Peak of fitness

Richard and Brendan are climbing the three peaks (Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon) and cycling between the mountains. The cycling alone is about 460 miles so they are probably some of our bravest cyclists to date. They arrived last night in very wet and windy conditions. Today the pair are cycling to the lake district and climbing Scafell Pike in the same wind and rain conditions. They were up at the crack of dawn 5.30 and cooking their own breakfast for a 6.00 start.

Kevins Jogle

Kevin Lee from dorset was last nights visitor. Kevin is cycling from John O Groats to Lands End on behalf of Asthma UK. He is now into day 7 of his 13 day ride. He says the weather has been kind so far and it was a calm bright morning as he set off. It is Kevins first attempt at Jogle but has cycled coast to coast before. Details of Kevins journey can be found here.

Big Tom Little Tom

Yesterday saw the arrival of Tom Crichton and his son Thomas (at 12 years of age our youngest cyclist to date). The pair are cycling between Ayr and Liverpool,a distance of 240 miles in stages of around 30 miles per day. Today will see them riding from Gretna Green to Penrith in fairly good conditions. They have made good progress so far although there may be bad weather later in the week.
They are hoping to raise money for the Multiple Sclerosis Society Scotland The charity page can be found here.

Sarah and Georgia

Yesterday saw the arrival of Sarah and Georgia from Oxford who arrived a couple of hours after their support driver Bill. Sarah and Georgia are two work colleagues who are cycling lejog in order to raise money for Sobell House Hospice Charity. Yesterdays journey took them from Appleby to Gretna Green and today they will be heading through the Scottish lowlands to Cumnock. They say the Cornish hills have been the hardest part of the journey so far.
Sarah and Georgias adventures can be found on their webpage at http://www.endtogroats.co.uk

Cycle Lejog and Walk Jogle

Seventy year old Bill Atkinson from Merseyside puts the youngsters to shame. Not only has he already cycled from Lands End to John O' Groats but he is now walking back to Lands End. He is into his 4th week of walking and still going strong, with just a few minor aches and pains. After an early breakfast Bill was back on the road. He will be travelling through the lake district and the yorkshire dales and hopes to meet up with his wife in a few days time. Then onward to Lands End. Good luck Bill.

West to East

Last nights visitors were Annabel and Rachel from Edinburgh., who are cycling from Dalbeatie in Dumfriesshire to Corbridge near Hexham where they will be staying with parents. So they chose Gretna Green as a half-way stopping off point. Their highlight of the journey so far - Gretna Green of course.

Young at heart

Terry from St Albans is a spritely 72 year old who has already cycled from St Albans to John O' Groats he is now cycling back down to Whitehaven then going West to East to finish in Newcastle. Tommorrow Terry is heading to Siloth to the west of Carlisle when he hopes to meet up with an old friend he knew at university 53 years ago. Terry hopes to earn money for his favourite charity Open Doors.

Quadrathonic

Last nights visitors were stopping off on their way to take part in the Artimis Great Kindrochit Quadrathon at Loch Tay. Quite a tongue twister.
Charlie, Tim, Lorraine and John will be swimming almost a mile across Loch Tay. Followed by a run (or walk) across 7 Munro mountains (approx 15 miles). Then Kayaking to Ardtalnaig (7 miles). Finally cycleing around Loch Tay (34 miles). The clock is stopped when the competitor slices a melon with a sword.
The event requires a great deal of stamina, strength and fitness and is considered to be the toughest one day event in Scotland.

Keen Supporters.

In the photo are Brian, Pete, Jane and Mark, who are travelling LeJog to support several worthwhile charities taking with them two support drivers Diana and Ray. They are averaging about 50 miles a day and are now onto day 13 of the journey. The cyclists are enjoying getting fitter on the journey and they like the way that the scenery and the people change from county to county. They say that the roads and drivers of Somerset were the worst.
The charities they are supporting are Cancer Research, Alzheimer's Society and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. Details of their journey can be found on Janes charity page.
As well as supporting charities they each support different football teams. Mark Ipswich, Pete York, Brian Wolves, Jane Notts Forest, Diane Arsenal and Ray is a man of taste who supports Huddersfield Town.
Todays weather forecasts showers. Lets hope they dont get too wet. Next stop Sanquhar.

Adventure before dementia

Tuesday the 28th of June saw the invasion of the South Africans. Our small guesthouse was filled to capacity and some of the group had to book in with neighbours. So on the back row we have Barry, Dave, Richard Jenny and Natalie and on the front are Andre, Laurie and Jeremy. Altogether six bikes a tandem and support drivers travelling from Lands End to John O' Groats where they will be celebrating Daves 60th birthday.


Today the group parted company with Jeremy who is heading to London and then Italy for a holiday.
The group have enjoyed the countryside and said that riding alongside Windermere and Thirlmere have been the best part of the journey so far.
... And so peace and tranquility returns to Gretna Green and the borders town of Innerleithen prepares for their invasion.
Good luck to all concerned.

Seeing the sights.

Emma from Dublin is combining cycling from John O' Groats to Lands End with a bit of sightseeing along the way.
She headed for the scenic route through the Cairngorms and had a look round Balmoral and Stirling castle. She said the Cairngorms were very beautiful and has enjoyed the ride so far. Todays journey will take her through the scenic lake district where she hopes to book into a Youth Hostel.
Well the weather is perfect today so lets hope its smiles all the way.

Down Under Wonder Wanderers

Brian and Allandra have brought their fold up cycles all the way from Australia for a cycling holiday in the UK. They stayed for two nights in Gretna Green which gave Brian a chance to visit a farm where he stayed during the second world war. The pair are now cycling from Carlisle to Newcastle following Hadrians Wall, staying near Brampton tonight. Allandra say the highlight of the holiday so far has been the ride along the coast from Ravensglass in the lake district and has found all the people to be very friendly and welcoming.
Good luck from Robert and Elaine for the rest of the holiday.

One Gear - No Fear

Simon Watkins from Bristol is cycling on behalf of his favourite charity Clic Sargent.
He is attemping to cycle from John O' Groats to Lands End using only one gear. Yesterdays journey saw him travel from Ardrossan to Gretna Green a distance of almost 100 miles (the furthest he has cycled in one day).
His favourite part of the journey so far has been the Isle of Arran, where the roads were quiet and the hills were high. It must have been quite an achievement with only one gear.
Simons adventures can be found on One Bike One Gear No Brain

Black Pudding

Our two visitors last night were Tim Maton and Ross Flemming who hail from Bristol. They are cycling from Lands-End to John O' Groats to raise money for the MS Society and Naomi House Childrens Hospice. The pair rode up from Kirkby Lonsdale yesterday and will be staying with relatives in Kilmarnock tonight. They were delighted that we had black pudding on the menu for breakfast. Details of their journey can be found on their Lejog blog.

Night Rider

Yesterdays arrival was Babajide Bammeke who cycled from Liverpool to Gretna Green in order to raise money for Service International. It is a charity that he feels passionately about, so much so that he cycled through the night. Babajide began his journey on Friday evening at 6PM and arrived in Gretna Green at 11AM on Saturday morning. Babajide and his friend Elizabeth are looking forward to doing a bit of shopping before returing to Liverpool today.

No time for breakfast.

Yesterday saw the arrival of seven cyclists and a support driver.
The full team was Chris, James, Tom, Lizzie, Andrew, Nige, Yorky and Mary the driver.(Im not sure if they are standing in order.) Yesterdays journey from Kirkby Lonsdale to Gretna Green was fairly blustery but today will be even worse. There are gale force winds forecast for today so the group began the journey at 6AM in order to beat the weather. The groups blog can be found at lejogbikeride.blogspot.com. They are raising money for Cystic Fibrosis

A few problems.

Aaron, Clare, Pauline and Steve were back on schedule. Unfortunately they had a few problems on the way back here from John O' Groats. They were having several punctures a day. The satnav went haywire and took them right through the centre of Glasgow. Then Clare hit a pothole and came flying off her bike a few hundred yards from our guesthouse. On the bright side the weather has been good and they liked the scottish scenery.
Lets hope the journey to Lancaster today will be problem free.

We'll be back.

Aaron, Clare, Pauline and Steve, were last nights visitors. They are doing a 2,000 mile round trip. Driving up to John O' Groats by car then cycling back again with Pauline as support driver. They will be spending tonight in Wick and then starting the cycle ride on Sunday morning, hopefully arriving back here in Gretna Green next thursday.
The four of them are riding to support the Precious Lives Childrens Hospice in Cornwall.

Family Holiday.

Last nights cyclist was Mark Johnston from Bedfordshire
Mark is cycling from Lands-End to John O'Groats, and wife Susan and daughter Fiona are driving along for the Holiday. So as Mark cycled up from Lancaster yesterday, the two girls enjoyed the splendour of the Lake District.
The highlight of his journey so far has been the great views over Shap in almost perfect weather conditions. The low point was the begining of the journey travelling into 35 mile an hour winds and rain over the Cornish hills. Next stop Ayr and a days rest from the journey.

Coffee Please

There was a knock on the door and there was two wet and injured cyclists wanting coffee. I swapped them a free coffee for a photograph.
Luiz (left) from Brazil and Duncan from Australia, met a while back whilst cycling in East Timor. Duncan has sustained an injury so they are parting company for the day and meeting up later in Glasgow.
The two are cycling just for fun and the highlight of the trek has been the beautiful Wye valley.
Good luck Luiz and Duncan (our first cycle visitors this year).