Next Time we’ll do it the other way round...
When Adam Clappison, 22, from Macclesfield had come to terms with missing out on the London Marathon it wasn’t long before his thoughts turned to an even greater challenge. What he decided to do was to cycle from John ‘O Groats to Lands End as a way of getting over his disappointment.
If John ‘O Groats to Lands End doesn’t quite trip off the tongue then that’s because it’s more usual to attempt the journey from South to North, but more of this later.
Adam invited his uncle, Stephen Nightingale, 54, from High Lane to join him on the trip and he didn’t take much convincing. The only stipulation was no camping in favour of bed and breakfast stops along the way. A plan was hatched.
North to South
When you look at a map of the British Isles it’s an easy mistake to see
Adam and Stephen were already 40 miles behind their target distance by the end of the first day. Adam described the winds as like pushing against a brick wall. He said: “Imagine riding up a steep hill with someone pulling you in the other direction. Even downhill, if you stopped pedalling you would come to a standstill.”
The East Coast of Scotland is very beautiful but desolate and you can travel for miles without any signs of life. At about 7pm one night Adam said to Stephen: “Next place we’ll stop” – but the nearest place was about 20 miles away. Adam described the scene as it was getting dark when they finally spotted a light in the distance: “It was about 9.30pm when we saw this hotel, an old castle, four star, fully expecting them to turf us out but they made us most welcome. They’d stopped serving food by this time but the chef made us steak and chips. We found this very warm welcome wherever we went in
Lessons learned
It’s easy to look back after the event and say what you’d do differently next time, we all learn from doing and Adam and Stephen are no exception.
They both agree the need for back-up is an essential. To have someone to run ahead and arrange accommodation, carry baggage and store the cycles. It would be a lot easier if this wasn’t something on your mind and the weight on your legs.
Attempting the challenge at a more leisurely pace and not to such a tight deadline would make the trip much more pleasant. With hindsight, the challenge of ten days was a bit ambitious.
Having someone to share the trip with was a great idea. Adam said: “We had to edge each other on, after Glencoe Stephen was a bit done in and I was bit that way after the first ten miles.” Adam’s knee ‘popped out’ a short time after the start with only another 910 miles to go!
This is beginning to sound like a catalogue of disasters but they still regard the trip as an experience they’ll never forget- in a good way. They laugh about some of the things which happened to them and some of the events which happened on the way such as taking all their foul weather gear and it not raining once. They carried too many items which they were never going to need, even a dressed up pair of shoes. Individually all these extras weigh very little but add them all up and it makes a lot of additional weight. All this baggage is being powered by your legs and every ounce counts.
Lockerbie and a new lease of life
The early mistake of carrying too much weight was solved at Lockerbie. After losing most of the excess weight by passing it on to Stephen’s wife, the bikes suddenly felt like lightweight racers rather than heavy leaden weights. Up until this point the pair had talked about giving up, but the thought of all the people they’d be letting down kept them going. The record for the journey is around 43 hours but this must be the preserve of super-humans – can you imagine?
From Carlisle to
On reaching
Adam and Steve did think about popping home when they passed a few miles from Macclesfield but resisted the temptation. Can you imagine what a night in your own bed would have done to your spirit? The challenge would have ended there and then.
The result
It was good to see the
What was the best thing? Padded shorts!
A total of £2,422 was raised for Francis House including Gift Aid. The original target was £1,000.
We drove on because of Francis House and chose the charity because children are special and everyone can relate to kids.
Adam and Stephen agreed it had been an unforgettable experience, they said: “We’re both delighted to have completed the challenge and are even now thinking of something else. Perhaps next time we’ll do a bit more research and far more preparation. We realised we were being a bit ambitious to attempt to do it in 10 days after day one, but we have no regrets and only the satisfaction of knowing we’ve done John ‘O Groats to Lands End for Francis House. So pleased we did it”.
Here are some photos from the journey please click on the links below:
