Archive for the ‘ Blog During Trip ’ Category
So I’ve been meaning to do it for a while and just saw an offer which I couldn’t resists.
My JOGLE4Brads Photobook.
I very much doubt anyone apart from me would like a photobook containing photos of me and my blog from JOGLE4Brads but you might want to have a look at the photos and stuff.
I’ll let you know what it looks like when it arrives.
🙂
I woke up bursting for a piss.
The drinks from last night were catching up with me so I had the discussion I’d had with myself most mornings about whether to get up right away and go for a piss or to hold it in until after 6am and just get up then.
I looked at my watch and it was about 5:30am. Might as well get up then.
After a long piss I made my way to the mess tent to get some Tea and I saw a familiar face who I wasn’t expecting to see – Funkmaster Red.
He’d driven through the night to get to our campsite so he could help them breakdown the camp in the morning and then make his way to the Stitithans Showground for the VW Action SouthWest show. I’d not seen him for a month or so and it was good to catch up and update him on what we’d done so far. It was also a good excuse for me to drink lots of tea and warm up. While we chatted more people woke up and the camp started to come alive.
Today was different though. You could feel it in the air that everyone was excited and nervous at the same time.
People who were having issues with their bikes were praying to the JOGLE-Gods that they could cross the finish line at Land’s End.
People who weren’t having issues wit their bikes were praying to the JOGLE-Gods that they could cross the finish line at Land’s End.
It was dry as people took down their tents and as petrol tanks were filled, jerry cans were topped up and the riders emerged in their riding gear. The aches and pains of the last 7 days were being ignored as we made the final push to the finish line.
The PUCH Maxi 2 had been fixed by Mark last night. I had the ability to pedal start the bike but if I tried to do backwards-peddling breaking I would snap the chain. Never mind, it was only 80 miles of mental hills to Land’s End. I did suggest that once I arrive I put the bike on the trailer for safety reasons to cover the 40 miles back to the show grounds but Mark/Ian were having none of it. Who needs brakes on 15% declines? 😀
Another issue regarding my chain was that I couldn’t pedal up the hills to help the engine. This meant I would have to drop to 1st gear and hope the bike doesn’t stall. My clutch control was certainly getting better, but was no means perfect. I did test the bike round the field we were in and I was ready to go.
The A30 was a bugger of a road. Long, boring and hilly. This meant that I was losing the team as we went up hills and gaining on them on the down-hill sections. In my wisdom I thought I’d overtake them and try to get ahead on the next hilly section. In principle this worked well but no-one overtook me which meant I didn’t know where I was going. I do know the A30 pretty much takes you to the bottom of Cornwall and I seemed to remember that Land’s End is signposted at the end of it anyway. So my plan was just to keep on going on my straight road until someone overtook me.
But they didn’t.
What I managed to do was miss the service station stop and have the support van chase me down the A30. They caught up with me and after about 5-10 minutes the rest of the team appeared. I can’t believe the Amazing Puch Maxi managed to build up such a lead. They probably just hung back to make me feel the speediest jogler of the day but I don’t think the Puch was a slouch, it just had its work cut out with my 17stone to haul along!
We all topped up with petrol at the layby and continued on our journey. Everyone’s bikes were performing excellently and appart from my slowness up hills we were making acceptable time.
We met Crazy Bob at a little service station and I noticed the map on his fuel tank for the first time. Although it might not actually be to scale its probably correct to the route we took! As we were drinking our teas and coffees a red bay window panel van went up the slip road and stopped at the Subway -It was Laura-Rose from VZi. We got back on our bikes to get going. It was still a good 2 hours into Land’s End from here so we had to keep on.
Once we left the A30 it started getting much more real. The places we rode through had properly Cornish names and they were all names I recognised. Then a signpost appeared saying ‘Land’s End – 12 miles’.
That was it. We pushed on and started enjoying the roads a bit more. As they got smaller the riding became faster and the bends and twists and turns all became more fun. The signs to Land’s End kept counting down until it appeared in the distance. We all sped onwards and before you knew it we were greeted by a massive round of applause with cheering!
1001 miles later (perhaps a little more) we crossed the finish line and were now at Land’s End.
Parking our bikes up we waited until the last of the JOGLE4BRADs teams arrived and we had some group photos. We all took the oppertunity to cheer in a cycyling team who crossed the line. I don’t think they were expecting anyone and to have a 100+ strong  crowd cheering them seemed to confuse them but they smiled anyway happy they completed their own personal challenge.
Everyone headed over to the famous signpost and we had a couple of group shots before the invidual team shots with the signpost. Crazy Bob managed to bring his bike down there and in a moment of his usual craziness threw it over the cliff edge. Everyone stopped. Had he really just done that?
The answer was ‘of course he had, he’s Crazy Bob!’ but what he realised is there was a walking ledge below so the bike dropped about 8 feet in total. It did look a broken mess all bent and useless. Crazy Bob was reminded he still had 40 miles to go to ride it into the showground! His trusty riding partner, Jurgen, picked the bike up, bent the handlebars back into place and managed to bend the pedals enough that it could be peddled. It wasn’t perfect and no-one thought it would roll, let alone start up. But Jurgen jumped on and started peddling and the bike ROARED into life!
Cliffs at Land’s End = 0
Crazy Bob & Jurgen = 1
The ride back to the showground was even more enjoyable than to Land’s End. Everyone had made it and so the bike were pushed to the limits. My chain had kept coming off during the ride to LE and Mark had kept fixing it. It came off again on this return leg but they said to just ignore it so I did! About 7 miles from the showground my bike came to a halt. Unfortunately I’d managed to get lost (who’d believe that!) and so was stuck in a little cornish village. I knew I’d run out of petrol but because of the chain issue I couldn’t even start peddling anywhere.
None of this was my biggest concern though. My biggest concern was that my phone had run out of power at Land’s End and I’d put it in the van. I not only had no chance of finding out where I should be heading but I also had no way of contacting Mark to get some petrol.
Like knights in shining armour an RV came over a hill infront of me. This did mean I was heading in the wrong direction but I did notice the two people up front. Justin & Claire! Saviours!
We lobbed the bike in the back of the RV (there was a special section in the rear to keep bikes and stuff) and I climbed in. Inside was John Johnstone’s wife & kids. We had some polite conversation (which is very difficult for me because every other word out of my mouth is a swear word) as Claire drove us to the hotel carpark meeting place. As we approached it I noticed it all looked very familiar. We were right next to my friend’s house. About half a mile away! I’d be back here later on.
The Puch was re-filled with petrol and we waited for the last bikes to arrive. Ian (The Darkside) had been without a Ped for a couple of days and Kevo very kindly lent him his spare one. It was great to see him back in the pack once more.
In convoy we made it to show ground. The route was pretty much straight from the carpark and we passed lots of people who waved and cheered. At one point we had to cross a busy road and a car pulled in halfway as we were crossing. 50 yards down she realised what she’d done and pulled over so we could group up again. It was the first time we’d all ridden as one group and it really did feel like it wasn’t 50 sepereate people but 1 group of Joglers.
The welcome we received at VW Action SouthWest was even greater than the one at Land’s End. Parking up our bikes there was Champaign and photographers everywhere. Knowing there would be no more ped riding I took a healthy swig of Champaign, looked around at all my fellow Joglers and felt that we had, but more importantly I had, actually achrieved something.
I had a few drinks and chatted with people into the evening before catching a taxi back to a warm bed and a hot shower.
Today wasn’t the end of something, it was the start of something….
Another early start and a visit to the bogs to discover they were blocked. I decided to visit nature’s toilet and had a piss behind a tree. It did turn out there was a third unblocked toilet round the corner but I only found out about that later!
Some cups of tea and a breakfast of frosties with pain au chotolat set me up for the day. We had quite a long ride for today and team slow shit needed to get on the road. The team rode on and enjoyed some long and good roads.
The positive thing about these long roads is that you can really up your average speed. Without all the roundabouts and traffic lights you are getting close to a 20-25mph average.
The negative side is that it’s quite boring. You don’t move much and your mind can wander off in all directions.
This led to me trying to find more interesting ways to ride the bike!
I tried one leg out stretched.
I tried both legs stretched out.
I tried different peddle positions.
I tried both legs on the foot stands.
I tried one leg at a time on the foot stands.
I tried one leg on the foot stand and the other stetched out.
And it turns out that a police motorbike took this exact moment to come by our group in the other direction.
It turned round and followed us for a bit. It then slowly overtook us and then a couple of miles down the road it pulled us over at a round about.
We all pulled over (well we didnt really have the power to race off into the sunset!) and all had a chat with the policeman. I was a bit worried as I’m sure that if a police man wanted to ‘find’ anything wrong with the bikes they probably could. We also had another group have a discussion with the police earlier in the week and even getting a producer would be a challenge. Not that we weren’t all legal but most the cop-shops my way have been shut!
He told us about how we were a danger due to going so slow on the road and we explained what we had been up to – going from John O’Groats down to Land’s End on mopeds but there was 50 of us and we’d split into groups to be safer.
He seemed to relax after this. I think he thought we were 16 year old kids out for a sunny bike ride. Luckily he said we wouldn’t have got all this way if there were any ‘problems’ with our details and bikes so he wasn’t going to check – Phew! I let out the biggest sigh of relief!
He did though walk over to David’s bike and there was his Danny Lord is a Cunt! Sticker.
Apparently this is a section 5 public disorder offence and he could be booked for it. Ian grabbed some tape from the van and put a cross over the offending word.
Disaster averted!
The policeman also pointed out that the balloons were also an ‘unsecured load’ and could be a hazard to other road users. Not the balloons blinding them but they could fly off and another road user might be distracted by them!
David pointed out they were wrapped solid round his bike and they wouldn’t budge. After a firm tug by the policeman (phnarrrrrrr phnarrrrrrr!) he let us go on our way.
I make this a one-all draw between team shit slow and the police!
Continuing on the road and the Puch was doing well except up the hills. On the hills I needed to peddle like a mad-man to keep the power in the engine. Occasionally the pedals stopped turning as if they were jammed. This would free up after a bit and I could pedal but more importantly still brake!
We stopped for lunch at an American Themed diner. As we came in, Crazy Bob and Jurgen came out And recommended the mexican burger.
We got inside and took our seats and ordered. We enjoyed some BBQ burgers and chips but it was nice to not have a bland McDonald’s ‘burger’. We had a good long chat and relaxed perhaps a little too long so only left after about an hour and a half. As we were outside, Nefarious arrived in his cool black newbie on 17″ BRMs.
Ive not seen him in ages and he was on his way to the VW Action South-West to tickle people’s things with his pinstriping brushes.
I took a few photos and he went on his way.
The riders all headed off and we kept riding along. The hills were getting worse and my peddling was getting more hectic. After a few more miles our support van pulls along side me and tells me to pull over when safe.
I pulled over and they pointed out the issue – my chain had snapped and was hanging very close to my rear wheel. A bump or jolt in the wrong direction could have jammed my rear wheel and thrown me off the bike.
With no rear chain I had no rear brake so we made the decision to put the bike in the van and that my day’s riding was over.
With sadness I climbed into the van and Mark & Ian gave me a ribbing about worrying about it starting to rain! But I did buy them more sweets for the van so I think they forgave me! Or at least the teasing stopped for 3 maybe 5 minutes!
We arrived at camp and it was another pub which meant another hot meal! Luxury!
Mark was straight on to fixing the Puch and borrowing bike chains and angle grinders. I think he was trying to keep me out of van on the last day! We had a chain from Crazy Bob and the Puch was running before the end of the evening!
At dinner I went for the vegetarian option for spinach and ricotta tortolini and had another few ciders.
I didn’t fall asleep in the pub but I went to sleep happy knowing tomorrow we would arrive in Land’s End.
Wow!
What a difference a good night’s sleep makes! I woke early and got my stuff packed down quickly for once. Unfortunately my towel still wasn’t dry and with the tumble drier out of action there was no shower for me! Breakfast was quick and I think everyone felt better for the decent rest.
We headed out of Worksop and onwards south to Nottingham. Everything was as you’d expect except we now had 2 stunt evil keneivals in the Brads group.
We were on the way to the hospital were the money we’ve been raising for Brads will be spent on a new ward. It’s going to be an interesting time hearing from the Brad’s crew what will be happening and what the money raised so far will be spent on.
We all met at a pub car-park just down from the hospital and gathered together to go in en-mass. While we were waiting Crazy Bob & Juergen got changed in to Crash Test Dummy morph suits. There was just one problem, there were no eye holes.
But this is Crazy Bob remember!
He calls out “has anybody got a cigerette? If you can burn out some eye holes I’ll be able to see…”
Yes, that’s right. While having the masks on he wanted someone to burn the nylon/Lycra over his eyes!
Mental!
We compromised and marked the eye positions with a pen and then used wire cutters to cut the tiny eye-holes out.
The looked like some sort of 80’s Dr Who baddies! Crazy Bob does offer his 3rd spare suit out but no-one takes him up on his offer. I did think about it but we wanted to cheer up the children, not give them nightmares!
We left as one big group and went down the road to the hospital. Crazy Bob then set off one of the many smoke bombs he had so arrived in a big puff of smoke. Just what people in cancer wards need! 😀
We didn’t actually go in a ward but the Brad’s team had set up on a patch of grass. The bikes were parked up and we heard from a few people. One was a lovely girl who had gone through treatment and was explaining the great work Brads had done to help here and why a teenage cancer ward would be beneficial. We then heard from Brad’s mum and a card was read out from a girl who had cancer, beat it but then it came back.
The rain was falling and for once it was appreciated. You could see people’s eyes redden but luckily the rain hid thier tears. I certainly didn’t have a little cry – no, not at all.
Where we were standing was actually going to be the site of the first Brad’s ward. The money we are raising will be helping towards the ward and another ward at a different hospital. Earlier in the morning we had all been asked roughly what our sponsorship was up to so they could see how close we were to £10,000.
As we were stood in the rain they let us know what the current total was…..
TWENTY-SIX THOUSAND POUNDS!!!
This raised the bikers spirits up like you wouldn’t believe. I couldn’t believe we had raised that much and we still hadn’t finished.
There were drinks and home-made cakes with ‘Well Done’ iced onto them for us to refresh ourselves before we set back off on our journey.
Everybody was on a high and it seemed to ease the pain of riding the mopeds for the rest of the day.
The Brads lot had some balloons which we tied to our bikes and headed off.
Our group had gained Crazy Bob and after an hour or two of riding we stopped for something to eat at a Maccy D’s. Mark, our support driver, has been wanting one since the start and this would cheer him up!
As we were eating outside a guy came over to chat to Crazy Bob about his bike and gave a Tenner for the charity. His name was Pete – thanks Pete.
The Crazy Bob gang left before the team had finished so it was only team slow shit for the remaining leg.
We ate up more miles on the bikes before the rain started hammering it down. The Puch really didnt like the rain and after 2 attempts of restarting it with WD40 and Damp Start if stopped again so we threw it back in the van and I’d managed to miss out getting more soaked!
Further on we stopped at a BP garage to get some petrol and I got my bike out to finish the last 5-6 miles. The rain had completely gone so after a spray of WD40 it fired into life.
I took it for a quick spin round the petrol station and set off. Except I didn’t. The engine died on me! It couldn’t be the rain as it had all gone and there was no puddles on the road. Then I remembered!
I’d turn the fuel tap off! Doh!
I turned it on and restarted the bike. It roared into life like only a 2 stroke 49cc engine can! And I headed off again!
Except this time I got lost – trust me!
Luckily I had the mighty iPhone and with the help of google maps i made my way to the campsite about 6 miles away.
During this detour it sounded like I rode over something metal and it got flicked up at the bike. I kept on riding but when I turned off the main road the front end didn’t feel ‘right’. I kept going until I had about 2 miles to go when I finally admitted it probably wasn’t safe to ride on the road with cars flying by.
I called my support van but he was eating soup and drinking tea so as I wasn’t far away I started walking it in.
After about a mile I got to an unmade road. By this point I was knackered and decided that I couldn’t bugger the front wheel any more so climbed back onto the bike and at a low speed drove back to the site.
I got a warm welcome and parked the bike by the support van. Mark came over immediately and diagnosed a fucked front bearing. Then he came up with the amazing idea of stealing the front wheel from my buggered Camino.
20 minutes later Mark had swapped the wheels over and I was back on the road!
Dinner this evening was food in the pub. I had ham, egg and chips and it came with the most amazing homemade coleslaw. With a full belly and a pint or 2 of cider I sat by the fire in the bar and chatted with people.
The CCR beaver turned up with doughnuts and as a third pint appeared I realised I was starting to fall to sleep – the combination of cider, food and a fire was enough to send me to the land of the snooze-fairy.
I went to bed knowing there was only 2 days until we crossed the finish line, hopefully tomorrow night will be as enjoyable.
What a shit night’s sleep!
The rain and the wind didn’t stop all night.
The highlight was when someone in the pitch black, rainy darkness tried to get back to their tent and fell into someone tent.
“oi! What the fuck are you doing?”
‘sorry, I didn’t see your tent there.’
“you fucking idiot!”
‘sorry but it’s pitch black outside’
“well use a fucking torch then!”
‘if I had one, I’d be using it.’
At which point both people seemed to realise this was an honest mistake and a silent gentleman’s agreement was made and no more was said.
The wind was blowing the tent all over the shop so at about 4am I was awake.
I got out of bed around 6-ish and the rain was still hammering it down. I met some of camp support who said that the campsite had been really arsey about us using the electrics, even though we’d prebooked it. It looks like they turned off the electrics overnight which meant we didn’t have any hot water for tea.
The camp support team got straight on the case and started heating kettles on the army stoves. The rain was pissing down still and the clothes in the drying tent were soaked.
Today was going to be my first day on a bike. With this rain I was properly bricking it.
Mark’s brother showed me the bike. It had 2 gears and a clutch which I’d never had to use before as the might Camino was a twist and go (after a frantic pedal). He started it and handed it over. I had a quick blat up and down the campsite in the rain and then it was time to get on the road.
It was an interesting learning experience, there may only be 2 gear but having to use a clutch to change gear (unlike my road bikes) is an experience I’ve not had before. First gear is for pulling away and gets me to about 15 mph and second gear gets me to about 27-30 mph.
My clutch control needs some work, that’s for sure! At nearly every junction i stalled and had to restart the bike. And it never got boring…..not never!
The ride was slow. It the van it feels very slow but on the bike it feels fast but this is probably more to the engine sound more than anything. You really feel like you are racing along on the bike, even though on the flats you aren’t going fast at all – ive been faster on my road bike!
Because I was out on the bike I didn’t take many photos. But I did manage to get one of a petrol pump we used – it’s what the people REALLY want!
We had a bit of rain on our journey to Worksop rugby club. My Aldi waterproof romper suit did a great job keeping me dry. I’ve been impressed with how well my proper motorcycle gear has held up to its first real usage. The gloves and waterproofs we’re from Aldi and still work great.
The relief I felt when we pulled into the rugby club was unmeasurable. I’d managed a full day of riding without dying and without injury. If every day is like this then this has been a successful trip!
The support crew had the usual tea and soup set up but the rugby club had set on a special spread of food – a full carvery dinner with dessert.
It was great to sit down and eat all together as a group. The staff were amazing and handled everyone’s request for more potatoes or less veg. They even donated a large teddy bear mascot to the auction.
Chatting to the manager in the bar near the end of the evening and this is his evening job. During the day he is a fire safety estimator.
It was great to have such a kind welcome after the mess which was the night before.
Jensen was great on the wheels of steel however all the riders were tired and sensibly didn’t drink loads.
I headed to bed and the skys were clear – not a cloud to be seen. It would be a cold night but at least not a wet one!
I didn’t sleep great and from about 4am I was awake. It was funny being in a room with so many people sleeping – I’ve not done anything like that since being a venture scout.
About 6.30 the phone alarms started going off. I was kind and turned mine off as I was I a room full of other people. Others weren’t so! There was an air-raid siren that went off twice. It was as loud as possible! Everyone then woke up.
I was still unhappy about my decision from last night. I had essentially signed over the possibility of me completing the JoGLE trip. Just the thought of this made me really sad. All this preparation and now I’m staying in the van.
David, my Honda Camino buddy, had managed to resurrect his bike by borrowing the drive belt of mine. This meant that my bike DEFINATELY wouldn’t be at jogle under its own steam. 😦
I decided that as I hadnt gone home last night I would make the most of this trip.
I was with friends.
I was having an amazing time.
I was doing the experience of a life-time.
The only option was to be the best support guy I could. I packed down my sleeping stuff and got to loading the now dead Camino into the trailer.
Mark, the support van driver for team slow shit, was almost as upset as I was about me not being able to get the Camino working. Whether it was actually the idea of spending the rest of the week with me as the co-pilot or whether he could sense the disappointment I felt, I think it was the later.
He had already loaded the Camino and as the bikes left from John Johnstone’s gaff I prepared for another day on the road and supporting team slow shits! We were Definately a team working well together with just one aim – to get to Land’s End.
I took a few videos of the bikes leaving and got chatting to a guy with a ‘proper’ video camera. Turns out a friend asked him to record it and he is going to edit it all together and let people see the final product. That could be quite a cool video!
I jumped in the van and we headed off.
The weather today was very crappy. It was the longest day of riding and the combination of rain and wind was going to make the going tough.
We were the last people to leave john’s and at this rate we’d be the last people arriving at the camp site this evening.
We discussed it as a group and made the decision to miss the last 2 stops and only pause for petrol when needed.
The scenery was immense (again) and we sped through the miles. The bikes mostly behaved with only a spray of damp-start or easy start to help them on their way.
One of the things we noticed was the miles & miles of stone fences sectioning off the landscape. There must have been tens or hundreds of miles of stone walls. Each one having flat sides and lasting probably over 50 to 100 years.
After a stop to top up petrol we started the final leg. We’d received a text message advising to ignore the post code and use another one.
This was the least of the problems – the village we got to had sign-posts to say ignore your sat-nav if you have a motorhome, caravan or trailer. I jumped into a hotel and after they found a THIRD person to Give me directions we headed in the right direction.
On the way we met the C50’s and their support van. Then Judgie turned up and they had worries the route would not be trailer/minibus friendly. 3 riders were dispatched to reccy the route but after 5 minutes we had decided that Team Slow Shit wouldn’t be last again and we sped off towards site armed with just the hand written directions.
I prayed that they were good and god help me they were! We arrived at the site cold, wet and tired but we weren’t last!
Result.
The rain came down some more and people arrived, set up their tent and the got some dinner down them. As always the camp support crew had done an excellent job but tiredness and the rain meant that people just went to bed.
News quickly spread of a serious injury today. It didn’t leave a good feeling with anyone.
Nothing else happened today….. Except I checked with my insurance and I’m covered to ride any bike and someone has agreed to let me borrow their ‘spare’ bike tomorrow.
Team Slow Shit should be back to full strength tomorrow and I can’t wait!
I slept well last night. I was too hot the night before so slept without socks. Not exactly blogging gold but I thought you’d care about my feet!
By 6.30 I was hearing people up and about so I put my shoes on and went to get tea and a croissant. Everyone was in good spirits and excited about getting on the road – and no-one more than me.
We had a meeting just before 8am and was told we could sleep indoors at our next stop. We’d be at Johnstone’s house and although we wouldn’t all have beds, a solid roof and heating is a big draw.
Everyone got their bikes started and it was the moment of truth for the mighty Camino. Death or glory!
I bump started it walking down to our support van and it ran away from me! What a plonker -and unfortunately lots of people saw.
It did mean the Camino started though, this was a good sign. I wanted to take it out before setting off so got my helmet and gloves on and started it properly.
As I went to pull away I blipped the throttle and although the engine picked up as it should, the moment I came off the throttle it died. My heart sank.
I loaded the bike back on the trailer and prepared myself for another day being co-pilot in the support van.
The bikes left and I climbed in the van and we set off.
The Mighty Honda Caminos are being represented by David’s blue Camino and it was speeding along. Darkside was back with the group so we had 4 riders today and hopefully we’ll keep that number.
The blue Camino lost its throttle return at one point and when it was fixed he managed to have a Camino version of cruise control. At times he was driving around with both hands off the bike and it was doing 30mph!!!
He did lose his number plate while riding and we picked it up. When we next stopped we re-attached it with a bungee cord and this did last a good couple of miles but eventually it, and the bungee cord fell off.
Our petrol stop didn’t sell tea or coffee which was rubbish! We set off again as the weather started to turn.
While we were driving we got a missed call. It was Rad Dubs who had suffered a breakdown. On our trailer was a spare bike of his and he wanted us to wait at a petrol station so he can collect it. The only trouble was he didn’t know where the keys were!
We let our group go ahead and waited at the BP garage. About 15 minutes later RadDubs turned up and we got the spare bike off the trailer. He found the keys in the minibus and after some attempts he got it going.
Mark & I jumped back in the van and made our way to catch up our group. It didn’t take long as they had some issues and had pulled over into a garage. Helena’s bike was losing power and now couldn’t be restarted. Mark bought some Easy Start, damp start and WD40 and we gave her bike a liberal spraying of a mixture of them. It purred like a 50cc kitten and team slow shit were back on the road!
The easy start got plenty of use during the day as did the WD40. I also managed to use the power of fire to dry someone’s bike off – it worked though!
We followed the sat nav religiously and at one point it took us a very scenic but highly deserted road round one of the lochs. After 5 miles we turned round and headed back to the earlier junction.
The problem was our 10 mile detour was about 30 minutes for the bikers. As we approached the junction we noticed a petrol station just the other side! Doh!
Here there was the greatest shop in the world and a burger van. With some food and a hot drink inside us we felt well refreshed.
The garage/van was run by a Scottish wife and her brummie husband. We told her about what we were doing and she gave us all a discount. The best bit while people were having a ciggie she came over and gave us £20 which was very kind of her.
We jumped back in the van and sped off. After a whole I asked Mark if he was going to pull over to wait for team Slow Shit. He said no need as we were following them. He’d seen the Fluor jacket and thought it was Darkside!
Although the scenery was amazing it had nowhere to really turn our truck & trailer round. We managed it and sped back to the group where Judgie was watching the team. We took over and made our way to the next stop.
In the valley I saw a stag on the hillside but my camera skills were poor. The road sides of the road were littered with car bits from old car accidents. it’s easy to be distracted by the cliff faces and scenery – it is properly stunning!
The rain was getting heavier and heavier and I felt really sorry for the riders. It’s a strange feeling to be jealous of anyone getting soaked to the skin but I’d have given anything to be out there.
We went off course slightly and everyone wondered why were heading away from our location. It became clear when we parked up that this was the closest petrol station on the route.
Luckily it served coffee and tea. Unluckily it’s toilet was out of order! The men found a spare wall but the ladies had to walk to the local pub. The weather took its toll on David’s Camino but with a mixture of sprays and him bump starting it we got it going.
This was our final leg onto John Johnstone’s house. Helena asked me to let her husband know we were not far away and it was only then I noticed how late it was. It was after 6pm and we still had about 10 miles left. During this leg the sun set and the lights came on for the bikes.
Arriving at john’s place – it was amazing. Apparently it was built as some orphanages and it had an amazing village hall. I’ll find a link about it and add it later as it was really interesting.
We’d missed the soup on arrival but dinner was lovely chilli con carne and macaroni cheese. I wolfed this down and after a quick cup of tea went out into the workshop to get the mighty Camino working.
Not being technically minded I started taking all the panels off and to see where the carb was.
Judgie had already said it was carb issues so I knew I’d need to get the carb out. After I got the panels off 2 people came over to ask me what’s wrong. I tried to explain it but Judgie took over and the two other guys started taking my bike apart. Within 10 minutes the carb was out, striped, and cleaned. Before I knew it it was back in the bike and I was taking it outside to be tested. We got it started but it still wouldn’t idle.
The bike went back into the workshop and the carb was striped and cleaned again. We rebuilt it and I tested it again.
Still no joy 😦
Back into the workshop it went. Striped down, cleaned, rebuilt. They thought there was a bit of crap in the crap.
“crap in the carb ant? How often do ya have to do that?” – Brian Burrows
Rebuilt again we tested it but still no idle. Back into the workshop and it was taken apart again. The carb still had shit in it so they took the fuel filter off and gave that a clean.
We rebuilt it again and tried it again but still no improvement.
We then tried playing with the idle jets but any movement from where it originally was just stopped the engine from firing, except for the occasional mis-fire.
The lads were all prepare to strip it down again but at 22.30 I called time of death on the Camino.
All that was left was the honourable thing of offering David anything off my bike he could use to fix his. He had been having clutch problems and couldn’t even bump start his bike.
I left the workshop so upset. I’d come all this way and have only ridden 1.5 miles from the start.
I grabbed my stuff from the van and set up my bed in the village hall (not really, as no-one is allowed to sleep in there 😉 ) and chatted to a few friends on Facebook chat.
I’m not sure what my plans are for tomorrow but I was close to jumping in a taxi this evening and giving up.
But I didn’t – you’ve got to keep on keeping on.
Twon
What a day.
Sorry for the lack of updates it’s been a bit hectic but as always I’ll start at the beginning.
I woke up with a sore throat. This is caused by a mixture of snoring and dry air. I feel sorry for my tent buddy! I knew we were having a group photo at 8am so I wanted to get up at around 7am. The alarm was set for 6.45am and it was 4 when I first woke up.
Eventually I got out of bed by 7 and started to get myself dressed to leave the tent. It was so cold outside! There was a spread of tea, coffee and croissants to feed the troops and it was gratefully received.
We had our group photo by a John O’Groats sign and people started setting off. I still needed to fill up with petrol so got my Honda Camino buddy and we filled mine with petrol & oil.
As we were filling we saw our group leave en-masse and rushed to the start. We left and within 30 metres David had issues with his Camino. Our support van pulled over and they began work on his bike. After checking they were happy for me to go on I headed off on my journey of a life-time!
And the first hill…..
This was where I was shitting myself. Although I had done a practice ride or two (not entirely true) I was worried that id not actually make it up a hill. But the first hill was close to the camp site and if I made that I thought I’d be ok.
My speed approaching the hill was 25mph and the bike did well keeping to 20 mph going up it. I couldn’t go any faster up the hill but I was happy with that.
The second hill….
I wasn’t as lucky. As I was heading up it the bike slowed down as I expected but when it flattened out the bike got to full whack (25mph) but then on full throttle it just started losing power and then cut out. And I couldn’t get it restarted!
I pedalled back to where my Camino buddy was and after they spent 10 minutes trying to fix his bike they admitted defeat and we loaded both bikes into the trailer and sadly climbed into the van.
Here I met Mark, our support driver. He is a really sound bloke who is helping his brother who is doing the trip.
The three of us chatted while we followed our team (Slow shits) from the north east of scotchland and made out way south.
First stop was a castle just down the road. It looked amazing and with all the bikes lined up out front it really made for a great photo opportunity. It was sad that neither of the Caminos were in the picture but there will be plenty of other picture opportunities.
Here we did find out that other people were having bike problems and were also riding in the support van. I didn’t feel too bad about my bike failing, especially as it wasn’t the first or the last.
The bikes headed off from the castle in a big group and the sound was amazing. We jumped back in the van and followed our group of 2 riders – Helena & Lucy.
Everything was going well and we were making good time. Occasionally some Austins who were also doing a JOGLE trip passed us and they waved/beeped when they went past while we were filling up.
The ladies were doing a great job on the hills and the twisty bits and it looked like Team Slow Shits would complete the day.
Everything looked good while we were going up a hill until Lucy got to the edge of the road and started wobbling on the gravel. It looked like she managed to get back control until she veered onto the grass and hit a big mound.
The bike flipped up and she went straight over the handlebars! Mark slammed on the brakes and I jumped out the van slipping on the wet verge and rushed over to her.
She lay on the floor not moving and we were all a bit worried until she lifted both hands and waved them. She still wasn’t speaking but that was a good sign. Then she reached down and lifted both legs. She’s alive.
After a few minutes she was sat upright and drinking some ribena. A little shaken and achey but after some gaffer tape to fix her lock box and farings she climbed back on her bike.
What pissed me off was the amount of abuse we got from people. It obviously wasnt a great place to stop but her bike was on its side on the road and she was lying on the ground. The best/worst was a Scotsman with a caravan who stopped opposite the van to hurl abuse at us. I was tempted to teach him some manners but thought better of it so just flicked him the bird and he drove off. Another group had A run in with him too – what a twat!
With Lucy shaken but not stirred we agreed to stop in 30 minutes. I was worried that she might go into shock but she was fine.
We made it to the petrol stop but went past it and stopped in a layby where villadave was having clutch problems. He told us to leave him and we returned to the petrol stop to fill our 2 working mopeds with fuel.
Here we met the fizzy group and we told them about villa-Dave. Bri asked us to go collect him on the trailer so he can get fixed up back at the site. We went to go get him but he wasn’t there. We continued on for about 10 miles but couldn’t find him. We parked up for a bit and the group of Fizzys went past. And we waited for our group. But they just didn’t come past.
Worried we headed back hoping they would pass us but they didn’t. We got all the way to the fuel stop and there they were. This time Helena’s bike wouldn’t start 😦
Mark & David tried a few things but it just wouldn’t fire up. Another bike got loaded to the trailer and the 4 of us climbed in the van and followed the remaining working member of Team Slow Shit all the way back to camp.
Camp was looking amazing! Alice De Camper had done a great job getting the tents for catering and Rob’s work shop. Nikki C also had her masseuse table set up to help some achy bones.
A cup of tomato soup and a bread roll greeted the riders and everyone set up their tents.
People got changed out of their bike gear and we started socialising while the BBQ was prepared.
I spoke to Judgie about the mighty Camino and he agreed to take a look. There was quite a queue of bikes needing fixing and he worked into the night. The other Camino was fixed as were all the other bikes which broke down on the way. People were grinding, welding, spannering until midnight. Rob managed to get my Camino running but it wouldn’t idle. He’d been working all evening so we agreed I’d try it in he morning to see if it was ridable.
The BBQ was excellently manned and the food and drink kept coming. Prawnstar kindly gave me a glass of wine (more like a bucket!) and it helped relax me in readiness for tomorrow.
It was a cold night and I went to be about 11pm. My sleeping bag is very warm once it is all zipped up. I was worried about the ride tomorrow. I just hope the Camino is ok.
The mobile broadband signal in John O’Groats is shit. Who would have thought that at the furthest edge of mainland uk you wouldn’t be able to update facebook/blogs.
We arrived stupid early 6am and parke in the overflow car park to the camp site. It was cold and we sat back waiting for the site to open. We were parked next to a T4 california (I think?) and I was informed by Polly that this was Bee and Spannerboy off the forums.
We sat around in the van for a bit but then explored John O’Groats for some food. It was about 7.30 am and everything was shut. As we were exploring someone came over to chat and I recognised them as Chewy. Husband to the lovely fudge maker ProudPeace.
He opened the gates to the campsite and we got set up. Ade & me put our tents and felt like we needed some food. Unfortunately none were open until 10.30 at the earliest and although it felt like 4pm as we’d had no sleep, it was really only about 8.30
Slowly the campsite started filling up and more introductions were made. Bikes were being unloaded and the weird and wonderful (bikes) put out on display.
The morning dragged on as I was knackered. The lack of food was also not helping. But I couldn’t go to sleep as I needed to be sleeping tonight so that meant staying awake.
Eventually the cafe opened and I had a hot chocolate while writing some post cards to friends. It was nice to be in the warm drinking something warm. Although I did feel that the shop was very touristy before calling myself a bellend – we’re in John O’Groats ! What did I think it would be like?
Heading back to the camp site and it was getting close to lunch time and people started heading to the local hotel which also did food.
I held back as if I ate I thought I’d fall asleep so had a shandy and just relaxed in the warm bar. An hour or 2 later people went to get food but the lunch service had stopped and dinner wouldn’t be until 5pm!
So a few more drinks were had and then we walked back to the campsite – it was like half a mile away so not the end of the world! My biker coat and gloves were keeping me very warm and after swapping my trainers for my biker boots (suggested by proud peace!) my feet were toasty warm too.
The afternoon had more people arrive and more bikes go on show. My Honda Camino buddy appeared and we compared his bike to my blue one. His was certainly faster but mine looked cooler in black and chrome. Well that’s my decision anyway! I tried his out and it certainly accelerated quicker but he couldn’t get it idling.
Brian Burrows arrived later but it started to bring a bit more structure as people finished off their little jobs and looking for what was happening later on.
A meeting was arranged in the hotel for 8pm and me, Polly & Rob went to get some food beforehand and were surprised by the minimal seafood options. Rob did have a very nice local beer though – Justin wasn’t impressed by it.
The meeting was had and everyone got their ticket for VWAction SW and also their rider Jogle tshirt. There were also some ground rules set which everyone seemed happy with. We also got to see who the ride leaders and team supports were.
I got a bottle of water from the bar and headed back to the tent for some sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a long day and I need to be as prepared as possible.
I got changed into my sleeping clothes and went to sleep. It was cold but my sleeping bag warmed up quickly.
After a quick petrol stop (well 2 after one 24 hour garage wasn’t open) we were back on the road for the final leg of the trip to John O’Groats.
Polly is doing an excellent job driving. Probably about 12 hours so far.
We’ve had craziness – Billy looking miserable after we all died in a truck accident. On the plus side we managed to get an excellent picture uploaded with the comment ‘wtf lol’ before we shuffled off this mortal coil.
We’ve had tiredness – and I certainly didn’t literally ‘nod off’ a number of times.
But most importantly we’ve got about 110 miles until we arrive with an ETA of about 6am.
Still going.
twonjogle4brads 