Hi, I am planning a Land's End to John o'Groats cycle ride in Summer 2018 travelling mostly unsupported (camping for all but one or two nights). This is mostly just for fun, something I have wanted to do for a long time, but also to raise awareness of hidden disabilities. In 2008 I became very ill with Crohn's disease and subsequently underwent life-saving surgery to create an Ileostomy, I now wear a stoma bag. You can find out more about what a stoma (I have an ileostomy) is at Stomawise . I will also be hoping to raise money for Crohn's & Colitis UK and The Ileostomy and Internal Pouch Support Group . This is quite an undertaking for me, although I have done some cycle touring in the past. Here is me leaving for a 4-day tour around the coast of East Anglia in 2017 (photo is a panorama shot that went wrong in a fun kind of way!):
After the late arrival last night I then had a bad night as I had a stoma bag leak. I know that's probably more info than you wanted, but hey, part of the reason I'm doing this is to raise awareness. Anyway it was not too bad and nothing much got soiled but hard to deal with when wild camping! On the upside as it happened at 5.30am it meant I was up and away and arrived at the campsite in good time tonight. Now doing the washing, it was fine hand washing the other nights, but a washing machine and tumble dryer make it so much easier. The cycling today was much easier, more downhill than up, and weather was cloudy but dry, made really good time even though it was about 135km. Not that much to see today but, Clun is a really interesting small town and quantum leap at Shrewsbury is a cool art piece celebrating Darwin (who was born in Shrewsbury).
(Posting two days later as have not had coverage) Long day today but mostly quite flat. Woke up to find the "quiet" spot I found in the dark was actually on an access road to a wind farm construction site. So at 7am there was a string of cars and vans being escorted from the main road to there construction site (quite a distance from me). They did not seem surprised to see me there! Unfortunately, it turned cold windy and rainy and stayed like that until I was getting closer to my destination, a small forest East of Loch Lomond. Cycling through Glasgow along the Clyde was great. The cycle routes here (route 74 today) are wonderful, almost like a cycle motorway with signs like "local traffic" and "local services," quite unlike the routes in England where you are lucky sometimes to even have a route indication at a junction. Had trouble finding a good camping spot, the forest was quite wild so there were no flat spots without undergrowth. Eventually found ...
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