This event has been an adventure for everyone, and certainly one not to be forgotten! In this article, we hope to share some of the problems (as well as successes) for anyone contemplating the challenge!

We will be adding to this article over time, so we advise bookmarking this page if you are interested. Last update: 2nd September 2008

General Advice

• Check all roads are legal for cycling - This may sound obvious, but was something we had overlooked. Don’t assume that just because it’s an A road, you can cycle on it. We got stuck after crossing the Forth Road Bridge, not knowing we couldn’t go any further up the road. We had to divert through Edinburgh, which added a lot of stress and time to our day!
• Check specific campsite rules - On arrival at our first campsite, we were swiftly turned away having driven across the country to get there! Their reasoning behind this was that we were a single sex party. The advertising on the car and the fact we had a trailer with nearly £1000 worth of bikes on it meant nothing. We had to drive 10 miles extra down the road to another campsite. Not only this, but it meant we had to change our cycling route to include the alternative campsite which extended one days cycling by 10 miles. The alternative campsite donated a pitch free of charge and were fantastically helpful by the way!
• Bring Sat Navs! - Not an obvious one, but if we hadn’t have had 2 sat navs, it would have made things just that bit more difficult. On the bike, it is extremely useful as it meant we didn’t have to carry maps. We used the sat nav as a map, as well as letting it guide us through the route. Of course make sure that you get waterproof protection for it, because it will get wet! Another advantage to both support car and cyclists having a sat nav is that both parties know exactly where the other is. For example, when Matt needed medical attention on the road, the coordinates were simple entered into the car sat nav and it took us straight to him.
• A Gazebo - This proved very useful for us, as it rained most of the time. This allowed us to dry clothes/sleeping bags etc under it, even when it was raining. Of course it also meant we could cook in relative dryness.
• Test equipment before leaving - We hadn’t tested the brand new mobile modem before we left. It should have allowed us to update the website every day. After spending most of our evenings on the phone to carphone warehouse, we still had no internet connection by day 4. Only after visiting a shop on our way down did they discover it was actually the equipment that was faulty.
• Don’t store loose matches in a bag - On the last day we almost had the entire trailer up in flames after some loose matches in a plastic bag had managed to strike off each-other as the bag was put into the trailer. It was only becuase we could smell candles that the smoke was discovered!
• Take regular food stops - It was soon realised that only one food stop at lunch was not enough to keep cycling all day. Regular stops to shops/cafe’s were needed to prevent complete energy depletion.
• Make sure you know where the bike shops are - Many supplies were needed on route that we hadn’t brought with us, or had depleted supplies of. For example, between us we went through 5 inner tubes, which was pretty unbelievable. There were various other breakages involving pedals, pump clips etc.
• A kettle can save on gas - We realised about halfway down that we were wasting a lot of money by using the gas burners to boil water. If you have a campsite with electrical hookup (and an adapter to convert to standard socket) it is much cheaper to purchase a Tesco value kettle. Of course, check with your campsites electrical usage rules first.

Strange Things That Happened

• Sitting in Tesco car-park with the advertising on the car managed to raise an extra £22.50 just from people coming up to the window!
• We had our campsite invaded by a group of hungry ducks. Thankfully all tents were closed and this provided at least 5 minutes of amusement.