0703 hrs - Text Message from Geordie
A charity worker takes his car to the garage after breaking down and fears an expensive bill but the mechanic fixes it in 2 minutes flat. "nuffin serious mate, just shit in the air filter". "oh good" he replied, "thank you. How often do I need to do that?"
Morning all. Love and hugs.

1232 hrs - Text Message from Mike Darkin (support crew)
Just updating. They set off as planned at 0830 today. We are stuck at Tarbert awaiting a replacement car... should be here by 3. Then off to find them somewhere between here and the Ben!

1446 hrs - Text Message from Geordie
L and G now in Oban enjoying a well earned beverage and nibbles... Seb weary and smelly still in high spirits. Pushing on to Glen Coe after lunch.

1456 hrs - Text Message from Lynne
My legs were firm and sexy before this, but now they are better, if that is poss? XX Geordie's aren't too bad now! Not for net publishing! x [whoops!]

1646 hrs - Text Message from Mike Darkin (support crew)
Now en route to find them in replacement car. Should be with them by 6.

1849 hrs - Text Message from Lynne
In at Glen Nevis tonight. Did 84 miles today. Got very wet and cold and it hurt loads! Less than 20 miles tomorrow then a stroll up the Ben, oh and then some bubbly. Blog later. x

BLOG

Should not have had that curry!  Enough said!

Up and atom again at 0700 for Mike and Geordie to commence the customary race for the bath room!  There’s two here though so we were both winners.  After a quick freshen up we reset all the alarms, why would you disguise the stations main alarm as a light switch?  Only joking…but we had to wake Lynne up somehow.  I think the realisation of what they were achieving was beginning to sink in now.  Geordie and Lynne realised that they were only 95 miles from the foot of the Ben…we saw a glint in Geordie's eyes and horror in Lynne’s as she realised what was being suggested!  Get there today and only have a walk to do tomorrow!  Well to be honest it was Lynne that suggested it!  She really is mad!

We lined them up behind the shutters and Glenn pressed the button…up they rolled and out they came for what could be their final day of cycling (although not planned to be).  After the customary group hug they set off up the hill while Glenn and Mike returned to the station to begin the accident report from last nights…adventure.  Then the phone calls started rolling in from Dorset, Strathclyde, Donald and NASA.  NASA merely rang to gloat about how fast they could get the shuttle into space as opposed to the RAC response times.  Little did they know that the RAC have a Neil!  We put them straight on that account!  However, in short the result of all the calls is that Strathclyde Police have kindly arranged for a replacement Galaxy for us to borrow until Friday, by which time they will have fixed ours!  The hire car option fell through as the hire company realised Tarbert was a little out of their delivery area.  In fact to them we were in another galaxy far far away…quick did NASA leave their number?  We were told the car would be with us by 3pm.  Ok a little inconvenience but we were not at all bothered about it as the cyclists were on the way and we had the good people of Tarbert to look after us for the day.  You may now be beginning to get the picture of how helpful people are being here!  It is nothing short of wonderful really.  Oh and Donald called to check we were all ok and direct us to the best places for breakfast etc!  Top people!  Would it happen in Bournemouth I wonder?

Now all there is to do is await the arrival of our new(ish) car.  Oh no…he’s got the tin whistle out again!

Apparently there are 6 Tarberts in Ayreshire…no wonder no one can find us!

He’s still whistling and it is 2pm!  Where is that car…pleeeeeeeeze! 

3pm…got a call from Lynne.  They have reached Oban and are aiming for Glencoe for the evening.  At this rate they will beat us there!  So we dutifully made the call…apologising to yet another person for moving our accommodation at the last minute and hey presto we were moved from Oban to Glencoe at the press of a button.  The only proviso being that Glenn delivered 13 more members of the royal family to the landlord/lady upon arrival…then the room would be ours!

1600 hours and guess what…Galaxy Mk II arrived.  We loaded up and we are now on route to locate them somewhere North of Oban after having left the key and a small gift behind for Donald and co.  No…it’s ok…we left the gift, Geordie did not.  Our gift is most definitely edible!

Great views of Loch Fyne to the right of us and tree…tree…tree…tree…tree to the left (oh dear, better not do that again, nearly made a mess).

We were not far wrong with our estimations you know.  After a 1.5 hour drive, some wonderful scenery and rain drops that could kill an elephant we got the call… “Where are you?”  They had indeed beaten us to our destination, by 2.4 miles!  Finally we caught up with them in Glencoe village.  Very tired, Very wet but actually very pleased that they were now only 14 – 18 miles from the base of their final challenge!  We loaded them up into the new “deluxe” model that we had acquired and set off for the youth shelter whilst finding out about their day.

The update from the cyclists went something like this…

They started the day by going up a very big hill.  Not nice.  That is when the pain started!  Not too bad though…only 79 miles to go!  After about 20miles of up and down they decided to have a rest.  They found the perfect spot on a bench at the top of a hill at Kilmartin…and this is where their first bit of fun for the day started.  The two of them regressed into a Forest Gump moment and planned to swoop on the next stranger in order to “have a chat with them” on the bench.  That is when poor unsuspecting Myra and Barbara drove into the adjacent car park in their trusty blue Nissan micra.  Before they had even brought the vehicle to a complete rest at the terminal Geordie was rattling on the window of the car, still foaming at the mouth from the excitement of seeing someone…something other than Lynne’s backside!    Throwing caution to the wind Barbara made the biggest mistake of her life…she opened the window and the rest as they say is history.  Geordie whisked her to the bench and regaled her with tales of their adventures whilst Lynne sat by scoffing her lunch.  Touched by the stories Myra and Barbara kindly made a donation of £10…or was payment for their safe release?  In addition they offered to substitute for the apparently stranded support crew!

After their rest and no sight of the support crew they were back on the bikes and off to their next stop.  5 miles down the road at the next pub for coffee!  It was a hard day!  This is where they met “Dafydd”.  Described by Lynne as Matt Lucas with hair, he apparently had riffled through Geordie's overnight bag and acquired the Borat costume which he was proudly parading around the coffee shop.  Two frothy coffees were ordered and 15 minutes and very red faced Dafydd later they arrived.  Dafydd claimed that this was the best coffee in the area.  A statement that could hardly be challenged as it was the only coffee in the area!  The nearest competition being 15 miles and a ferry trip away…and we all know what happens on ferry trips now don’t we!

Having left Dafydd languishing in the memory of those cycling shorts (see Day 1 Pictures) off they set for Oban.  Still no sight of the support crew!  Lots of hills, lots of pain, lots of dribbling and giggling and of course the obligatory comfort stops!

They arrived in Oban at approximately 2.29pm and dropped into the first pub they found for a much deserved rest…and lunch.  Still no sign of the support crew!  Oh by the way Seb was still happily clinging on to Geordie's man bag enjoying the views, more specifically the varying degrees of tarmac and white line distribution…”WILL SOMEBODY PLEASE PICK ME UP!” the shout came…an then he could once again enjoy the view of the trails of destruction left by the two cyclists!

Leaving Oban at 3.20ish Lynne and Geordie were now happy that the support crew were still alive.  Contact had been made and they knew that we were still enjoying cappuccinos on the shore whilst awaiting our next car.  Now ahead of schedule it became a case of mind over matter and push on as far as they could to Glencoe.  They were now working on tomorrow’s miles again.  The more today…the easier tomorrow.  It was a race to Glencoe.  Who would win (well you know who did now anyway).

Finally they got to Glencoe and called us…we were right behind them and boy were they happy to see us.  And indeed us them!  Very weary and wet they climbed into the new Galaxy and the rest as they say…well it’s history!

All the hard work earlier in the week had finally paid off.  They were now on the eve of their final day having slashed 35 miles off the timetable!  Time to go to the pub in search of Wifi, Jimmy Saville and food!

Today’s stat’s:
Top cycling speed = 35.3 miles per hour
Average Speed = 11.5
Miles cycled today= 84
Total miles cycled = 468.4
Traffic law infringements = 0
Eddies Spotted = 0
Near death experiences = 0
Cars Broken = 0
Bears spotted = 1

Quote of the day:
“They’ll be along in a minute” (referring to the absent support crew)
Word of the Day