Clair and Drew

Claire Welch and her friend Drew who hail from Bristol were our visitors last night. The pair are cycling from Lands End to John O Groats on behalf of Business Action on Homelessness, a programme which helps homeless people to seek and find employment.
The highlights of their journey so far have been the views of Dartmoor and Monmouthshire where they managed to find a rare day of sunshine.
Yesterdays journey took them from Kendal to Gretna Green in wet cloudy conditions. Today they will be travelling to New Lanark. Good luck and keep smiling.

Family Holiday

From left to right we have Rachel, Stewart, Mary, Martin and Anne. The Horder family are cycling from Lands End to John O Groats for a family holiday. Anne is acting as support driver, which may sound like the easy job, but if you saw how many suitcases she had to carry to the rooms you would not think it was so easy.


Yesterdays journey saw them travel from Ambleside in the Lake District and when they arrived we put on a meal for them. This morning brought heavy rain with Martin soaking up lots of it having to repair his bike. But the rain dryed up and the family cycled off in the direction of Sanquhar.

Details of their travels can be found here.

Avoiding the Olympics

Tom Hansell and Alex Vickery are vacating London for the duration of the olympics in order to cycle from Lands End to John O Groats raising money for Cancer Research UK
Tom (World famous composer) and Alex (World famous financial advisor) say the highlight of their journey so far was yesterdays detour through the Lake District cycling alongside Windermere and Ullswater.

Todays journey will be taking the pair to Kilmarnock.

Tom and Alex's charity page can be found here.

Sophie and Tom

Girlfriend/Boyfriend Sophie Headeach and Tom Moores are cycling from John O Groats to Lands End in order to raise money for Hospicecare , a Devon based charitity providing free quality care and support for people who are terminally ill.


Yesterdays journey took them from Edinburgh to Gretna Green, an impressive 90 miles. The pair will be meeting up with Sophies brother Pete for the last 3 days of the journey.

The highlight of the ride so far has been the beautiful Carngorms where the bad weather eased off for a couple of days.

Sophie and Toms charity page can be found here.

James and Joe and Paul too

Adventurous father and son team James and Joe Arnold (14) are cycling from Lands End to John O Groats to raise cash for the charity Action Duchenne. (A charity hoping to find a cure for the muscle wasting disease Duchene)


The pair have met up with their friend Paul (far left)who has riden with them for the last two days. Today however they part company with Paul who is heading back home to York.

The weather looks fairly good, for a change, for the pairs next stage to Sanquhar and hopefully in another week they should reach John O Groats.

James and Joes progress can be found on their blog.

Sams Giant Triathlon.

University student Sam Richardson is is running from John O Groats to Lands End in aid of two charities Macmillans Cancer Support and St Elizabeths Hospice. After a visit to the hospital earlier in the week and advice from doctors Sam had to switch from running to cycling and so turned up yesterday by bike. He will be switching back to running in a few days, and even doing an 800 metre swim (converting his run into a massive triathlon).


Sams favourite part of the journey so far has been following the Caledonian Canal through the Great Glen.

Details of Sams progress can be found here.

Swiss Cyclists

Swiss cyclists Ernst Saltzman and Werner Schnider have come to Britain to cycle from Dover to John O Groats. Yesterdays journey saw them cycle from Richmond in North Yorkshire to Gretna Green. The highlight for the pair has been to reach Scotland where they kissed the ground to celebrate. They also commented on the great standard of our British food.
Todays journey will take them to Glasgow. So it was an early start for the pair at 6 in the morning. They helped themselves to breakfast from the kitchen.
After reaching John O Groats the two cyclists will then cycle on to Wick for their train journey home.

David and Joe

Father and son team David and Joe Hall from Hadleigh in Suffolk are cycling from John O Groats to Lands End raising money for St Elizabeth Hospice, an independant charity providing support for people with progressive illnesses.


They are hoping to achieve their mission in an impressive 9 days cycling an average 110 miles per day. They arrived in a fairly wet condition and had to dry their shoes and socks in our airing cupboard overnight.

David and Joe like to get all the main part of the cycling done early on, so it was a very early start this morning. At 6.00 they were getting their own breakfast from the kitchen.

David and Joes charity page can be found here.

Seeing the sights

Inga and Ian Bratley travelling almost the full length of Britain on a cycling holiday.


After catching the train to Inverness they are now cycling and travelling back to their home in Cornwall in nice easy stages. Taking in all the splendid British culture and scenery.

Yesterdays journey took them from Moffat to Gretna in heavy rain, So today they aim to miss the rain and travel by train to Penrith.

One of the highlights of their journey so far has been a detour from Fort William to Mallaig on the West Highland line.

Lets hope the weather improves for the rest of their trek.

Husband and Wife

Husband and Wife team Jacqueline Bond and Ross Mansfield from Bath are cycling from John O Groats to Lands End on behalf of the Peggy Dodd Centre  for dementia care.

One of their highlights so far has been been seeing a solitary bagpipe player playing on the top of a hill on the A82 which they describe as the worst road in Britain. Another highlight has been to reach the border.

The pair hope to reach Sedburgh tonight and also want to include a detour to Ribblehead in their tour.

Jaqueline and Ross's charity page can be found here.

Cycle from Liverpool

Alan Arnold has spent the last two days cycling from his home city of Liverpool to here in Scotland to raise money for Downs Syndrome.
On his first day travelling from Liverpool to Kendal he recieved a bit of a soaking and after a gruelling second day he said the highlight of his journey was finishing.
Becauseof rail repairs his journey back to Liverpool could also be a bit stressful.
Alan likes to do a charity cycle ride each year and next years cycle ride will see him travel from Bath to Liverpool.

Heros Cycle

Army man Glen Miller arrived by train late last night in order to take part in a John O Groats to Lands End by relay cycle event. The relay is being done on behalf of Help the Heroes.


Today Glen will be cycling to Windermere in perfect conditions and then covering the next stage to Manchester.

This is not Glens first charity raising event. He has previously raised money by travelling from New York to Nicosia on Cyprus by running cycling and simulated rowing across the Atlantic.

A rainy start.

This lovely couple are John Nicholas and Betty Budge and they are cycling from Lands End to John O Groats on behalf of Butterwick Hospice Care.
Yesterdays journey brought them from Elterwater in the Lake District to Gretna Green. They are taking the journey in steady stages in order to enjoy the experience. Their fondest memories so far have included the beautiful sunsets over Cornwall, and the peace and serenity of the Lake District.
Todays journey will take them to Kirkconnel and from there to the Isle of Arran.
The weather has been kind to the pair so far, but this morning started with a bit of rain.
John and Bettys charity page can be found here.

Solo Cycle

Campbell Thompson is cycling from John O Groats to Lands End in aid of The VRH (A charity which helps young people who are struggling with reading to develop a love of reading and learning). As a father of two children it is a charity close to his heart.


The weather so far has not been very favourable and Campbell spent the second day cycling entirely in the rain. The forecast for the rest of the week is however very good.

He is cycling solo after other members dropped out due to work commitments.Yesterday Campbell cycled from his parents home in Milngavie to Gretna Green. Today he hopes to be somewhere near Clitheroe in Lancashire.

Details of his charity can be found here.

Seven day Lejog

Last night visitor was Alan Gibson who arrived at around 8.30 in the evening after a massive 130 miles from his hometown of Manchester. Today he will be cycling from Gretna Green to Callander in the pouring rain.


Alan is raising money for RoadPeace, a charity which supports road crash victims and campaigns for better road safety. Alan hopes to cycle Lejog in a very impressive 7 days and depite the adverse weather is well on track.

Details of Alans Journey can be found here.

Rob and Will

Our colourful visitors yesterday were Robert Dentry and William Cryer who are cycling from Lands End to John O Groats on behalf of two charities. Rob is cycling to raise money for the Swindon Downs Syndrome Group an independent charity for people with Downs syndrome and their families. Will is cycling to raise money for the Newbury Cancer Care Trust and in memory of his sister Alice Walker who died in 2010. So far the highlight of the journey has been the 128 miles covered in one day between Exeter and Gloucester, although they hope to beat this record. There has also been a birthday celebration lots of singing and generally having fun.

Early Start.

Meet Peter Wyllie he just stopped to ask directions, so I thought I would take a photo.
Peter set off at 4.30 this morning from Durham and is cycling to Lockerbie (a distance of around 95 miles), where he is meeting a friend from Belfast. His friend will be cycling back to Durham.
Its blazing sunshine at the moment, but when Peter began his ride this morning the temperature was 2 degrees above freezing.
The summer season is just about to begin. So we should be seeing many more cyclist in the coming months.