update

I thought I had better add an update to the blog!  Having found it very difficult to keep up to date on lejog I decided to wait until we had finished the cycle to update the blog!  Bad move, now a couple of months have passed and I still have not been through all of the photos and updated the blog!  However, I am posting this to advise that I will finish this blog - winter is approaching and I can forsee more evenings in the house coming up as it gets darker and colder - so what better way to spend my time than to finally finish our lejog blog.

I will however add a photo in just to prove that we did make it to john o groats :)

day 8 - ashton in makerfield to levens

Quite something waking up thinking that by the end of the day we would be in the lake district! It was nice to get back into the countryside later on today. I think perhaps we were both feeling a bit more tired. Stopping after just an hour for some tea and scones!

Stopped in the pub above for some lunch - ended up going for the full lunch! Nice to have eaten so much before 2pm! The weather stayed fine for us - cycling into Lancaster was lovely, stopping for a break at a pub next to the canal. Then followed the canal along for a few miles! It was very relaxing - however, this feeling was not to stay with us! Arriving close to Levens we found ourselves on a very scary dual carridgeway, luckily we were only on it for a few minutes - not a mistake to be repeated!

day 7 - knockin to ashton in makerfield

Today started off very well, with a fantastic breakfast in the b&b and some sandwiches. What a nice place to stay! And very kindly they gave us a donation for the charities - thank you :)

So leaving Knockin we first stopped for a photo opportunity outside the knockin shop :) (to be uploaded later). Close to Knockin is the pretty town of Whittington:

Then we headed north leaving the countryside. We headed very close to Liverpool and crossed the mersey. Not before stopping for a cake and coffee at Costa in Frodsham. Where we met a very nice man - Alan, his partner and their adorable dog Ruby. After a chat with them - Alan conviced us that we must visit Liverpool at some point in the future.

Leaving Frodsham we headed for the Mersey crossing - this should have been a simple task but following the cycle route we ended up cycling round in circles and this all took a lot longer than what was really necessary. We made it eventually, and followed the sanky canal along towards warrington - not the prettiest of cycles, but easy! Our final destination - a premier inn!

day 6 - abbey dore to knockin (nr oswestry)

Day 6 - we followed the border up to knockin dipping in and out of England and Wales for most of the day. Was a fairly easy day - although as with many days we underestimated (or perhaps I should say I underestimated) how long the last 10 miles would take. Ended up arriving in Knockin just as it was getting dark! Leaving Abbey Dore after the rest day was a little more difficult, really felt like just staying and hanging out with Jess for another day! But once we got going it was fine. Once again pretty countryside, not too many hills! I'll update this post a little more once I have some more of the photos (jog my memory a bit!) Arriving in Knockin at the Old Forge B&B - we had a fantastic welcome and we were given a breakfast menu to fill out. This resulted in the following morning having one of the best breakfasts we have had on this trip!

day 5 - abbey dore rest day

Very nice to get up a little later. most days we had been getting into a bit of a routine, get up about 6.45 - showered, dressed and packed. breakfast at 7.30 - eat a cooked breakfast along with some cereal and yoghurt - then allow it to settle, and leave at about 8.15/8.30!
So the rest day was very welcome - I think we had breakfast at about 9am! Sitting outside with the sun shining onto the porch and then I left to cycle the short 13ish miles into Hereford, to do some washing and some tourist stuff. Richard decided to chill out at the B&B

we had a lovely stay at the Neville Arms in Abbey dore - Nick and his lovely dog jess were both very friendly and made us feel welcome!

A big thanks to richards girlfriend Anne Marie for helping to make Richards birthday extra special

day 4 - cheddar - abbey dore

This was a very special day - Richards Birthday!
..... and what a way to spend it, hard work but fantastic.
The start of day 4 was quite difficult, but certainly woke us up, we were faced with a huge hill out of Cheddar - I think very near the famous gorge! then down the other side and over to Bristol. We stopped at a very friendly pub in long cross, Bristol. The staff were lovely and very encouraging for our trip - they agreed to put some of our posters up and promote the cause!

After leaving Bristol we headed towards the severn bridge - fanstastic. great to be cycling into wales!

One of the first things we were faced with upon entering wales, was a tunnel with a car blasting out some tunes and some children smoking something they shouldnt be! I say children because they looked so very young - but I guess they must have been 17???

So then after getting a little high cycling through the tunnel, we went on to Chepstow for some lunch! We were supposed to be meeting up with Jeff, a lovely friend of mine that I used to work with when I lived in Newport. But sadly it didn't happen due to a mishap with telephone numbers - I guess we will just have to do lejog again!!

Chepstow is lovely, very pretty little town - will upload some more photos when I have the ones from Richards phone too!

Leaving Chepstow we headed towards monmouth - very pretty countryside, although quit a few climbs for us! We were increadibly lucky with the weather, a few spots of rain whilst cycling, but nothing to worry about - then we arrived in Monmouth and stopped for some food and the rain started lashing down, by the time we had finished eating - the sun came out! YAY!

Last stop of the day, the lovely Abbey Dore - we stayed next to a nice pub, Richard had a couple of pints - it was his birthday afterall! Next day is rest day too, so why not!

day 3 - okehampton to cheddar

It has been difficult keeping the blog up to date, most of the places that we have stayed have had very poor 3g coverage!  So, I am going to try to update a few days of lejog from Stirling (we are here for a bit of a rest before tackling the rest of the journey).

Okehampton - the youth hostel at Okemapton is at the top of quite a large hill, and we found it the hard way - whizzing down the hill only to realise we had to cycle back up to the top!  We met up with other fellow lejoggers - tom and tom at okehampton.  They are a bit more hardcore than us covering a whopping 90+ miles a day!  I've still to get the photos from Richards phone, so watch this space!

Day 3 - Okehampton to Cheddar.

Leaving Okehampton in the morning after yet another mammoth sized breakfast, this was an easier day.  We travelled through the rest of Devon and into Somerset, leaving the hills of Cornwall far behind.  Flat countryside and very pretty villages awaited us.

We cycled through Taunton and then took the canal for a short while - quite a relief to have a slow easy cycle! 

Our route is here : http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/76735258 - although my phone died perhaps about 25 miles before we reached cheddar - so we covered roughly around 85 miles that day!  Good thing it was quite flat!