Day Two

Hi all. 109 miles again today. Later start than intended. Made it to Blair Athol. Mostly dry and sunny, but got wet putting tent up. About to scrub up and get food. Heading for Edinburgh tomorrow. Butt cheeks chaffed!!!

Pictures of team Burgis/McNee at Camp Burgias [Dingwall]. Plus fully laden at Moy.

Day One

Left John O`Groats, just after 9 this morning, in lovely sunshine but a bit of a breeze. Beautiful day and gorgeous views for most of it but cycling into a headwind for most of the day.

109 miles and allmost 12 hours later I made it to my parents house in Dingwall where a much needed dinner was waiting for me.

3 Days to Go

Less than 3 days to go and they are going to be a busy 3 days.

The bad news is that my trusty steed was admitted to hospital this morning. The good news is that she has come round from the anaesthetics, the bandages have been removed and she is now ready and raring to go - I just need to collect her from the bike shop and give her a wee bit of love and attention!!

Tonight I need to finish packing. Packing for the bike trip is fairly straight forward - I just need to take as little as possible - 2 of everything - wear one - wash one and essentials like waterproof jacket and my "co-op" plastic bag, but more about that later. But as well as clothes for the bike trip I need to get my clothes ready for John and Kate's wedding on Saturday - all the best to both of you and hope the sun shines for you on your big dayl I also need to get ready the clothes that Nigel is going to bring down when he meets me at Land`s End with the camper van. I am getting my hair cut tomorrow (also essential for a bike ride???), straight after work and then we are heading North straight after that so the packing and route planning must be finished tonight!!!!

5 Days to Go

Only 5 days to go and not much more organised than when I last posted. Last night was a hive of activity with things that needed to be done so that I'm ready for the off.

The grass is cut and the plants are watered - vitally important to any big cycling trip, of course.

I now have new front and back tyres on my trusty steed - I have not got any quicker at changing tyres, inners, etc - reckon I could have cycled 20 - 30 miles in the time that it took me to change the dam things.

Nigel has replaced my front and back brake blocks and during the process discovered that my back tyre is "ovalised" - basically my back wheel runs like an egg - oh dear!!! So my final big cycle ride before heading off is being postponed while I figure out how to make my oval tyre, round - this may take some time and I suspect a trip to the local bike shop.

OK. Fingers crossed for round tyres and I will try not to curse and swear too much!!!

9 Days to Go

A trip like this takes quite a bit of planning and organising so with not much more than a week to go I should be pretty much sorted, well almost anyway, kind of, maybe. Sorry - planning and organising is not my forte. So here is how it stands at the moment:

1. Fundraising for LINK going well but could be better - get your donations in quick!

2. Route - North to South - hopefully with the wind behind. I have cycled most of my planned route from John O`Groats to the Scottish / English Border, except the stretch between Perth and the North Side of the Forth Road Bridge. Nigel is going to help me plan my route south of the border.

3. Bike maintenance prior to setting off - hopefully my new back tyre and front and back brake blocks have been delivered - there is not much grip left on my back tyre and my brake are no longer working without the assistance of my feet connecting with tarmac - essential maintenance needed prior to departure.

4. Bike maintenance while on route - keep fingers crossed that nothing goes wrong - other than changing my tyres and inner tubes at incredibly slow speed I haven't a scooby how to look after my trusty steed - I have declined offers of how to fix various parts and am going to stick with the "keep fingers crossed and hope for the best option".

5. Accommodation - the first night at my parent`s house in Dingwall, hopefully make it to Perth the second night and stay with my friend, Dawn - after that it will be mainly camping and some hostelling.

6. Grub and drink - eat lots, anything I fancy, whenever I want - this is not the time or place to think about calories.

7. Have fun and hope my backside isn`t too sore when i get to the Land`s End

Count Down

Only 9.5 days until I set off on my bike ride from John O`Groats to Land`s End (AKA - JOGLE). Ideally I would like to be able to do it in a week so that I can relax and let Nigel show me some of the sites of Cornwall and Devon when I get there, but I suspect it might be closer to 10 days.......but lets wait and see - I might surprise myself and a few other doubters!!

So why am I doing this?? Two main reasons, really:

1. "Because it`s there!" - It is just something I have fancied doing for a long time and for a number of years I have said that next year is going to be the year and never got round to doing it but 2008 is definately the year, and with only 9.5 days to go there is no backing out now, especially as reason number ...........


2. Is to raise lots of money for "The LINK Centre for Deafened People" - http://www.linkdp.org . LINK gives vital support to Deafened people and their families through the trauma of sudden or progressive Aquired Profound Hearing Loss. Please give generously to this very worthwhile cause - this can be done by using the following link: http://mycharitypage.com/LINKScotland .

Thankyou to everyone who has already donated money already.