun and catching up.

One little picture from Day 7

Speeding southwards through rural Midlands

Day 7:

Tutbury to Tewkesbury – 85 miles

Planned mileage: 85 miles

Actual mileage: 88.43 miles (hmm... took a couple of miles out with a more direct route south of Tamworth, but detoured to the craft centre for lunch and then took a wrong turning and a very inefficient route through Redditch)

Cycling time: 5hrs 48mins

Average speed: 15.2mph

Maximum speed: 35mph (whizzing down out of Pershore)

Route: http://gb.mapometer.com/en/cycling/route_1389186.html

Accomodation: Staying with Aunt & Uncle Anne & Michael

What a difference a rest day makes! Despite this being just about our longest day we maintained our highest average speed and finished the day feeling actually pretty fresh with legs still feeling fine. Five more consecutive cycling days before the next rest day, so hoping that the fresh feeling continues. Watch this space!

Everyone was up early today as we wanted to (and did indeed manage to) get underway by 9am – by far our earliest start. Stocked up on delicious scrambled egg on toast and provisioned up with a very substantial packed lunch before sadly saying our goodbyes (we don't get to see my parents nearly as often as any of us would like) and pedalling off up the hill.

Lots of lovely countryside to ride through today, with particularly pleasant, gently undulating roads this morning to and through Walton on Trent and on to Tamworth. Lots of activity in evidence around Croxall with huge army vehicles and loads of tankers seemingly filled with mineral water. It turned out there is to be a 24 hour cross country (presumably running) race there this weekend – rather them than me!

Tamworth was very easily navigated, as was (surprisingly, we'd both been a tad nervous about it) Solihull and Shirley. Busy roads, but clear signposting and drivers who were behaving themselves made it perfectly bearable and not at all scary.

Having stopped earlier at Meriden (special bench for cyclists & war memorial devoted to cyclist casualties from WWI & II) we were able to hold off having lunch proper till we'd almost cycled 50 miles, most unusual. So Earlswood craft centre it was – complete with loads of very entertaining hyperactive children and the opportunity to buy a present for Anne & Michael. Not quite so nice sitting outside today as the sun was definitely hiding behind thick cloud, but this was made up for by the excellent coffee and chocolate cake that accompanied our packed lunch.

Having done such a good navigational job in the morning, we managed to blot our copybook by messing up totally on getting ourselves through Redditch. We did nothing like our planned route (although the south-westerly mini B-road ring road was very leafy and pleasant) and were extremely pleased to escape and continue on a more efficient route south and west.

Shortly after this, with around 20miles still to go, Euan had a bit of an incident with a dodgy gate which very nearly turned into a complete disaster... Pausing for lunch part three, he went off in search of a suitable 'de-watering' spot. I knew something was wrong when he called me over in a very calm, controlled voice. Turned out the gate he'd tried to climb over collapsed, taking his ankle sideways in the process! It instantly swelled up nicely around the ankle bone, but he could stand and hobble on it, so after a quick bite to eat we crossed our fingers and continued. Cycling was a lot less sore than walking and it only seemed to result in a bit of a loss of power. It made those last pretty, rural miles a little nerve wracking! However, a quick stop at a petrol station for some ibuprofen calmed things down a little and we swooped and zoomed through the countryside to arrive at Shuthonger a bit before 5:30. We last cycled here two years ago, but felt pretty good in comparison this time around.

Staying with Euan's Aunt and Uncle tonight, so delicious meal and lots more catching up to do. Euan has had his ankle bandaged and is currently sitting with his foot up. We're hoping that it'll be ok tomorrow – fortunately we're cycling not running, so think it should be alright.

Deep breath, smile and relax...

Day 6: rest day in Tutbury

Planned & actual mileage: 0!!! Nothing more energetic than a very gentle stroll

Cake & scones eaten: plenty

Cups of tea drunk: even more than plenty

Time sitting in sun relaxing: loads

I think you probably get a good picture of our day from the statistical summary above! We basically slept like the proverbial logs, got up lateish and have spent the rest of the day pottering around in the sun plus eating and drinking. It's a hard life, but after five full days of cycling we were more than ready for it.

Iconic Tutbury Castle

Breakfast, lunch & dinner (bbq which we've not had yet) eaten outside on my parents top patio in the sunshine overlooking Tutbury Castle (famous for being the long term prison of Mary, Queen of Scots). Other than a wander into the village to do some minor shopping and drink coffee in an outdoor cafe, we've done very little other than to chat and relax. Slightly different from the rather busy days we both had last Thursday.

We will force ourselves to go and oil the bike chains and double check things are in order for our long cycle tomorrow shortly and perhaps play with Benjy the dog a bit more before getting an earlyish night and an earlyish start in the morning.

Summary: home cooking, sunshine, relaxing, socialising – lovely!

Tea & cake in the garden

Three Counties Cycling

Day 5:

Middlewich to Tutbury – 64 miles

Planned mileage: 64 miles

Actual mileage: 71 miles

Cycling time: 4 hrs 53mins

Average speed: 14.5mph

Maximum speed: 32.9mph

Route: http://gb.mapometer.com/en/cycling/route_1383414.html

Accomodation: Staying with Mum & Dad Norris (+ Benjy the dog)

Slept well in Ceri & Tim's comfortable house and woke to more bright sunshine. Enjoyed a healthy and substantial breakfast, waved goodbye to Ceri as she headed off to work but didn't to Tim as he was working from home. Headed out into the warm sunshine a bit earlier than usual, a bit before 10, and set off towards Winsford up the hill on the rather unpleasantly busy A54. After a couple of miles we stopped to check the map. However we couldn't as we had left the map behind. So we retraced our steps, waved goodbye to Tim again and 20 minutes or so later were back at the same place.

Winsford wasn't as unpleasant as we had been advised by last night's hosts and we even went right past Ceri's new place of work, the St Luke's hospice!

The day was shaping up to be the perfect summer's day, sooo warm and very sunny, and Cheshire is a very well-heeled part of the country, very lush and prosperous-looking, so we enjoyed the cycling a lot. Into Nantwich, which was gridlocked due to the one day-only Nantwich Show (you have probably been) but we avoided its temptations and headed onwards in a south-easterly direction. However we did not avoid the temptation of coffee and cake so stopped at the Staverley Water Gardens for excellent lemon curd cake (yum!) and capuccino.

On our way again, we were surprised to cross the border into Shropshire – and instantly we were out of flat Cheshire we started climbing some reasonably substantial hills. We were also surprised to see a large (well, it looked large) military helecopter swooping right over us at probably only 50 or 100 feet – quite dramatic. We avoided the temptation of more coffee and cake at more garden centres, and before long left Shropshire and entered Staffordshire, where we remained for the rest of the day.

Place name of the day: Loggerheads. We weren't at them fortunately. There were loads of trees waiting to be cut down and made into logs though.

We carried on south east through Eccleshall (very attractive village) then curved slightly northwards to cross the M6 and onwards into Stone. Stone was bustling and pleasant, and while we were pondering quite where to have our packed lunch, were assisted by a friendly local who anticipated our needs and pointed us towards both the public toilets and the canal – for different purposes you understand of course.

We sat in the part-sunshine (it had clouded over just after our cake break) by the canal and had a good lunch, working our way through some of our emergency supplies (fudge & chocolate!) in the process. We decided to hold off until Uttoxeter for our next coffee-and-cake stop so set of (due east or so by now, in case you're wondering) for the next 12 miles or so.

Uttoxeter's schools appeared to have just finished for the summer, as there were crowds of (well behaved) teenagers marching purposefully towards the town centre. A busy place, we thought to ourselves. However, on finding the town centre it was deserted. Not that inspiring to look at either. And worst of all, no nice-looking cafes (we couldn't see any at all for that matter). So we just carried on. It turned out later that Uttoxeter still has a half day for local businesses and that day is Wednesday.

So on we went, and by the much more attractive-looking village of Marchington, were feeling a tad narky with each other, but fortunately found the very nice community shop where we found local ice cream, local ginger biscuits and energy drinks, so felt a lot better after that!

So then it was just a few more fairly hilly miles remaining to Tutbury and to a very nice welcome from Jenny's parents. We're feeling very much refreshed now after tea and home-made fruit cake, hot showers and a lovely dinner out on the patio. We're looking forward to a day off from cycling tomorrow but don't worry, we'll still give you a blog update. Thank you to everyone who has read and especially commented on our efforts so far – it's great to hear from you. Stevie – hope you like the picture of our loaded bikes. Hard work going up the hills, but we've managed them all so far and hopefully will continue to.

Many miles to Middlewich

Day 4:

Lancaster to Middlewich – 80 miles

Planned mileage: 80 miles

Actual mileage: 88.93 miles – cause? Being so excited by the thought of Burtonwood services that we took an earlier turning that turned into a long diversion.

Cycling time: 6hrs 3mins

Average speed: 14.7mph

Maximum speed: 28.9mph

Route: http://gb.mapometer.com/en/cycling/route_1371276.html

Accomodation: Staying with Ceri & Tim (+ Dez the dog)

Had a good sleep up at the top of Nicky's tall house & were entertained on waking by the repeated safety announcements of Pink Skips, noisily delivering a skip at 7:45am! Very reluctant to tear ourselves away, especially after lovely fruit salad, poached egg & fresh bread breakfast. Nicky accompanied us down the hill to find the cycle route alongside the canal out of Lancaster – a countrified revelation in such an urban location.

Well earned & ultra tasty dinner

Picked up the beautiful old railway line alongside the River Lune (estuary part) down to Glasson before heading onto the fairly flat country roads to Garstang, waving to a surprising number of other cyclists out on day jaunts along the way. By this point the sun had come out and it was gloriously warm when I left Euan outside to pop into the Co-op to buy sandwiches etc for lunch.

Amazingly (we had been a bit worried about it – SO worth spending time planning routes properly) we seamlessly navigated Preston before meandering through numerous Lancashire small towns in the sunshine. At 12:30 we found ourselves at Lostock Hall (not at all rural as its name might suggest) and stopped for coffee and scones in a cafe. Interesting clientèle floating around, but we enjoyed our refreshments and you got a feeling there was a good sense of community locally.

After crossing a motorway (the M6) for the first of many times today, we whooshed down a lovely descent to find a scenic spot by the Liverpool-Leeds canal to pause for much needed lunch. Unfortunately we discovered afterwards that we had to begin again by climbing what was probably the longest steep hill of the day, though it wasn't a patch in either length or steepness on what we'd been up yesterday!

Virtually never branching out into countryside proper (wow, what a lot of people live in the North West of England) we successfully navigated Haydock (without seeing the racecourse) and Newton Le Willows. Probably got a little over-confident at this point... and consequently took too early a turn away from Burtonwood, ending up with an extra 4ish mile round trip to Winwick before realising our mistake and doubling back.

Now, if there are any cycle path designers reading who are wondering why more people don't use them, here's a little illustration. Coming into the outskirts of Warrington there was a nice, smoothly tarred cycle path to the left of the busy road... which at the next roundabout vanished, necessitating waiting forever to cross to the right hand side only for the opposite to happen at the very next roundabout. We rejoined the road.

We did however make use of the the excellent nature reserve-esque gravel path through woodland and wetland (and past some sewage works) to cross the Mersey and avoid a lot of horribly, horribly busy roads mid afternoon. It was a little oasis of wildlife right on the edge of the city and very well used by other cyclists too.

Euan was particularly impressed by the Manchester Ship Canal and its associated lift bridge as we crossed it. I was mostly trying not to be flattened by the heavy traffic.

After a pause for essential, energising refreshments in Stockton Heath we began our run Southwards for Middlewich. There must've been some emergency somewhere that we didn't know about 'cause the speed and aggressive driving styles of the the drivers for the whole of the remainder of the journey had to be seen to be believed. I can certainly see why novice cyclists find it difficult to get started and find the roads intimidating... Three inches of handlebar clearance at 60mph on a blind bend to overtake a cyclist is not big, clever or a sign of skillfull driving – it's a sign of an impatient, arrogant idiot. Wouldn't mind, but we were averaging close to 20mph ourselves – not bad on touring bikes with luggage.

Still, we eventually successfully made it to Ceri & Tim's around 6:45pm. Definitely a bit later than planned, but were very pleased both to see them both and to get off our bikes after such a long ride – the furthest we've done on a tour with 'gear'.

Have had a lovely evening catching up, eating (loads & loads of amazing fresh veg from their garden) and a couple of glasses of wine. Very glad we've got a shorter day to do tomorrow! Night night and sleep tight, zzzzzz....

Lancaster Leanings

Day 3:

Armathwaite to Lancaster – 65 miles

Planned mileage: 65 miles

Actual mileage: 69.27 miles

Cycling time: 5hrs 2mins

Average speed: 13.7mph

Maximum speed: 40.8mph!!! Manic zoom down into Orton

Route: http://gb.mapometer.com/en/cycling/route_1371249.html

Accomodation: Staying with friend Nicky

Woke up with a bit of a headache – I blame being plied with beer then wine by Rob & Susan last night! Fortunately a customarily excellent breakfast of home made porridge, home made toast and (not yet home grown) boiled eggs soon cured that. Susan rushed off for her hair appointment and job interview leaving us with just Tilly to look after us, with Rob occasionally helping out.

We headed out into the cloudy but fairly bright conditions at 10, and soon hit Armathwaite's answer to the Alps, with a steady climb out of the valley. First stop, Langwathby (last there: 2003, on our coast to coast cycle) to buy provisions for lunch from the village shop.

Today's cycling was quite different to yesterday's – lots of hills up and down, rolling green hills with larger ones on all sides in the distance. Some pleasant villages with unusual names too: King's Meaburn, Maulds's Meaburn and Crosby Ravensworth, the last of which was having a new sewer built along the main road, so we had to wheel our bikes through the churchyard to get into the village without taking a long diversion.

These villages were pretty but none had a tearoom and I was getting quite peckish! So on we went, until after crossing a bleak moor emerged high above the village of Orton. A wide smooth road headed down, dropping hundreds of feet in the process. It was here that we reached an all-time high speed of over 40 mph, quite scary especially on loaded bikes, but we weren't letting that stop us from enjoying it. But the best thing about Orton was that it not only had an excellent cafe but the cafe was situated in a chocolate manufactury of excellent quality! We highly recommend Kennedy's Fine Chocolates, The Old School, Orton.

Feeling suitably refreshed, we continued on our way.

Have you heard of Tebay Services on the M6? Well, have you ever been to Tebay itself? We have, now – and its a very pleasant place. Onwards we went, following the motorway but high up above it, getting a great view across the valley. As we climbed away and upwards, we heard a sudden roar and turning round, saw a military jet flying up the valley – below us!

  Euan's still smiling at the top of that big hill!

The sun was now shining brightly and we stopped at a sunny green spot at Beck Foot for a picnic lunch by an impressive sandstone viaduct but now disused and standing forlorn. We followed lovely twisty undulating (read: hilly) roads through beautiful countryside towards, though not into, Sedbergh, then following the course of the River Lune. We came across a rather steep hill which carried on and on – and on. Eventually we reached the top and thought we should check the map – only to discover that we'd climbed about a mile further than we needed to! Our first map-reading error of the holiday (no Allie, it wasn't entirely my fault!) but we do enjoy a challenge!

Fortunately we then had some rapid descents into Kirkby Lonsdale, which it turned out was a bustling and prosperous town with at least one very well stocked bakery-cum-cafe, so we just had to make a stop in there. A large pot of tea and excellent caramel shortcakes later, we were ready to tackle the final 15 miles or so to Lancaster.

It may have been pure chance or it's possibly something about Lancashire drivers, but almost as soon as we left K-L we had a succession of really bad, aggressive and impatient drivers – mainly, but not only, van drivers. This was definitely an exception to the norm as our experience is that the vast majority of drivers are very courteous and give us plenty of space. However things did soon calm down a bit, though the twisty B road was significantly busier than anything we had been on before now.

We got to Lancaster and found Nicky's house (half way up another steep hill!) without problems, arriving about 5.45. Definitely our toughest day so far, but the sun shone again for large parts of it and we saw some really nice places.

As always Nicky gave us a great welcome and looked after us very well. Tea & cake in her nice garden, hot showers then an excellent meal followed, and now we're sitting in her comfortable living room starting to feel quite sleepy. Legs are pretty tired after today's hills, and we have 80 miles to look forward to tomorrow so no wild partying tonight!

Motorwayside Meanderings

Glorious road to Carlisle

Day 2:

Moffat to Armathwaite – 55 miles

Planned mileage: 55 miles

Actual mileage: 58.1 miles (little extra from needing to go into central Carlisle, unplanned)

Cycling time: 3hrs 52½ mins

Average speed: 15.1mph

Top speed: 33.9 mph (coming down the penultimate hill into Armathwaite)

Route: http://gb.mapometer.com/en/cycling/route_1371236.html

Accomodation: Staying with friends Rob & Susan (+ menagerie)

We've stayed in some good B&Bs on our travels before, but for hospitality, setting, character of building and standard & comfort of accommodation then Buchan Guest House really does take some beating – highly, highly recommended! Lovely night's sleep, delicious breakfast and we were so well looked after that we were very reluctant to leave. Shortly after 10am we dragged ourselves away and meandered down into the town, stopping to buy presents for tonight’s hosts at the Moffat Toffee shop. Marvelling in the cloud free sky, we headed off to start the main part of our cycle.

So... if I described a route which mostly followed closely along a motorway from Moffat to Carlisle would that sound like a good mornings cycling to you? No? Can't say I was over excited by the prospect either. But given a lack of alternative roads, gloriously sunny summers day and a vaguely northerly wind, it really did turn into an incredibly scenic and speedy journey. Aside from that, there's not that much to say about that cycling part of the journey. We cycled steadily, zoomed along and soaked up the sights without being really bothered by the nearby traffic. And were in Carlisle by late lunchtime (though took forever to get in to the station due to silly road systems, cycle paths and roadworks) – not bad going if we do say so ourselves!

Bit of a rush to get something for lunch in time for Calum to get a train shortly after 2 due to pandemonium at the station – horrible. He sadly said goodbye and rushed off to catch his train and go back to work on Monday. We were left sunning ourselves on a bench outside County Hall, such a hard life.

Communication with Rob revealed that we should continue out of town to Weatherall in order for him to pilot us in on the final stage of the journey (though I'd run the route whilst marathon training several years previously). Arrived in Weatherall, parked ourselves on the village green and waited. And waited... After 20 or so minutes, Susan arrived in the car with Tilly the dog and asked where Rob was. We'd been wondering just the same thing! Turned out he'd been waiting up by the A69 which we'd deliberately avoided. Eventually we were all united. Susan & Tilly continuing in the car and the other three of us meandering our way along the more undulating Eden valley, reaching Armathwaite shortly after 3:30.

Cordial, tea and fresh homemade Welshcakes in the sunny garden before much needed baths and a wander across the road (literally) to the Dukes Head pub with their next door neighbours to chill out in the beer garden. Richard's sister is Lillian in The Archers, so we enjoyed finding out a little more about that. We were also very impressed when with energy levels flagging he rushed back across the road and returned with ultra fresh homebaked sourdough bread and butter. He even cut and buttered it for us. So lovely for someone we were meeting for the first time!

Dragged ourselves back indoors for delicious stew and cheesecake made with locally foraged blueberries – yum. Quick full tour of the top & basement floors of the house and that's us conked out on the sofa with a cup of peppermint tea. Sun soaked, relaxed and very happy!

Made it to Moffat!

Day 1:

Edinburgh to Moffat – 60 miles

Planned mileage: 60 miles

Actual mileage: 67.8 miles (extra 'Calum' miles from scenic route prior to Innerleithen!)

Cycling time: 4hrs 40mins

Average speed: 14.5mph

Top speed: 33.6mph

Route: http://gb.mapometer.com/en/cycling/route_1370212.html

At last – our holiday has started! Land's End was beckoning so after a hefty (and slightly random – porridge, orange juice, one small piece of toast, two tomatoes, one banana and two maltesers!) breakfast we completed our packing then set off up the steep and unpleasant cobbles of Comely Bank Avenue. We met Calum (and half the Edinburgh Road Club) at the Commonwealth Pool then headed out of town. No incidents to report, and Calum directed us round a series of pleasant minor roads, and while it added a few miles to the route (Calum denied this, but it's true!) it was very pleasant scenery.

The long slog up towards Innerleithen wasn't as much of a slog as I had thought, so soon we were whizzing down the other side into Innerleithen, looking pleasant and quite prosperous in the bright sunshine. However we carried on without stopping, as the tearoom at Traquair House beckoned.

A pleasant though pricey lunch ensued, with grudging service, and we sat outside in the sunshine – the air was cold however so we shivered whenever the sun went behind a cloud.

We carried on southwards after eating, towards the Yarrow valley, a road I later worked out I last cycled down in 1985. A lovely descent along twisting roads in the sunshine, complete with a fly escort each. We turned right at the Gordon Arms hotel and followed the scenic shore of St Mary's Loch on another pleasant twisty road, with plenty of motorcycles whizzing past at speed just to keep us on our toes. We stopped at the Grey Mare's Tail waterfall to look at it (from afar) and by this time it was getting properly warm and the clouds were definitely outnumbered by blue sky!

 Euan & Calum at Grey Mare's Tail

We carried on and enjoyed the last remaining miles in to Moffat, getting to our destination by 4.30. We easily found The Buchan guest house and were given a great welcome by our hosts, given help to park our cycles in the garage, and shown to our very nice rooms. The guest house has its own really comfortable guest sitting room, there were Tunnock's tea cakes & caramel wafers in our room, and our landlady even washed our cycling gear for us. What an excellent place!

A trip to the Moffat Arms hotel for a good bar meal then back to our comfortable B&B for chat with other guests, a cup of tea and updating the blog.

Accomodation: Buchan Guest House, Moffat - www.guesthouse-moffat.com

Introduction

A big welcome and thank you for looking at our blog!
We're looking forward to sharing our adventure with you as we cycle from Edinburgh to Land's End over the next two weeks. We'll be staying with friends and family along the way plus B&Bs, hotels and even a hostel, and we're even hoping to be joined by fellow cyclists on some days so watch out for a mention of someone you may know - or even your own name!
Estimated departure is 0930 on Saturday 23rd, so watch out for our first update. Land End ahoy!