Cycle ride
Right, I'm home, in front of my own laptop - I've been fed, I have a drink, I have the pictures from the bike ride, and I am nowhere near as tired as I was a few days ago.
It's probably going to end up being a long story, so I'll stick it behind a cut so as not to bore people :P
Day -1 - Oban
was quite strange - we were all up very early to get ready and head to Oban from my sister's house near Montrose - several travel-sickness tablets got taken by me because omg, teeny windy country roads are not nice...
Ended up in Oban about lunchtime, where Richard and Ian dissappeared back over to Dundee with the cars (so that we had a way of getting home at the end of the ride...) and the rest of us, Jayne, Robin, Lewis, and the two Taylor boys - Gregor and Angus, and me obv, stayed in Oban being bored out of our skulls. Seriously, there is virtually nothing to do in Oban - it's a sleepy little port city - it has a ferry terminal, a distillery, a folly, and a ten pin bowling place. And lots of coffee shops, and ice-cream parlours. No beer gardens. Nothing free to see :( So after lunch (pizza, I ended up sandwiched between the two Taylor boys at the table) we basically told the four boys to go away and make their own entertainment until Harry Potter started...which was fine, Jayne and I just spent the rest of the day eating ice-cream and drinking coffee...was quite good :)
The film was even alright, but I think, as my sister mentioned - everyone was in the cinema - we were convinced that there must be 6 locals who couldn't fit in because we were there...I haven't been in a cinema that packed in years...
Anyway. The film was ok...not great, quite slow, but a reasonable way of passing a couple of hours in a town that has no life.
We stayed in a hostel as well - the boys in one room, adults in another...I think I was one of the few people that slept well, since I'm used to town noises, so the random shouting and noises of lorries didn't bother me at all.
Day 1 - Oban to Tyndrum
It's a really crap place to get out of, Oban...whichever road you take, you have to go up a hill...of course, we took the back road out - which meant you cycled 200m from the hostel, turned left, and hit a wall pretending to be a hill...was a bit painful...in that I am dying and do not wish to cycle any further sort of way.
Once you got up the hill though, it wasn't too bad for a while - the view was amazing through the hills, cool breeze, bright sunshine, factor 50 suncream...of course, Angus managed to splat himself into a gate, so that was casualty #1. Fortunately he was only slightly damaged, and was able to continue.
Once we got down out of that section though, the drivers were utter arseholes - gesticulating at us, swearing, shouting...all because we had the audacity to ride two-abreast... (which is not pohibited by the highway code, no matter what the salty fellows shouting at us were saying...)
Still. We all made it to the hostel in Tyndrum, which was really nice - I spent the evening reading a Darwin Awards book, and giggling at how obvious the liers were when playing Cheat...my younger nephew is particularly transparent *G*
Unfortunately for Lewis though, he had a bit of a rough time of it that evening - the poor thing has bugger all muscle mass, and no fat...he was purely sweet-powered...as such, he ended up with cramp...bad enough that we basically had to wait for the morning to find out if he'd be ok to cycle...
(I do need to mention that sleep wasn't forthcoming for me, you'll see the reason why later on)
Day 2 - Tyndrum to Comrie
Day two wasn't too bad - long, arduous, hilly, painfull, I wanted to die, Lewis wanted to die, and we got a bit rained on. Not much else I can say about it, to be honest. Getting to Comrie Croft was a major relief though - it didn't even take long - we did about 36 miles that day and were there by 1pm - I was glad enough of that, especially when I discovered they had power-showers and I could go and soak in peace...
Ended up chatting with Angus for a while - despite being a total little brother, and having to be bullied into the shower, he's a sweet kid when he's not around Gregor, which is a shame, because Gregor's adorable.
We didn't really do much - there is the Tale of Maisy the stuffed Sheep, and How That Nearly Got My Brother-In-Law Divorced, but I think that's one for another time. We ended up watching Family Guy though - the only seat left when I wandered through was next to Gregor, but being 13 years older, and bloody knackered, I just flopped down, stuck a cushion in a sensible position (middle of the sofa) and lay my head down. Again with the not sleeping though...Family Guy is one of those programmes that I have to be in the right mood for - it's sick, twisted, not pc at all, in totally bad taste, but when you've cycled more than 36 miles each day for two days, and you're tired and have drunk 3 beers, it's actually rather amusing.
Anyway. That night we were all in one room - so there were several sets of snores, three sets of texting (inc me) and one set of SPRING SPRANG SPRONG SPROING from me every time I turned over. So I didn't really sleep, again...
Day 3 - Comrie to Wester Capeth
Day 3? No idea why, but the morning was fantastic - everything came together (for me) and I just cycled and cycled and cycled...no effort (well, effort, but not killing me, if you see what I mean.) just a cool breeze, sunshine, and a hill. I remember being really happy at that point - I could have just kept going, if it had never changed from those rolling, smooth hills and warm skies.
However...I stopped when the leaders of the pack stopped (Ian, with Gregor, Robin and Angus in tow) - we stood around at the edge of a potato field (Maris Pipers, I believe...) and waited for a while...eventually we got a call from J&R asking us why we hadn't stopped at the food place about a mile back...of course, Gregor had been telling his dad (Ian) that they should have been stopping there, but would his father listen? Nuhu...so of course that meant Gregor was unspeakably smug about the whole thing...and we then had to ride back a mile up a hill with the wind huffing in our faces and making it harder...joy!
Lunch was good though - Angus was sponsored a tenner to shut up for 30 minutes by my sister (money went to the charity, obv...) and I just told him that he was going to get castrated if he didn't shut up for a while...bless his cotton socks, he did actually shut up, as well...good as gold for the full half-hour... :)
We got cracking again, and all whimpered - have you ever tried to cycle hard for 15 miles up hills when you've just eaten? No? I suggest don't - it's bloody hard. Eventually we stopped for ice-cream at somewhere with a silver medal of being-amazing-at-ice-cream, and my god that was the best ice-cream I've ever tasted. I really want to find the gold place!
It really wasn't much further after that, to get to Wester Capeth, which turned out to be a cute cottage at the bottom of a valley with zero phone signal.
The best thing about that evening was the instruments - they had a guitar, which was nabbed by Gregor, and he promptly played random tunes nice and gently - he's got quite a talent, that boy. Of course, as usual in these situations, I sat and wrote random shite into my little book of scribey knowingness, and really wished that I could draw - all I wanted was to be able to capture the relaxed posture, the calm of someone who's just idly playing around with music.
Anyway, I can't draw, and it wasn't like I could ask if I could take a picture, really, without sounding utterly creepy...
I had a minor bonding moment with the boys though - we were all making a list on the fridge - Gregor's contribution was that we needed pancakes and syrup...so I suggested I could make them (after all, I'm reasonable at pancakes...) - I have never seen anyone look so happy over the prospect of pancakes before *G*
We were all disussing the rooms later though, people were saying how well they'd slept - which of course made me whimper that I had hardly slept in two days because it was too quiet (city girl) - at which point Gregor offered to stand outside my window and make car noises if it would help! unsurprisingly, my sister was a little shocked by that...17 yr old boys don't normally make those sorts of offers...
Was very sweet of him though, I don't think anyone could have offered anything nicer than that, given how tired I was *Grins*
Day 4 - Wester Capeth to Dundee
I didn't actually sleep *too* badly that night, either...went to bed at a fairly sensible time, but woke up about 6am as normal, and went through to grunt at Ian until he made me coffee... (he is also an early riser) Of course, after my third cuppa, I had to get the pan on for the pancakes - I made the first one, stuck it on a plate with some syrup drizzled on, and casually wandered through to the boys' room and said 'Who wants pancaked?'
I have never seen Angus move that fast - he actually fell out of bed, so I'm guessing pancakes are a pavlovian reaction for them all *G* I was particularly cruel to Gregor, since he'd confessed that he loved pancakes, so since he was in a top bunk, I sauntered over and wafted the plate in front of him...rumpled hair, bare shoulder and arm appeared rather quickly from under the duvet at that point! Of course, being mean, I took it away, after smiling up at him and sweetly telling him that one was mine...
Subtle? Me? Like a half-brick in a sock...
We left at a fairly sensible time on Monday, and headed out (up a hill, what a surprise...more of a surprise that I actually made it...Scotland is *Really* not flat...) and east, and hoped for it to be easy going. Of course, it wasn't terribly easy - easier than 4 days ago, but I think I'd only be half as bad if I did that day again now...of course, I really really don't want to, as I wanted to die a lot so...
Anyway. Yes...after quite a lot of cycling (it was 25 miles for the last leg) and a lot of hill, some of which defeated me, other bits of which were fine, we made it to the top of the last rise and a cheer went up - we could see Dundee!
Beautiful downhill section, some nasty roads with a big roudabout, and one last hill later, we arrived at Ninewells, where Jen, the woman we were doing this all for, was waiting.
We raised over £2200 for the burns unit (Crispy Kids, as Ian says) in Malawi - we're still accepting donations, if anyone wants to be nice :D
After all, it was bloody epic, crossing Scotland in 4 days with 4 people under 18, a fat girl, three fit people, and a willingness to do all of this for someone else. There's a lot of people who are going to be spared a lot of pain and suffering because of what we've raised.
So thank you, so so so much to everyone who sponsored us to do this, you're all awesome :)
It's probably going to end up being a long story, so I'll stick it behind a cut so as not to bore people :P
Day -1 - Oban
was quite strange - we were all up very early to get ready and head to Oban from my sister's house near Montrose - several travel-sickness tablets got taken by me because omg, teeny windy country roads are not nice...
Ended up in Oban about lunchtime, where Richard and Ian dissappeared back over to Dundee with the cars (so that we had a way of getting home at the end of the ride...) and the rest of us, Jayne, Robin, Lewis, and the two Taylor boys - Gregor and Angus, and me obv, stayed in Oban being bored out of our skulls. Seriously, there is virtually nothing to do in Oban - it's a sleepy little port city - it has a ferry terminal, a distillery, a folly, and a ten pin bowling place. And lots of coffee shops, and ice-cream parlours. No beer gardens. Nothing free to see :( So after lunch (pizza, I ended up sandwiched between the two Taylor boys at the table) we basically told the four boys to go away and make their own entertainment until Harry Potter started...which was fine, Jayne and I just spent the rest of the day eating ice-cream and drinking coffee...was quite good :)
The film was even alright, but I think, as my sister mentioned - everyone was in the cinema - we were convinced that there must be 6 locals who couldn't fit in because we were there...I haven't been in a cinema that packed in years...
Anyway. The film was ok...not great, quite slow, but a reasonable way of passing a couple of hours in a town that has no life.
We stayed in a hostel as well - the boys in one room, adults in another...I think I was one of the few people that slept well, since I'm used to town noises, so the random shouting and noises of lorries didn't bother me at all.
Day 1 - Oban to Tyndrum
It's a really crap place to get out of, Oban...whichever road you take, you have to go up a hill...of course, we took the back road out - which meant you cycled 200m from the hostel, turned left, and hit a wall pretending to be a hill...was a bit painful...in that I am dying and do not wish to cycle any further sort of way.
Once you got up the hill though, it wasn't too bad for a while - the view was amazing through the hills, cool breeze, bright sunshine, factor 50 suncream...of course, Angus managed to splat himself into a gate, so that was casualty #1. Fortunately he was only slightly damaged, and was able to continue.
Once we got down out of that section though, the drivers were utter arseholes - gesticulating at us, swearing, shouting...all because we had the audacity to ride two-abreast... (which is not pohibited by the highway code, no matter what the salty fellows shouting at us were saying...)
Still. We all made it to the hostel in Tyndrum, which was really nice - I spent the evening reading a Darwin Awards book, and giggling at how obvious the liers were when playing Cheat...my younger nephew is particularly transparent *G*
Unfortunately for Lewis though, he had a bit of a rough time of it that evening - the poor thing has bugger all muscle mass, and no fat...he was purely sweet-powered...as such, he ended up with cramp...bad enough that we basically had to wait for the morning to find out if he'd be ok to cycle...
(I do need to mention that sleep wasn't forthcoming for me, you'll see the reason why later on)
Day 2 - Tyndrum to Comrie
Day two wasn't too bad - long, arduous, hilly, painfull, I wanted to die, Lewis wanted to die, and we got a bit rained on. Not much else I can say about it, to be honest. Getting to Comrie Croft was a major relief though - it didn't even take long - we did about 36 miles that day and were there by 1pm - I was glad enough of that, especially when I discovered they had power-showers and I could go and soak in peace...
Ended up chatting with Angus for a while - despite being a total little brother, and having to be bullied into the shower, he's a sweet kid when he's not around Gregor, which is a shame, because Gregor's adorable.
We didn't really do much - there is the Tale of Maisy the stuffed Sheep, and How That Nearly Got My Brother-In-Law Divorced, but I think that's one for another time. We ended up watching Family Guy though - the only seat left when I wandered through was next to Gregor, but being 13 years older, and bloody knackered, I just flopped down, stuck a cushion in a sensible position (middle of the sofa) and lay my head down. Again with the not sleeping though...Family Guy is one of those programmes that I have to be in the right mood for - it's sick, twisted, not pc at all, in totally bad taste, but when you've cycled more than 36 miles each day for two days, and you're tired and have drunk 3 beers, it's actually rather amusing.
Anyway. That night we were all in one room - so there were several sets of snores, three sets of texting (inc me) and one set of SPRING SPRANG SPRONG SPROING from me every time I turned over. So I didn't really sleep, again...
Day 3 - Comrie to Wester Capeth
Day 3? No idea why, but the morning was fantastic - everything came together (for me) and I just cycled and cycled and cycled...no effort (well, effort, but not killing me, if you see what I mean.) just a cool breeze, sunshine, and a hill. I remember being really happy at that point - I could have just kept going, if it had never changed from those rolling, smooth hills and warm skies.
However...I stopped when the leaders of the pack stopped (Ian, with Gregor, Robin and Angus in tow) - we stood around at the edge of a potato field (Maris Pipers, I believe...) and waited for a while...eventually we got a call from J&R asking us why we hadn't stopped at the food place about a mile back...of course, Gregor had been telling his dad (Ian) that they should have been stopping there, but would his father listen? Nuhu...so of course that meant Gregor was unspeakably smug about the whole thing...and we then had to ride back a mile up a hill with the wind huffing in our faces and making it harder...joy!
Lunch was good though - Angus was sponsored a tenner to shut up for 30 minutes by my sister (money went to the charity, obv...) and I just told him that he was going to get castrated if he didn't shut up for a while...bless his cotton socks, he did actually shut up, as well...good as gold for the full half-hour... :)
We got cracking again, and all whimpered - have you ever tried to cycle hard for 15 miles up hills when you've just eaten? No? I suggest don't - it's bloody hard. Eventually we stopped for ice-cream at somewhere with a silver medal of being-amazing-at-ice-cream, and my god that was the best ice-cream I've ever tasted. I really want to find the gold place!
It really wasn't much further after that, to get to Wester Capeth, which turned out to be a cute cottage at the bottom of a valley with zero phone signal.
The best thing about that evening was the instruments - they had a guitar, which was nabbed by Gregor, and he promptly played random tunes nice and gently - he's got quite a talent, that boy. Of course, as usual in these situations, I sat and wrote random shite into my little book of scribey knowingness, and really wished that I could draw - all I wanted was to be able to capture the relaxed posture, the calm of someone who's just idly playing around with music.
Anyway, I can't draw, and it wasn't like I could ask if I could take a picture, really, without sounding utterly creepy...
I had a minor bonding moment with the boys though - we were all making a list on the fridge - Gregor's contribution was that we needed pancakes and syrup...so I suggested I could make them (after all, I'm reasonable at pancakes...) - I have never seen anyone look so happy over the prospect of pancakes before *G*
We were all disussing the rooms later though, people were saying how well they'd slept - which of course made me whimper that I had hardly slept in two days because it was too quiet (city girl) - at which point Gregor offered to stand outside my window and make car noises if it would help! unsurprisingly, my sister was a little shocked by that...17 yr old boys don't normally make those sorts of offers...
Was very sweet of him though, I don't think anyone could have offered anything nicer than that, given how tired I was *Grins*
Day 4 - Wester Capeth to Dundee
I didn't actually sleep *too* badly that night, either...went to bed at a fairly sensible time, but woke up about 6am as normal, and went through to grunt at Ian until he made me coffee... (he is also an early riser) Of course, after my third cuppa, I had to get the pan on for the pancakes - I made the first one, stuck it on a plate with some syrup drizzled on, and casually wandered through to the boys' room and said 'Who wants pancaked?'
I have never seen Angus move that fast - he actually fell out of bed, so I'm guessing pancakes are a pavlovian reaction for them all *G* I was particularly cruel to Gregor, since he'd confessed that he loved pancakes, so since he was in a top bunk, I sauntered over and wafted the plate in front of him...rumpled hair, bare shoulder and arm appeared rather quickly from under the duvet at that point! Of course, being mean, I took it away, after smiling up at him and sweetly telling him that one was mine...
Subtle? Me? Like a half-brick in a sock...
We left at a fairly sensible time on Monday, and headed out (up a hill, what a surprise...more of a surprise that I actually made it...Scotland is *Really* not flat...) and east, and hoped for it to be easy going. Of course, it wasn't terribly easy - easier than 4 days ago, but I think I'd only be half as bad if I did that day again now...of course, I really really don't want to, as I wanted to die a lot so...
Anyway. Yes...after quite a lot of cycling (it was 25 miles for the last leg) and a lot of hill, some of which defeated me, other bits of which were fine, we made it to the top of the last rise and a cheer went up - we could see Dundee!
Beautiful downhill section, some nasty roads with a big roudabout, and one last hill later, we arrived at Ninewells, where Jen, the woman we were doing this all for, was waiting.
We raised over £2200 for the burns unit (Crispy Kids, as Ian says) in Malawi - we're still accepting donations, if anyone wants to be nice :D
After all, it was bloody epic, crossing Scotland in 4 days with 4 people under 18, a fat girl, three fit people, and a willingness to do all of this for someone else. There's a lot of people who are going to be spared a lot of pain and suffering because of what we've raised.
So thank you, so so so much to everyone who sponsored us to do this, you're all awesome :)