Day 7 Dornoch Bay Caravan Park - John O' Groats 86 miles

Bobby left early again this morning, 5:40am. He wasn't just in the pink!! After his usual bowl of Just Right he took some painkillers for the ankle & set off. Val left soon after without waking the boys up. When we caught up he had some very welcome toast & hot chocolate, Adam & Craig were still in bed!! The first stint hadn't been too bad as the wind was mainly on his side and he had on long cycling trousers & gloves. Brora to Wick proved to be much tougher. Kate Love was right about the two hills which were so steep they each had a braking pit in case your brakes failed. Wow!!! Corkers! Val & boys headed to Wick where Bobby had lunch in the Sommerfield CarPark. Bobby arrived, ready for a break. After lunch, he had a rest till 1pm then set off for the last leg of this epic journey. Craig joined him for some of the journey but the wind proved to be too much for him. Adam took over and finished at John O'Groats. Exhausted Bobby & Adam arrived to be welcomed by Mary & Willie Currie and Val & Craig armed with a well deserved bottle of asti.

BEEN THERE DONE THAT GOT THE T-SHIRT.

Thanks to Jim Cusick for lending me a bike and to Willie Currie for planning my route. Thanks to Kenneth & Rachael for lending us their Motor Home and to everyone who sponsored me.

Day 6 Pitlochry - Dornoch Firth Caravan Park 117 miles

Bobby left early, around 5:30am. Today was tough. Pitlochry to Drumochter Summit was cold & wet. He phoned the support team to bring gloves. Gloves in July? Blair Atholl Post Office had a selection of children's MAGIC gloves marked down to 50p, just the job!

Happy 80th Birthday to Granny Wigtown today.

Bobby had an altercation with a road worker today when he tried to nip up the side of the roadworks!! Slochdt was another tough climb. Today was definitely the toughest day yet. Kenny, Lesley, Calum & Ian Kinnear provides some much needed encouragement as Bobby approached the caravan park. That evening The Kinnears treated the Stevensons to a lovely meal in The Eagle in Dornoch. Delicious food & very prompt service. Bobby stuck to his training diet and had soup followed by chicken and ham pie. Craig being Craig took his chance & had a sirloin steak, it was delicious. Thanks Kenny & Lesley.

Day 5 Biggar to Pitlochry 118 miles

After a good night's sleep in a real bed (thanks to Mary & Willie Currie) Bobby set off just after 8am. His achilles tendon was playing up so he bandaged it up with one of Great Granny Stevenson's crepe bandages. Willie escorted him to Forth, he then headed off in the direction of The Kincardine Bridge. The support crew left some time later after gathering up the 3 loads of laundry!!! Again Willie accompanied us to Forth, making sure we were heading in the right direction! W e crossed the old Kincardine Bridge and made for Rumbling Bridge where we had arranged to meet Aunty Amelia for lunch. Val phoned her Aunty Grace in Gateside but she was out. W e looked for a suitable spot to stop for lunch and plumped for Muckhart Golf Club which was a wee bit off the road (much to Bobby's disgust!!) Bobby's journey from Rumbling Bridge was very up and down (maybe more up!) He went through Dunning, Findo Gask and Tibbermore before joining the notorious A9. He cycled along the A9 to Dunkeld where the support team were waiting (for once!!) Val & the boys even had time to wander round Dunkeld, a lovely place. From Dunkeld he cycled onto Pitlochry where the support team had parked up at Faskally Caravan Park. Bobby arrived ready for a shower, food and bed. Aunty Mary had provided "Damn Delicious" stew and two tubs of the famous Biggar ice-cream, the best tea yet. Bobby headed off to bed soon after tea. He slept in the top bed, above the front seats for the first time. This worked out well as Val & the boys were able to stretch out at the other end of the Motor home and watch Slumdog Millionaire without disturbing him too much.

Day 4 (Monday) Preston - Biggar 158 miles

Bobby set off from Preston at 5:15am having eaten a large bowl of Just Right and a couple of marmalade sandwiches. The arrangement was to meet at Kendal but he had got to nearly Penrith when he phoned the support crew. The Sat Nav was altered to Carlisle then to Longtown and we took the M6 to see if we could catch him up!! Val's overtaking has increased to 8 vehicles. Eventually we caught up with Bobby at Longtown and headed to Gretna for lunch with John Williamson, Kathryn & Andrew. After lunch in the caravan park, we took advantage of the photo opportunity at the WELCOME TO SCOTLAND sign before Bobby, Adam & Andrew Williamson headed off to conquer the Beattock summit. Meanwhile Val, Kathryn & Craig headed to Moffat where Sybil (Andrew & Kathryn's mum) joined them. After a blether, Craig & Val headed off to meet the cyclists. We caught up with them after Beattock Summit. Willie Currie was there as well as John Williamson. Plenty support today!!! Adam decided to call it a day and let Craig join the cycle team which he did until the traffic got too busy and Willie Currie brought him back to Thankerton(Biggar) where Val & Adam had arrived earlier. Bobby arrived at The Chesters about 6pm looking forward to a hot bath but the boys had used all the hot water!!

Day 3 Hereford to Preston 156 miles

Bobby left Hereford really early in search of Billsborrow. He left at 5 . 30 am and The kids and Val left at about 10 o'clock again. Bobby really hammered on and covered 120 miles. The support crew caught up with him between St Helens and Preston again we stopped for about 3 hours and Adam decided to join him for the afternoon. The 2 of them covered 36 miles and came to Billsborrow meanwhile Val and Craig went to Morrisons to stock up on food and then popped into Penwortham to visit Karen (cousin) Keith & Stewart. It was a flying visit as when Val phoned Bobby from Morrison's carpark his phone started ringing in the motorhome. OH DEAR!!! Bobby borrowed a mobile from a stranger and let us know he & Adam were waiting at a pub in Billsborrow. Craig & Val headed to the campsite aided by Sat Nav thinking they would go through Bilsborrow en route. They arrived at the campsite first checked in then headed back to find the cyclists. Tired, angry & CRABBIT they were picked up and driven to the campsite. They calmed down after a hot shower and food. An early night for all!!

Day 1 Lands End - TIverton 146 miles

Sorry we think day 1 hasnt posted soo here it is. On day 1 we went and got our photos taken at the famous landsend sign. Straight after the photo shoot Bobby left and hammered on while Val and the children stayed and did touristry things at the gift shop. Mum spent a record amount in the shop and really it was just little things like postcards and pictures the only worthwhile thing she bought was a hoodie for Bobby. We then spent money on a Cornish Pastie For brunch mmm . Meanwhile Bobby was goin at a fair rate with a howling gale on his back. He said
" The drivers must be used to having cyclists as they left plenty of room for him''
He was going at such a rate that the Support Crew never caught up until Bobby had covered 90 mile. Then we stoped for 2 hours for lunch. When Bobby left again he traveled another 50 miles which was an astonishing feat. We set up camp at Stamford Aurndel. He said
" The first 90 miles , easy but the next 50 f*****g brutal''
Today was a good starting block for the next day ;-)

Day 2 Tiverton - Hereford 130 miles

Bobby left from Tiverton to Hereford he left quite early and the boys were not up. He said that
" From Tiverton to The Severn Bridge was flat but from Chepstow to Hereford was much more hilly''
Bobby got lost and when we were looking for him to have a stop for lunch at Portinsea as he had made a wrong turn and had difficulty finding the campsite and this added 10 miles to his journey. We then went out for our tea at a small pub The Moon Inn and we waited a looooonnnnnnngggg time for our food and we were all starving and Bobby got rather annoyed but we waited and it was alright. We went back to the camp sorted out our route for tomorrow
and went to bed.

Mum has overtaken 3 vehicles so far!!

Traveling

We have borrowed a motorhome from Kenneth a family Friend and also a laptop from Uncle Buck SO we can update our blog on the road. We left Meadowpark on 1/7/09 at around 12 o'clock and stopped for lunch at Castle Douglas we then set off in search of Shrewsbury as we got there we were heading round in circles and a helpful man at a petrol station showed us the way to our campsite.
The next day we woke up and hit the road at around 10 o'clock and stopped at a retail park to get a dongle for the laptop. At the retail park we discovered how the sat nav worked and started to follow it . Unfortunately Bobby thought his logic was better than it and we took a wrong tun and the sat nav the recalculated and took us through a narrow road. Bobby got annoyed ant started cursing and having an argument with the defenceless sat nav. We reached Lands End at about 9 o'clock and we will return back there in the morning to get our photo taken. The four of us arrived at a campsite 2 miles away from the last and first house in England. Bobby then had a fallout with the receptionist so far it was 2 days of a lot of travelling and arguments. ;)

Preparation

Bobby has recently completed a warm up run to the Highland Show covering a distance of 115 miles and he completed the journey in 6 hours 30 minutes. There have been other fundraisers up until this point including ; London Marathon (Sheila Wright) , Ballantrae Coffee Morning , WRFC New Tattie night , Sandhead bingo night and in todays paper (30/6/09) an article was posted in the Daily Record. At present in the Stevenson Charity Fund there stands £ 10 067 . 44.