Personal Musings: LEJOG 17 - Day 6, 15th June. Penrith

Let’s face it – if you didn’t like cycling, this would be a rubbish trip! The days are long, we are covering a lot of miles and climbing a lot of hills. We are however making great progress and after 6 days we have crossed the border and are just south of Glasgow.

Today was meant to be an easy day because tomorrow we have a hilly long day, so what did we do? We smashed the 107 miles at an average of 19 mph, our fastest day so far, but at least it meant that we finished early and have longer to rest for the 130 mile day tomorrow.

We made great progress from the start today, covering 20 miles in the first hour. The wind was kind, and we spent much of the day weaving alongside the M6 and then the M74.

Whilst most of you are basking in sunshine, it is looking like it will be a very wet couple of days for us. We did our best to avoid the showers today but failed miserably, getting very wet and cold by lunchtime.

I had the misfortune of being the only person not to spot a big hole in the road and managed the impressive feat of puncturing both wheels at the same time, taking my puncture tally to 3. Robin was just thankful that it wasn’t him this time!

We met a few fellow LEJOG people today. (To avoid any confusion, LEJOG stands for Lands End to John O’Groats, rather than a random name that we have given ourselves). The highlight being Charlie who is cycling the same route by himself in just 2 weeks. Charlie is 70 and puts all of us to shame as he does this sort of trip multiple times a year. Next he is off to cycle the Pacific Highway – we have no idea what that is but it sounds long!

Finishing early gives me a bit more time to write this, and the opportunity to mention some things that I have previously forgotten.

· Azon fell off his bike the other day trying the very difficult manoeuvre of turning his bike around. He should have received a fine on the day it happened.
Robin and Graham are both useless at taking selfies.
· Willis doesn’t do Churchillian speeches. Basking in the glow of having achieved 3 back to back 100+ mile days, he kindly reminded us that we have such a long way still to go. So motivational!
· Still struggling with stomach issues, yesterday Azon bought a bag full of Imodium from a chemist and then asked for the lady who served him for 20p for the public toilet. Forever upbeat, he said “she didn’t need to be Sherlock Holmes to guess my issue!”
· I am not giving enough praise to Mick – our support team. Mick is a quiet, mild mannered guy and couldn’t have done more to help us. When we need him, he is there without any fuss. From mile 2 when he fixed Robin’s bike, to presenting me with a cake for my birthday and the the endless driving ahead to arrange the most appropriate coffee stops and lunch venues. An example of his thoughtfulness (other than the cake!) was when he spotted a group of school kids in a little village school playground learning their bike proficiency. Mick stopped, had a word with their teachers and drove on. When we came through all the kids were shouting their encouragement at us – it was such a lovely moment that each of us absolutely loved.

Today’s fines go to;

Jones & Willis – for pushing too hard and losing the organised team formation. Quite rightly our ‘skipper’ for the day Graham was less than pleased and told us so - it shouldn’t have happened on his watch!

Willis – for exposing the top of his arms above his arm warmers.

Cormac – the good old Cormac was back this morning and he was 15 minutes late

Azon – seems hardly worth mentioning about his shorts now does it? His liberal chamois cream application is a daily occurrence and would now feel odd if the white streaks weren’t there!

Big day tomorrow and we just hope it isn’t too wet – cycling in the rain is miserable. Thanks for your continued support and donations – we are now approaching £13,000. Thank you!

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