Day 11 - Return to France

After a bit of a debate as to which route to take we opted to skirt past Liecester then do M1 then across to Oxford and down via Newbury to pick up the M27 at Southampton. The plan was going well, we completely missed out the M25, which was shut on the eastern side following and accident.

We made it in good time, till we got to the A34 / M3 junction, which was at a standstill, so we had to cut across country down the A272

We had a competition between Sara (using a map) and her Dad (using GPS) to see who could get us to Fareham (Tescos) then the boat without going down any "dead end" roads. Needless to say it was an interesting challenge.

We got to boat on time, after the "wine fairy" had paid a visit to Vicky and Brendon's house, and we managed to board the boat fairly quickly.

Setting sail was unfortunately delayed by 45 mins due to incoming ferry traffic.

Then this with a Police escort.

Finally got going to be seen off by some of the locals.

Had a good run back to Crissé to arrive at 1.15 am on Friday morning to be greeted by a huge barn owl sitting on the fence just outside the house. We managed to roll up along side it in the car but didn't get a picture cos the camera was in the boot.

Our journey was finally over, 2611 kilometers, or 1632 miles in 11 days. We had seen just about every part of the UK, including the highest point. Physically and emotionally it was an epic voyage and we are really glad we did it.

Our next challenge will be Snowdon and then maybe Scafell, coming down in decending height order, but definitely not in 24 hours as they do in the 3 Peaks Challenge. Mind you just looking at Corsica which has a mountain at 2706 metres, puts the rest to shame, and it's less likely to be raining there. I think Everest would be a bit out of the question, at 8848 metres it's a bit out of our league.

All I can say is watch this space for Crafty and Confits next great adventure.........

Day 10 - Shopping in and around Nottingham

Breakfast was a pack of hot cross buns and coffee in the room as the Brewers Faire breakfasts were a rip off.



We picked up a couple of reprebates who were hitch hiking outside the hotel, then went shopping around Nottingham.





The town centre was horrible, unfortunately had to do McDonnalds so we could catch up on e-mails and check out a few things on the net. After that we went to a huge discount warehouse outlet next to Grantham then back to hotel for a familly meal with Sara's parents.

Day 9 - Leaving Scotland :-(

After another hearty breakfast we did a last stop off looking for presents for nieces and nephew, got some supplies from Asda for the journey then set off back to England, another 7 hour day behind the wheel was anticipated.


Weather was a bit damp and windy, but not too wet on the roads. We stopped at this viewpoint to see both sides of the border, but due to the mist all we got was this.








Just had to stop and visit this, very impressive when you get up close, you do not realise just how big it really is, (fnar fnar).










Finally got to our destination right next to the A1 at Grantham, only to find the car park was a building site. Hotel was ok but a bit too warm. The Brewers Faire restaurant next door was very handy after yet another long day.

Day 8 - Sunny Edinburgh

Finally it was nice to have a self service breakfast where you could choose what time you ate and how many slices of mushroom you put on your plate. The choice of fruit, cereals and cooked breakfast was very good, so we pigged out a bit to keep us going through the day.


View of the hotel below, not much to look at from the outside but very nice inside, and, as I said yesterday, for the first time ever FREE WIFI in every room. Then only bad point was the the crane in the background which was on a building site just outside the back of the hotel, right by our room. Any chance of a lie in was out of the question. Luckily we were on an earlyish start to explore Edinburgh.

There were some beautifull buildings in Edinburgh.

Came across this in the middle of one of the many clothes shops, must be something to do with the name!







Strangely enough he did not speak with an Australian accent.








The only bits of the castle we got to see as we thought 24 quid to have a look inside was a bit steep.


















Beautifull park alongside the river.

Final view of the Castle before jumping onto a bus and heading back to the hotel Spa for a well earned sports massage to sort out our aching muscles.

Day 7 - Off to Edinburgh

Woke up on Sunday morning... tried to get out of bed... ow... owww.... owwwwww!! Luckily we weren't on the first floor because I doubt I could have walked up and down stairs!! Had brekkie and packed up, off to Edinburgh for some r&r in a decent hotel with spa, pool, sauna, jacuzzi etc!!

Had a great drive down via Perth along some stunning roads, both of us had our knees down in the car!!

Had to stop and take a picture of these falls, everywhere you looked there was just stunning scenery like this!

Stopped for lunch in a village called Creiff, near Perth, where a dutch biker came in. He was asking the waitress for advice on the menu and asked what haggis was!!! He was told it was a scottish delicacy. He obviously approved as he wolfed it down when it arrived!

We headed on to Edinburgh crossing the fourth bridge

We arrived weary at the hotel and I could have cried with joy when we saw the room! It was beautiful, clean, spacious enormous bed, flat screen tv, FREE Wifi in every room and a Sony playstation as well, etc etc! The only downside was that the room was on the first floor.... Noooooooo.... stairs!!!

Chilled out in the jacuzzi and had a little swim in the pool followed by the steam room and sauna!! Well, you have to get your moneys worth!! Ended up in the bistro with a tuna niscoise salad and glass of Pinot Grigio!! Nice relaxing end to the day!

Day 6 - The big day!!

Well, no time for more training, its D day!! Rather apprehensive after a good brekkie we arrived at the Ben Nevis inn for registration. Filled in all our forms etc etc, had the safety drill and checked all our kit was ok and off we went!


The first part wasn't too bad, the path was quite pebbley but walkable. The further up we went the rockier it got. The only way I can describe the up bit was like being chained to a stepper for 5 hours!! After the half way mark it just seemed never ending, every time you turned a corner thinking we must be nearly there... you weren't! towards the end I was walking for about 1 minute and resting 1 minute! It was relentlessly uphill!


When we finally made it the cloud had closed in and
it was bitterly cold at the summit. We checked in with the Marie Curie guides and sat down to have some food. After about 5 mins I started shivering really badly and was quite foggy headed. I realised I was so exhausted and suddenly got so cold I was in danger of hypothermia! We got going quickly so that we didn't get any colder.





The walk down was bliss!! Yes it was rocky and you had to be careful about slipping but we knew we'd achieved our goal and every step took us closer to the end!! I ended up on my backside just once, better than the guide who came down with us who nearly took me out!!!


It took us 8 hours in total, 5 hours up and 3 down.


When we got back to the b&b we had a half bottle of champagne to celebrate and rested our weary bones before heading to the Brewers fayre for dinner.

Day 5 - Midges in Fort William

Well we arrived last night after 8 hours of travelling to find out our “luxury apartment” was nothing more than a converted garage, with another room for guests over the top of it. You guessed it, our room is behind the up and over door on the left.






The inside was well decorated and the bathroom was very clean with a nice big shower cubical. In typical Scottish spirit there were gentle reminders next to every light and electrical appliance switch telling you to turn them off, so we didn’t whenever possible.

We were asked what time we wanted breakfast to be promptly told it had to be 8:45 cos everyone ate around a communal table so they had to stagger the arrivals. At 8:42 precisely we had a knock on the door to remind us we were in danger of being late for our slot at the table.

Today we decided to go for a little walk as last minute training and went to see some waterfalls that were close by. Also we had to cross very dodgy rope bridge to carry on with the footpath the other side, only to find it was a quagmire and we had to turn back.




The worst thing about the bridge was that the further across you got the further apart the two wires at the top became!! For someone like Crafty with a short bingo wing span this became rather a problem and she ended up clinging on by fingernails!!







The only way across the river was shoes and socks off and wade up to our knees in freezing cold water over large excruciatingly hard rocks / pebbles.



The worst part of the whole day were the midges that were everywhere, we were just being eaten alive as we walked. We knew about the scottish midges reputation but really weren't prepared for the reality! Got out of the car without even considering anti mossie spray, as soon as we stopped walking we were surrounded by swarms of them! Sara is covered all over her face in her ears, arms etc etc!






Video Link

Have a look at this video clip (file link below) of a stonking bit of road between Glen Nevis (where did our little walk today, and Fort William where the B & B was). It was really twisty with very sharp hill crests that would have you airborn and sideways on a bike, even in a car we were able to use all the road to it's full advantage. Put your speakers on and listen to Sara desperately trying not to be thrown about whilst holding the camera with both hands on the dashboard.

You can make it full screen by clicking the little black triangle at the top right of the picture, Enjoy!!!!!!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8149202596604456864&hl=en

Day 4 - Off to bonny Scotland

In some ways we were glad to see the back of the B & B at Chester, as the breakfast portions were being rationed. Yesterday we both had exactly 4 slices of mushroom each, today they were slightly smaller so we had 5 slices each. We didn't bother to count the baked beans as we were sure they had already been counted or weighed out to the nearest gramme.

All packed up and off we go. Weather wasn't brilliant, had quite a lot of torrential rain in places. Tried to stop off at Kendall so James could stock up on mint cake but the town was so full of traffic we decided to abort. Luckily when we stopped for fuel the petrol station had loads of the stuff so James was a happy bunny!!

Finally made it over the border and into Scotland and once we had negotiated getting around Glasgow the scenary was the most stunning I have ever seen. We stopped off in a layby by Loch Lomond and legged it across the carriageway to get down onto the shore. Of course, James when presented with a loch and millions of pebbles just couldn't help himself.... a mans gotta do what a mans gotta do!

Day 3 - Chester

After a good brekkie we hit the shops to find a pair of decent walking trousers for James. Found the perfect tent for Bikerbunny (Sally) You never know Sal we might just get you in a tent if it's pink!!!!

Trolled around the shops and had a look at the two tiered medieval shopping mall!! They were way ahead of their time.

Finally collapsed into a Wetherspoons pub for some grub and a bucket load of wine. Fed and watered we headed back to the b&b for another rough night in one of the most uncomfortable beds on this earth!!

Day 2 - Slough to Chester

Quick check of e-mails before dashing off to Berkhampstead for a delivery of fresh Sartish Vegetables before our onward journey to Chester. Following the advice of Jeremy, and despite my reluctance to stop, we had a look around the factory outlet at Bicester and managed to get all the walking gear we were missing from TOG 24 and got a further 10% off as it was all for Marie Curie. Other than that we had to contend with rain on and off all day long on the way up.

Got to Chester and realised we did not have details of the B & B with us, so had to ask a someone in a petrol station, who just happened to know roughly where it was, thankfully. Shortly afterwards found the Guest House and had a warm welcome from the “Thai Bride” half of the owners. We had our reservations about this place as when Sara spoke to them there seemed to be so many silly rules and regulations, which seemed to be a bit OTT for a B and B. Shortly afterwards I met the husband who gave me the code for the free WIFI access in hotel, but not before he made me boot up and took my IP address off the laptop as he would only “allow access” to known computers, rather than just giving us the access code; a bit anal, but hey ho, it worked.

Unloaded the half a ton of crap we had accumulated in the car, and installed ourselves in our room. It was a bit pokey with 2 very uncomfortable beds pushed together to make one large double. The shower room was also a bit on the small side as well and overall it was a little bit tacky, but was comfortable enough.

We had a wander down into the city centre and eventually found the oldest pub in Chester (apparently haunted as well) and we had a curry and a bottle of wine before heading back and crashing out.

Day 1 - Touchegane to Slough

Didn’t sleep too well last night, did the last bit of packing and had a quick breakfast before setting off at 6:20 giving us just about enough time for getting to the port in time for the 9:0 am sailing. No problems on the road, as is always the case at that time of the morning in France, even the Caen ring road went by without a hitch.

The boat set sail bang on 9 so we were off to a good start. Decided to have a full breakfast in self service then get our heads down in the cabin to catch up on some sleep. It was a fairly smooth crossing, so we managed to recover on our lost sleep.

Unfortunately we were the last to be put on the upper car deck, so we had to wait for everyone else get off before we could move, we were one of the last cars to go through customs so it took absolutely ages to get going.The run up to Slough went OK despite the massive road works at the Devil’s Punchbowl. Stopped off at Slough to do some shopping (quel surprise) before the overnight stop at my brothers.

Day T - 1 Preparing to leave.

Well despite being continually bombarded by Frelons whilst preparing the car and packing, we managed to get everything ready without being stung or needing urgent medical treatment.
Had a couple of glasses of the red stuff with Bikerbunny and saw the most incredible night sky with a full moon breaking through the clouds before finally going off to bed at midnight. Alarm set for 5 am in order to get to the port for 8 o clock.