Just a thought..................2012

 

We start the cycle in the north east of Italy at the border with Austria, between Bolzano and Innsbruck.  The first day will be spent cycling through the Alps which will probably be my most challenging route.  We will finish the day in the area surrounding Trento which is Italy's richest city.

 

My last day will be a slightly shorter day - only cycling 80 miles.  Due to the mountains through the middle of the "foot" I will be following the coast round the tip and the finishing point will be Melito di Porto Salvo.  By the time I reach the finishing point I will have cycled over 2000km

or

Ireland, a place of beauty

Lots of long stretches of rural road that make any cycle a pleasure

Given the size of Ireland it is more than common to plan a cycle route from coast to

 

 

 

 

Bob

Happy Birthday Carbonaut Bob!!!

This is the lovely cake that Grant and Mary baked for Carbonaut Bob's birthday

Happy Birthday from the the rest of the Carbonauts, Bob :)

Final Day - Flat Ride

Well, I don't know what Ian had for breakfast on the last day.  Our final day on the A9 was assured to us as being flat!!!

 

9 days in and I think we could have been told anything and believed it. However, the profile off the official Toaster shows the true apparent flat of the day.

 

Ians toaster must have been the one in the kitchen and the 2 climbs were slices of bread.

 

No worries, we got there in the end.

 

Cheers

 

Hindo

A week later and.....

Well, you have heard from 2 of the guys since we finished so I thought I would just wind up my end of the journey.

 

Got to say I had a few reservations before the trip and was not sure how the "team" would gel but I have to say they were a pleasure to be with. We all had our bad days but I think that is what teamwork is all about, encouraging and working through it together. This was a "team" in he true sense of the word.

 

Before the journey started I never doubted I would finish, but twice during it I was going through a pretty low period and thought about giving up and the strange thing it wasn't about letting the charity down, or myself, or even the people that donated, it was more about letting the "team" down and sure enough the guys got me through  it.

 

So enough of that and as Grant started it here are some of my best and worst bits:

 

Best Wellies award:     Rose and Crown, Nether Stowey...or Nether regions!!

 

Best area:    Wye Valley

 

Best Beer:     Ginger Tosser

 

Best Meal:     Spean Bridge

 

Worst Hill:     Camelford.......be afraid people, be very afraid !!!!

 

Worst Day:    Journey to Kendal and checking into the hotel that time forgot

 

Worst Arrival:    Hello Ludlow...ouch

 

Scariest Moment(s):    Hindo applying his bottom cream every morning

 

Strangest Moment:     The nutter on the roundabout into Hereford, strange man in a green hoodie and flip flops in the pouring rain waving his arms at us.....turned out to be Ian

 

Happiest Moment:       Arriving as a Team in John O'Groats,  finishing what we set out to do

 

Most Painful moment:   Every morning getting out of bed and doing my Douglas Bader impersonation

 

Most Worrying moment:     I.T Johnny and the Porn Star Wabbit

 

Would like to say thanks to The Doc, I.T Johnny, and Hindo for a fantastic time, great memories and a lot of laughs. Also like to say thanks for all the support, donations and the time / effort people have put in.

 

Finally a special thanks to Ian without whose help this would have been a lot harder, you did a fantastic job for us - thankyou.

 

Bob.

 

...........what next for the carbonauts?

 

 

Thanks to all

In addition to last nights Clog, I would also like to add my thanks to all who have supported us throughout the whole event.

 

This is to all the people who have donated both financially and time in order to make this so successful. Without you, we would not have gone as far as we did.

 

And as a final note, I would like to add 1 completely memorable moment to his list in the previous blog.

 

This has to be without a doubt, the small corner bridge on the descent section of the A82 into Glencoe. Right on the right hand bend near the waterfall. You probably all know where I mean. Yep, what I took from a distance to be tarmac filled potholes in the concrete road, turned out to be bloody great potholes. I hit them at approx 24 mph and believe me, every expletive under the sun was shouted as I tried to recover from the vibration through the bike. So apologies to the guys who were taking the pictures on that corner, as I bet you wondered what the hell was going on.  I know Bianca will never be the same again.!!

 

So, thanks to all who supported us throughout. We couldn't have done it without you.

 

Cheers

 

Hindo.

Final Thoughts

Well now the dust has settled and the scars are beginning to heal it's time for a quick round up of the ride. First some awards

 

Scariest Moment - Sitting on my bike at Lands End wondering what on earth I was doing there and how I was going ride over 900 miles in 10 days.

 

Happiest Moment - After 4 or 5 days, realising that I probably could finish the ride - and of course finishing!

 

Best Overnight Stop - Buchan Guest House in Moffat; friendly welcome, did our washing, fantastic!

 

Most Scary Cuddly Toy - John's massive rabbit on his bed in Bonhill.

 

Most Depressing Moment - Realising that we were going to have to pedal down Glencoe into a gale.

 

Best Tea Stop - At the bottom of Glencoe!

 

Biggest Myth - "After the first few days you'll get your cycling legs"

 

Worst Navigational Blunder - That I will admit to? - Setting off up the M74 slip road in Gretna

 

Worst Road Surface - For all round achievement and commitment the old A74 in the care of South Lanarkshire Council wins. However a special award goes to the A6 outside of Levens Hall just south of Kendal. Near the end of our supposedly easy day (turned out to be over 100 miles with plenty of incident) I actually swore out loud at the road.

 

I guess the other guys will have their own personal favourites or other categories.

 

I would like to thank the rest of the team for their fantastic support and encouragement both before and during the ride. There is no way I could have finished the ride on my own - certainly not in 10 days. Plus I have some excellent memories that I hope won't fade. For the the rest I'll just have to keep up the therapy!

 

A big thanks to Ian, nothing was too much for him, bags put in rooms, painkillers procured, bike repairs, drink top ups on demand and arranging stops at the top of the biggest hills he could find!

 

Finally the biggest thanks of all to Mary for supporting me during the training and letting me disappear for nearly two weeks. I came back to one son in hospital with a broken foot, a badly mauled dog on antibiotics, two dead hens thanks to the other dog and first morning back had to round up the sheep for blood tests! It will be a while before I'm allowed to leave home again!

 

Grant

 

Ps - And thanks to all our readers and donors for their support!

Its All Over

What can I say? After 9 months in the planning, loads of training and 10 days in execution, the event of a lifetime is now done. Almost a week down the line and the reality is beginning to sink in. I personally have been shattered since getting back and remembering all those miles has been like a dream. However, I know it's real. It is now only just coming back to me.

I would just like to say to the boys, thanks for 10 great days that I will remember for the rest of my life. You all did excellent and it is something we should all be proud of. What an experience. Thankfully we all made it through without major incident.

We will have to get together soon and do another "training run" just to be together again.  Whatever happens in the future, this will never be forgotten or the people who took part and made it happen.

A big thanks has to be given to Ian MacAskill for his support as driver, bag handler, bike mechanic and chief shopper for carbs on this trip. Everything you did made it so much easier. We could not have done it without you.

Cheers guys for everything.

Hindo

PS. eeh by gum as chuffin' heck as like.