The VC’s Life Cycle 2 Blog: Day 2 – Inchnadamph to Inchbae

For the second day running we woke to a glorious morning: bright, sunny and still. The only fly in the ointment is that’s ideal conditions for midges, and swarms of them were out for an early breakfast. The jungle spray I bought at Birmingham airport did not do what it said on the tin and …

The VC’s Life Cycle 2 Blog: Day 1 – Cape Wrath to Inchnadamph

As I predicted, it was two out of three. There was no Sky coverage in Inchnadamph. Still, Forest secured a 2-2 draw away to Bolton which continues a good start to the season. Judged by its name, Cape Wrath sounds forbidding, a place where one dares to go rather than chooses to go. Actually it …

The VC’s Life Cycle 2 Blog: Day 0 – Nottingham to Durness

Starting an ‘end to end’ from Cape Wrath is a lot less straightforward than starting at John O’Groats. You can’t just drive there. So task number one, get to Durness to stay overnight, before crossing the Kyle of Durness to The Parph and on to Cape Wrath. Over the last week everyone has been involved …

Life Cycle 2 Training

There are just four weeks left before we set off from Cape Wrath. That’s scary, given the number of weekends available between now and August 24th. Over the last couple of months I have managed to get out on most Sunday mornings, generally with some combination of Karen, Kate and Steve; occasionally joined by Nick, …

The Way of the Roses

The cycle route which traverses England from Morecambe to Bridlington is known as ‘The Way of the Roses’. It is 170 miles and, bar for a few miles in Cumbria, entirely in Lancashire and Yorkshire. Over the weekend of May 4/5/6, ten of the Life Cycle 2 riders took it on as a training run. …

Life Cycle 2

‘So, what’s next then?’ That was my most frequently asked question after riding 1,030 miles from John O’Groats to Lands End (JoGLE). In truth, I had already begun thinking about another challenge the day we completed Life Cycle 1. That was last September. I did not approach the other riders until November! So, here we …

The VC’s blog: JoGLE Day 14: Bodmin to Land’s End

1625, September 8th 2011, mission accomplished. It was an early start for me. We arrived at Bodmin late yesterday, ate late and had energy for little else but bed. So I set the alarm for 0500, to get the Day 13 blog written and posted before our departure. Conditions were miserable as we prepared to …

The VC’s blog: JoGLE Day 13: Exeter to Bodmin

What a day, the toughest of the trip. Departure from Exeter was a bit un-coordinated. Alan was out first, having opted to go straight along the A30. He was followed on the same route by Steve and Neville (someone told Neville there were no traffic lights on the A30). The boldest choice was made by …

The VC’s blog: JoGLE Day 12: Shepton Mallett to Exeter

I have posted an additional photo today. Some younger readers are probably wondering whether a penny farthing is a new super fast road bike, made of ultra light composites. No, it is not. In fact it is an ancestor of today’s road bikes. A photo of the very one which zipped past Chris J shows …

JoGLE Day 11: Bourton-on-the-Water to Shepton Mallett

Chris R, Alan and David W were off first. The other eight of us planned to leave together. It did not quite work out that way. We got lost in Bourton-on-the Water. If you know Bourton, you will know that takes some doing. The map enthusiasts wanted to go one way, the Garmin enthusiasts another. …