We’ve been looking at the weather in Scotland the last few days and it is has been looking pretty bad.  High wind speed and plenty of rain!   However, it looks to be improving for the Saturday (our first day of cycling) and we are particularly happy with the wind direction and speed, a nice 20mph wind from the north pushing us down to the South, just hope it continues like that!

Should be pretty funny putting the tent up on Friday night in the dark when we arrive at Wick at about 2300, especially with the 30mph gusts that Metcheck are predicting!

I’ve been told that Scotland only gets 2 hours of daylight a day so we thought it would be a good idea to get some decent lights for our trip. John from Exposure was kind enough to offer us a discount so we bought the Strada and Flare. The Strada even has a ‘dip beam’ function so we don’t blind on-coming traffic (if they have cars in Scotland).

It’ll also be useful for setting up camp in the dark, thanks John!

Simon from Green Oil was kind enough to send some products through to keep us rolling smoothly down to Land’s End. I’ve used Green Oil products before and not only do they perform extremely well (check out the awards and reviews) but they’re also environmentally friendly.

Green Oil came about after Simon read on the back of nearly every bike lube bottle: “Dangerous for the environment“. Not exactly what you want to be using on the greenest form of transport when riding through streams and in the rain. While at university, Simon developed and tested Green Oil from sustainably sourced ingredients to produce the first eco-friendly bike lube.

Even the labels were designed with the environment in mind… “The labels have a simple white background because they were originally designed in Microsoft Word on an old Windows 98 lap top computer. Keeping the background white saved ink, and the recycled paper used was white already.”

So at the end of the trip we will be doing the Pedalling for Pints Beer Awards, showcasing not only the bests beers that we have had on our journey but also the people, pubs and breweries who have made our trip one to remember.

So far we have got:

• Best Beer
• Strongest Beer
• Most Satisfying
• Cheapest
• Most Expensive
• Best Label
• Best Landlord
• Best Brewery
• Best Pub
• Best / Most Entertaining Local

Let us know if you have any ideas for any other?

Location:London,United Kingdom

I work with girl called Beth. She’s Scottish and made us this list of food we ‘must’ try in Scotland.

I think she forgot the deep-fried Mars Bar

There was a package from Hong Kong on my desk this morning and it was these 2 t-shirts from Andey at Flwrider, thanks!

So does beer increase or decrease the production of lactic acid?

Saddles have arrived. Charge Spoon – Limited Surface Edition.

I’ve ridden a Charge Spoon saddle on my fixed gear for while and it’s great – comfortable, durable and cheap.

We will be taking the train up to Wick (the nearest Station to John O’Groats on the 17th September to start the epic journey to Lands End on the 18th September).  This choice of travel was one that undertook a stringent risk assessment process by myself and Luke. Train and Plane are the obvious choices to transport the Tandem to the starting destination.  However, both presented a certain level of risk .  The plane option would have been easy, if it was guaranteed that we would be able to get the tandem on the Flybe flight from Edinburgh to Wick (which Flybe couldn’t do).  The train option also presents a level or risk as it appears that Tandem bicycles are singled out and ’banned’ on the majority of British train lines.  A bit of research though led us to Virgin Trains, who will take us from London to Edinburgh no problem.  After that we will have to see how we get on with Scotrail (we may have to play the the charity card here) and the long journey to Inverness and then Wick.

Many a beer will be drunk on the train Journey no doubt!

Travelling back to London from Lands End on the 2nd October should be easy..we hope!  First Great Wester  dont hate tandems (or so they say), we will have to see!

Cant wait..