Background information on the trip
Tony Wallis, my cycling pal, had wanted to do the Lands End to John o'Groats cycle ride ride for at least two years. Unfortunately he had not been well and the trip had been postponed. Now in 2013, with Tony in his 70th year and me in my 69th, all systems seemed go to complete his dream. I had rashly said that I would accompany him when we originally thought about doing the trip - so I couldn't back out now! We intended to take a similar route to the one I took back in 2004. The main difference would be that we would keep to the CTC B&B route through the Welsh borders (ie not deviating through Hinckley), and we would use the easier A9 cycle path in Scotland (avoiding some of the worst Scottish hills)
Tony W is actively involved in the Leicestershire based charity called Inter Care. Inter Care, founded in 1974 supports the work of over 100 rural hospitals and health centres in Cameroon, Ghana, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Zambia by sending regular supplies of essential, quality basic medicines that are recycled in the UK. They are unique in their work and are a recipient led charity. Without Inter Care over 9 million men, women and children would not have access to quality medicines that would otherwise go to waste in the UK. I decided to support him in raising funds for this charity during our ride.
So the scene was set. The plan was for our wives to come with us during the first week and to carry our bags while we were battling against the hills of the west country. We aimed to do the trip in 21 days from Lands End to John o'Groats at approximately 50 miles per day. We had been practising longer and longer rides in the weeks prior to June 5th (our start date), but nothing really prepares one in "flat" Leicestershire for the hills of Cornwall, Devon and Somerset. What hindered our progress was the very late spring - we had done very little riding until mid April. Unfortunately Tony's wife, Carole, was not well with a bad chest infection so it was on Tuesday 4th June that just the three of us left to make the journey to Truro where we had booked B&B for the first two nights. We had a good run down to Cornwall in perfect weather and traffic was quite light.
When we arrived at the B&B, we initially didn't get any response from our landlady Ann. The notice on the door said ring the bell loudly! After several minutes and more ringing of the bell she appeared with her blouse on back to front - she had been sunning herself on the patio and had to dress quickly! Instructions were given to Christine to assist in fetching the washing off the line, while we wheeled our bikes along the narrow corridor and into the back yard under where the washing had been a few minutes earlier. Ann was not short of things to say - having shown us our room she left to help Tony W and promptly sat down in his room to chat for a while. An early start was arranged for the next day - partly because she warned us about having breakfast with another guest who apparently was equally talkative. Later we had a good meal in the local Weatherspoons and Tony W managed to buy some sports drink. The young (30ish) guy who served him was envious and very respectful that two old guys were about to attempt this challenge. "I would really like to do that."