............ Lands end to John o'Groats cycle ride 2014 .........: Day 11, Wednesday 10th September 2014

Kirby Longside - Great Ormside

Wednesday started off with an air of anticipation we only had a short distance to ride for the second day, we thought it would be better to have a couple of easy days rather than having a day off, but the excitement was caused by the knowledge by the end of today we should have met up with family and friends. We were ready for the off at 9:05 the more astute of you will have noticed a new addition to the lineup this is Malc a lifelong cyclist/racer no pressure then.

To try give the girls an easier days climbing Andy and Beaky carried the tools, spares, drinks and coats etc.

We were off out of the campsite to the main road and all we had to do was turn left or right and we couldn't decide regardless of trying both ways the Garmin insisted we were off course, no-one said it but you could see everyone was thinking "here we go again", as it happened we had passed the track we needed 15 yards back and should have made a right turn but that's what happens when you give stupid people smart technology it gets misread by the idiot on the bike.

As you can see from the outset we were climbing and that was to be the order of the day

Even when we were riding on the lesser gradients you could see the hills rising up in the distance and we all knew at some point we had to go over them.

On the steep uphill sections we could ride with Malc (this was due to Malc having high gearing and us having super low gearing), the downhill sections were surprising, Andy and Beaky could keep pace with Malc (lots of weight in the panniers plus gravity), but on the flat/low gradients it was clear Malc had the ability to go off anytime he chose.

A quick group photo as we stopped for an energy intake ready for those hills that were getting ever closer.

After this photo Andy decided Malc with his southern accent would

have made a great safe cracker/robber in a film in the 1970's

As we pressed on we came across some sheep feeding at the edge of the road Jo T was at the front

and started to slow down, everyone shouted "keep going thy will move" unfortunately for Jo the sheep was feeling a bit grumpy and decided to stand its ground and challenge her. Further along the road we saw more sheep on the road Jo T went to the rear of the group to avoid another standoff, Malc made short work of herding the sheep along.

Below is possibly one of the strangest views of the whole journey, freewheeling downhill lovely clear water in the bottom of the valley hills rising in the distance, sheep roaming freely on the banks, on the other side of the river is Virgin trains mainline railway running along side of the M5 all living together and it was so peaceful.

Climbing the hills is a slow process, but generally speaking for each hill you climb the payback is a free ride down the other side, we got up to speeds of 30mph, as mentioned previously the sheep in this area roam free only contained by large cattle grids in the road. now to a touring bike with its sturdy rims and 38mm tyres can pass over a cattle grid with slowing down, on the other hand Malc on his thoroughbred racing bike with its super thin wheels has to slow down at each grid to pass over gingerly to avoid damaging the wheels, Malc would make up the ground very quickly but it provided Andy with an opportunity to take the mickey.

As we passed over one of the cattle grids Jo W got something wrong and was thrown up in the air, she managed to stay on the bike but was very shaken.

Back on the main road heading to Orban where we were going to stop for lunch and meet up with Andy's friend Roy who wanted to ride part of the route with us. Unfortunately we had one final short sharp hill between us and lunch, we waited at the top for Jo W as she was a while getting to the top of the hill, she had struggled to get up the hill because she had a rear wheel puncture, so we set to in our well tried puncture repair routine and within 5 minutes we were heading to Orboan for lunch.

We arrived at the Silver Yard Cafe in Orban around 1 o'clock where Roy was waiting, usually we don't stop at cafe's we carry everything we need but today was a rare treat so we ordered a pot of tea and a lump of cake. Were preparing to make a move when Jo W's dad John pulled into the carpark unexpectedly Jo W was surprised and exited to see him.

"I only meant to blow the blady door off"

Malc had to set off because he was riding to our camp (35 miles) to get fresh supplies then he was going to ride back to the start to collect his car (70 Miles) our steady pace had put him behind and under pressure to make it back before dark.

After around an hour we were underway only 10 miles to the camp but the road out of Orban is uphill for about 1 1/2 miles not what you need when you've cooled down.

Roy settled into the group well and we were on or way to Appleby in Westmorland where we were hoping we had guests waiting for us. We rode through Appleby another pretty market town similar to Brigg We negotiated our way past the road crew applying micro asphalt to the road and we were approaching the campsite.

Andy took great amusement at placing Roy (a retired bobby) next to Malc (potential 1970's safe cracker) for our group photograph.

The blokes started looking at the bikes while drinking a well earned beer, well actually its chocolate milkshake we use as a recovery drink. Malc had been persuaded it would be dark by the time he got back to his car and so waited for a lift.
While looking over the bikes Malc noticed Jo W had snapped the one of the titanium bars mounting her seat. Andy's and H's obsession with spares and parts included a women's bike seat almost identical to the original only because Jo T was unsure about its benefits. Malc also noticed some play in Jo T's forks again sorted quickly.
Roy said his goodbyes and cycled back into Appleby to his car.

Jo W sister Lisa, had driven over to see us and bring Katie Beaky and Jo's daughter granny and Emily ,
some supplies and replacement kit, another sleeping bag as Jo W couldnt keep warm at night .