Brad bikes from John O Groats to Lands End (JOGLE)

Day 10 – Saul to Bath

July 19th, 2010 | No Comments | Posted in All, Route

Monday 19th July 2010

I woke up in the best self contained B&B anywhere for miles around feeling quite good. I had used ice-packs on my ankles last night and had managed the pain in my Achilles quite well. So I had a great breakfast and didn’t plan on rushing this morning as I only had a 35 mile trip to Bath, I was using this as a part of a rest day as I was ahead of schedule and wanted to get my body in the best shape possible, for what is probably the hardest part of the whole trip, Devon and Cornwall.

I said my goodbyes to Bindy on Saul farm and paid her the £40 for the wonderful B&B, and to my amazement she handed me back £20 and said to put it towards my sponsorship. I was a bit shocked and gob-smacked as the B&B was cheap considering the quality and luxury of it all. It just goes to show the continued generosity that everyone has shown throughout my challange, from the other B&B owners, to taxi drivers, to Dave who I only spoke to for a short moment, and of course to all my family, friends and colleagues that have dug deep to support this. I can’t say enough about it.

Anyway so I left slowly, beautiful weather a nice easy 35 miles and then the biggest, steepest hill that I’ve had to cycle up since I started, all going fine until I got to the top and realised I had pulled a muscle in my thigh after only 5 miles. So basically for the next 30 miles I progressed very slowly with only my right leg functioning, the other was just a dead weight clipped into the peddles. Every turn just hurt, and I didn’t even think about the Achilles. I got to Bath and then had to make it to Coombe Down, another big hill awaited, I just couldn’t even attempt it without causing more injury. So in the 800 miles I’ve already achieved, I walked up this steep hill for the first time.

I arrived at our friends Steve and Lorraines where I was to stay and relax for the day. Lorraine had managed to book my in for a decent sport injury massage. This guys was very good, he identified the problems in both my thigh and my Achilles and worked on these key areas for an hour. On leaving I had felt some relief and won’t know until Tuesday how it will be. So it’s been more paracetamol, ibuprofen and ice-packs for me today.

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Day 10 – Saul to Bath

Monday 19th July 2010 I woke up in the best self contained B&B anywhere for miles around feeling quite good. I had used ice-packs on my ankles last night and had managed the pain in my Achilles quite well. So I had a great breakfast and didn’t plan on rushing this morning as I only [...]

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About Brad

Brad is cycling from John O Groats to Lands End, at the same time will be raising money for The Rowans Hospice, so dig deep and support this fantastic charity.