Pictures speak a thousand words

Fifty nine hours, fifty nine minutes and thirty seconds of constant cycling saw us here - the other end of the British mainland.

Enjoy the pictures. We do.

Re: High road, taking thereof

Tell you what, Scotland is beautiful.




Although you can always guarantee on someone coming along to ruin the view:

A quick note about progress

The more perceptive of you will have noticed that there is a lack of progress updates today. However, you mustn't take this as an indication of a lack of progress.

In fact, all teams are doing well. Tremendously well, in fact. So well that there is literally no time for the considered 'sitting down and writing about it' that we'd normally need. We're moving through the country at an unbelievable rate of knots. I'm writing this at a Travelodge in Dumbarton, north of Glasgow, on Saturday evening. My day started at 1.30am today in South Wales.

The original plan would have had us at Carlisle at this point, maybe breaching the Scottish border in the early hours of Sunday morning. We're a good seven or eight hours ahead of our original schedule. There are some scarily quick people on bikes. Whether the thought of a pint at John O'Groats is helping to concentrate a few minds, I'll leave you to guess.

But to sum up, we're doing well. And if you'd like to show your appreciation, you know what to do.

Oh. My. God.

Getting up at 1.30am is no fun.

Getting into a car in a wet and windy Travelodge carpark in Monmouth, Wales, is no fun.

Listening to Rob - capable of only two words, "Breakfast. Petrol." - is no fun.

And then I plant my foot down on the accelerator. "Where are we meeting up with team two, Tom?"

"How does Lancashire grab you?"

Blimey.

Mudguards optional

As we hit Bristol the rain started. There was a succession of misnavigations and morale started to slip a bit.

According to myth and legend, there is a cycle bridge over the River Avon. We couldn't find it. The good people of Bristol City Council clearly like to keep it a secret. Andy thought he'd found a way get over, so we drove over the road bridge to meet him in Avonmouth, taking ages due to roadblocks, etc. Then he called us:

"Erm, sorry guys, they've actually chained and padlocked it shut. You'll have to come back and get me."

"Stay where you are."

Which he didn't do. Because as we struggled back over the Avon, the call came through.

"Made it! Although I'm now stuck in downtown Avonmouth. On my own. On a racing bike. Erm, the natives are circling. Help."

So, employing intrepid swearing, we got back over the river to find him again. He'd handed over to the next team so the relay was unbroken. However, he was now being stalked by the locals. It was like a military extraction - Black Hawk Down without the helicopters.


And this was the wreckage we retrieved.

Cornwall, we have a problem

"We seem to have lost Greg."

"Is it serious?"

Greg was cycling on Cornwall's largest road. He had to take a left, the junction with Cornwall's second largest road. It is a big junction. He hadn't made it. Given this was the first time he'd been on a bike without lollipop sticks in the spokes, this was a cause for concern.

"OK," said JC over the phone, "we're going to go the way he may have taken. Can you guys take the northern route and start looking for him, in case he's realised his mistake and tried to correct it."

At one point someone was thinking about calling local hospitals. Nothing like a bit of measured drama.

But we found him. He had realised his mistake, but getting back on track involved, in his words, "the steepest hills in Christendom". Here he is explaining what happened, using his personal map:

True story: at the point I took this picture, Tom pointed out to Greg that he was holding the map upside-down. There is no hope.

Get a move on

The calls started to come through as we belted through the Cornish countryside.

"Er, fellas," said Rob, thumbing the map, "you know we were aiming for this point for the changeover?"

"I'll take your word for it Rob. At the moment I'm busy trying not to crash the car."

"Well, Jeremy's just called in and they're already miles ahead."

"Typical Finance boys. Always underestimate and over-deliver"

"Better step on it, Phil."

Right then...

A full English breakfast, courtesy of Terri and the team at Whitesands Lodge, and we in team 3 were ready for anything.

Well, I was, anyway. Rob and Tom seemed to be taking an age. So it was just me and the car:

And a monkey, for some reason:

You have to start somewhere

...and the somewhere in question was a nondescript painted white line:


Completely unphazed, Ian lined up just before 6.00am:



Then he was gone into the night:

In a stunning show of brotherly solidarity, the rest of us, as one, trooped back the the hotel for breakfast and/or a couple of hours kip.

Sorry, Ian.

Setting off

"So, you're serious about this, then?"

No turning back as a whole bunch of us left from work on a (mainly) sunny afternoon. Several hours, about three hundred miles, and a number of motorway service station meals later, we were to be found in Sennen, several miles from the End of the Land.

Not too sure if a few of these in the evening was a good idea...

We're (nearly) halfway there

Could we reach 50% of our fundraising target by the time we set off for Cornwall tomorrow? Would be great if we could - and we're only a small amount short.

If you haven't already, a quick visit to our JustGiving site would be very welcome.

You know it makes sense.

The drivers: Steve W, Jon S and Phil S

In the 'last but not least' category come our three drivers, Steve, Jon and me. The drivers will have to ferry this whole endeavour from one end of the country to the other, employing hitherto-unknown depths of navigational sills, planning and diplomacy with a bunch of highly strung and/or knackered cyclists.

Steve and Jon clearly never heard the motto of the Armed Forces: "Never Volunteer For Anything." They did, and were surprised when we bit their hands off. That'll teach 'em.

And as for me, surrounded as I was by people setting off to do this, I really had no choice. At least, as you can see from the final photo, I'm not one of those embarrassing Brummies.

Team update: Rob L - rider, team 3

Another one where I don't have a photo. However, Rob participates in those Iron Man triathlon events, so I just did a Google Image search for 'Iron Man' and this is what we got. It could have been a lot worse.

Rob told us he hopes to achieve the following from this:

• The fresh air!
• The exercise!
• The freedom of the open road!
• The camaraderie!
• The smell of being in a car for hours at a time with sweaty cyclists?
• The unsocial hours?
• The hills.
• The potential for lousy weather.
• The hills.
• The sleep deprivation.
• More hills.
• And perhaps one or to cheeky sherbets at John O'Groats when we finish.

Well, if you're buying, Rob....

Team update: James W - rider, team 2

A bit of a mystery contained within a puzzle wrapped in an enigma, is James.

Some say that his voice can only be heard by cats, and that he's been banned from the city of Winchester. Some say that his tears are adhesive, and that he's terrified by Play-Doh. All we know is that he's earned the nickname The Stig.

James joined the team and started sending out cycling vibes via the medium of email. He knows bikes inside-out and back-to-front. As he works in a different building, none of us knew if he existed until recently. Hence the mystery.

He's actually done LEJOG himself. On his own. He's just a cycling machine. We're just not sure if that's a mere figment of speech in James' case.

Team update: Richard F - rider, team 1

Don't let the shirt and sunglasses deceive you. He's calm and professional in all his dealings.

Who am I trying to kid? He's as mad as a badger, keeps a four-foot long sledgehammer on his desk and has been known to use a pogo stick in the office. And this (the whole Queasy Riders thing) is all his fault.

Richard's objectives for the trip include not only £10,000 for a good cause, but a new World Record and possibly a film contract. Given that Richard's the bloke who does my performance reviews at work, I'll leave it to you to consider who'd play him.

I'd make a few suggestions, but I quite like having a regular pay cheque.

Team update: Tom W - rider, team 3

Ladies and Gentlemen, put your hands together for the Poshest Man in the Western Hemisphere. Secretly, we believe Tom is still somewhat put out that we're not going to be performing the ride wearing tailcoats. And monocles.

Tom is also a firm believer in the maxim, "Whoever dies with the most toys, wins." He can say the words "Broadband dongle" without sniggering. I fully expect to see a solar powered Pimms mixer with GPS tracking and quad-band audio at some point in the proceedings.

Team update: Greg R - rider, team 2

As I write this, just over one week before we set off, there is one member of the team who has yet to get on a bike. As we've seen before, Greg is scared of his bike. However, he is preparing; we suspect that he's buying up most of Western Europe's supply of Ginsters pasties for the trip.

When asked how he came to be involved, he came up with the following answer:

"Ten years ago in 1972, a crack commando unit was sent to prison for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire...."

Clearly Greg watches a little too much television.

Team update: Ian H - rider, team 1

Ian brings a degree of youthful energy to the whole enterprise. Just by being involved, Ian has reduced the average age of the team by about five years. When we asked him what preparations he was taking for the ride, his answer was, "Get a haircut." We think it might be something to do with aerodynamics.

Outside of work, Ian plays ice hockey for Coventry Blaze ENL. We're hoping that his jersey number isn't significant.

Fame!

We've reached the pages of the Coventry Telegraph.

And for those of you who respond better to pictures:

Team update: Andy D - rider, team 3

Andy really doesn't like having his photo taken. Perhaps he still believes cameras are soul-catchers. Nevertheless, this exclusive video captures his cycling style perfectly.

Having said that, he's taking the physical challenge very seriously. Andy ran the London Marathon last year, which showed a formidable degree of forward planning, given that we hadn't even announced the Land's End to John O'Groats thing at that point.

Andy, known as 'Stretch Armstrong' to some, claims to be cycling to work regularly. Or at least, bringing his bike to work in the car. He's also reducing his alcohol intake to just three bottles of wine per day (and only one at work).

We all have to make sacrifices.

Team update: Jeremy C - rider, team 2

Jeremy clearly has a lot of bottle. I'm very sorry, I couldn't resist it. The picture above was taken just before he took part in this year's Coventry Fun Run. We suspect it was down to the whole 'not wanting to show up in the same outfit as someone else' thing.

Jeremy, also known as 'The Mole', has a bit of a reputation for doing this sort of thing, especially when it's for a good cause. And he's looking forward to riding at 3.00am when the roads are completely deserted.

That sounds awfully like 'volunteering' to the rest of us.

Team update: Neil B - rider, team 1

We fully expect Neil to be our King of the Mountains. While we're not expecting to encounter any mountains - maybe a number of steep inclines - Neil's the chap for the job. It's just as well he's in team 1, so will have to deal with whatever passes for the Alps in deepest Cornwall.

Neil claimed he was tricked into this by Ian. But then he admitted to preparing by taking on plenty of liquid replenishment. By the pint.

We think he protests just a bit too much.