tabrez.co.uk

It is a well known fact that I love meeting new people  all the time, and this was one of the aspects of the trip I was looking forward to with nothing but positive anticipation. I really did not expect to meet so many people who were so supportive of the cause, and this page is a summary of my great meetings. Ordered by date, and as I sped up the country, I don’t have as many photos as I wish but I hope this will provide you with an insight.

DAY 1
After around 93 miles, in the quiet wee streets of Tavistock, I checked out some B&B’s on my iPhone and the first link was to a place called Lower Hookner Barn. I spoke to a lovely lady on the phone, Jenny, who at first said they were not taking anyone, but after some friendly chat, after realising I was on a solo cycling charity bike ride, she was more than happy to accommodate! So after 3 hours, a great meal in the Warren House Inn, I turned up at this beautiful wee farm buried deep inside a the valleys of Dartmoor National Forest. I had the pleasure of meeting Jenny and John Pryce-Davies who greeted me with a smile and the best cup of tea ever! After a scorching hot bath, I ended up having a good long chat with Jenny about the Palestinian cause, which she fully supports. The next morning, Jenny even donated my accommodation rate towards the cause, and was part of raising such a huge amount! If you want to stay in one of the best B&B’s in the country, look no further than Lower Hookner Barn. Thanks Jenny!

DAY 2
After a slow start recovering from the shock of the Cornwall and Devon hills I made my way with a 10am start, hoping to reach Somerset at least. It was pretty much a full on 32 miles till I reached Exeter which had such a lovely buzz around it. So many market stalls and lovely wee restaurants. After lunch in a nice café where the manager gave me a wee donation, and a nice mini service to my bike, I asked a random gentleman for directions to get on to the B3181. Instead of the usual, “this way/that way” response, I was given a lecture on my route that I had taken so far. This guy got rather passionate after listing all the places I should have seen on the way to Exeter, and actually suggested I turn back and see more sites. After explaining this was a solo charity challenge, he still wasn’t impressed. I do appreciate his enthusiasm though, and sadly I’ve forgotten the names of the places he mentioned, but I certainly do plan on returning to Devon next year, so I’ll be exploring more and more hopefully! Thanks mate!

That evening, I stayed in the BasonBridge Inn just on the edge of the Somerset Levels, a name I was elated to hear after the torturous hills of you know where! No formal introductions, but there 5 of us involved in a random happy chap over some pub grub at this fine establishment. The main star of the show was a 35 year old obese chap who was downing his pints at a very worrying pace, lecturing the young bar man about how much he regrets starting the habit of smoking. He made a calculation that he had smoked at least 756,000 cigarettes in his life which cost him around £36,000. Whilst he nipped out for a well deserved cigarette break, the barman came up to us and just said “Every village has one”. What a cracking line! Thanks for the laughs wee man!

DAY 3
Early 7:30 start on the bike, and after poorly navigating my round the edges of somerset in the town of Pil, and finally crossing the Avon Gorge I treated myself to nice lunchtime fish supper at Captain Cod, Avonmouth. It was here I met Muhammed and Ali, from Iran who were serving up some great food and hospitality! These guys were from the city of Tabriz, and were so delighted to meet me, (and of course my name was a good source of entertainment!). They were so accommodating in their humble surroundings, giving me a chair to sit on, and offering plenty of drinks to keep me hydrated! Bless! Thanks Muhammed!

Later that day, on the way to Monmouth, I stopped in a shop to grab a roll. After telling the kind lady about my trip, she was so excited and called her husband, Mike. Now I can honestly say I’ve not many Mancunians, but this guy makes me want to visit Manchester and meet more jolly chaps like him! After living in a council estate for about 50 years, and having retired as a BT engineer, Mike spotted this building which was available for rent. 5 bedrooms, a huge stable/garage, and a ground floor which serves as a post office and small newsagent. The views from this place are amazing as well, with a local Lord who’s “castle” can be seen. Mike mentioned years ago that he and his wife had gone on a biblical trip, which involved stopping in Israel and Palestine. Both were equally but he felt so welcomed by the Palestinians, and also noticed the start differences between both countries, which is that the wall is sadly separating a first world country from a third world country. Being sympathetic to the cause, he didn’t hesitate in offering some handy work to my bike, and offered some great fruit! The tastiest peach ever served me well a few hours later after a steep climb towards ludlow. Thanks Mike!

DAY 4
This was a bit of a downer of a day as I was experiencing a bit of fatigue and not being sufficiently stocked up with the right energy levels. Never met anyone with much chat today.

DAY 5
Again, energy levels were low so this meant i only covered 57 miles. After some sound advice from my friends, I was told to take a half day to ensure that my body could start fresh the next day. So, off to Blackpool it was, to stay the house of my very fine friend, Daniel A Castro. Unfortunately, Daniel was partying it up with the trendies in London, but I had a chance to reacquaint myself with his wee brother Simon, and finally meet his lovely parents, Mr and Mrs Castro.

The joint effort of Mr & Mrs Castro was a wonderful home cooked meal/mountain of pasta and bolognese, followed by sitting with Simon at the computer choosing some new music on the shuffle to keep me going till the end of trip. As you may have read from the blog entries during the challenge, the music was spot on! Also, the packed sandwiches were a real treat! Thank you Castro familia!

DAY 6
This was when I really felt I was making some progress as I was approaching the northern territories of England. Just before Kendal, I met a lovely old couple at a place called “Cloud’s End”. They noticed my accent and we had a great wee chat about Glasgow, as it’s one of their favourite cities. The gentleman even taught someone art at school who ended up doing an MA in fine art at the Glasgow School of Art! Funnily, I was so engaged in my conversation, I forgot my right foot was still clipped in, and went tumbling down mid chat. Imagine that, my only (visible) injury on the trip was falling off my bike chatting to an elderly couple. Dangerous!

DAY 7
Well, a good feed of scots porridge oats, scrambled egg and toast fuelled my journey to the border which I zipped along to in no time at all! At the border, I was met two jolly cyclists, Simon and Chris who were on the same mission as me, and raising substantial funds for a motor neurone disease charity. Great to share stories about our journey so far, and share a mutual love/hate for the hills of Devon and Cornwall! Later, in Dumfries I popped into DG2 Cycles to get my chain greased up, and stock up on energy bars. Unfortunately, as soon as the kind chap introduced himself, his name immediately slipped out my head! I felt bad not remembering his name, as he believed in what I did, and didn’t charge a penny for anything. Thanks DG2 Cycles guy!

On the way home, my old friend Julie turned up to say hello and gifted me a Snickers bar (which came in very handy the next day). Also, met my lovely parents this evening, and I was given an amazing feed! Thanks Julie and Mum & Dad!

DAY 8
This day started out with a brief meeting with my uncle, and then my new cycling pal Neil Mckie, who accompanied me from Kilmarnock to Dunoon. I’ve already written about the benefit of this, so here’s an excerpt from the blog “After a shaky start with directions, Neil and I covered 40 miles along the beautiful west coast of Scotland with my tendon still screaming for attention. Although he was zipping way ahead of me, it was encouraging having someone to try and catch/keep up with, and was a nice reminder of how tough a solo ride along the uk really is!” Thanks for the company Neil.

Next up were Joy and Doreen Macwhannell. Joy got in touch with me via the blog, and offered to meet up with me in Taynuilt which was on my route. After an epic journey through pelting rain, I was greeted by two of the loveliest people I met on this trip. Joy was so kind to sort out a B&B for me, and once I had showered up she cooked me an amazing tomato pasta dish followed by a big cup of tea! We had a great chat about so many things, including the Palestinian cause and as Joy is actually part of small group called “Oban concern for Palestine”, she has quite a bit of understanding about this ever complex issue. She was also generous and thoughtful enough to go out of her to buy some tablet and cereal bars for me! Thank you so much Joy and Doreen!

DAY 9
I’ll start by quoting a blog entry again.

“I was REALLY going slow today, the pace you would be going at listening to some Brian Eno music if you will. I was so chilled out after an amazing evening of good food and chat with Joy and her sister, and a nice wee cup of tea in the morning.
So, as I was cruising along a bridge at a nice snails pace, a cyclist out of nowhere came into my peripheral vision and sped off into the distance. I just couldn’t help it, but I had to catch this guy up for some reason, so I kicked into a higher gear, got the adrenalin going and chased him for about a mile while he was about 60/70m ahead of me. When I eventually caught up with him, I was a bit cheeky and was drifting in his slipstream. After about 500 yards he noticed me then we had a wee chat. He’s a member of his local cycling club, and was impressed with my speed after mentioning I was doing a solo LEJOG bike ride. He was en route to Fort William so we rode along together for the next 40ish miles which was great.”

So, after the cycle, and bizarrely struggling to find a single chippy in Fort William, we decided to treat ourselves to some high quality culinary delights at the Alexandra Hotel and proceeded to continue our wonderful conversation on cycling and carbs! The next day, I noticed that Mike had very kindly donated! I don’t have your contact details Mike, so if you’re reading this, thanks very much for the company and the donation!

Eventually, I arrived in Fort Augustus that evening, and met a couple of interesting guys from Leeds, Peter and Tim. What started as a wee “helllo, nice evening eh pal?” turned out to be a 3 hour constructive conversation about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. What was VERY interesting was that Peter has met a lot of people who have been badly affected by this conflict on the Israeli side. Not for one minute to take sides here, but again, it’s a reminder to always keep an open mind, but at the same time, I was not forgetting the cause. They looked after me on their boat, with some much needed tea and Scottish Fudge and Peter also, very kindly gave me a copy of a book he had just finished reading, “Jews, God and History” by Max I Dimont. Seems like a very interesting read, so I’ll get into that soon hopefully. Thanks Peter!

DAY 10

As this was getting more and more remote, I met fewer people as the miles went on. However, I did start to see a few more cyclists going in the opposite direction who were bravely attempting John O’Groats. This is harder, as you are mostly cycling against the prevailing winds, and it’s always best to get Devon and Cornwall out of the way first! One chap I met was about 60 years old, another solo unsupported act. Thing is, this guy had front AND rear pannier bags, fully loaded, and he was absolutely cooking in his fleece jumper. I had such admiration for his efforts but he did admit to me that “Yes, I think I packed too much for this trip”. I hope he’s ok!

DAY 11

For the last day, I met someone to cross this finish line with, so here’s an excerpt from my blog entry for that day. “A few very tough and surprise climbs later, I was on my way to Dounreay where a cyclist appeared out of nowhere in “wan ae they fancy carbon fibre bikes”. This was Glyn, who had the most strange Welsh/Geordie/Devon type accent, and when I asked the obligatory question, he replied with “aayerre aaaaa ahm go-win to John O’Groats as wheel!” The lucky chap had no luggage as he was in the fortunate position of having his wife providing a support vehicle full of spare wheels, pies and taking care of accommodation. We met on the last 40 miles of the trip and it was great to have a buddy to work with so that we could speed our way to the finish line.”

I really cannot emphasise the difference it makes to your journey when you have someone with you, so you can push each other to the very last grain of tarmac on this land and nearly cycle over the edge! I was feeling a bit deflated as I was dumped outside my hotel on my own after being at the finishing point for around 10/15 minutes but this was quickly forgotten about after thinking about the achievement and the money raised!