Day Twelve - The final countdown

We were rudely awoken by the 04:35 train to Glasgow. The resultant vibrations and plate rattling woke us all up. Who on earth catches trains that early anyway?!
After stirring for a couple of hours, we got up, and layered up for our final day of riding. Despite my best efforts, my clothes were still damp. This made wanting to step outside an even harder task. But, this was our final day, and I think we're both ready for this challenge to end. I loaded my bike bag with as many Snickers as I could fit in, and we set off just before 8.

Our journey was only 30 minutes old when we stopped in a lay-by to do another radio interview, this time for BBC Radio Derby.
It certainly seems our media train is gathering pace now. Since the interview I've had calls from various local (East Midlands) newspapers and even a women's 'Real-Life' magazine offering to pay Sarah a couple of hundred quid for a piece about how she copes with her condition!

In the very next town I became victim to yet another spoke breaking incident, buckling the wheel yet again, leading it to rub up against the frame of the bike, making it impossible to ride. Disaster.
We were a mere 50 miles from JOG, I told Brooksy that I've come 900 miles so far and there was no way I way failing this now. I said that if it couldn't be repaired I was going to 'cool runnings' it over the finish line, and I wanted him to be the one who starts the slow hand clap that gradually builds louder and faster the more that join in.
But, as luck would have it I glanced, literally, across the road to see a bike shop. With the effort of simply crossing a road required, the bloke fixed it quickly. When the hunted down those final few miles.

Brooksy was chalking off the miles as we ticked them off, 49...48... However, one rather large challenge still lay ahead. Helmsdale Hill. We had been warned about this one from day one. The road leading it's way into the town of Helmsdale was steep, windy and ultimately knee crunching. But we'd have been naive to believe that we'd conquered it that easily. Team Trailer Man and Team Bodger and Badger had bigged this one up, so we knew it'd be a doozy.
We decided to have a bacon sandwich to fuel our last mammoth effort up one of Britain's steepest roads. The lady in the cafe was awesome! She even gave us free cake and sponsored us £4! She told us about the Helmsdale gold rush in the 1600's, and that legend has it if you wanted to marry someone you'd have to spend 3 years panning for enough gold to make a wedding ring. This, coincidentally, is a hobby of her and her husband, and she made her wedding ring out of the gold they'd panned together. It's a good job Sarah wasn't as fussy! ;-)
We attacked the colossal hill, which we worked out to be roughly 10 miles. It wasn't the worst we've encountered, due to the fact there were some downs. During one 13% decline we managed a new high speed, 45mph. But a 13% incline met us on the other side, which I think we met with a top speed of 5mph.

We said from the start that our adventure wasn't a race, but when you bump into the same teams along the way, accompanied with my competitiveness, it's hard not to have that competitive element.
A pursuit towards the finishing line sparked a conversation between us, predominantly about 'beating' Team Bodger and Badger. We knew we were already miles ahead of Team Jungle Book, as we knew their blog details, but beating the Badger is the one we wanted.
We raced on, gaining speeds that were surely going to put us in with a chance of winning, but of course remember it was only a race if we win. We coasted the last 3 miles into the town, even casually posing for a couple of pictures next to various signs. But as we cruised through the other side of the town, towards the famous signpost chequered flag, we saw Mrs Bodger and Mrs Badger, surely they'd won. Our complacency had caught us up, did we really need ALL those pictures? One of them asked if we'd finished yet, I replied with a, "We will have in about 4 seconds, where are your lot?"
It turns out we were ahead of them, we'd won! Now that we'd won, we can thus claim it as a race. It was a classic case of the Tortoise and the ... Badger... And again, the fans favourites won.

We spent a good 30 minutes collapsed over various 'You're in John O' Groats' signs and murals, forcing a smile across our beaten faces. We cracked open the champagne, which was actually Cava Brooksy had bought from home, and Formula 1'd it all over each other, and anyone within the 'splash zone'. Most of Brooksy's Cava he'd shaken ended up going in my ear. Which probably wasn't a bad thing considering that they hadn't properly been washed for 12 days.

We went to buy some naff tac from the gift shop, somehow you haven't really experienced something unless you have a fridge magnet saying you'd done so.
Then, we noticed Team Bodger and Badger roll in. We strutted across to claim bragging rights, and you could see by their faces they were disappointed. The excuses came out, but they knew it. We knew it. It was us taking top spot on the imaginary podium. To be fair to them, despite our continuing rivalry, they were all a nice bunch. It was all in good humour, and they were raising money for a couple of good causes too.

One thing I am concerned about, post trip, is my addiction to snickers. I figure that instead of going 'cold turkey' I should move firstly onto fun-sized snickers, graduating then to celebration sized ones to gradually ease myself off them.

It wasn't until the drive home that I fully appreciated how far we have actually come. It took nearly 2 hours just to get to our start point for today! It's going to be a long old trip back.

I'm proud of what we've achieved. There have been highs, lows, blows, painkillers and a smirk being wiped off a badgers face, twice!

Don't forget, we are only £100 away from our target. I'm not going to nag, but I'd love it even if you spare £2 for our chosen charity, Kidney Research UK.

www.justgiving.com/landsendcycle2011

Miles today: 84.7
Miles total: 935.9 (Finish)
Position in race: 1st

Location:Tain - John O' Groats

Day Eleven - it's a long way, from Invergarry...

Every bit we were great yesterday, we were slow, sluggish and unenthusiastic today. It was hard to get up and get going. Similarly to the first day, we procrastinated until Steve kicked us out of the van after our eleventh straight day of porridge.

Despite Scotland's indisputable beauty, they sure did lack any ideas when it came to naming places. They all seemed to be named after people. One set of road works we went through apologised for Farmer Ben, who was having his drive re-done. However, other place names I DID find amusing; Hill o many Staines, Muffhill and Boylesack Road a few of my personal favourites.
But one of the Loch's, which I'm guessing means Lake in Scottish, is called Loch Lochy. how unimaginative can you get!

I've been looking forward to today for a while. Both Brooksy and I have connections to Scotland through our Grandparents. My Grandma and Grandad owned a hotel near Dingwall, just north of Inverness for about 10 years. I have many happy memories there, playing Power Rangers in the back garden, making paper aeroplanes and swords in my Grandad's pub. I just so happens that the Conon Bridge Hotel was on our route today, and I couldn't have been more excited about being reunited with a piece of my childhood. Despite not being overly familiar with the exact roads leading to their old hotel, probably because I was an eight year old preoccupied with his Game boy at the time, the surrounding areas struck a familiar chord with me, and I knew we were close.
When we approached the large, white hotel It looked exactly liked how I remembered it! We parked up our bikes, and headed inside for a swift half. As soon as I opened the door I was sent instantly back to my childhood. It may not have been quite as big as I remembered it, but the instantly recognisable aroma hit my nostrils and I was about to call dibs on being the Red Power Ranger thinking I was eight again.
I gave myself a tour, with the new landlady's permission, and it appeared to be exactly how it'd been left 15 years ago. The kitchen was the same, the lounge, front bar and dining room seemingly untouched by time. Even the door at the top of the landing painted the identical image I have etched in my memories.
It was nice to see it again, but my true memories lie with visiting Gran and Grandad. Scoffing my face with egg and chips and helping Grandad out by serving drinks at the bar, or as it probably was getting in his way!

We have been extremely lucky with the weather this trip. Apart from battling against the winds on our 110 mile day, I'd say we've had it made. But our final 10 miles of today's riding made sure that we'd have to battle all possible conditions in order to achieve our LEJOG goal.
I have tended to feel the cold while cycling, so I've layered up most days. I wear a cycling t-shirt first, with my all in one cycling skin suit over the top of that. Next I wear a long sleeved running top, 2 or 3 Wildmoor Spa wind proof cycling jackets and then my rain coat over the top. This is not forgetting my 2 right leg knee supports, one left leg knee support and my football socks pulled up over normal socks. It's safe to say that I (Sarah) have a LOT of washing to do when I get home. But this rain was torrential. It managed to get every single one of those layers i was wearing wet.
The only thing I wanted to do upon arriving at camp was get showered and dry by this point. But, we again had a camp site that flattered to deceive. We were essentially on a train line, any closer and I'm pretty sure we'd have had to have paid a train fare. Every time, which was fairly frequently, a train went by the entire van rocked.
I grabbed my clean clothes, towel and shower stuff and headed to feel remotely human again. Steve, who thinks of every possible scenario, had given me a bag to transport my clean clothes in, so that they stay dry. But, upon arriving at the shower and forcing two 10p's into the meter and attempting to get myself clean I noticed something odd. I was cleaning with a shower head that had so many holes in, it worked like a sprinkle. Also, I'd failed to notice the shower room was missing a large chunk of roof. This meant that my clean clothes still got wet. Arghhhh.

After a hard day of cycling I normally retire to the 'Penthouse Suite' above the drivers compartment to write, or attempt to write on time, my blog before bed. But tonight I ended up underestimating the mere 70cm gap I have to sleep in by nutting the roof on my ascent. This left me clinging on for dear life and Brooksy having to save me, and my dignity, by shoving me into my living quarters. Here's hoping that that wasn't an omen for our final day tomorrow!

Miles today: 90.6
Miles total: 851.2
Local beer consumed: Belhaven Best
Number of involuntary knee clicks: 9

Location:Invergarry - Tain

Day Ten - Catch the pigeon

Firstly, I'd like to thank all those people who have either visited www.justgiving.com/landsendcycle2011 to donate online, or have given money to our parents, or ourselves to add to the offline total (thanks Nan!) Every penny goes towards Kidney Research UK, and all the fine work those good people do. We have raised about £860 so far, so please donate what ever you can afford so we can reach our goal of £1000. Thank you!
Speaking of sponsorships, and drumming cash out of people by holding them up by the ankles and shaking them until all their loose change falls out, I've come across a couple of media pieces that have been written about the adventure.

BBC -
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-12969907

Coventry Telegraph - http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/south-warwickshire-news/2011/04/13/kenilworth-man-s-bike-challenge-for-chernobyl-victim-financee-92746-28512986/

I think today was our peak. Despite not feeling like biking this morning, we both seemed to settle into a quick rhythm, and seemed to consistently fire fast miles out. It was pure text book. We ate the right things, stopped in the right places for the right amount of time and (for a small time at least) looked like we knew what we were doing. Poetry.
It did help that we had some unbelievable scenes to distract us though. One Loch had a rustic, yet miraculously still in tact castle in the middle of it, sitting on an island in the centre of the crystal clear lake. I've seen it on the short BBC snippets they show before a programme starts, I believe with a hot air balloon of the globe loitering around it.

While you're biking for 10 hours a day, you can't help but let your mind wonder into finding ways to pass the time. One of my personal favourites is 'Road Kill - Guess Who'. I ask myself various questions before trying to decipher what the creature was, this game is made a lot harder when the animals are missing parts. We truly have seen a lot of dead critters though, from rats to deer, chipmunks to badgers (not the biking team). Although, the most confusing ones I've seen is one that I'm pretty sure was Road-Runner, perhaps the coyote finally got him. I also saw a pigeon stuck head first in a drain, Dick Dastardly will be pleased. In fact, it's a pleasing day for the cartoon super villain.
Other games I play include; avoid the pot-hole, counting how many flies go up my nostrils and the 'Don't stare at Brooksy's lycra challenge' challenge.

We decided that we'd treat ourselves to bacon for breakfast. Due to the complete lack of shops in the first 5 towns we biked through, things weren't looking good. One sign entering a town claimed to have the best breakfasts around, brilliant! We followed the signs until we discovered the shop advertised was still 13.1 miles away. Who on earth puts signs that far out! I was about to knock on someones door to politely, but firmly ask them to make me a sandwich, when we stumbled across a cafe. The experience was made the more sweeter because of the overtaking of Team Bodger and Badger a few miles previous. After washing down a bacon and Brie baguette with a raspberry ripple milkshake, we headed on.

We rode past the google street view car, I gave the cheesiest smile I could possibly muster in a vain attempt to boost Conal-Bridge's popularity in the coming months. I might invoice them for use of my image.

The rest of the journey went very smoothly. After eating my 3rd snickers of the day, we powered our way towards the finish. Except, during one break I'd decided to sit on the wet grass. Unfortunately, the padding that protects my 'special areas' against my bike seat is made out of sponge. The resultant incident didn't make for a comfortable last 15 miles ride.

Miles today: 85.6
Miles total: 760.6
Local beers consumed: Wildcat and Irn-Brew
Number of times I accidentally looked at Brooksy in his lycra: 19

Location:Inverary - Invergarry

Day Nine - We are Kil- WINNING

I awoke to, what I think was, the sound of a frog and a crow having a fight. I presume the frog won, as it hiccuped a victory song long after the crow had finished squawking. Come to think of it, that might have been some 'trailer trash' stumbling back to to his 'luxury' motorhome after an after hours Kareoke session last night...

After getting changed into our cycling gear I couldn't help but notice Brooksy was now sporting long red football socks too. I'm fairly sure he mocked me the first day, but look at who is setting trends now! It looks like 'Team Red Socks' are here to stay.

You know you're tired when you bike past a town called Kil- WINNING, and don't take a photo while pretending to be Charlie Sheen. But that's how tired we must've been after our epic 110 mile ride yesterday.
We decided that we'd have a 'rest day' today, aiming to bike around 70 miles. I don't think in my life, ever again, I'll ever refer to a 7 hour bike ride as a rest. But that's what our plan is today, to try and rest enough for our final push.

We passed the wives of Team Bodger and Badger again today. Yesterday the wife of Bodger claimed that she'd done the LEJOG challenge a few years ago. She also came out with the ludicrous statement that all of Scotland's roads are nice, and we're to enjoy our cycling from here on in. What a load of tosh! Yesterday was a nightmare, and when we rode past their car it took every ounce of me not to call her a lying turd face.

Even though our journey was short, we were treated to some awesome views. The Lochs here are stunning. Offering high, green, luscious hills that plunge into mirrored waters. Loch Eck was my personal favourite. We took time out to sit by the side of it, simply staring at it's beauty. There was a lone man on the other side of the Loch, casting his fishing rod from the comfort of his chair outside of his hut. Bliss.
En-route to the camp site I heard the subtle playing of bag pipes muscling their way through the forests surrounding the Loch Fyne. We seem to have been treated to a real taste of Scotland today. All I'm missing now is a man wearing a kilt to emerge from behind a castle with a big bowl of porridge to complete my idilic stereotype.

An unfortunate part about todays journey is that we had to head south for about 10 miles. The most frustrating part was that with about 25 miles to go we could see our finishing town! I tried to convince Brooksy that building a raft out of our knee bandages and twigs was the way forward. But he didn't really entertain my creative thought processes. Epic error.

We made it to yet another stunning Loch, and at a respectable time too. Plenty of time for pub grub and a pint while watching the moon cascade over the Loch's clear waters. Let's hope our rest day works.

Miles today: 69.1
Miles total: 675.0
Local beers consumed: Tennants
Number of times we overtook 'Team Bodger and Badger': 4

Location:Irving - Inverary

Day Eight - Gone with the windy

I woke up this morning and felt like I was wearing the full costume of the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz, and walked like I'd just ridden Seabiscuit.

After oiling out my joints with Sudocrem, a cream traditionally used for nappy rash (so use your imagination of where that went), we were off. Our first stop was at the Scottish border, Gretna Green. I'd recognised the 'Church' that is right on the border from an episode of Waterloo Road last week, yes I'm that cool to have that as part of my Sky+ repertoire. Traditionally this was a place people used to run off to to get married, as they didn't need parental permission. But the main thing we were concerned about was having our photo taken at the border.
Now, two things have happened so far on this trip and have, somehow, developed into a tradition of ours. One is that at every border crossing, whether it being county or country, we've taken each others photo with the 'welcome to' signs. But I have also had the overwhelming urge to go to the toilet at ever border too, like a dog marking it's territory. But our traditions were scuppered at the 'Welcome to Scotland' sign. We'd hit the sign at the exact same time as a few other LEJOGers (Lands End to John O Groats bikers) that had set out at the same time as us.
We have seen them along our trip, but hadn't really spoken to them as of yet. I had given them nicknames that I'd shared with Brooksy, but they all seemed too experienced to give us the time of day. One team is of two guys around their mid-forties. One of them has black hair and a grey beard and the other is a cleanly shaven blonde haired man. I name them; Team Bodger and Badger. Next there is a father and son team. The Dad is hairy, like a bear, and his son is young with long, black, wavy hair, so I called them; Team Jungle Book.
It turns out that we have a nickname too; Team Red Socks. Hardly imaginative, is it? The reason for this is because I have been wearing my Forest football socks, as on the first day I got sunburnt down one side of my body and developed a brown rainbow tan across my body. Unfortunately now not one part of my body is the same colour as another. So, in a bid to avoid being scorched by the sun again I 'Raddy Majewski-d' my socks, pulling them all the way up to where my cycling shorts start, tucking them in so they wont fall down. I thought an more creative/fitting nickname would have involved comparisons to Brad Pitt and Stuart Baggs...
After a monotonous chat with the other LEJOGers, we left. I managed to hold on for a further 50m before finding a Lady GaGa poster to mark my territory on.

My love/hate relationship with bikes developed further today. After gushing yesterday about how I'd enjoyed biking and was 'getting it', I've now made a massive U-Turn. I think it all came about when the words, 'wouldn't it be a cool claim to make, saying that we'd rode over 100 miles in one day on our trip?', came out of my mouth shortly after us making it to 98 miles one day.
BIG mistake.
The conditions could not have been more against us. My style has been to attack the hills, going full pelt up and coasting down the other-side to recover. But the roads were so bumpy, and the head winds were so strong it felt like riding uphill going down. In fact, at one point going down, on what should have a been a decent down hill stretch, i stopped peddling. Within 10m I'd ground to a complete stop.
Whilst shouting continuous obscenities at the wind, I'd noticed a wind farm at the top of one of the hills. It just displayed how much wind there was, I've seen jet engine blades rotate slower! I was pretty sure the hill was about to take off, like the giant fruit in James and the Giant Peach. This wouldn't have been a bad thing at all, as it would've given us one less one to bike over.

I felt tired the entire last 3 hours of biking. It was horrendous. My body felt fine, but my energy levels had been zapped.

When we arrived at 'Sandy bum crack', to be honest I only half heartily read the sign, we were greeted by Brooksy's Dad, and I've never been more happy to see him. Nearly 12 hours we'd been on our bikes!
We were staying at another one of those 'Fun parks'. We resisted our token of a free face paint, and instead went to the fish and chip shop. I had deep fried haggis and deep fried black pudding with chips. It's no wonder that Scotland is the most obese nation in Europe. I even saw deep fried pizza on the menu!

Steve informed us that this is the most expensive caravan site we'd stayed on yet, £27 for one night!!!
For this ludicrous fee we had to use portaloo's, as the regular toilet block had fallen down. Also, we were on a railway line and freight trains travel frequently at night. Brilliant.
But every cloud, we'd been given one complementary 'Adult fun pass', redeemable for one free Kareoke song of our choice at the 'Fun bar'. Now what should I sing.... 'Highway to hell?'.... 'Bicycle race' by Queen? .... In fact the only lyric I've got stuck in my head at the moment is about everyone knowing that Badger loves mashed potatoes!

Miles today: 108.0
Miles total: 605.9
Total time spent on bike: 11:45
Number of times I thought Brooksy had gone the wrong way: 17

Location:Carlisle - Irving (Scotland)

Day Seven - Sharing my shower time

I'm not sure if you'll be aware of this, but everyday we've started biking around 9am and our earliest finish has been 7pm. We break for about 45 minutes for lunch, and have the odd 5 minute break every 10 miles . It's constant effort. As soon as we finish and find the camp site it's 8. Once showered and fed its bed. The next thing I know I'm sat back on the bike again trying to find my comfy bum position (which normally slots into place around the 5 mile mark if you're interested!)

Please don't forget we're trying to raise £1000 for Kidney Research UK. We are only about £250 short of our targets, and would very much appreciate a donation of any size to commend our efforts. - Thank you!
www.justgiving.com/landsendcycle2011

After powering through the first 20 miles, in just over an hour, another spoke on my bike twanged. Unlike last time, where in truth I was grateful for the rest-bite, I felt instantly frustrated. I was about 2.5 miles shy of Lancaster and stuck to know what to do. Brooksy went on ahead to find a shop and I upset a bus driver. I thought it'd be best to bus it in to fix it, as the wheel wasn't turning, rather than have the support van travel miles to collect me. The complete jobs-worth of a tool started to 'call the police'. I called his bluff and it developed into a Mexican stand off. Fortunately the bus was empty, and I knew Steve was en-route to collect me. After a handy 20 minutes I dinged the bell and declared that this was my stop.
I noticed a burger van next to the bus stop, who saw sympathy in my situation and gave me a free sausage, egg and black pudding bap, accompanied with a nice cup of tea. Legend!
I quickly got the bike fixed and caught Brooksy up about 6 miles further down, who had waited in a car park for me.

Today is the day I think I've finally been accepted into the cycling community. I've really enjoyed the trip in parts, especially the fast downhilly parts, but there has also been a lot of times where I've envisioned launching my bike into the North Sea at JOG, vowing never to move my legs in a circular motion ever again. But today I found myself nodding to other bikers that we passed. I'd noticed cyclists doing it before, but thought they were merely tutting at my unorthodox style. I think I'm finally getting it though. I've even enjoyed the up hill parts, and trust me there has been a lot of those today. I have developed an attacking style to them. Getting into the highest gear, and just driving my way up them by counting rotations.

We did see one of the more bizarre sights of the whole trip shortly after lunch. Walking up Shap summit was a man carrying a HUGE wooden cross. Unlike Jesus, this man had smartly attached a wheel to the end whilst making his ascent up Mount Golgotha (for all you R.E. fans!) I gave him a hearty hello, but was snubbed. It was a classic case of beard envy, as it was the only thing missing from his whole ensemble.
This summit was probably the biggest that we've encountered on the trip so far. It took 50 minutes to do the 7 miles up it , but a mere 15 minutes to do the 7 going down the other side.

The roads weren't great again today. The up parts seemed harder and the down bits lacked any real momentum, even grinding to holy without pedalling on the descent. I feel our condition is fantastic though, we seem to be putting in bigger shifts everyday. But there wasn't many parts with smooth concrete. At one point my entire bike was shuddering and shaking so much it made my bell ring, and I sounded like a broken ice-cream van.

We arrived to yet another camp site. I'll be honest, who on earth considers a caravan park as a holiday. The showers are cold, and miles away from where you've parked. In fact, I had to walk back to shower today as my leg brushed up against something brown on the walk back to the van. You pay for your caravan, and then they charge you even more to stay on a site which is miles from anywhere. People walk in on you while your on the loo, plus aren't quick about leaving. Instead they try and engage you in a conversation on how they've walked in on you doing your thing. you have to do your own cooking and washing up. What is the point?
Rant over.

Miles today: 94.5
Miles total: 497.9
Number of times someone walked in on my while I had my shower: 3

Location:Preston - Carlisle

Day Six - Would you like your receipt with that?

Usually our mornings start with a drive to the place where we'd finished the night before. However, this morning we didn't have to as the camp site is where we'd rode into the evening before.

Upon leaving the campsite I noticed we were in a village called Astley, and one of the village notice boards had a crudely written Rick in front of it. Some people really are getting creative with their Rick Rolling these days!

One thing I have noticed is that traffic can get frighteningly close to you. Some times it's good though! If the right sized lorry gets close enough, you end up getting a power boost, similar to a mushroom on Mario Kart. I did try to go one step further with my power boost today though. Inspired by McFly and his hover-board on Back to the future part II I managed to grab hold of the back end of the lorry at a junction. The boost was quickly terminated when I realised my hand was on something icky.
Most days I've been wearing my sunglasses to ride with, but today I opted to go eye commando. Mainly because it seemed quite an overcast day and party due to a side affect of the painkillers being drowsiness, I didn't want my brain to think it's nighttime. I really noticed how much dust flicks around. I found my eyes suffering from the grit that's constantly being flicked up in my face while riding. A fly even hit me square in the retina at one point.

We stopped for lunch in Warrington. The van wasn't anywhere near us, so we decided to hit a supermarket for lunch. Seizing my opportunity to avoid another pasta dish I enjoyed a nice warm turkey and cranberry pasty.
After lunch, Brooksy informed me of a 'code brown' situation, resulting in him urgently needing to find a toilet. While I looked after the bikes, he unsuccessfully wondered the nearby streets of Warrington. He returned, tail between his legs - which I assume was a delaying tactic - to ask for all the receipts I had on me. I never asked him why he wanted them, nor do I ever want to discover what became of them.

We then winded our way though some of the industrial northern towns on offer. Traffic was terrible and made progress slow, despite our good pace. I chuckled upon entering Wigan. There sign proudly boasted having a Premier League club. If I were them, I'd start thinking about investing in another sign right about now!

We got to our basic camp site around 7 and settled for the night. The shower required 50p to run, and the lights were on sensors. Inconveniently the sensors weren't placed inside the shower or toilet cubicles, resulting in a rather spooky shower and a largely inaccurate shaving attempt.

Miles today: 83.8
Miles total: 403.4
Smelliness of my dirty washing bag: 17

Location:Shrewsbury - Preston