Here is a blog of my 2015 charity bike ride/concert tour. The trip raised over £4000 for the MS Society.

1st August
Performing at Land's End Bandstand


Here I go!



Something I saw today on my marvellous ride: St. Michael's Mount



I AM HAVING THE BEST TIME EVER!

2nd August
From my travels today







3rd August
Cornish 'navigation':





Dartmoor - today was stunning:






4th August
Lovely scenery from today. Devon (mostly, I think!!)





Fantastic, supportive audience at Sampford Peverell. Many thanks to them - they did their village proud, completely filling the hall!

5th August
Lucky escape...


My bike by a Somerset field:


Somerset cows (I had to wait while the farmer drove them down the lane):


6th August
Today was EXHAUSTING! I went from Stawell (Somerset) to St Briavels, crossing both the Clifton Suspension Bridge and the Severn Bridge. It was around 60 miles, but with a lot of hills...totally spectacular.

Somerset.


A very steep (but short) hill


View from Clifton Suspension Bridge


View from Severn Bridge


Wye Valley (near my campsite)


7th August
I'm a little bit tired today. I did 40 miles though! In 7 days, I've had 15 minutes of rain. I already feel as though I've been very lucky! Here are some pictures of me moving towards Herefordshire!

Forest of Dean


River Wye


View of Herefordshire


Hereford Cathedral


8th August
Thank you very much to all my audiences so far! There have been so many lovely people, and some bonus donations at some concerts. It is making a huge difference to my fundraising for the MS Society!

The weather today was unbelievable! Crystal clear. I was on my bike at 07.30 and had a fairly big day cycling over the Shropshire hills...around 54 miles in total.

Setting off this morning


Amazing morning sky


Shropshire hills




Shropshire lane


9th August
Lovely (much flatter!!) day's cycling today in Cheshire. Excellent weather (still!). I took a really wiggly route, which involved constantly snaking across A roads on lanes you would never find without trying really hard! I met a farmer on a track near 'Kill Cow Hill', which, he explained, gets its name from something involving a cow from 400 years ago...while a farmer was driving some cows down the hill, one got ahead of the trailer and fell over, breaking its neck...and now I know this story! Looking forward to playing for the crowd at Barnton later on tonight.

Some pictures from today:

Beeston Castle entrance


Trainspotting in Cheshire


Canal at Tiverton (not the Tiverton in Devon, the one in Cheshire - I didn't know there was one until today!)


Passing through Delamere Forest


View across Cheshire


It was so nice to have so many familiar faces in the audience at Barnton! Thank you, everyone, for coming!

10th August
Still quite flat today. Some city cycling though...less enjoyable! Anyway, I still managed to take some rural roads. Pictures below! THANK YOU TO BECKY FOR AN AMAZING DINNER!! MUCH NEEDED!

A secret road on the approach to Warrington


Corn field in Lancashire


'Dodging a bullet'...this came out of my tyre today. I'll be honest, I LOVE my tyres. No puncture....


11th August
Flat again! 40 miles or so. I passed through Preston and Lancaster. I have spent quite a bit of time crossing backwards and forwards over the Lancashire canal network, which has been a lot of fun!

Canal


Lancaster


Arrival at campsite...


...which has a view of Morecombe Bay


12th August
Cycling through the Lake District was hard, of course (Kirkstone Pass!), but it was absolutely amazing. I can't believe my luck with the weather! I could have avoided the Lakes, but why would you, when the area is so awesome?!

The Lake District...I'm coming for you.


The Lake District...nearer


Lake Windermere


General Lake District view


Approaching the summit of Kirkstone Pass - I won.


Brothers Water


Ullswater


What the Lakes did to me


13th August
Today I cycled from Troutbeck to Longtown, just beyond Carlisle. The cycling was really flat, thank goodness! After looking forward to stopping for lunch, I carefully picked my spot and sat to rest - in an ants' nest. Anyway, the weather was brilliant - and still is!

General view of Cumbria


Blencow Hall


I passed through this place


More of Cumbria


Carlisle


I had made such good progress, I stopped for coffee in Longtown...


...at the wonderful Sycamore Tree Cafe


Finally relaxing at the campsite


14th August
50 miles in the rain, uphill mostly. I had some very exciting encounters with the timber lorries on the narrow roads. It was fun...thank you to everyone who came to Jedburgh. Thank you especially to Elspeth, who drove 2 and a half hours - lovely to catch up briefly! Nice place to play in!

Departing: full waterproofs.


Scotland welcomed me


Scottish forest


A river


A lovely view, despite the weather


15th August
A much nicer day today. Easier cycling too. I've reached the outskirts of Edinburgh. Had to fit a new gear cable at the campsite, as it had become very stiff...it's done well, around 700 miles! Nice to see Jane and Sion at Bo'ness today, thank you for coming!

Golf, anyone? Innerleithen Golf Course.


Roads look like this here:


View of Edinburgh


16th August
Beautiful weather, but I'm tired after a long ride today - 62 miles. I reached Bridge of Cally, north of Perth. The landscape is amazing up here. Final concert tomorrow!

Heading towards the Forth Bridge


The Forth Bridge


They're building a new Forth Bridge:


A picture in Perth


A river near Bridge of Cally


A nice scene


Another nice scene


17th August
Final concert day! Thank you to the lovely audience who came to Pitlochry, more money to the MS society! A good day's cycling in Scotland. Lovely to see Ellie at the Pitlochry concert!

I must be in Aberdeenshire


Cycling past Glenshee Ski Centre


Braemar Castle


Incredible trees in Scotland


Final destination of the day: Balmoral Castle car park


18th August
Today was extremely hard. Rain and wind on the Cairngorms, full waterproofs all day long. 60 miles. I was glad of the help from my support crew several times today - changes of socks, warm clothes, gloves etc.! During one pit stop, a certain member of my support crew encouraged me with the words: 'In between here and the Lecht Ski Centre, there is a hill, the likes of which you've never seen'. This was a fair point. It was a big hill....there was some walking.

Highland cattle


Rougher weather


Me in the rougher weather


A river


19th August
Today was extremely exciting...first major bike disaster...read on. Weather good, thank goodness. Everything was going smoothly, when the rim of my rear wheel snapped. Any cyclist will tell you that this is a fairly major problem...luckily, my support crew very speedily got to a bike shop for a replacement wheel!! I then had to (with Mum and Dad's help) swap the cassette over to the new wheel, fit a spare tyre and inner tube, and also took the opportunity to change various other parts which had worn over the past 800 miles...this ended up being most bits (cables, cable housing, brakes)! Then I carried on with another 25 miles of cycling! Got to my planned destination in the end!

Snapped rim - see how the tyre started to pull apart too!


Major repair work begins


Inverness Castle


Lovely view in Inverness


20th August
Sorry for delay...no internet access! Today was lovely! Fantastic weather and one of the nicest cycle rides ever. The B873 to Bettyhill follows Loch Naver for much of the way, and the scenery is unbelievable. Why would anyone take the A9 for LEJOG?! Also, before that, I stopped off at the Crask Inn, and was asked to play something by the landlady, who heard about the trip....they had a lovely old Broadwood grand. The landlady (and 2 other nice people) very kindly donated to the MS Society - thank you very much to them! The Crask Inn is such an interesting place to visit! Finally, the bike is running brilliantly again after all the upgrade work yesterday! Oh, and tomorrow I'm going to cycle to John O'Groats.

A stunning view


Me at the Crask Inn


An awesome view of Loch Naver


Another awesome view


21st August
My bike took me from Land's End to John o'Groats. It was great to finish today! Thank you very, very much to everyone who has donated, and to Mum, Dad, Auntie Ol and Uncle John for being my support crew! The trip has been totally awesome. I have seen (a section of) Britain from toe to head, and had a brilliant adventure. The concerts have raised loads of money - thank you to everyone who came, and so many people have been very generous along the way. THANK YOU! Pictures below!

4 hours from the end...


These dunes are very near the end of the route, on the A836. I took a photo of them, because it was the only place I saw anything like them


Arriving at John o'Groats!


The Signpost


Bright orange


I had the energy to cycle a couple of miles further to the lovely Duncansby Head Lighthouse