They have done it!
Follow the link below to read their story, these three guy's have travelled the lenghth of the country, 'twice' in aid of Cotton Shed. They all hold a passion and determination to succeed and to ensure that we, Cotton Shed Theatre Company, succeed and my sincere thanks go out to them all. Its not too late to show your support of their dedication and extreme personal challenge by visiting the donation site linked to their page, and also sending a note to info@cottonshed.co.uk with you messages and congratulations.
I also pass on my thanks to all the individuals and companies who have supported them on their journey (see our sponsor page and the guy's blog for details)
I also pass on my thanks to all the individuals and companies who have supported them on their journey (see our sponsor page and the guy's blog for details)
We did it!!!
After leaving home on Sunday 15th May Paul and I met up with Keith at Knutsford services and departed
at 09:00 to start the long trek down south to Land's End. Fuel stops were scheduled approx. every 100 miles but it soon became apparent that we needed these stops not only for fuel but also to take a breather and stretch our legs
as AWANB soon set in ( commonly known as Aching Wrists and numb Bum)
We eventually arrived at Land's End at 16:15 and were very lucky to catch the resident site photographer for the official photo with the Land's End sign post, as this is removed each day, normally at 16:00.
Our overnight stop was at the Land's End Hotel and this was right next to the cliff edge overlooking the Longships Lighthouse and the AtlanticOcean, what a sight.
Monday morning, 09:00 saw the start north to our scheduled overnight stop in Shrewsbury. Instead of taking the normal direct route to Exeter and the M5, we decided on a longer detour riding through Bude, Bideford, Barnstable and the Exmoor National Park taking in Porlock Hill in North Devon and eventually picking up the M5 and branching off towards Shrewsbury. This put an extra 3 hours on our day and after riding for 11 hours we finally arrived in the small village of Westbury at 20:00 to the kind hospitality of Andy and Heather. Andy being the Co Director of Hometyre. After a fantastic home cooked meal, a couple of beers and great company it was time to rest those weary bones for the night.
Tuesday morning started with a photo shoot at Andy's Business Unit in Shrewsbury with one of his Hometyre Vans as the back drop with the bikes. We then started our next leg of the journey heading towards Chester and eventually
picking up the M6 north at Thelwall. From this point on all the way up to Abingdon Services (A74M) we encounted fine rain. We turned off here to break the monotony of the motorway riding and headed to Edinburgh via Biggar on the A702, far better riding roads. Skirting Edinburgh eventually brought into view, the magnificent sight of the Forth Bridges, the new suspension bridge for traffic and the spectacular old rail bridge. I understand that soon after we had passed over the bridge, it was closed to traffic due to high winds.
We continued our long journey north through Perth, heading for Blairgowrie and then Glenshee, just on the edge of the Cairngorms National Park.
Arriving at around 18:00 our overnight stop was with a friend's brother, Roger Clare and his wife, Kitty who are
involved in the Outward Bound Compass Christian Centre. Once again the hospitality was brilliant with Roger and his wife setting up a barbeque outside their bungalow, again with spectacular views.
Wednesday morning was the start of a big day for the 3 of us as today we would be completing the journey
to John O'Groats. The morning started with lots of toast, tea and porridge in the outward bound centre and the company of around 40 school chrildren, there on a week's course. The peace was soon shattered and we finally set off for the day ahead.
Our route for the day took us north towards Inverness and heading up the East coast towards Wick and John O'Groats. At our final fuel stop before we reached John O'Groats, we filled up as usual and Keith needed to get
something out of his tank bag. At this point I should let you know that Keith's BMW uses a little oil as you would expect as it is now 33 years old. Keith had put the bottle of oil in his tank bag and yes, you have guessed it, the top had come loose and Keith's tank bag and contents were now swimming in around half a litre of engine oil. Things like his laptop, camera/case, maps and wine gums. We spent around 30 minutes after filling up with fuel, cleaning all of the contents and soaking up the oil with yards and yards of paper towel. We eventually got back on the road having saved everything including the maps and wine gums although a little oily. At this point Keith earned his nickname as 'Oily Maps Lofthouse'.
The final few miles saw us entering John O'Groats and ironically we arrived here at the same time 16:15 as we did at
Land's End and the photographer here had already locked up for the day and was about to get into his car when the sight of 3 motorcyclists charging towards him, stopped him in his tracks. After a little gentle persuasion, the
photographer opened up again and put out the official post for our final arrival shot. From John O'Groats we had a short ride to Thurso where we had our Wednesday night stopover.
Thursday morning saw the start of the return journey South. Armed with oily maps and wine gums we continued west for around 20 miles and then headed south down an‘A’ road that was really only for single traffic with passing places. This was well worth the detour as the scenery was fantastic with a river running parallel to us for miles and the sight of deer on the hillsides.
We stopped at Alness for fuel and a bite to eat and a stretch and then continued on to Aviemore for yet more fuel for both us and the bikes. At this point we went into ‘Black’s Outdoor Shop’ to be confronted by two young female shop assistants who likened us to the ‘young guns’ from the Wild Hogs film. Assuring them that we probably do get into as much trouble as the film characters, we finally set off on the last 80 mile stretch to reach our final overnight stop back at Glenshee with Roger and Kitty. On our last night we headed up to the Spital of Glenshee Hotel for a meal, a few drinks and a little Scottish entertainment.
Friday morning, all packed and after more porridge, we left Glenshee around 09:30 for the long ride home. The wind speed was quite high and there was a possibly that the Forth Road Bridge would be shut, however we took a gamble and we managed to get across ok. Once again we headed for the A702 which would take us across country and bring us out at Abingdon to pick up the A74M with the long haul on the motorway ahead of us.
After passing Penrith we chose to exit at junction 38 towards Brough, Sedburgh and towards Skipton. This cut out a lot of the boring Motorway and we finally arrived home at 18:00 totally exhausted but still on a high with the achievement just completed.
at 09:00 to start the long trek down south to Land's End. Fuel stops were scheduled approx. every 100 miles but it soon became apparent that we needed these stops not only for fuel but also to take a breather and stretch our legs
as AWANB soon set in ( commonly known as Aching Wrists and numb Bum)
We eventually arrived at Land's End at 16:15 and were very lucky to catch the resident site photographer for the official photo with the Land's End sign post, as this is removed each day, normally at 16:00.
Our overnight stop was at the Land's End Hotel and this was right next to the cliff edge overlooking the Longships Lighthouse and the AtlanticOcean, what a sight.
Monday morning, 09:00 saw the start north to our scheduled overnight stop in Shrewsbury. Instead of taking the normal direct route to Exeter and the M5, we decided on a longer detour riding through Bude, Bideford, Barnstable and the Exmoor National Park taking in Porlock Hill in North Devon and eventually picking up the M5 and branching off towards Shrewsbury. This put an extra 3 hours on our day and after riding for 11 hours we finally arrived in the small village of Westbury at 20:00 to the kind hospitality of Andy and Heather. Andy being the Co Director of Hometyre. After a fantastic home cooked meal, a couple of beers and great company it was time to rest those weary bones for the night.
Tuesday morning started with a photo shoot at Andy's Business Unit in Shrewsbury with one of his Hometyre Vans as the back drop with the bikes. We then started our next leg of the journey heading towards Chester and eventually
picking up the M6 north at Thelwall. From this point on all the way up to Abingdon Services (A74M) we encounted fine rain. We turned off here to break the monotony of the motorway riding and headed to Edinburgh via Biggar on the A702, far better riding roads. Skirting Edinburgh eventually brought into view, the magnificent sight of the Forth Bridges, the new suspension bridge for traffic and the spectacular old rail bridge. I understand that soon after we had passed over the bridge, it was closed to traffic due to high winds.
We continued our long journey north through Perth, heading for Blairgowrie and then Glenshee, just on the edge of the Cairngorms National Park.
Arriving at around 18:00 our overnight stop was with a friend's brother, Roger Clare and his wife, Kitty who are
involved in the Outward Bound Compass Christian Centre. Once again the hospitality was brilliant with Roger and his wife setting up a barbeque outside their bungalow, again with spectacular views.
Wednesday morning was the start of a big day for the 3 of us as today we would be completing the journey
to John O'Groats. The morning started with lots of toast, tea and porridge in the outward bound centre and the company of around 40 school chrildren, there on a week's course. The peace was soon shattered and we finally set off for the day ahead.
Our route for the day took us north towards Inverness and heading up the East coast towards Wick and John O'Groats. At our final fuel stop before we reached John O'Groats, we filled up as usual and Keith needed to get
something out of his tank bag. At this point I should let you know that Keith's BMW uses a little oil as you would expect as it is now 33 years old. Keith had put the bottle of oil in his tank bag and yes, you have guessed it, the top had come loose and Keith's tank bag and contents were now swimming in around half a litre of engine oil. Things like his laptop, camera/case, maps and wine gums. We spent around 30 minutes after filling up with fuel, cleaning all of the contents and soaking up the oil with yards and yards of paper towel. We eventually got back on the road having saved everything including the maps and wine gums although a little oily. At this point Keith earned his nickname as 'Oily Maps Lofthouse'.
The final few miles saw us entering John O'Groats and ironically we arrived here at the same time 16:15 as we did at
Land's End and the photographer here had already locked up for the day and was about to get into his car when the sight of 3 motorcyclists charging towards him, stopped him in his tracks. After a little gentle persuasion, the
photographer opened up again and put out the official post for our final arrival shot. From John O'Groats we had a short ride to Thurso where we had our Wednesday night stopover.
Thursday morning saw the start of the return journey South. Armed with oily maps and wine gums we continued west for around 20 miles and then headed south down an‘A’ road that was really only for single traffic with passing places. This was well worth the detour as the scenery was fantastic with a river running parallel to us for miles and the sight of deer on the hillsides.
We stopped at Alness for fuel and a bite to eat and a stretch and then continued on to Aviemore for yet more fuel for both us and the bikes. At this point we went into ‘Black’s Outdoor Shop’ to be confronted by two young female shop assistants who likened us to the ‘young guns’ from the Wild Hogs film. Assuring them that we probably do get into as much trouble as the film characters, we finally set off on the last 80 mile stretch to reach our final overnight stop back at Glenshee with Roger and Kitty. On our last night we headed up to the Spital of Glenshee Hotel for a meal, a few drinks and a little Scottish entertainment.
Friday morning, all packed and after more porridge, we left Glenshee around 09:30 for the long ride home. The wind speed was quite high and there was a possibly that the Forth Road Bridge would be shut, however we took a gamble and we managed to get across ok. Once again we headed for the A702 which would take us across country and bring us out at Abingdon to pick up the A74M with the long haul on the motorway ahead of us.
After passing Penrith we chose to exit at junction 38 towards Brough, Sedburgh and towards Skipton. This cut out a lot of the boring Motorway and we finally arrived home at 18:00 totally exhausted but still on a high with the achievement just completed.
http://www.cottonshedendtoendride.weebly.com
Keith, Steve and Paul bravely volunteered to undertake the mammoth journey from Lands End to John O'Groats on motorcycles, all in aid of raising money for Cotton Shed and we thank them for their commitment and passion to support us. The journey was a kind of "there and back again" story, as they had to ride down to Land's End in the first place and obviously return from John O'Groats at the end
Please follow their journey on the link above and support their efforts even now, by donating what you can afford using the links it contains.
Keith, Steve and Paul bravely volunteered to undertake the mammoth journey from Lands End to John O'Groats on motorcycles, all in aid of raising money for Cotton Shed and we thank them for their commitment and passion to support us. The journey was a kind of "there and back again" story, as they had to ride down to Land's End in the first place and obviously return from John O'Groats at the end
Please follow their journey on the link above and support their efforts even now, by donating what you can afford using the links it contains.
