The Finish Line

8 days 2 hours and 20 minutes................................

Day 8 - to Helmsdale.....

Top is the view the boys will see as they come out of Inverness on the way to Helmsdale which is our last planned overnight stop. A short hop for these guys now at 98 miles!

We have saved the Boisdale sponsor shirts for today to wear with their Glenfarcas whisky ties as we felt that was appropriate!

Many thanks to Oliver and David at The Lamb in Hindon http://www.lambathindon.co.uk/ for allowing Will time off work to attempt this great challenge.

Time to reflect from Martyn..................

We are now at Thurso! The boys have covered an astonishing bone weary 142 miles!! I am totally amazed and so proud as must James's dad be as he looks down on this incredible journey.

Only 20 miles left to cover to John O' Groats now but the boys are insisting on going via Dunnet Head.

10 miles from Thurso we stopped at a B&B which was full but they got the boys in made them tea and biscuits and then sorted accommodation for us! A big thank you to Lynne and Weyland Read at http://www.auldpostoffice.com/ . Met so many amazing people during this unforgettable trip. Nearly there now, thanks to Alan for routing

Day 7 - Up to Aviemore!

Message from Martyn:

Another great overnight venue. Many thanks to Elizabeth and Ian Mackie of Ferrycraigs House (http://www.ferrycraigs.co.uk/). Lovely house right under the Forth road bridge. Boys had a lie in this morning and a breakfast that just kept coming! Tom and I are in for an easy morning as the guys won't need much fuel for a bit.

Weight update: Now near starting weight. Will heavier by 1lb and James just under by 2lb so all fine. Boys are up for todays ride into the Scottish Hills so nutrition and energy levels are good.

Weather update - bright.

Boys are currently riding next to the car with stereo blasting out Sweet Home Alabama! Even Will sang along - we've got video but can't seem to post it.

Next update will be sponsorship Boisdales and Mike Jones' favorite place - The Lamb in Hindon!

Boys did amazingly through hilss at Drumochter through Pitlochry and up to Aviemore. 120 miles...amazing!

Again they have extended their advantage and are on course to knock a whole day of this incredible challenge.

Both eating well and look tired though jubilant but that may wear off with the 6am alarm call and on the road by7!

Day 6.....hard work, 1st, 2nd, Forth!

Tired this morning and we have a stretching target of getting over the Forth Bridge, hope we can make it!

The weather has now deteriorated and we are now faced with high winds, rain and poor visibility. Hills are now steeper with seemingly no flat section and we're riding into a headwind!

We've just taken on board hot chocolate, bananas and sausage rolls as well as even more Dorset flapjacks! We've not mentioned them for a few days but they are part of our staple diet and the current favourite is caramel!

As you can see, we made it!! Amazing experience after struggling in the morning to race through Edinburgh and across the bridge for a soak. Incredibly, we're gaining weight as we progress as our leg muscle mass increases.

Day 5, rolling, rolling, rolling.......

As you can see from the pics, we've actually increased our advantage! We're now 42 miles ahead of target but after a great day of scenery over the Pennines, we need a break! Managed a close encounter with the tarmac at North Allerton luckily at nought miles per hour!

Camping out tonight before we zip up to Scotland. Sadly, our trip organiser allowed us the pasta and chicken but not the cider!

Day 4 - Flying North!

We really put the hammer down today and pushed on and on further North finishing up a mighty 30 miles beyond our target! Tomorrow, we plan to hit Scotland but have some interesting hills to beat first.

The dude on the bottom is our new pal, Charlie the parrot - what a character!

Don't forget to tell friends and family to check this site out and get donating........please!

Day 3 - Helping hands!

Day 3 was amazing!

We pushed on from Bath up the Fosse Way "enjoying" 2 big ascents en route through the Cotswolds and up into the Midlands. Today has been full of helpful, wonderful people so thanks to the guys who ushered us through the roadworks at Tetbury, our bonus rider at Moreton-in-Marsh, John Atkins Cycles in Leamington Spa where we had to pop in for some running repairs (http://www.johnatkinscycles.com/) and last but not least Cathy at the White Lion in Brinklow for not only reducing the room rate for our charity but making us very welcome http://www.thewhitelion-inn.co.uk/

Day 2 - Devon and Somerset

Grabbed breakfast and hit the road again at 7am. Great day started with rain but enjoyed the ride. Stopped at Glastonbury for lunch where a few locals met up. Thanks for the support! Finished off just outside Bath after another 112 miles!

Great to end the day with some friendly faces!

Day 1!! We're off...........

Finally underway on our big adventure!

Tough day but a good day!

We were delighted to be joined by David from Focus Educational Software and his friend. We grabbed bacon sarnies at Camelford and arrived at Okehampton tired and happy after a great day!

The Planned Route

The route we have planned so far is as follows:

Day 1: Land's End - Okehampton (110 miles)

Day 2: Okehampton - Bath (98.3 miles)

Day 3: Bath - Leamington Spa (97.1 miles)

Day 4: Leamington Spa - Doncaster (101 miles)

Day 5: Doncaster - Darlington (102 miles)

Day 6: Darlington - Hawick (102 miles)

Day 7: Hawick - Callander (106 miles)

Day 8: Callander - Fort Augustus (112 miles)

Day 9: Fort Augustus - Brora (86.9 miles)

Day 10: Brora - John O Groats (72.6 miles)

Total Distance covered: 987.9 miles

William Harvey and James Catley Day are fundraising for Mendip Community Transport

Sponsoring us is easy!

Just follow the link below!

http://www.justgiving.com/jamesandwilliam

SPONSOR US!!

Start of Our Ride

The beginning is close now! We begin this Saturday at 7 in the morning. I will be posting on here everyday and trying to get some photos up everyday so keep following and checking out what we are upto!

Our current funds raised is around £1750 would love everyone to continue to contribute. Any money would be welcome every penny counts!

Cheers

NEW SPONSOR

Dorset Flapjack Company have offer us the sum of £250 in support of our charity and a shed load of flapjacks to keep me and James going on our epic ride.

There support has been brilliant and i'm sure we will be thankful for the flapjacks when we are struggling up some of those hills we are sure to meet!

There link is:

http://www.dorsetflapjacks.com/

Bath and West Report

Had a great day at Bath and West. Raised £80 on the day with the hope of raising more through the King's Bruton School stand. Me and James were both on the turbo trainer at the show and ended up rather hot and sweaty!!

A great day which ended on a high when we found out the BBC want to film part of our route. So a great day and thanks to everyones support and donations!!

Training

We went out on Sunday morning, and rode 40 miles. Both had a great time although we realised that we need to sort out our nutrition as we got really tired towards the end! Well a lesson learnt i think!

That afternoon I met the support crew for the first time made up of James' gran and her boyfriend. To my surprise they had planned the whole route for us done loads of calculations working out time with many different variables.

Once the route is finalised i will post it on here

Bath and West!

Myself and James will be at the Bath and West show this Thursday. The aim is to raise some money and give people the chance to come and see what we are doing, why we are doing it and how you can get involved.

We would love to see anyone interested there on Thursday.

The Launch of our Blog!

Myself and James thought we would create a blog to keep everyone upto date with what we are up to, how the training is going and how we are doing with sponsorship and any other challenges that may occur.
We would both like to thank you for the support we have had and the support you will undoubtedly give us in the lead up to this epic challenge!