Day 1 report

Apologies for this late report and lack of photos but we are camping in an area with zero reception. So, please forgive more typos courtesy of the blackberry.

We were woken by the sunrise at 3am, after literally only 3hrs of darkness, and all struggled to get back to sleep properly and were nervously anticipating the 6am alarm.

By the time we got on the road after the John O' Groats start experience, it was a little later than we had hoped for at 8am.

At last we were finally underway, the sun was shining and we were busy trying to find a rhythm against a strong head wind.
We soon settled into 20minutes stints each at front, before peeling of to the back for recovery in the slip stream.

We took our first break at around the 3hrs and 40 mile mark but thereafter, we took them a little more frequently because of the heat and need for rehydration. We each consumed in the region of 6-8litres of fluid on the ride alone today and there are a selection of beetroot body parts amongst us.

Interestingly, the many end to end cyclists we passed were all riding north in the opposite direction which confirms we are definitely completing the challenge the "Wrong Way Down"!

We have been wearing the "Dartmouth Wrong Way Down" t-shirts and lots of people we passed, even motorists beeping their horns, have been very supportive in the first section of today's ride.

As the day progressed, traffic levels and speed have increased enormously and we changed our initial route plan to avoid Inverness city.

We have completed 120 miles as per plan and were out for 10 hours in total. Our moving average was just below 15mph and Phil recorded the fastest max speed of 41mph.

Tomorrow, we have an approximate 65 mile ride before we arrive to climb Ben Nevis.

We aim to be on the road at 7am and will be breaking for a radio interview with Fitz on BBC radio devon at 10.30am.

More to follow.
Cheers



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