Day 8 - the final push!!

Hello to what is the final day! We get up early so we can fix the broken bike, we get it sorted, have a full english and hit the road for the humber bridge!! It was a shorter day then the days we have had all week and we arrive at the humber bridge around 1pm. We travel down through scarborough, filey, bridlington and into hull. Its a lovely welcome back as we are met by some of our followers and we all get of our bikes and out of the van and shake hands and congratulate each other on what seems to have been a long epic journey.

Day 7

Not long to go now and today we get up and the weather is not looking good at all. We put on our waterproof riding suits and set off to our next stop, Whitby! We had been riding around 30 minutes when we are forced to stop at a petrol station and talk about the weather conditions. The rain is terrential, the roads flooded and it is decided it is far too dangerous to carry on riding. We could not see out of the helmets and as for traffic in front, I personally could not even read my speedo! After 30 mins the bikes are back on the road and the ride continues. We finally arrive in Whitby around 5pm where we start looking for somewhere to stay. We find a campsite in whitby and as we pull into it, Ricks bike decides it has had enough for the day and all the electrics cut out. After a quick nosey around the problem is found and all it was is a wire at the back of the ignition that has come out.

Day 6

Day 6 saw the team travel from Fort William round to Johnshaven. This was a very long day which was very tiring. We travvelled round past Loch Ness which was really nice. The weather was a bit dull this morning and we had a quick shower but nothing major at all. The riding condition was safe and we got off well. We have seen some lovely views on this part of the ride and arrived at a campsite in a little fishing village called Johnshaven around 5:30pm.

Day 5 - Thursday.

Today we travelled from Stranraer up to Roy Bridge just outside Fort William. It was a decent day which saw us leave on time around 8:30am. We didnt stop for a lunch but stopped at Loch Lomond for an ice cream. We travelled from there up the A82 which to me has to be the best road I have ever been on. The scenery was spectacular around Glencoe and into Fort William. We arrived at Roy Bridge around 4pm, got showered and changed then went to the hotel bar for a lovely meal and a chat with the locals who all wished us well on our travels.

I would like to take this chance to wish our condolences to all the family of a true gentleman, Graham who sadly passed away on Thursday morning after an illness. We dedicate today's stage of the ride to him, he will be sadly missed and our thoughts are with all the family at this time.


Day 6 - Friday.

Are we nearly there yet??? We have today come from Roy Bridge to a place just north of Montrose called Johnshaven where we have found a cracking little campsite to pitch up for the evening. We have had a nice day calling at Loch Ness and then riding through Inverness and Aberdeen. It has got to be said that the tiredness and concentration levels are really running low now and we are all getting tired by lunchtime which means the afternoons seem to last forever and we look forward to stopping, but we push on knowing that there are only 2 days to go and this epic journey will all be over. We are hoping to be at the Humber Bridge on Sunday at around 1-1.30pm but this all depends on the weather for tomorrow and how far we get. We are looking at getting down to to the Whitby area tomorrow and camping around there somewhere.

The sea is looking rough, the sky is dark and the wind is blowing! Is this going to be the first shower of the whole week??

Day 4 Wales and the Day 5 North West England and Scotland

Hello everyone, well today has probably been the most challenging day so far. After a good start to the day and getting some good time under our belts, we hit the west coast of wales. This stretch up to the camp site was to be honest terrible. At times we were doing 10mph for 20 mins at a time. We have had roadworks, caravans, slow drivers, idiot drivers.. the list goes on. I think its fair to say we hit the wall today and found our way through to the other side. We had problems locating the camp site as no post code was available (it was sat at home) but after getting to people to speak to each other in a deffinetly forgien langage we finally arrived. The west coast of wales is a great sightand the roads are great to drive but after 12 hours on the road covering over 300 miles even this wares thin. Fishgaurd on the very tip of wales inparticular stood out due to its narrow twisting roads that the van only just fitted down.

Day 5 saw us leave Wales on the A55 and head through England into Scotland which has provided us with our best campsite so far in Ryan Bay Stranraer. The views from teh bay are butiful and we are currently sat with a drink and pizza in the sun. The only draw back with this site is the closeness of the main raod. The driving today kept on main fast routes which helped us make good time arriving on the site early evening

Places visited in teh last two days include

Day 4

Bude
Bridgewater (Where we left Graham)
Bristol
Cardiff
Swansea
Havorfordwest
Fish Gaurd
Aberystwyth
Portmadoch
Carnfeon

Day 5

Bangor
Conway
Chester
Blackpool (Outskirts)
Gretna
Dumfries
Stranrear

Day's 2 and 3 The south coast and cornwall

First things first sorry about the missing Blog on day two but after a long day and problems with gaining a connection we finally gave up so after around 700 miles in the last two days we have finally arrived in just outside Bude and have pitched our tents for the first night of camping.

We have had many small incidents with a Stephen nearly fetching an old man of his peddle bike and Rick and Lee riding through a swam of bee's we are all safe. Ricks had new front brake pads this morning which were changed in around 10 minutes and due to bad traffic in the Truro area we didn't make Lands Ends which was a bit of a dissapointment.

We are currently a four man team with Graham a fellow Owl from down these parts joining us on the drive with a donation to the cause. Graham will be us for day four. We would all like to thank Graham for his efforts.

Day 4 will see us cross the boarder into Wales for the first time. Over the past three day's we have visited the following locations that number of people will know:-

Day1

Hull
Grimsby
Skegness
Hunstanton
Cromer
Great Yarmouth

Day 2

Lowerstoft
Felixstowe
Dover
Folkstone
Hastings
Eastbourne
Brighton
Bournemouth

Day3
Poole
Exeter
Plymouth
St Austell
Truro
Newquay
Bude

CoastDay one Englands East

Hello Everyone

Well here we are!

We are here in Great Yarmouth!! It's been a hell of a long day. The day started with us setting off an hour late to teh humber bridge, We were glad that we had such a good turn out. It all got slightly emotinal as all our parents started crying, we managed to hold back the tears and set off. Everyone made their way to the bridge for a final send off and that was it we were on our way. The time was by then after 10 am. Our first proper stop was in skegness for a quick toilet break then it was off to Hunstanton for lunch. We had a lovely full english and as we ware wearing charity t-shirts, people were asking what we were doing. The ride seemed to take forever as if there was a slow driver on the road we got behind them!! The horns got used and hand gestures a many! We finally arrived in Great Yarmouth and 6:30 pm. We have had a drive down the front , done some filiming and now full on cracking spread that our friend has put on! Now we are just sat relaxing with a nice beer, ready for an early night and a long days riding tomorrow.

Rick