The Summer ahead

Well as is planned, I will be cycling around Scotland (Rough map here) both for my own enjoyment and as a fundraiser for MSF. Initial planning has suggested a distance of near 700 miles, which at my current average pace would take a total of 39 hours. A pace I will be unlikely to maintain. So if I were to break it into chunks it could take anywhere up to a week and a half. So not too bad. If I were to split the journey into 10 days worth of chunks, It would probably end up as follows:

1. Dundee - Aberdeen 65 miles
2. Aberdeen - Inverness 100 miles
3. Inverness - John O'Groats 110 miles
4. John O'Groats - Inverness 110 miles
5. Inverness - Kyle of Lochalsh 73 miles
6. Kyle of Lochalsh - Fort William 104 miles
7. Fort William - Oban 43 miles
8. Oban - Home 113 miles

So yeah, 8 chunks, guess I'll be doing it that way then... To put these distances in perspective, 10 miles takes me just short of 30 minutes. So 100 miles will be a journey time of 5 hours. Not unreasonable considering I was aiming to cycle for 6 hours a day.

Elsewhere on the summer calendar for Rory will be running! Because spontaneously entering the London marathon is one of the smarter things I've ever done. Initial training will be focused on cardio that will in return help for the cycle trip. If I had any priority on the running front it would be some decent footwear, something that I am sorely lacking in general. I have my eyes set on a pair of VivoBarefoot EVO II's, but I will be waiting until I am confirmed by the British Heart Foundation as a runner. Oh yeah, I'm running on behalf of the British Heart foundation! Of course this will mean yet more sponsorship money (I promised to raise £1000, a target I know I can beat), but luckily it won't have to be raised until April.

Sadly I can't leave this post with an energetic, "I'm off for a run!", so I'll leave it with the truth of, "I'm off for a drink..."

On a bus to skye

109 miles

So I thought I would test blogger properly and see if it will be a suitable app to use when I'm away cycling. And what better way to do it than a trip up to skye on a bus, for three hours, surrounded by strangers. The trip started successfully with the three of us getting on the wrong bus, then getting on the right bus which took us to the wrong bus stop. Luckily another bus that was also going to inverness arrived and offered to take us since they had space.

Now, my kind companions have kicked me into the loner seat while they party it up in the duo. And then I got the idea to blog part of this journey, and here we are. All I really have to entertain me on this trip is a copy of game of thrones - my ipod and my phone, which also doubles up as a gameboy. So I won't be starved for entertainment unless all the batteries decide to commit seppoku.

47 miles

Well the last fifty miles for past, I was expecting the next sign to be sixty.

The weather has caved in slightly, although we seemed to have emerged from the downpour. One thing I have noticed is that if it weren't for scotlands distinct brown forests then I might think I was in austria. The flat fields in the valleys with the cottages on their sides certainly add to this image.

I haven't managed to get much of my way into the book, a chapter at most. Most of my time has been spent listening to elvis and staring our the window.

Outside inverness

We should be getting close by now. This journey has just breezed past. And this little experiment has been a success! Or it will be once I have uploaded this from my phone.

First post on android

If this is working then I have my solution for the cycling trip. Andy say hi!