AFTER a long but uneventful drive we made it to Land’s End, booked into the excellent Land’s End hotel and enjoyed a well deserved steak dinner. Have to keep the carbohydrates up so had a couple of pints of good Cornish ale too.

I had hired a car from Enterprise and the plan was to drop it off in Penzance than cycle the remaining 12 miles to LE. But I then discovered that Enterprise provide a great service for End to Enders. If you drop the hired car off in Penzance they will give you lift out to LE.Despite the fact that we were running late due to some very heavy traffic the lad at Enterprise told us to drive out to the hotel, dump our bikes and gear and bring the car back and check it in. He would then run us back to the hotel

Itworked very well despite the fact the poor lad wouldn’t have got back to Penzance till well after 6.30. A great service and I can’t compliment Enterprise enough. Compre that service to the railway where we were told that they could us to Penzance but couldn’t guarantee our bikes would get there!

So we’re here, the weather is fine for the moment and tomorrow we have a 60 mile ride to St Columb Major. I’m hoping for a bit of wind assistance and after a couple if pints of Tribute I might just get my wish, although it will be the wrong kind of wing power.

ONE of the big problems for me when I leave for any trip is trying to remember what I’ve forgotten. Working on the basis that I usually forget something I can’t settle until I remember what it is.

Normally it’s something fairly insignificant and I remember what it is pretty quickly but sometimes it’s more vital. I once left home for a week’s backpacking and left my stove on the kitchen table. Had to cook on open fires for a week. Another time I forgot my boots and had to walk in my everyday trail shoes.This time I’ve been fairly lucky. I was sitting in Hamish’s house in Sedbergh last night when Gina phoned to say I’d left a plastic bag of clothing behind on my office floor. It was a bag I intended leaving at Hamish’s house so I would have some fresh kit to wear when we arrive here in a week’s time.

So, now that I know what I’ve forgotten I can relax a bit. Gina will post the bag to Hamish’s and it should be here by next week. What would we do without wives!

Heading down south this morning and it looks like a long, wet drive, which is much better than a long, wet cycle ride. Forecast is reasonable for the south-west so fingers crossed. Land’s End here we come. Think I’ve got everything…

TOMORROW I’ll go up to Inverness, hire a car, pick up my touring bike after its servicing, visit my granddaughters briefly then head south to Sedbergh to stay the night with Hamish. Next day we’ll drive to Penzance, deposit the hire car and head out to Land’s End. We start cycling on Friday.

I spoke to Hamish last night. Like me he finds he’s running out of time to complete all the little domestic jobs he has to do before we head off (I still have a couple of features to write before I leave). I’m also keen to get in another bike ride before I leave. Since coming back from Spain a couple of weeks ago I’ve not managed to get in the miles I would have hoped to and last week, when I was filming in the Borders, I didn’t get on the bike at all. Over the past few days I’ve managed to get a couple of rides in and surprised myself that although they have been relatively short rides, about 20-30 miles, I’m recording much faster times than I had previously. I’m hoping that’s an indication that I’m a bit fitter than before.

I should say a few words about my travelling companion, Hamish Telfer. He’s been trying to decide if he should carry some chain lubricant on the trip and reckoned his local bike shop has more lube than an average knocking shop! I think he’s settled on some wet lube, probably a pretty safe bet.

Hamish and I met when we were about 14. We joined our local athletics club at the same time and became firm friends. We were both coached by John Anderson, of Gladiators fame, and when I eventually gave up track and field in favour of the hills Hamish went on to a career in physical education, coaching top level athletes and fighting the war against performance enhancing drugs. As teenagers we shared a number of outdoor adventures which could probably be summed up as falling off hills, and I recall one notable trip when we tried to canoe across the lochs of the Rannoch Moor, got caught in a vicious storm and capsized. I reckon it was only luck that avoided us succumbing to hypothermia. For a while we were both members of the Lomond Mountaineering Club in Glasgow before I went to live in the north and Hamish went south to live and work.

We’ve kept in touch over the years and about three years ago enjoyed a great little backpacking trip into the Cairngorms. When I thought about cycling End to End I immediately thought of Hamish - I guessed it was the kind of adventure that he would go for. There was something appealing about two 60 plus guys heading off for an adventure together - our Last of the Summer Wine trip, Compo and Clegg on bikes.  In actual fact Hamish has probably cycled much more than I have - he took a bike up the length of the Hebrides a couple of years ago, but I think this LEJOG is a new departure for both of us. We’re already looking at what we might do next… End to End through Ireland sounds appealing.

But first we have to cycle through the UK. At this moment in time I’m slightly nervous about it and my fears are more about the mechanics of the bike going wrong rather than my own ability to keep going. When you’re long distance backpacking you just have to keep walking. You don’t have to depend on any mechanised form of transport but depending on a bike and all its component parts working is very new to me. Fortunately there are plenty of bike shops in the UK and other than our last few days through the highlands we’ll be passing through plenty of towns.

All in all I’m looking forward to the trip. Looking forward to seeing the UK in a new light and certainly looking forward to visiting some parts of England that I’m not familiar with. And if I lose a few pounds in the process, share a few adventures with Hamish and have a laugh or two along the way then it will have been a great success. Next blog from Land’s End…

IT’S a curious thing but I thought that after a week of not cycling I’d be dead keen to get the bike out and go for a ride. But I’m not…

I had to take a week off cycling because I was away all week filming the Gore-Tex Scottish National Trail. The filming went really well, despite a day of unexpected snow when we were in Kirk Yetholm, but we almost made up the lost time and the quality of the interviews we did was great.

We also had some superb weather, particularly for the ascent of little Wideopen Hill above the Bowmont River and our ascent of the Eildons on a sparkling blue sky morning when the distant Cheviots were still snow covered and stood out like the Cairngorms. The filming didn’t leave much time for cycling though and with the start of our End to End only a week away I was really looking forward to getting back in the saddle, swopping my boots for a bike.

But this morning I woke up with a slight tummy bug and have felt a little lethargic all morning. On top of that it’s been raining steadily all day and it’s a pretty miserable Good Friday. After what seems like weeks of great weather it’s difficult to accept this return to winter and I must admit, the thought of cycling along in the rain is not very appealing.

So, I’m going to take a further day off, get some work done, and do some planning for the End to End.

I’ve arranged to hire a car and I will collect Hamish and his bike from Sedbergh before we continue south to Penzance. I’m told the Enterprise car hire people will give us a life out to Land’s End once we drop the car off so that could be a big bonus. Anyone know if that is the normal procedure with End to Enders dropping a car off at Penzance?

We’ve booked a night in the Land’s End Hotel so should be fresh and ready to go come next Friday morning - Friday the 13th April, unlucky for some but hopefully not for us!

After that we’re aiming to get to St Columb Major on our first night, a distance of about 60 miles, and then on to Great Torrington. That’s another 66 miles. Then it’s another 64 mile day to Bridgewater, when I hope we’ll have the big hills of Corwall and Devon well behind us. Anyone know of good B&B’s or hostels in these towns - St Columb Major, Great Torrington and Bridgewater?

After that the plan is as follows:

Coleford - 84 miles

Much Wenlock - 73 miles

Knutsford - 73 miles

Sedbergh - 93 miles

Langholm - 82 miles

Edinburgh - 74 miles

Perth - 70 miles

Newtonmore - 65 miles

Dingwall - 64 miles

Helmsdale - 66 miles

John O’Groats - 50 miles

Wow, it all looks so easy written down on paper, apart from that big day to Sedbergh but Hamish has been working on that section and reckons he can knock a few miles off the route. I guess we might chop and change a bit as we go along but we’re praying for south westerlies to blow us along.

Once we finish in John O’Groats we’ll be heading back down the road to Newtonmore when Hamish will celebrate his 62nd birthday and Gina and I will celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary. Should be a good party, particularly if we can celebrate a successful End to End as well.

WE’RE heading for the Scottish Borders this weekend to start working on our Gore-Tex Scottish National Trail. I’ve already walked the 375 mile/603km route in its entirely and have walked several sections of it a number of times. Now comes the difficult bit, filming it and writing the book!

I passionately believe the Gore-Tex Scottish National Trail could become one of the iconic long-distance walking routes of the world and could also add appreciably to the economies of the towns, villages and settlements the route runs through. We all know how economically successful the West Highland Way has been and I believe the Gore-Tex Scottish National Trail will bring many walkers from overseas to Scotland to walk the route in sections, or in some cases, in its entirety.

The route will run between Kirk Yetholm in the Scottish Borders and Cape Wrath, the most north-westerly point on the Scottish mainland, and can be broken down into four main sections;

• the southern section between Kirk Yetholm and Edinburgh, 81 miles/130km;

• a route between Edinburgh and Milngavie following the Union and Forth and Clyde Canals, 51 miles/82km;

• a central highlands section between Milngavie and Aviemore, 125 miles/201km;

• and the final route between Badenoch and Cape Wrath, 119miles/191km.

The notion of a National Trail running the length of the country isn’t a new one. Many people have long favoured the idea of a long distance walking route throughout the length of Scotland. The route of the Gore-Tex Scottish National Trail passes through some of the most wonderful landscapes in Scotland, takes in both our National Parks, and even visits our capital city, Edinburgh.

For the first time many of Scotland’s existing footpaths will be linked into a longer length-of-the-nation route. The Scottish National Trail makes full use of existing footpaths and official ‘ways’, and follows various sections of the St Cuthbert’s Way, the Southern Upland Way, the West Highland Way, the Rob Roy Way and the Cape Wrath Trail.

The trail also follows a number of local ‘core paths’. As part of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act of 2003, when Scotland was given access laws that have become the envy of the world, councils were asked to develop Core Path Networks around villages and towns. I’ve been able to make full use of these paths in various parts of the country, particularly around Peebles and the Pentlands, in the Trossachs around Aberfoyle and in Badenoch. Scotland is now very well served by an astonishing array of good walking routes so it seems like the right time to develop a long distance walking route that links them together to run the entire length of the country.

Last year when I was in Nepal the Great Himalayan Trail was launched, a long distance trekking route that runs right through the country. I thought then that if Nepal could have such a route why not Scotland? A route that connects the fabulous diversity of landscape that we have in Scotland, from the rolling hills of the Borders to the untamed majesty of the far North-West.

Now, with the generous help of GORE-TEX (R), we hope to make that vision a reality. The folk at Gore have been really supportive and encouraging and have helped us in a great number of ways, not least in making sure that I don’t suffer from wet feet!

All going well the guide book will be published in the early Autumn. It’s going to be a busy summer.

WHAT a fabulous ride today - 74 miles from Newtonmore to Spean Bridge and back again. As beautiful a bike ride as you’ll find anywhere. Did it in just over 5 hours.

I set off just after 9am and immediately felt underdressed. It was a misty, cool morning and I was wearing dB leg warmers and a Revolution Forsa jacket from Edinburgh Cycling Co-operative over a cycling jersey.

Eventually I had to stop and put some long fingered gloves on and a new windproof jacket over the Forsa. The windproof is one of Rohan’s new Rider range of cycling clothing, the Windrider Jacket, and since it weighs a mere 215gm and rolls up into a tiny package it can live quite happily in the back pocket. It certainly made all the difference and kept me comfortable until I reached Spean Bridge.

I stopped at the Spar shop and bought myself a cheese and onion slice and sat outside on the grass and devoured it, along with a banana and some Lucozade. Strange the things that come to mind - I recalled quite clearly getting Lucozade when I was unwell as a child, and hating it! Now it doesn’t taste too bad at all.

It was while I was sitting on the grass that I realised it had become quite warm. The sun had finally broken through the thin layer of milky cloud and brightened everything up. Time to cast a layer or two before heading back home. Off went the long fingered gloves and the Windrider, and off I went, very quickly becoming too warm again.

I stopped at Roy Bridge, bought a coffee from the little shop there and decided it was warm enough for shorts and jersey, so off came the leg warmers and the Revolution Forsa. In truth I guess I really only wanted to show off the bit of sun tan I got in Spain last week, but I certainly felt better as I tackled the long up-hill out of Roy Bridge towards Tulloch and the Moy Dam. For the rest of the ride I was perfectly comfortable and I think the temperature went up to about 17 degrees. Creag Meagaidh looked magnificent…

When I go hillwalking it’s very rare for me to adjust clothing too much. At the start of the walk I can usually gauge exactly what I need to wear and other than put on or take off a waterproof jacket I rarely have to adjust anything, but cycling is a different matter altogether. I guess the downhills tend to chill you a bit, especially if you’ve worked up a bit of a sweat on the uphill. Now I know why the professional racers stuff yesterday’s Telegraph down the front of their shirts on long descents.

It might take me a bit of time to work out the best clothing options for the LEJOG. Two days ago I rode 50 miles, up to Cairn Gorm car park and back, and just wore shorts and a jersey. Yesterday, when the weather conditions looked similar, I started off with shorts and jersey but ended up wearing all the clothing I had with me and still had frozen feet and cold fingers. I had to thaw out in the shower for 20 minutes when I got home.

I’m not sure how the racers do it. I guess they have back-up with gilets, warm tops etc for them and on the LEJOG I’ll be carrying all my gear with me anyway so it won’t be too much of a problem to put on or take off clothing, but I just wish I could regulate it a bit better.

One bit of kit that has had me cursing a bit is my Garmin Edge 200 computer. On the basis that it’s easier going for longer than faster, Hamish and I have agreed that we’ll aim for an average pace of about 12mph on our trip. My intention has been to try and maintain that kind of pace on these training rides but I keep checking the Garmin, see that I’m going along a bit faster, and then try and complete the run in 14, or 15mph. I’m thinking of leaving the Garmin at home in future, and riding deliberately slowly. And yet, it’s kind of addictive…

An additional piece of useless information. According to the Garmin I used up 4500 calories today. I wonder if that took into account the cheese and onion pasty?

Three weeks to go before Hamish and I run our wheels over the starting line at Land’s End. I’ve had my little holiday in Andalucia where the hills were beasts and I now have to get in some big rides before we head off. Coming home from holiday from an area like Andalucia is sometimes difficult at this time of the year. It’s not unusual to come home to snow, or steady rain and grey skies but today the weather was just as we left it in Spain. Cloudless blue skies and warm. I took the opportunity to cycle up to Cairn Gorm, a distance of just under 50 miles and about 2500 feet of climbing. Did it in about 3h 15m on the touring bike but didn’t push it. I’ll try and get in another longish ride tomorrow then try a couple of shorter faster rides over the weekend.

The problem with all this cycling is I’m missing the mountains. I was sore tempted today to swap bike for boots and head into the Cairngorms for a day but I guess I need to keep the wheels turning for the moment. I’ll get a little respite from the bike in just over a week’s time when we go off filming the Scottish National Trail - it’ll be good to use different muscles for a change.

In between trying to get the miles in and sorting out my usual work load I now have to start thinking about some of the LEJOG domestic issues like where we are going to stay, how much food we’ll need to carry with us and final services to the bike. Looks like we’ll hire a car and drive to Penzance, leave the car hire at the depot there and ride the dozen or so miles to LE where I’ve already booked us both into the Land’s End Hotel. However, that’s the only accommodation we’ve booked. We hope that since it’s early in the season the B&B’s won’t be too busy but I’m thinking it might be an idea to book the first couple of nights en route. Must check it out.

Also need to think about what kind of bike tools to carry. Should I take dry and wet chain lube or see if I can find an all-weather lube, and how many spare tubes should I carry? And how many energy bars can I carry at once? Need to order some more High 5 Isotonic and Energy Source drinks and maybe carry a couple of Soreen malt loaves - I live with a morbid fear of starvation, especially when I’m cycling, but I need to try and lose another half stone before we go. Aaaaaah! It’s all getting to me… Any hints or tips from End-to-Enders about what or what not to carry will be gratefully appreciated.

It shows how seriously I’m taking this LEJOG trip that I’m currently in Andalucia, that’s in Spain for anyone who doesn’t know, cycling the hilly mountain roads. If I’m being perfectly honest the real reason I’m here is to get some sunshine into my pale northern skin. The thought of exposing my alabaster white legs all the way from Land’s End to John O Groats was too much to bear. Might even have dazzled passing motorists.

So instead, I’m getting pitying looks from the hordes of racing snake skinny bikies that frequent this glorious part of the world, every one of them looking as though they’d just spent the past six months in a sun tanning salon, except I know they haven’t. Apparently it hasn’t rained here for weeks and today the temperature is in the twenties. The past few days has seen a cool breeze blowing, not the Scottish winter wind that strips your flesh from your bones but a rather gentle, balmy breeze that keeps the temperature on the sane side of melting.

I’m currently enjoying a tour of the Andalucian white villages, the pueblo blancos of the Serrania de Ronda. Not cycling very far in terms of daily mileages but I’ve been over some big hills. Long and steady ascents are the order of the day here, always with another pueblo blanco at the top of the hill, with a great selection of bars and restaurants for a mid morning coffee or lunch.

The cycling is going well and I feel relatively fit now. With less than a month before Hamish and I set off from Land’s End I have some time left to get in some big days so at this point I’m feeling fairly confident. Unfortunately I have a huge amount of work to get done before we set off so it looks as though I’ll be cycling during the day and word bashing until the wee small hours. I guess I’m lucky to be able to do that.

Also have to fit in a week’s filming for the other big project of this year - the Gore Tex Scottish National Trail, a long walk from Kirk Yetholm in the Scottish Borders to Cape Wrath. We’ve been commissioned two hour-long television programmes to be broadcast next Christmas and New Year, and I have to finish writing the book before the launch of the trail in September. Delighted too to have Scotland’s First Minister’s blessing on the project and he has kindly agreed to launch the trail for us. Indeed, he’s been hugely supportive.

But before all that I need to haul myself north to John O Groats. Last day of cycling here in Spain tomorrow, then I’m going to spend a day exploring the amazing town of Ronda before flying home with my hard earned sun tan. Mmm, think I deserve a beer after writing all that!

I think I might be edging a little close to obsession with this forthcoming End-to-End cycle trip. I’ve just had two days with no cycling and I feel very guilty. Had to give a couple of talks over the past two evenings and managed to fit in some meetings too, with the Scottish Walks team in Glasgow and with my Scottish National Trail sponsors at Gore in Livingston. The days have been busy but no time for the bike and today, now that I’m home, it is horrendously windy. I was nearly blown off the bike last week so I think I’ll give it a miss today but I need to do something. Can’t go three days without bike exercise. I guess it’ll have to be the dreaded turbo-trainer.

I bought this turbo-trainer last year as a means to keep fit when the winter weather was at its worst but my God it is boring. I’ve tried it with watching a DVD, I’ve tried it with music on loud, but I still get bored. 45 minutes seems like an eternity, but I guess it keeps the legs moving. I work on reps - 15 min warm up then 5 minutes alternating 60 sec flat out with 60 sec recovery. Then it’s a 5 min easy pedal before I do the 60 sec thing again. Do that three times, with a bit of a warm down so all in it lasts about 45 minutes. But there’s no fresh air, no views, no birds singing (and no head-on wind, passing trucks, rain showers!) Lots of sweat though…

With only 5 weeks to go I think I’ve sorted the tingly fingers. Bought some pretty good gel padded mitts, from Specialised and I’ve just wrapped some gel tape round my handlebars. They feel nice and soft now! Most important of all though, I’ve stopped wearing my wristwatch on the bike. I think that was pressing on a nerve in my wrist and causing the problem.

Hope to get out on the bike early tomorrow. After that I have to travel back to Glasgow for the SNP spring conference - see if I can persuade our First Minister to stop approving wind farm planning applications…

IT seems one of the big worries for tyro End to Enders is the thought of cycling big distances, day in and day out, for anything up to two or three weeks. It’s certainly been a concern of mine and while I’ve managed to get in some reasonable days recently I feel it’s taken me a day or two to recover from each of them.

Last week I rode further in a day than I’ve ever ridden on a bike before, 72 miles from Perth to Newtonmore, and halfway through that ride I realised I’d have to ride that sort of distance every day for 14 consecutive days. It’s been niggling away at me and while I’ve been aware that I’m getting fitter, a tad lighter in weight, and certainly more bike-savvy, I’ve been a bit worried about getting up on Day 2 with heavy legs and sore knees.

So, in a bid to try and knock that particular monkey off my back, I cycled 60 miles yesterday, from Newtonmore to Roy Bridge and back, then got up this morning and rode from Newtonmore to Inverness, a cool 53 miles. Not only did I feel great and fresh, I did the 53 miles at 16mph pace, as fast as I’ve ridden a bike anywhere.

Now I know these distances don’t quite equate to an average of 72 miles a day for 14 days, but it’s definitely an improvement and on the actual trip Hamish and plan to ride a bit slower than 16 mph - probably aiming for an average of 12mph. We’ll also be stopping more often and certainly taking a good lunch break, rather than a quick five minutes to scoff a banana.

So, with confidence boosted what’s coming up in the next few weeks before we leave? Well, I have a couple of speaking engagements in Edinburgh over the next two nights and day meetings in Glasgow and Edinburgh so there won’t be any cycling between now and Friday. Hope to get in three reasonable rides on Friday, Saturday and Sunday then I have to travel to Yorkshire for the Outdoor Industries Conference where I’m giving the after-dinner speech. From there I’ll be travelling north to Glasgow airport where I’m flying to Andalucia for a week’s cycling - the final preparation if you like, a week of cycling consecutive days in the sun, hopefully!

After that, I have a week’s filming to do for the BBC and I’ll just have to try and work as many bike rides in as I can before we leave in mid-April. For the moment I feel as though I’ve taken my preparations for LEJOG pretty seriously, and I’ve been blessed with a fairly mild winter to allow me to do that. If I could lose another half a stone body weight I’d be even happier!