Withdrawal Symptoms

Finally the bike was put back together and on the road today! The back wheel has been in having a set of new spokes fitted (for two weeks). You can imagine our relief having some time off that coincided, the weather to enjoy it, and the bike!

Richard cycled the tandem solo into Helston to pick up Joules from work. Lucky girl! Not only a half day, but a carriage with style! Off with the white coat and on with the lycra, ahh bisto!

Coverack had to be the place today.





Who needs the Caribbean when you've got Coverack? Lunch on the harbour, idyllic.

A cycle ride would not be complete without an ice cream, and Coverack came up trumps with the local Roskilly's variety. As you can see from the photo, Joules had chocolate! No surprises there!



Cycling without the trailer today was vastly different, so much easier and faster! The hills, no, sorry, efforts melted in the heat, along with the riders (and in places the road!). When we got home the stifling feeling that has been growing in us for the last two weeks had been blown away in one afternoon! Free spirit rules!

P.S. Hi Peter!

Photos and Thank You's

Apologies for the 36 hour delay, we'll blame it on volcanic ash! We were catching up with real life, sleep and back to work.

As you can imagine looking through the zillions of photographs has taken us right back to the beginning (not that we want to bore you with holiday snaps!). Hopefully our selection will give you a flavour of the ups and downs (literally) and the outstanding scenery that Great Britain has to offer. Click on the Photo Albums link on the right to see what we've done!

As with everything, none of this could have happened without enormous gratitude and thanks, so pick your name out from the list and if its not there its because you're just too special to mention!

Thank you to...

Dad (for having faith in us and being our control tower and support guiding us home)
George (for all the encouraging texts), Oliver (for getting us used to waking at 5.30am), Harry (for not! and for being our ace photographer)
Mum (for the spelling corrections!), Dad (for his encouragement, he really should read this blog!), Alex (for the comments on the blog) and Liz (for encouraging texts & phone calls)
Paul, Jean, Verity, Ashley & Kerris (flowers, wine & chocolate)
Auntie Pauline (for taking on Radio Cornwall & local press), David (for interpretation on mobile phone), Uncle Robbie (sitting patiently), Keira (homecoming flags)
Bonnie Pat & Alex (Scottish knowledge)
Mhairi & Jim for picking us up, putting us up (up with us?) and dropping us off again at an ungodly hour at Edinburgh Station on our way to John O'Groats
The Grafitti Grannys (you know who you are and you know why! for giving us loads of fun along the way)
All Joules' Patients, especially to Peter and Sabine for being there at Land's End.
People we met along the way, especially Careys Guest House (for looking after the bike), the guys at John O'Groats who took our photos, Mr & Mrs Fleming in Tain for encouragement at a low ebb, Crask Inn (for the best water in the Universe), Jessie at Off Beat Bikes of Fort William for rebuilding the wheels, Mr & Mrs Moss for directions through Glasgow, Alice, Andrew, Alistair and Jan at Robert the Bruce Caravan Park (and Kevin for running us to the pub!), Ian Walton (hope you made it too!), the lady from Devon we met at Rowardennan Lodge, Eva and John Gardener in Kendal for the best b&b we had, Barbara, David & Allan for being our guiding light in to Wigan (tail winds forever!), James & Sammie for doing the washing, feeding & bedding!, Andy at the Worcester Cycle Centre for getting us back on the road, Mike for everything he's done (including buying us lunch!), Sheila & Mike for a wonderful evening, Sian for the Avon Cycle Path advice, Roger Bennetts for keeping us company out of Taunton while he was looking out for Mick on his Chopper, Gavin in Bridestow for not running over the bike (handbrakes are useful things when applied), Launceston Cycle Centre for the loan of the pump, route advice and encouragement, Alan & Jackie Winter (a brief encounter with another tandem, many thanks for the donation! The Brooks is on the Christmas list!), Hilary and Dr Steve for the health Spa experience and medical attention, Lynda Thomas for meeting us at M&S (and the bottle of wine), Jim & Gill for coming out of their way to meet us en route and for all their texts & support, Mark Oliver who cycled along Eastern Green in Penzance with us (Good Luck for your JOGLE, and many thanks for the donation!), Rachael the Marie Curie Nurse for giving up her time to be at Land's End. Everyone who turned out on a grey miserable day to see two people finish a bike ride, Peter James for collecting the bike from Land's End and looking after it. Helen for the flowers that waited for us when we got home. To Andrew Chance and Rowes Honda for sponsoring us and bringing us home safely.

Thanks to all those who took photos at Land's End. There are too many people to mention!

Thanks to all the strangers we met who showed us so much kindness, generosity and encouragement the whole length of the journey.

And finally thanks to all those who have generously donated to Marie Curie.

If your name isn't on the list, we haven't forgotten you!


P.S. look out for the book!