£2317.66

I can’t really believe it’s now over six months since we completed this trip!

Reading back through all the posts in this blog brings back so many memories, I’m really glad we did it. I mean, for me personally I look back fondly on that 2,500 mile ride on a gorgeous Harley Davidson that had been lent to me, fulfiling more than one ambition in those nine days.

We did this trip to raise money for The Salvation Army in Boston and Macmillan Cancer Support in Lincolnshire, two causes which are very worthwhile.

And now I can reveal the final total we raised…

That’s a massive £1158.83 to each charity.

Wow!

Page 4 in Lincolnshire Life, August 2009

 

On behalf of Allister, Bradley, Graham, Rick and myself I would like to say thank you VERY much to everyone who helped us reach this amazing total. You really helped make this trip of a lifetime more than just a journey.

Zoe

Well that’s it, our JustGiving page has now closed. 

Thank you so very much to everyone who has sponsored us for this motorbike trip.  We raised £867.30 via the website and the offline donations are still coming in. The overall total currently stands at £1745.30 which is just amazing, and we know of one or two more donations still to come… watch this space for the final total in the next few days!

We have been raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support in Lincolnshire and The Salvation Army in Boston.  Each charity will benefit from half the money we have raised.

The bikes in the Dales

A very quick post today to let you all know that there is just one week left to donate on our Justgiving Page.

So, if you haven’t already sponsored our Charity motorbike ride and would like to, please visit www.justgiving.co.uk/biketopdown now to make a donation!

We are so pleased to have raised so much already but it would be great to get a few more pounds to give to Macmillan Cancer Support and The Salvation Army.

Thank you very much to those who have already donated.

Here is Bradley’s account of the trip…

Well, we’ve been back for a couple of weeks now, so I have had time to rest and recuperate and reflect on our Top Down trip.  Most of the memorable moments of the trip are either good roads, or bad weather.  I guess we had no control over the weather, but everyone helped us to get the best out of the trip with the planning of the routes.  Zoe did a great job of summarising our activities, but my abridged version would be something like this:

Day 1

The good: sunshine (pretty much) all the way

The bad: a lot of motorway miles

The ugly:  the traffic around Gateshead

Day 2

The good: curry in front of the open fire at the end of the day

The bad: a lot of miles in the rain

The ugly:  riding through thick fog and rain

Day 3

The good: riding through Glen Coe

The bad: rain just as we were coming into Falkirk (after a dry day)

The ugly: not being able to find our Travelodge

Day 4

The good: the great roads in the Lake District

The bad: realising I still had £80 in Scottish notes

The ugly: traffic around Carlisle

Day 5

The good: the view over Home Firth

The bad: the twisty road to get up the top of the hill overlooking Holme Firth

The ugly: sheep jumping out in front of the bikes

Day 6

The good: Taking in a bit of history around Uffington and Amesbury

The bad: missing out on Cheddar Gorge due to the horrible weather

The ugly:  heavy rain for the last hour AGAIN!

Day 7

The good: making it to Land’s End (in the sunshine!)

The bad: 1:4 hills on tight bends

The ugly: some of the worst weather I have ever ridden in

Day 8

The good: the wilderness of Dartmoor

The bad: cattle grids

The ugly: Graham’s bike deciding to stop on a busy dual carriageway

Day 9

The good: only 80 miles to go

The bad: only 80 miles to go

The ugly: Traffic on the M4/M25

All in all, it was a great trip.  It was very fulfilling personally, and it was amazing to see so much money rolling in while we were on the road.  Thank you everyone!

My personal highlights included riding through Glen Coe and the Lake District – good roads and fantastic scenery; the views on the east coast of Scotland, from Broadway Tower and above Holme Firth; meeting Liz at Glastonbury – we first met at the festival a year ago; making it through treacherous weather conditions – thick fog, driving rain and winds that threatened to blow us over the edge of bridges; everyone making it in one piece; helping to raise nearly £2,000.

 

Bradley and Liz at Land's End

 

Bradley in the Dales

Rick, one of the riders, summarises his experience for the blog.

What a great week!

We covered every type of road  from the great flowing bends in Scotland to the 1 in 4 tight bends in Devon.

My favourite was the early evening  ride on the third day through the ever changing countryside of Glen Coe.

The weather threw everything thing it could at us and we soon realised that the first spots of rain meant that we had to put our wet weather gear on.  The problem then was because it was waterproof it didn’t let any air in so you sweated quite a lot.  You finished up feeling damp from the inside!

We were very aware of the support from everybody at home and  for that we thank you.

To the rest of the gang thanks for putting up with an old fellow who really did enjoy himself.

Rick

Rick and Allister in the rain

Stopping for fuel

Rick and his BMW at Land's End

We have once again been featured in our local paper, the Boston Target.

Article in the Boston Target 29th July 2009

This is Boston Report

You can view the report here: http://www.thisislincolnshire.co.uk/boston/news/Bikers-long-way-round-charity/article-1202297-detail/article.html (or click on the screen shot above).

If you haven’t donated yet there is still time!  Click on the image below to visit our JustGiving page to sponsor us online.

Visit our Fundraising Page

A few weeks ago the whole idea of riding from John o’Groats to Land’s End was made even more exciting when Lincoln Harley-Davidson offered to lend me one of their demo bikes for the trip. 

Up until that point I was going to be sharing the riding with my husband, Allister, as we share a bike – a Suzuki SV650s.  He would ride some with me as pillion, and I would ride some with Allister going pillion on one of the other bikes (as I’m not strong enough to hold him on the back!).  But all that changed when Eddie from Lincoln Harley phoned me at work to say yes, they would lend me a bike! 

Lincoln Harley-Davidson

I had emailed them just a couple of days before to tell them about what we were doing.  I thought it was worth a try, but wasn’t expecting anything.  A couple of months before that I had written to some of the manufacturers but had either got a negative or no response.  But that was ok, as the trip was going to be great anyway.  Looking back now the fact that I had a bike to ride made it a whole lot better, the opportunity to ride such a bike over that distance through some of the best scenery I’ve ever ridden in was just amazing. 

I don’t think Lincoln Harley realised, but riding a Harley has been a dream of mine ever since I was very young.  When we lived in Devonport (Plymouth), my friend’s mum had a Harley that lived outside their house at the bottom of the road… all I knew at the time was it was purple and chrome and big and noisy and gorgeous and I wanted one!  So the very fact that I was being lent a Harley-Davidson made it even better than if I was being lent any other bike.

We picked the bike up the day before the trip.  Allister and I work in Lincoln so we took his bike so we could ride home together.  After filling in the necessary paperwork and being shown the indicators and dipstick we were away… and I was riding a Harley-Davidson for the first time ever.  The bike I was riding was a Sportster Nightster 1200cc, a lovely looking bike that sounded good and would be just perfect for this trip.

It would be fair to say that I was quite nervous to start with and it did take me a good few miles to get used to the riding position and style (it’s very different to the SV), but once I relaxed into it and understood how the bike rode I really enjoyed it.  I definitely got more used to the bike as the trip went on, and my confidence as a rider is now much improved.

Me and the Harley at John o'Groats

We certainly gave the Harley some challenges along the route to test it out and it really is an all-round bike.  It loves trundling along the highways, as you would expect coming from the land of the straight road, but we didn’t really do too much of that.  Thankfully it also loved the twisty A roads you find lots of in Scotland and England – coping very well as they got tighter and more frequent, especially on the east coast road from Wick to Inverness and the “Atlantic Highway” along the north coast of Devon and into Cornwall – or at least as well as the rider!  It even managed 1:4 climbs and descents.  It was exactly the right sort of bike to take across Glen Coe and was right at home over the hills of Dartmoor National Park… and it looked just the part in the sunshine on the sea front at Penzance.

One of the best things about this Sportster Nighster was the riding position.  I have recently had problems with my shoulders and neck, and there was absolutely no pressure in those areas at all.  I am also quite short and could get my boots down on the floor very comfortably, which makes a big difference to your confidence when riding (and stopping!).  The seat was excellent too… after over 2,000 miles in the saddle at least one of the other riders was complaining their seat was too hard, but not mine, I reckon I could have ridden double the distance before my behind started to hurt!

The Harley-Davidson Sportster Nightster, with our SV650s behind

It wouldn’t be fair to miss out a couple of niggles I had with the bike; this is a review after all.  I found that the clutch was a bit heavy.  With this being the only Harley I’ve ridden I’ve got no idea if this is to be expected, but it did make getting stuck in traffic through town centres even more of an annoyance than it would have been normally.  I also found that in first gear it ticked over at around 15mph which again made traffic jams a challenge.  Obviously the bike is designed for the open road and not for commuting through cities, and this didn’t cause any problem apart from when there was a jam.  However, I think it would have benefited from a lower first gear!

But those things aside I still enjoyed the bike.  I liked the way I was sat, the sound that it made, and the presence it had on the road.  I also appreciated features such as self cancelling indicators and an automatic alarm/immobiliser that was linked to the key fob.  Overall the bike performed very well and was an excellent tool for the job it was given.

I will be forever grateful to Lincoln Harley-Davidson for making this trip special and memorable for me personally as well as being a fantastic opportunity to raise money for two very worthwhile charities.  They helped me tick off two things of my “list of things to do”… completing the iconic John o’Groats to Land’s End journey AND riding a Harley-Davidson.  Thank you!!

The Harley in the sunshine

 

You can visit Lincoln Harley-Davidson on the web here.

Lincoln Harley-Davidson

And don’t forget we’re still raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support in Lincolnshire and The Salvation Army in Boston via our JustGiving page.

We have now been back a week and are all gradually getting over the tiredness and stresses of our challenge to ride from John o’Groats to Land’s End to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support and The Salvation Army.

I thought I would share a few photographs from the journey with you…

The five of us at Newcastle

At the Scottish Border

Which way is North?!

The bikes in the barn

The mist over the Scottish hills

At John o'Groats

Loch Ness... can you see the monster?!

Glen Coe

The Harley in the Dales

Ice cream - the fuel of bikers!

Exmoor in the rain

At Land's End

Land's End

The four bikes from Lincolnshire made it home

At the moment the total raised stands in excess of £1,600 which is absolutely brilliant.  But we haven’t finished raising money yet… if you would like to sponsor us for this trip there is still time.  Visit our JustGiving page to donate online, or contact us to donate in a different way.

 

 

Visit our Fundraising Page

 

 

 

That’s it then, we’re home, the adventure is over!

It took us just over four hours to finish the journey which was pretty dull motorway riding with a bit of rain thrown in, but quick. Bradley went straight home from Reading (he lives in Kent) but the rest of us rode north together, stopping at the services in Sleaford for a photo before going our different ways in Lincolnshire.

Thanks to whoever it was who decorated the front of our house! It was definitely a surprise!

Today’s route:

Reading (to Orpington for Bradley)
South Mimms
Peterborough
Ancaster
Sleaford/Spilsby/Boston

Total mileage: 2225

There will be more blog posts once I’ve sorted out the photos and remembered anything else we were going to share. But first there’s a small matter of a bath and rest to be had!

Well we’re all extremely tired… a Travelodge has never been so welcome! We all agreed we didn’t imagine this trip would be as difficult or as tiring as it has been, it’s been a real challenge. But we are on the way home now of course and it’s been a real experience we wouldn’t have missed.

Today we started by exploring some more of Cornwall and Devon. We went from Roche where we were staying down to St Austell (about 7 miles south) before taking the scenic route through Liskeard and Tavistock.

The weather did threaten but we decided we didn’t want to miss the ride across Dartmoor so we took the road right across the National Park. This took us across cattle grids, over little stone bridges, up and down steep hills and through some stunning scenery. We rode slowly passed sheep, cows and ponies with foals. As we rode across the mist came down quickly over the hills making the TV mast disappear before our eyes – glad we weren’t out walking.

From there we still had 160 or so miles to go but it was main road all the way so quite quick. But it wasn’t without it’s issues… Allister and I lost the others then got stuck in traffic for an accident and watched the recovery trucks at work after filtering past a mile or two of cars; Graham’s bike had a funny turn and he had to fix it in a layby; we lost Bradley for a bit; and got soaked yet again. But eventually we got here, all of us, and have been able to eat and relax this evening.

Today’s route:

Roche
Victoria
St Austell
Liskeard
Tavistock
Dartmoor National Park
Lots of main roads past lots of towns!
Reading

Total mileage so far: 2056

So tomorrow we go home. I for one am ready for my own bath and bed but have had a really great time. The bike that Lincoln Harley-Davidson lent me has been really comfy and has coped with all the roads the route has thrown at it. It will need a very good wash before it goes back, and I will be sorry to hand over the keys!

Stay tuned for more posts and ‘proper’ photos to come, but this is the last ‘on the road’ entry. Thanks for all your messages of support, and for sponsoring us too. And of course it’s not too late to sponsor us if you haven’t… Go to www.justgiving.com/biketopdown to donate online.

Night!

We always knew today was going to be a long day as the route was 300 miles. We were also expecting some rain as it had been forecast all week. The forecast wasn’t wrong either. We’d all dressed in our waterproof gear from the start and the rain began as soon as we left the undercover parking area.

For Liz, who joined us last night, it was a chance to test out her rain suit but maybe wasn’t the best start to her trip. Liz is riding pillion with Bradley. The rain got heavier as we headed towards Exmoor, and can probably be described as torrential at times. Wet suits, paddles and kayaks would probably have been more appropriate than motorbikes. Water was streaming across the road at times, and we were wetter than we’ve been at any point so far on the trip. We stopped off at McDonalds in Minehead for some hot food, hot drink and to dry off a bit. The hand driers worked quite well as glove driers, turning completely drenched through gloves into damp gloves.

After Minehead we tackled the 1:4 climb at Porlock. This had tight turns during the steep inclines and was quite a challenge. We saw a van that hadn’t made it, and had rolled over minutes before we got to it. Fortunately the driver was fine, and was out the van directing traffic making sure everyone got passed safely.

Across the top of Exmoor we came across a few sheep to practise slaloms around, and could see the bay to our right. After that we got to the next set of steep drops and climbs at Lynmouth. We’d been following a car on foreign plates for several miles at low speed by then, and as we started one of the steepest climbs it’s driver decided it would be a good idea to slow to 5mph for some reason. None of us know what he might have been thinking, but you just can’t climb a 1:4 on a motorbike at 5mph, so we had had no option but to stop giving us a bit of a challenge – a hill start on a very steep slope fully loaded with luggage and Bradley with Liz as pillion. We all made it to the top and carried on with the ride.

As we got into Cornwall the weather dried up and we had blue skies for the rest of the journey. The roads widened too through Bude, Barnstable and Bideford and there was even dual carriageway past Redruth and down to Penzance. That and the dry weather meant the miles went quicker in the afternoon, even drying out our clothes en route.

We made it to Land’s End at around 5.30pm, and would all admit to being quite relieved. It’s much more touristy than John o’Groats but stunning scenery still. We took photos to prove we’d been there and then headed back to Penzance as I’d been going on about getting fish and chips by the sea all week! And they were good, eaten overlooking the sea and St Michaels Mount. Well deserved I’d say!

We still had about 50 miles left to ride back to St Austell to the B&B. Allister and I managed to get lost (or rather had an impromptu tour of the local area) but did find it eventually.

Today’s route:

Glastonbury
Minehead
Porlock
Exmoor
Lynmouth
Barnstaple
Bideford
Bude
Wadebridge
Redruth
Penzance
Land’s End
Penzance
Roche (near St Austell)

Total mileage so far: 1800

Tomorrow we are hoping for a totally dry day and some good roads between here and Reading.

Don’t forget we’re doing this to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support in Lincolnshire and The Salvation Army in Boston. Thanks to some donations while we’ve been away we’ve now reached our target of £1,500… But there is still time to donate! Go to www.justgiving.com/biketopdown to sponsor us online. Thank you!

Look where we are! We made it! Proper blog later but wanted to let you know.

When we got up this morning the sun was bright and the sky was blue. It was even warm. Ubfortunately we ended the day soaked again but atleast most of the riding was in the dry.

After breakfast at Asda in Stafford we took to the M6 and then M5 for 50 miles or so before heading across country. Bradley took us on a really lovely tour through several counties including Oxfordshire, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire all within about five minutes of each other.

Our first stop was at Broadway Tower, the second highest point in the Cotswolds. This was a return visit as we went on our way back from Wales last year. Then we took a lovely route through the hills and some little villages to The White Horse and where George was supposed to have killed the dragon. Then onto Avebury to see the stone circle before heading through Devises to Trowbridge… where it started raining. So a quick change of plan (and into our rain suits) meant we took the main road to Glastonbury rather than through Cheddar Gorge which was a shame but did mean we didn’t get quite as wet as we may have done.

Today’s route:

Stafford
Worcester
Broadway
Avebury
Devises
Trowbridge
Frome
Glastonbury

Total mileage so far: 1547

This evening Liz (Bradley’s girlfriend) joined us and will ride pillion for the last couple of days. We walked into Glastonbury and had a meal at a local pub/guest house.

Tomorrow we should complete the main bit of the journey by getting to Land’s End. Having said that it will be a very long day of around 300 miles if we do the planned route, or no scenery if we take the direct route. Decisions decisions.

Morning. I just wanted to post a big thank you to all those who have sent messages via text, on here, twitter and facebook – your thoughts and support are very much appreciated. It’s great to know people are actually reading our ramblings on here and twitter/facebook and following our progress. It’s impossible to reply to everyone but I do share your comments with the others. Thank you.

I haven’t mentioned it in previous blog entries, but each day of the ride is allocated to someone to plan and lead the route. Day 1 was Rick, day 2 was Graham, day 3 was Rick again, day 4 was Bradley and today was Allister.

It started off pretty wet, and we left at 9am, got the bikes fueled up and then went to a Little Chef we’d seen the previous evening to fuel ourselves with some breakfast.

We took some narrow country roads across the Yorkshire Dales to Ribblehead Viaduct where we stopped for ice cream. To start off with the roads were so wet the water was running across them, but once we got to Ribblehead they had virtually dried out. By that point we were pretty hot in our water proofs and since it hadn’t rained for a while we took the risk and packed them away – it turned out to be a very good decision as we only had a little light rain a couple of times through the rest of the day.

After going through Skipton, Halifax and Huddersfield it was in to the Peak District with tight bends and steep climbs where we peaked near Black Hill where we stopped to admire the views below (and the others claimed Allister secretly ate a snickers!). The route then took us to Glossop, Buxton, Leek and Stoke-on-Trent before a brief stint on the M6 brought us into Stafford in bright sunshine.

No problems finding food tonight, there was a Frankie and Bennys right by the travelodge. As we had time we showered and changed then went over to eat… And who should walk in but Mum and Dad (Ann and David Radford)!!! What a surprise! They had arranged to stay in the same travelodge as us on their way on holiday and we enjoyed a lovely meal together.

Today’s route:

Kendal
Ribblehead
Settle
Skipton
Halifax
Huddersfield
Holmfirth
Glossop
Buxton
Leek
Stoke-on-Trent
Stafford

Total mileage so far: 1340

We had a quick discussion about tomorrows route and decided to start off with some motorway to get some miles under our belt before lunch. The aim is to be in Glastonbury by 6pm to pick up a passenger.

I think we would all agree that today has been a good day. We all slept well and enjoyed a late breakfast when we got to Edinburgh. We also only had a couple of rain showers to contend with, so have spent most of the day without our rain suits on. And we also had a lovely meal this evening and were relaxing in the travelodge in Kendal
by 9pm.

Yesterday we saw the best of the Scottish scenery. Today took us through the Borders and into the Lake District, and in the sunshine!

Today’s route:

Falkirk
Edinburgh
Galashiels
Longholm
Carlisle
Keswick
Grassmere
Kendal

We were treated to a really nice meal at Rick’s cousins house in Grassmere this evening. The little white cottage sits amongst the hills of the Lake District, what a view!! And what a meal. Thank you Barbara!

Tomorrow we head through the Peak District and down to Stafford… We reckon it’ll be around 200 miles or so.

Total mileage so far: 1148

Don’t forget we are raising money for two really worthwhile causes… Macmillan Cancer Support in Lincolnshire and The Salvation Army in Boston.
If you haven’t already sponsored us and would like to please visit our JustGiving page. Thank you.

Stopped for a break and snack near Longtown along the A7.

Had a bit of rain this morning but it’s dry now, and the roads are great for motorbikes with plenty of bends and curves with not too much traffic.

After a thorough test I can confirm the Harley will do at least 115 miles on a tank.

We’re deciding whether to go straight to the Travelodge to drop off the gear and then go back into the Lake District for a ride without the luggage, or taking a slower but more scenic route through the Lakes to get to the Travelodge.

Looking forward to a home cooked meal tonight at a relatives of Rick’s.

Good morning! Now refreshed after a good sleep I thought I’d get yesterdays blog written. What a long day! I do wonder whether we enjoyed some of the most stunning scenery of the trip… time will tell!

We started with another good breakfast, the B&B in Watten was fantastic and we would recommend it to anyone travelling up that way. I’ll post a link to their website when we get home.

It was raining when we started out but only a little and the sky looked promising. We started off by taking the scenic route to John o’Groats, along narrow country lanes through farms and hamlets. So remote. It was only 20 miles or so to the most north-easterly point in the UK where we posed for the traditional photo under the signpost.

Then we started on the long road to Inverness – back the way we came. This time though we could see where we were going and the sun even made an appearance. There was one really heavy shower which soaked us but generally it was dry and even warm at times!

We stopped at a battlefield for lunch (dad would be proud!) and sat out in the sunshine for a bit. Then on the road again alongside Loch Ness to Fort William. From there we rode through Glen Coe which was totally amazing… so sparse and high!

We were making very good progress, although late, until the rain started again 40 or so miles from Falkirk, slowing us down. That, as well as struggling to find the travelodge in the dark and wet tucked behind a pub off the main road meant we were very late today. After tucking into crisps and chocolate from the vending machine for supper we went to bed.

Today’s route:

Watten
John o’Groats
Wick
Inverness
Culloden
Loch Ness
Fort William
Cairngorms
Glen Coe
The Trossachs
Stirling
Falkirk

Total mileage so far: 956

Today we are heading back into England and to Kendal. More rain is forecast… I think we’ve just got to assume we’ll have wet boots for the whole trip.

The photos from yesterday show some of the stunning scenery we rode through.

Much longer day than originally thought. Arrived at travelodge at about 11pm wet and tired, but all safe and sound. Longer blog to follow tomorrow… bed is calling.

Quick pic in the mean time:

Today has been a bit damp. It started off with some rain when we left the B&B near Perth, and then brightened up a bit and stopped near Ralia where we stopped for a drink. It started to drizzle a bit a few miles after we left there, and in the end we had rain and drizzle all the way. Once we reached Caithness things got even worse, as we rode through low clouds resulting on very poor visibility. When we eventually arrived at our stop for the night – Loch Watten House – we were all a bit cold and several of is had wet feet, hands or both.

Our hosts at the B&B have been great though. After taking our wet gear off us to dry, they lit the fire for us so we could warm up. We’re getting an Indian takeaway in tonight which they helped us sort out, because we can’t pull ourselves away from the fire now!

Not many photos to share today unfortunately. It was so wet it would probably have damaged the cameras, and we didn’t think we’d need to bring underwater ones!

First job tomorrow is to get fuel. The fuel light has been on for about 15 miles on the Harley now, so there’s not a lot left in it. After that we’ll head to John O’ Groats before starting to head south. Hopefully the weather will be drier.

Today’s route:

Stanley
Daviot
Inverness
Murray Firth
Cromerty Firth
Digwall
Dornoch Firth
Latheron
Watten

Total mileage so far: 618