Day 12 - Alness to John O’Groats

With the cup final beckoning the boys got off to an early start today and made a storming pace along the North Eastern coastline. A pit stop lunch break in the back of the van kept delays to a minimum and all were soon back on the road. The team were graced by another fine day of Scottish sunshine as they made their way along the last few miles of undulating coastal road. With a couple of good climbs and some sharp downhill the speed record increased to 48mph.

Matt was eager to break a few more records and successfully achieved the titles of first crash and most spectacular crash as his front wheel collided with Arthur’s rear tyre. Fortunately though he survived in tact and to save further injury to pride we all promised not to take the micky or tell anyone else….OK, failed on both accounts there, sorry Matt! Then shortly after this, to add insult to injury, Matt had another blow-out.

Having made a cracking pace, the boys stopped at Tesco’s Café in Wick for one last brew before finishing the final leg of this epic journey. Over the last hill with a fantastic view of the Orkney Isles ahead, we rolled down to John O’Groats – HOORAH!!! - to be warmly welcomed by Walter, the watch manager of John O’Groats retained fire station. A champagne finish, obligatory photo’s and some fine Highland malt (thanks Walter) saw the boys retire happily to the hotel bar, where even the football result couldn’t dampen spirits!!!

Well, for this cycle blog… that’s all folks!!! However for WFG08 it’s only just beginning. A huge THANK YOU for all the help and fantastic support from our sponsors and our colleagues up and down the entire length of mainland UK. We’re looking forward to welcoming you all to Liverpool next year for the best World Firefighter Games ever, where we absolutely guarantee you all a fantastic sporting experience and some unforgettable parties!!!

See you there!!!!

Day 11 - Onich to Alness

With the precision of a swiss watch (30 mins behind schedule) the finely tuned team set off from Onich, in light showers and a breeze on their backs. Setting a fast paced team time trial up past Fort William along the A82 towards Loch Ness. We stopped in Fort Augustus for lunch where Scotty got ripped off in Scot's cafe - £2 for 2 slices of toast. This was shortly followed by the sound of gunshots echoing around the car park in the vicinity of our support van - apologies to the Highlands and Islands armed response, Matty was a bit over enthusiastic on bike pump and blew up 3 innertubes in a row.

Out from Fort Augustus the boys followed the undulating road alongside Loch Ness before turning left at Drumadrochit and then right to Beauly climbing up the mother of all hills (1 in 15), even Neil had to go down to his small front cog. But Al got the king of the hill with a classic sprint finish to sneak it on Andy who he'd followed all the way up. Coming down the otherside saw speedo's hitting 46 mph as we headed down towards Beauly, where we stopped for tea and cake and met up with Mike Bond, Neil's mate and a triathlete from Highlands and Islands Fire Service. Meanwhile Paul had dropped into to Highlands & Islands Fire Service HQ at Inverness where he caught up with our x-Merseyside colleague Tony Woods, now Deputy Firemaster for Highlands and Islands.

Later Tony and Sue Woods caught up with the boys as they sprinted towards the finish, hitting 28mph on the flat with Alness in sight, and Sue getting some moving action shots on her camera. We pulled over for a chat, thanks for all the well wishes - great to see you both looking so well! Finally we arrived at the Kincraigh House Hotel where a tired bunch of cycling were warmly welcomed by friendly staff at a very fine hotel, missing those Travelodges.... NOT!!!!!

Day 10 – Kilmarnock to Onich

One tough day ahead of us today, the biggest mileage of the whole trip, 102 miles says Andy (that’ll be 115 miles then, or 125 if you’ve got Neils navigation skills!)

At the start of the day Arthur had problems with a sheared screw in one of his pedals that was fouling the clip mechanism. The boys set off at a brisk pace from Kilmarnock while Paul and Guy headed off to find a cycle shop for a set of new pedals for Arthur. The van caught the boys up about 10 miles from Paisley, Arthur was at the back of the pack but a change of pedal generously donated from Paul’s bike soon put that right. Paul and Guy then called into another warm welcome at Barrhead fire station, thanks to Hugh, Watch Manager at Kilmarnock who communicated the message across Strathclyde that the WFG08 boys were here, thanks Hugh. Unfortunately we had to turn down the offer of a breakfast at Barrhead ‘cause the peleton had already sped ahead of the station, so we dropped down to Paisley and feasted in Morrisons Caf’.

After brecky with some big miles to go the boys headed straight off over the Erskine bridge and up the A82 to the Highlands, whilst Paul and Guy called in at Paisley fire station where Paul met up with Lesley Muir, for some fire service cycling nostalgia. Lesley pointed us in the direction of a decent cycling shop where we picked up some new pedals also thanks to Paisley for letting us use their internet to post the blog.

Meanwhile the peleton are storming ahead with some good weather, Alan scores 8.3 for a great bit off diving, double somersault with pike but gets off lightly with no injuries, though his bike suffers shortly after with the first puncture of the trip. Neil cycled back to help Al whilst the van caught up then Neil speeded ahead while Guy dropped off and joined Alan on the trip up to Tyndrum for the lunchstop. After lunch the boys headed up through some stunning scenery to Glencoe, with the temperature dropping and the wind picking up and driving against us. A demanding finish for the day, even going down hill was hard work, arriving eventually at Onich where the hotel was a welcome sight.

Day 9 – Carlisle to Kilmarnock

Not tempted by Little Chef, so waited until Lockerbie where Gareth, (Neil’s colleague) runs the Townhead hotel. A 1st class brecky cooked up by Gareth’s better half, with 1st class waitress service from Gareth’s young daughters (thanks girls!) – went down a treat. Good call Neil!

With the sun shining brightly we headed to Dumfries where Paul & Guy met up with the lads at Dumfries & Galloway’s only wholetime station, got a warm welcome and some good interest in WFG, then we raided their bits & bobs box to find a screw to fix Guy’s cable boss which had come away from the frame yesterday – thanks Chaps! Garry Telfer at Dumfries station asked if we knew Matt Scott, of course we tried to deny it, but never been good at keeping secrets, so he came out on one of the trucks to catch up with the speedy cycling peleton. A quick tea and cakes stop at Thornhill saw Paul and Guy join in for a fantastic run up to Kilmarnock on A76, good pace, beautiful scenery & warm & sunny to boot! ‘Better than sex’ says Arthur….

Meanwhile Neil took the van up to the next hotel and then true to form cycled back to meet us. Then after freshening up we headed into Kilmarnock, met the lads at Kilmarnock fire station before heading into the town for an excellent Italian.

Day 8 – Clitheroe to Carlisle

Well, Dave’s back at office and Neil Mercer (GMC), Paul Trueman (FSSAA) & Guy Keen (WFG08 Events Director) have joined the die-hards. Weather wasn’t great heading out of Clitheroe and heading up to Kirby Lonsdale via Long Preston. Meanwhile Paul and Guy headed over to Skipton fire station, but unfortunately we missed the folks there and had to limit our visit to dropping off some WFG handouts. Found a great little Café in Kirby Lonsdale where we were joined by Matt’s sister & family.

Paul jumped in from here and joined the boys for a wet & windy ride to Kendall fire station. A well timed arrival saw us meet up with the Kendall boys just as they returned from their community safety duties. Having extolled the virtues of the Games and pointing out the location of the station tumble drier it was time to set off again. Guy joined the team here and Neil took van up to Jubilee House, in Penrith. Neil, being a glutton for punishment then headed off on a run before getting back in the van and heading up to the hotel in Carlisle, after several laps of Penrith…Tom Tom says ‘Nooo!’

Meanwhile the boys made their way up the big hill to Shap, fortunately followed by a strong tailwind, then once over the top a pleasant quick ride down to Penrith. Guy became 3rd person who forgot to unclip foot from pedal and did the falling tree impersonation – no harm done except to ego, ‘…would’ve got away with it too if it wasn’t for that pesky boy Burton coming round the corner too soon!’

At the Travelodge, Carlisle, a quick shower and change then we headed back into Carlisle for Curry – in hindsight not the most sensible, but it smelt too good for hungry cyclists to walk past.

Day 5

How embarrasing is it when the maid opens your room door in the morning and says "it stinks in here" before scurrying off? Don't know? Ask Matt and Alan and they'll tell you!!!!
Three fire stations to visit today - Hereford, Leominster (pronounced Lemster we were indignantly informed!!) and Shrewsbury our final destination. The face-face, grass roots meetings are going really well and its amazing how much interest there is in the Games out there! Lets hope words are translated into deeds and they start registering next month!
If Arthur were a dog he would be the proud owner of the biggest territory in dog-kind; he seems to see it as a life's ambition to mark his terrirory in the usual manner at worryingly frequent intervals and in the most public of places!! but he reminds us of the fact that top athletes like ourselves need to keep well hydrated.
I'll have to tell you this one Kathy. I looked at the postings for Day 3 Blog and there was one from Jon. Not recognising the name I asked the whole team whether they knew him. Matt's response was I can't even remember going to Taunton and I certainly don't know anyone called Jon!! Something triggered in my mind then and I said to Matt "Isn't your brother who we met in Taunton called Jon?" A red faced "oh yes" followed. Sorry Jon if you're reading; he did say he had a great night with you!!
This was a full 75 mile for yours truly and I marked it with a "spectacular" to rival Andy's of 2 days previous. We were literally 50 meters from the "Welcome to Shrewsbury" sign when I failed miserably to get my feet out of the clips and crashed to the ground like a tree being felled right in front of a car that was just pulling off from the lights! Fortunately, the young girl behind the wheel was quick to react and so it was just grazed a knee and ego. Must finish with a big RESPECT for Andy who as I write (1031pm) has still not returned from his leg that he missed whilst behind the wheel!! Top effort Andy!!

Day 4

Left Taunton and encountered our first torrential rain fall within minutes. We also stuffed our pockets with lots of energy bars and stuff, and heading for the Bridge to Wales in Bristol.
The team duly crossed the bridge after a long and harduos climb, or so they thought, only to be told by a local that they were in fact still in England!!! The navigationally challenged leader Matty, had only taken them over the AVONMOUTH BRIDGE, which links one bit of Bristol to another bit of Bristol!! This guy obviously had a death wish and the tired team just couldn't accept that they were still in England. Well we got over it and after finally seeing our first Welsh welcoming "Croeso" we joined the very young staff at Caldicot Staion (you owe me a pint Ryan!!) who were very eager to come to Liverpool next year and party!!! They may even do a bit of sporty stuff as well!
The next section of the ride was by general concensus the best so far. We followed the Wye Valley from Chepstow to Monmouth and it was truly breathtaking. Andy was that excited that he decided to go for a very unconventional dismount as he attempted to stop to allow Arthur to relieve himself again whilst approaching Monmouth. It was straight 6's for artistic merit as he performed a full pike with half twist before hitting the floor like a sack of spuds!!! Obviously none of the boys laughed due to the tears in their eyes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!