Photos of JoGLE

Hello,

I've just published a few photos of our journey on facebook. You can find them here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=208426&id=507854593&l=0a9e53a61b

Cheers!

Dan

We did it! JoGLE complete!

Here are the total stats for the ten day cycling adventure:

Total Distance travelled: 1032 miles (slight mistake in the LE photo, also 9 extra miles from LE to Penzance hostel)
Total time in the saddle: 83 hours and 43 minutes
Overall average speed: 12.3 mph
Total climb: 68,100 feet

and...

NUMBER OF PUNCTURES = ZERO!

Day 10 was Okehampton to Land's End

Hello - we made it to Land's End on Tuesday after the cycling the furthest distance of the 10 day ride. We left Okehampton by about 7am as we were keen to get to Land's End before sunset. We had found the previous day that Okehampton was seriously hilly (the youth hostel was on top of a very steep hill!) so we decided to follow a disused railway line that had been converted to a cycle track to avoid some of the inclines. This was a good choice of route and quite scenic, passing over a large viaduct. After a while we had to leave the track to follow the route of the old A30, now bypassed by the dual carriageway trunk road. This was a good modern road with very little traffic and our progress was fast. At one point we passed over the top of a hill and the temperature dropped dramatically and it felt like we were riding in the winter! We made it to Launceston, just over the Cornwall boundary, to warm up with a tea and bakery breakfast by 9am. After a short break we continued west the A395 to eventually meet up with the A39 near Camelford. Temperatures were getting very hot now in the sun. The A roads were busy but not unbareably so and we made good time on these roads. Our aim for lunch was to get to Redruth, however after a while we decided this was too ambitious (it would have been 78 miles from Okehampton before lunch). We decided to stop in Goonhaven for some lunch at 2pm. Once stopped we could feel how hot it was with no cooling breeze, the temperature must have been in the high 20s. We set off for the final leg of our journey at 3pm, roughly following the route of the A30 using the secondary A roads and bypassed sections of the old A30. In Redruth we picked up a few supplies before continuing on to Camborne. Here the A30 becomes a single carriageway roads so we decided to join the road. The road was wide enough to allow us to cycle along the edge strip and most of the traffic gave us a wide berth. Eventually we reached the Penzance roundabouts and sped into Penzance to get something to drink at Lands End. We then pushed as hard as we could to cycle the last 9 miles to Penzance - 7 miles of which were very hilly! Finally we made it to the Finish Line at about half 6pm to be meet by my parents and to enjoy a well deserved glass of sparkling wine!

Day 10 was 115.6miles in 8 hours and 30 minutes, average speed of 13.5mph and 9500 feet climb.

Made it to Lands End at 6pm today, 1024miles

in okehampton, lands end tomorrow!

hello, just a quick update to say we reached okehampton at half 8pm after some tough hills in devon. the first half of the day was a quick run through somerset without problems. Going to bed now for a early start tomorrow,  want to get to Lands End while it's still light and it's supposed to be the hilliest stretch of the ride. excited about tomorrow! day 9 was 100.2miles, average speed 12.9mph, 7hours 42mins in the saddle, 7100feet climb

in Bristol, 2 days to go!

hello, we arrived into Bristol last night to meet the parents kim and catherine for dinner at 9.15pm. We left Bridgnorth after a good breakfast at 9.45am. Dad saw us off and followed us for a part of the route. We had a slow start on the B road from Bridgnorth to Bromyard as the road had some big hills. We passed through Bromyard heading on to Hereford for lunch with Dad. The road was a faster A road after lunch and we made better progress. There were still hills and one of the climbs was long and steep, approaching Monmouth. We continuing through the very pretty Wye valley towards Chepstow passing a ruined Abbey. the sun was setting as we passed over the Severn Bridge with some great views. We finally made it to Bristol after a quick run down the a38. day 9 was 99.5miles, average speed of 11.6 mph, in 8hour 33, climb 8640 feet

in Bridgnorth, 3 days to go!

hello from Bridgnorth, near Telford. We managed to pass through the urban area between liverpool and manchester without too much hassle. Between Preston and Warrington we followed B roads and a few urban minor roads, avoiding motorway junctions. On this section we experienced the heaviest rain of the trip so far and got absolutely soaked. luckily our packed items didn't get too wet. after a quick stop at a bike shop for thomas to get new gloves we headed down the a49. we had to stop at a rotating bridge on this road as a canal boat was passing, it was from southampton! We stayed on the a49 for a while which was quite a busy a road but with lots of junctions and town sections to slow the traffic down. at this point we were hungry and tried to find a pub, without much success, until we found the wild boar inn in Tiverton which was very posh and we were a bit ashamed to walk in wet dirty and sweaty! After lunch we passed through Whitchurch to get some supplies. We then took the B roads to Telford which were nice and flat and we had the wind on our backs. In Telford we had to climb a hill which then descending into the Severn Gorge to Ironbridge and saw the iron bridge which looked impressive and nicely lit in what was now night. passing over the gorge on a b road bridge we faced a tough climb, hairpin bends and a dodgy 4mile ride down the unlit road til we reached Bridgnorth. Luckily my front light lasted until the street lights reappeared! in bridgnorth a scottish chap spotted thomas's flag and came to chat and we ended up with £30 more sponsor money! a good day apart from the rain, day 7 110.2miles, average speed 12.2mph, 8hour 59mins in the saddle, 6070 feet climb. 

in Preston now after climbing a mountain!

hello we're in a friendly Preston B&B after completing the section of the route through the Lake district. Yesterday had another slow start as we climbed the hills of the rural roads heading south from Carlisle. We saw some amazing views of the north hills of the lake district. At one point we took a wrong turn and had to walk our bikes 100m or so down a field track and through a little stream! a bit later we reached an a road which we knew had a massive climb 10or so miles away. the difficult thing was we climbed to 1000feet only to come back down to 500feet at the base of the climb. After some great views of low flying military aircraft we started to climb kirkstone pass, begining with a 20% incline. after a long sweaty push and a few breaks to catch our breath we made it to 1500feet for some breathtaking views. a short break later we had the best descent of the trip so far into Windermere where stopped for lunch. In the afternoon we sped to lancaster with our first tailwind of the ride. tensions got a bit frayed in the afternoon over choice of route however after a few hills the road improved and we got on better. after sailing through lancaster we pushed on to preston. unfortunately on the way thomas lost his gloves. we made it into preston just after 9pm. day 6 was 96.7 miles in 8hours 25mins. average speed 11.4mph, total climb 8100 feet

back in England!

hello from carlisle! we made it into town just before dark after 105miles! yesterday i didn't update the blog because we didn't get into the hostel til 10 and everyone sharing our room was already asleep! struggling to remember yesterday after so many hours in the saddle but i do remember the mountain pass near rest and be thankfull, very beautiful and the descent was a great thrill!yesterday was day 4, 98.4miles 11.5 average speed, 8HOURS 30MINS 6184 feet climb. today we slowly left glasgow (lots of red lights), with a few drivers beeping in support and one lady passed us some sponsor money at a red light. after leaving the suburbs we joined an old b road which was replaced by the a74m motorway. this road was very empty and desolate and there was no impression of distance travelled so i found it quite hard. thankfully after lunch however the road followed a long gradual descent and our speed picked up. eventually we reached gretna green and a few miles later we reached England! i was very happy to get this far! it was 7miles later we entered carlisle for the night. day 5 was 105.1miles average speed 11.7 8hours 56 in the saddle, 5500 feet climb.