LEJOG

Wow, what an adventure, I can't believe we've made it back in one piece!  967 miles of peddling, with only a couple of wrong turns and one puncture - how lucky were we.
But a bit of advice for those intending to attempt this madness - the prevailing winds from Cornwall to Scotland did not exist.....at all!  We pretty much had a head wind for 75% of the trip.  And to be honest, finishing in John O Groats is not that great - there is nothing there, not even a pub within free-wheeling distance.  So my advice would be start at the top and cycle down - that way you will also avoid all the obvious comments of 'why are you doing it uphill?' - very annoying!

As for food along the way - for the first couple of days we ate constantly.  I think our bodies went into shock with all the exercise and we craved everything.  Luckily that started to wear off after around 4-5 days and we settled into a more sensible eating plan - good breakfasts (with eggs for much needed protein), then snacking every hour before stopping for a good lunch.  And we did find some great places too.  One that has to be mentioned is The Wellington, an award winning pub in the village of Wellington in the beautiful Herefordshire countryside - well worth a diversion.
Our snacks consisted of Mule Bars, Trek Bars and other similar healthy bars, but we soon got pretty bored with those every hour, and on reaching Scotland switched to wonderfully sweet Scottish tablet and shortbread!
Once our support vehicle joined us in Oswestry things became much easier on the catering front and with the catering being done by our support man Dave, we could control much more what we ate (i.e. we could cut down on chips!).  We were hoping to try a few regional foods along the way, but did struggle to find them - we passed many oyster beds along the Scottish Lochs, but didn't spot a restaurant along the route where we could sample them.  Cullen Skink soup at the Kilmartin Hotel was creamy and delicious, but perhaps not the most sensible choice when having to cycle another 30 miles over steep hills into Oban directly after eating it!
My favourite part of the whole trip has to be the stunning Isle of Arran, which is lucky really, as the sea conditions were so bad we got stuck on it for longer than anticipated!
I would definitely recommend the trip to anybody who wants to really see our great country - there is no better way.