Last day of this cycle trip! Because of Tom’s injury we missed a couple of days cycling in the middle of the country, knowing that they were easier to finish at a later date than bits missed at the extremities.

Tom had cycled from Ashchurch (44 miles south of Birmingham, where I left Tom) on his own and had met me here in order to complete the last day of the trip.

We set off in the sun at around 9 from the farm and headed for the main road near Clapham. I was unsure whether to go straight to Clapham or to go via the backroads to Ingleton which would be shorter but much more hilly and on tiny roads.

After cycling up the A65 to Kirkby Lonsdale we stopped to take a few pictures and to eat an apple, then turned off onto the A683 up the old roman road.

The road was anything but straight (there was a rumour that Romans built straight roads), but the countryside was very pretty.

Continuing north, now on the B6257 we passed through Firbank, and found lots of blackberries. I tried to master picking them whilst cycling past quite fast, but found that on the few occasions when my hand-eye coordination worked and I grabbed one, I either grabbed it far to hard and sqished it, or it slipped out of my hand.

Once we got to Tebay we had fun with the sign, obscuring the ‘T’ to make ‘ebay’. Simple things…simple minds and all.

There was a fairly hard climb on the B6261 as we snaked past the motorway, but once we met the A6 the road flattened out and we reached Penrith a few minutes earlier than expected at 2pm.

As we approached Penrith the road seemed familiar – and I remembered that I passed through the same roads when I cycled across Britain a few years ago. I have done the breadth and now the length of Britain – the only thing left now is the perimeter. Tom assured me that the coastline was of infinite length, but using the same logic my bike tyre circumferance is also infinite, and so it would take roughly one rotation of the wheel to cover the coastline. Mathmaticians eh.

I guess its all over now. It was a hollow ‘finish’ at John O’Groats because we hadn’t finished it then, and now it feels like such a long time ago the two cycle rides are unrelated, and it is another hollow finish, but this time official.

Distance: 55.4 miles [14.2 mph average] (Cumulative: 981 miles)

Todays cycling was somewhat different from other days. It was about a month since we ‘finished’ cycling from Lands End to John O’Groats, but as I had missed out a couple of days in the middle (Denton -> Penrith) now was the time to go back and finish the challenge.

Today was also the first day that I was cycling alone from the start. I had to think about the route for myself, and make sure that I had all the neccessary bits and peices – pump, repair kit, first aid kit etc. Additionally my parents were carrying my stuff as we were going on holiday to Clapham and so I was cycling unloaded.

I set off from home at 9.00 and cycled to Ashton. Despite the rain I was overheating so removed my flourescent jacket. Rounding the edge of Oldham I headed for Royton and then onto Rochdale.

From there I headed across the moors (or at least some moorish ground) towards Haslingdon where I stopped at McDonalds for the toilet and got a large fries whilst I was at it.

After finishing my fries and drying off a little, I continued on past Accrington towards Clitheroe.

After about 42 miles I decided it was time for food, and so I ate the few crackers and chocolate that I had brought near Sawley, just off the A59. It was a welcome break although I was quite damp and so stopping was cold.

I set off soon after eating to avoid getting too cold, but a few miles later it started raining very heavily and I got soaked – really soaked. The nearest place for shelter was about 8 miles later, so when I got to Long Preston I followed directions to a hot drink and a bacon buttie. It lead me to the village hall where there were a few ladies and a guy just packing up their kitchen. They gave me their last sausage buttie and a cup of coffee whilst I stood there dripping and making a big puddle in their village hall.

Once the most of the rain had subsided, I continued on and found that the road I had intended to take was closed due to a gas main being installed, so I headed for Clapham knowing that I knew the way to my destination from there.

I arrived in Clapham at about 2.20 and visited the village store to get some chocolate. I knew my parents would be a while in arriving so there was no rush!

I cycled the final 3 miles to the caravan where I was staying and took off my damp clothes. My socks inparticular held a lot of water! After texting my younger brother I found out they were about to set off. So much for cars being a faster mode of transport! I chilled out for a couple of hours waiting for them to arrive, and then put the tent up.

After showering and watching a bit of TV, we headed to bed.

Distance: 68.4 miles [15.4 mph average] (Cumulative: 926 miles)

Monday was the first day of work on Grandma and Grandads house.

In the morning we went to a local roofing place, and ordered a roof vent and bought some anglia plus tiles, which we hoped were the right ones to patch up the hole in their roof.

Shortly afterwards, we loaded up the trailer and were off to Bury, a 25 minute drive from our home in Denton. After unloading, we got to work right away and started demolishing the chimney. From the ground, the chimney didn’t look too high, but when I stood on the ridge tile it was still taller than me (ok, that doesn’t mean much as I am only 5ft7 short) but still it was a big chimney.

Sending 3 bricks a time down in a bucket, we managed to get the chimney down to below roof height, and then patched the hole in the roof up with new felt, laths and tiles.

Tuesday came, and we entered the loft and started to demolish the chimney stack and top of the breast. After hiring a 10kg breaker from HSS we made mincemeat of the rest of the chimney breast and got it down the floor level by tea time.

Wednesday was a much slower day than we expected. We went to B&Q to buy some plasterboard, plaster and all the electrical fittings, but it took much longer than we expected. We spent the rest of the day rewiring the kitchen, which included me spending over an hour shuffling about in the 14 inch gap underneath the floorboards, poking wires through holes and connecting up connector blocks.

On Thursday we put the plasterboard on the walls. I have never drylined much before, and so it was somewhat experimental. It went very well, and when it was time to go we had a nice flat plasterboard surface drying.

We had ordered a skip for the morning, and the driver over the phone reckoned he could get it on the drive. I didn’t, so it was no surprise to see a skip on the road when we arrived. 2 hours later we had all 4 sq yards of it full, and we had it picked up later that day.

Friday morning was spent at the dentist, and as I had lost my HC2 or whatever certificate I had to pay for it. In the afternoon we headed off for Grandma and Grandads and plastered the walls. I have done a fair bit of patching up plaster, but never done a whole large wall. For a first time attempt, I recon it was a decent job. We connected up all the electrical sockets and cooker, and restored Grandma’s kitchen to normality.

There are still a few bits and bobs that need doing, like some floor leveling compound where the hearth was (too thin for cement) and the roof vent tile needs installing (still waiting for it to arrive at the roofing supplier), but on the whole the job of removing the chimney breast is complete. I am happy but very tired.

On changeover day the kids got packed up quite quickly and left shortly after breakfast. The leaders that were staying around got given the changeover jobs. I had to service the boys lines, then mend a few broken beds.

There were quite a few of us wanting to go swimming, so we took a couple of cars and headed for splash in Sheringham. Expensive, but fun. I managed 6.67 seconds down the flume (apparently 6.25 seconds is the record).

We stopped off just outside East Runton at the Village Inn and had some food and drink. The food was good, but the servings were not massive. The higlight of the meal was playing with some wasps, and putting 3 wasps in a small drinking glass.

Heading back to the campsite I met my parents who had brought my younger brother to camp. I sent them to the beach for a couple of hours because they had come early.

We got our duties for the afternoon, and I was on showing people to their tents again.

This week I was moved up a village to the oldest boys, but was still a village leader. Andy Pandy was still in my village, but the other leader was a new guy called David, although he didn’t actually arrive until sunday because he was in Romania.

The kids in my tent were not the oldest kids on the field, but I think they would benefit from being on teens rather than on warriors. They were not naughty kids, but had to be constantly nagged to get to do anything which was quite tireing.

I was on the beach duty again, which meant that I had to go down to the beach every day, but talked to the lifeguard and got a few others on the job so I could go every other day. Anna and Abby were the ones who relieved me and Jon.

At the beginning of the week I was feeling really tired, and so I went to bed early a few times.

The week went by very fast, and the end of the week arrived quickly. During the week we had lots of fun on the bouncy castles, slide of doom and other wet and wide games.

Saturday came quickly, and despite looking forward to home comforts, I really dislike saying goodbye to people. It had to be done as my train left at 11am. Me and my brother got a lift to Cromer train station with Jo and then went shopping for some food for the journey.

6 hours later after, changing at Norwich we arrived at Manchester Picadilly and got a lift home with my dad. I was very tired, and also aware that I had a lot to do once I got home.

Sleep would have been nice, but I had much to do once I was home, and got to bed quite late.