Up at 04:15 leaving Hilary asleep and made myself a cuppa. Checked on-line for the weather forecast in Edinburgh and for tomorrow in Wick. Both quite good, thankfully. Also checked emails and forums.

Woke Hilary at 04:45 and made us both a cuppa.

Breakfast of bacon and egg, and then final packing, wash and shave, then Hilary drove me up to Gunnislake station for the 06:57 for Plymouth. We parted with me eager for the off. We waved as she drove away. On the train there seemed to be no ticket collector! The train filled up with commuters, and I sat there waiting to pay - but no-one wanted any money! That saved £5.00 or so ....

At Plymouth, I entered the concourse area and queued up for the Fast Ticket machine. Fast? When there’s a queue? Ha Ha.

Ticket in my hand, I phoned Hilary to let her know all was well, and made my way over to Platform 7 for the 07:25 to Edinburgh and went to the waiting room with a cuppa from the kiosk. It was only 06:50, so I had a half-hour wait for the train. I turned on my little radio and caught the weather forecast and then the news.

I boarded the Cross Country train, found my seat at D24 and made myself comfortable. As we left, the carriage was quite empty, but filled up by the time we made it to Exeter. By Cheltenham, it was packed but emptied out again at Brum and rather quiet thereon.

Not quiet with people on their phones! Especially a chap right behind me on his phone constantly and in a loud voice too all the way from Newcastle. The un-ashamed and un-embarrassed way these folk do this on their phones completely mystifies me.

I dipped in and out of my Danny Wallace book, and stared out at the passing scenery, working up an appetite for my lunch. Hilary had assembled a pile of stuff to see me through all the way to Wick and picked away at it through the afternoon. I bought a cuppa from the buffet trolley a couple of times.

For the record, the train seemed to call at all the stations on the rail network:-
Totnes
Newton Abbot
Exeter St Davids
Tiverton Parkway
Taunton
Bristol Temple Meads
Cheltenham Spa
Birmingham New Street
Burton-upon-Trent
Derby
Chesterfield
Sheffield
Wakefield Westgate
Leeds
York
Darlington
Durham
Newcastle
Berwick-upon-Tweed
Dunbar

We arrived at Edinburgh a good ten minutes early, and I wended my way out onto Princess Street, and turned right down to Leith Walk. 20 minutes after leaving the station, I was checked in, I’d paid a quid for an hours WiFi, and dumped my stuff on a bottom bunk in room 217.
........... then it was straight over the road to the Windsor Buffet for three pints of Deuchars IPA and back to the hostel to phone Hilary, shower, and on-line with you lot!

More to come tomorrow evening when I make it to Wick.

TTFN from Bonnie Scotland,
Mick.

Just a quick update of progress.

I'm almost packed and ready to go, just got to make sandwiches for the long journey to Edinburgh tomorrow. I leave home at about 05:45 in the morning for the train to Plymouth, then catch the 07:25 for Edinburgh.

Garmin 705, mobile phone, camera, handycam and razor are all charged. Gosh! What a lot of batteries and electronics! I'll be taking this MacBook too of course.

I've telephoned Carey's Guest House at Wick and they're happy for me to stay on Wednesday night as well as the Thursday. I've also been in touch with Andrew Bruce at Far North Aviation http://www.farnorthaviation.co.uk/ where my pallet has been sent. Good news! It's arrived! That's one hurdle over!

Bad news is that the flight company - Flybe - I booked my tickets through operate a No Refunds policy, so I've had it for my money back. I didn't say who I was or my booking reference, so if the flights are actually cancelled by the volcano ash, I may be ok because I haven't blown my cover. It looks like I may have been ok anyway as the ash cloud is reported to have dissipated. The volcano is still erupting, so there's time yet for things to change.

The main thing is, no matter what, I'm going!

I may be able to check in and update the blog at Edinburgh Youth Hostel or nearby, but I don't know, and I don't know either about Wick, but hopefully at Golspie on Friday I'll be ok because The Ben Hotel advertise WiFi.

TTFN,
Mick.

I was crest-fallen when I heard the news this morning about the return of the Dreaded Ash Cloud. The met office reckon that it will return to UK airspace next week and Northern Scotland is closed even now.

Consequently, I've been on line and booked train tickets.
I'm booked on Plymouth to Edinburgh on Tuesday 11th, arriving at Edinburgh at 16:16 £155
Overnight B+B is now booked at Edinburgh SYHA on Leith Walk £28.25
Then Edinburgh to Wick via Perth and Inverness the next morning, arriving at Wick at 18:15 only £25!!!

This means I arrive in Wick the previous evening to my original plans, so I need to contact my B+B to arrange another night. I doubt this is a problem, but I have yet to phone them. Also, I have to get out to the airport to collect Chopper and Trailer, but it's not far - perhaps I can walk, it's only a mile or so.

The issue of my flight costs remains. I booked and paid budget prices, so I doubt I can get a refund unless the flight gets cancelled by them or the volcanic ash. I'll phone them tomorrow to plead my case. Either way, the price wasn't astronomical, only £120. High enough for me to want it back, but it's not the end of the world. On the plus side, I did have a taxi booked to drive me to Exeter Airport very early on Thursday morning, that was going to cost £75, so that's £75 saved out of the possibly non-refundable air fare.

Upshot of all this, is that I can relax knowing I can get there on time. If I'd waited to see whether I could fly or not, it would be too late for alternatives.

I now need to get my head round the fact that I'm off the day after tomorrow .............

Regards to everybody,
Mick.

Chopper has now gone. It and Trailer have been lain on a pallet, wrapped in black plastic, labelled up, and is ready for despatch later today.

Yesterday evening, and this morning, I packed and stuffed my things into the trailer-box and loaded it all into the car. The cycle rack locks on the tow-bar and Trailer fitted easily in the back of the car with the seats down, and I drove it round to my mate Paul at RK Pridham Engineering in Tavistock. http://rkpridhamengineering.co.uk/ Paul had selected a reasonable pallet and we nailed down a sheet of plywood onto it.

Paul has arranged with a local firm to collect my pallet and transport it all the way to Wick. And do you know what? They've agreed to do this for free! How fantastic and generous is that!!!

I J McGill Transport Ltd are wonderful people, and I thank them wholeheartedly! http://www.ijmcgilltransport.com/







We arranged the stuff on the pallet to get the most efficient and stable positioning for everything. I took the front wheel off Chopper and turned the handle bars and front rack for a better fit and we stuck an advertising sticker on the side of Trailer proudly displaying McGill Transport.




With a forklift truck, the pallet was lifted a couple of feet off the floor and we wrapped and wrapped and wrapped black plastic all over it. This plastic stretches and grips like cling-film and within a few minutes, all was stable and secure.









If you look carefully, you'll see from the above shot, that we left a pedal showing. We wrapped some more, and eventually it was all done. I forgot to take a final photograph, but you get the idea!

Lastly, Paul stuck an address label on the top, but when it's collected, it will be labelled and bar-coded properly. This should happen today, and it should arrive in at Wick Airport on Monay or Tuesday next week.



I feel a little strange.

Chopper has gone and my life feels empty! Weird!

I seem to be very confident now. I was worried about the monumental task of riding this contraption, but recent rides have been much easier than I could have hoped for. The concrete block was superb training and I feel ready and able to ride the 900 miles.

That's it. Done and gone. All I can do now is wait and hope that my flight goes ok. I must get to Wick by lunchtime on Thursday for all this to happen.

Thanks for reading, and keep your fingers crossed for the Icelandic Volcano to spew it's ash away from my flightpath.

Regards to all,
Mick.



PS:
Sorry, forgot to mention that Paul made me a sharp tool out of some flat steel. He fashioned it with a sharp hook thing on the end, and then gaffa taped it neatly to the outside of the wrapping.

This should enable me to unwrap without hurting my hands.

Regards,
Mick.

I rode out today - my shoulder feeling much better - and took my handycam again. This time, I mounted it low down on the front of Trailer to see my sprockets and chainwheels in action. Not to mention my feet and ankles!

If you notice, to the end of the movie, my camera angle started to lift. If I ever do this again, I'll tighten the mount a bit more, but you can admire my manly muscles meanwhile!

Anyway, it was my last ride before Chopper and Trailer get posted up to Scotland. This afternoon I'll be doing the final packing. Last minute things will be carried on the plane with me.

Enjoy the movie, it's a strange angle on the world. Please forgive the wind noise, and I found it surprising how much noise comes from sprockets and chain when you get up close.

Regards to all,
Mick.

I'm in a bit of pain this morning.

Yesterday, I cut the grass in the garden, and pulled a muscle in my left shoulder. Our garden has a terrible slope, so cutting the grass takes some effort. I overdid it.

I had hoped to go for a ride today, and even collect a bit of shopping on my way back, but I think I'll be better occupied in packing and sorting and perhaps having a long soak in the bath. I can't afford to be hurt, riding that Chopper is hard enough without doing damage to myself on a non-cycling activity!

Hopefully, I'll be ok tomorrow for my last ride before Chopper and Trailer are carted off to N Scotland.

Wish me luck,
Mick.

Been out for a 30 miler today into the Cornish Alps.

Concrete block was with me again of course, and it was hard work, but to be honest, it is getting easier and I didn't stop until the 16 mile mark. I reckon I could have done the whole ride non-stop.

I should get another ride in during the week before Thursday when me and Paul wrap my stuff on the pallet. I really need to start packing and organising. The more I can get packed away into Trailer the better, as I don't want to take much on the plane with me.

Also, our local taxi service (run by the chap from the post office!) may be asked to get me to Exeter Airport. It's a 50 odd mile journey to get there for a 06.50 flight. No doubt I'll have to be there an hour before = 05.50 = leaving home at 04.50 or earlier.

As you can tell, my thoughts are turning from riding and practising, to thoughts of planning and logistics.

Thanks for reading, more to come during the week.
Mick.