52hrs 44 mins 319.52miles 26,741ft gain
Day 7 – Friday 18th August
After an evening of lots of food, chat and clothes drying in the Garrigill village hall with the amazing volunteers supplying endless food and drinks, an early night beckoned. I had luckily managed to fix my tent pole with a mixture of zipties and gorilla tape, which I was pretty sure would hold for the rest of the race.
After a great nights sleep, I fuelled up on a full breakfast, again made by the volunteers, downed some coffee and got ready for stage 3. Garrigill to Fort Augustus.
Kirsty who was taking part in the race hadnt been at the CP long, maybe only a couple of hours, and was getting her kit ready to set off again! Unbelievable!
8am came around and we were all soon off again and once through Alston (unfortunately no time to stop at my favourite Spar) the cyclepath took me all the way to Haltwhistle and the Tyne Valley. Local tracks for me. A quick stop at the co op for resupply for the day and i was off into Kielder Forest.
I have ridden these tracks countless times before and this spurred me on, I started pushing on the pedals that little bit harder and really enjoyed the solitude of the forest.
Topping my water bottles up near Kielder Water, the route turned off the reservoir and headed north on the Bloody Bush Border trail, to take me to Scotland.
Once past the border and at the top of the climb, I paused for a breather and feeling completely alone, Laurens and Bart came flying past and then Pete did too. This happens regularly on these events. Everyone is riding similar paces, but you can feel like you are riding by yourself with no one close by. Then you stop and actually they really aren’t that far ahead or behind you.
I down some water and food and start the decent. After a couple of minutes, Bart and Laurens are by the side of the road with a puncture. There is not much help I can offer with it being self supported, so I wish them good luck and carry on. I then come across Pete a little further down the decent. Again, I wish him luck with the repair. It just shows how quickly things can change, and being in the borders, there aren’t many shops or help out here. So I remind myself to take it easy and that finishing is my main aim.
The next few hours passed by pretty quickly and after some hike a bike through Craik Forest, I turned onto a gravel track and started the climb up towards Blackhouse Forest. It was a tough climb and I was feeling strong, so I pushed on. I reached the top, stopped, put my rain coat on for the decent and then set off.
The start of the decent was pretty sketchy, so I actually said out loud to myself, take it easy, don’t fall off because this isn’t the place to do it.
30 seconds later, I saw John by the side of the track and then saw he was looking after Alan who looked to have fallen off.
Turns out Alan had came off and looked to have broken his collarbone. Me and John made sure he was warm with extra layers and set about phoning mountain rescue as we were a good few miles from a road and there was really no other option at that time. We got through and they would be with us as quick as they could.
Then after not too long, Laurens and Bart passed and checked everything was okay, then Adrian and Pete stopped and offered some more help. The next hour or so was trying to keep all of us warm, whilst keeping spirits up for Alan and keeping his mind off the pain. Luckily the weather wasn’t too bad, but the light was going down and we were all getting cold and hungry.
Then, mountain rescue got there and were excellent. They brought their 4×4 and a team of people took Alan (and his bike) to safety. Turns out the ambulance also made it a good way up the off road climb, so fair play to the driver! And massive thanks to the mountain rescue team. What would we do without them up and down the UK. Donate below! Tweed Valley Mountain Rescue.
After the commotion, the four of us had to make it down the hill safely too and try and find some food. It took much longer than I thought and I started to really struggle with lack of food.
I finally made it to Biggar and luckily John and Pete had managed to bag us some Pakoras from the Indian restaurant. Forever grateful! It had been a long day.
We all decided to find somewhere to camp together for the night. We found a showground, hopped over the fence and pitched up for the night, think it was around about 11.30. I was pleased that Alan was safe and just to be off the hill!
Day 8 – Saturday 19th August
I was last of the 4 of us to wake up and pack my tent away. Always slow!
Me, Pete and Adrian went to the petrol station to try and find coffee and food. We then all set off at different times and paces. The weather was damp. The first couple of hours were time to think about last night and try to refocus and get my head back into the race.
Close to the Caledonian Canal, I passed a cafe and jumped in to treat myself to a big fry up. I was still starving after not really having a good feed last night. I saw Laurens at the bike shop attached getting something fixed, and he later joined me for breakfast, with Adrian coming in too.
After the big feed, I felt much better and went into the rest of the day with a positive outlook, making good time through Stirling and Bridge of Allan. I made it to Callandar early afternoon and stopped at the co op for some snacks as the rain come down heavy.
The route followed a cycle path past Loch Lubnaig and through The Trossachs, which is a beauty and got me ready for the next challenge, heading further into the wilds of Scotland.
I reached Killin around 4pm and stopped in another Co op to refuel and pack up with food for the night and the following morning, knowing there wasn’t much chance for resupply before the CP.
The route then follows the River Lochey and it start to feel wilder and wilder. It turns right, up a roughly paved switchback climb, where my slow pace saw me overtaken by Bart and Laurens.
On the decent and joining the HT550 course close to Loch Lyon, a rainbow paved the way and set the scene for the upcoming evening and night.
The question on everyones mind was whether to stop for the night or to keep going all the way to the CP. In my mind, I knew we were passing Loch Ossian and the Youth Hostel there. Which I have stayed inside before, but really wanted to camp outside of one day as the views are extraordinary and it is a real place of mystique.
First plan was to get there.
The weather came in with the darkness and I slipped on a wet tree route on a descent, reminding myself that I had to concentrate, I had been on the bike for a long time and still had a way to go to reach the youth hostel.
There was a road section for half an hour or so past Loch Rannoch. Then the route went off road on Rannoch Moor, heading towards Loch Ossian and the youth hostel. Here I caught up to Bart and we road together up the climb and on the decent to the hostel, which took longer than expected in the pitch dark! We were both pleased to make it there.
We used the toilets at the hostel and set up our tents by the loch in the rain and I went straight to sleep. Long, but beautiful day!
Day 9 – Sunday 20th August
CP3 Day!
Alarm around 5.45 and away by 6.20. The first part was along the shores of Loch Ossian, a great way to start the day.
The route weaved its way though Laggan and then joined General Wades Military Road, which would take me all the way to Fort Augustus, the Checkpoint.
Just the small matter of Corrieyairack Pass to get up and over in between then. At the same time, the Woman’s World Cup Final was on with England in the final against Spain. The signal on the radio was on and off, so i was getting snippets. And started to push the bike up the hill that bit quicker to try and reach the CP in time to see the end of the match.
The climb was tough, the descent was perfect. It is one of my favourite descents around.
Rolling through Fort Augustus and up to the Checkpoint, I managed to catch the end of the match. Unfortunately England lost, but I had reached the CP with plenty of time to relax, eat and sleep. A great stage, my body really was feeling the weeks worth of riding, I was ready to be finished. Just the small matter of stage 4 to contend with.
Jordan Matthews 