Early morning on the 5th of August 2016 I arrived at Lands End on the Cornish coast. I had been training for 10 months and to get to this point was really exciting and felt like a personal achievement in itself. All the hard hours of training, in all elements of British weather, was finally about to come to fruition. After a few photos at the famous Lands End signpost and making some last minute adjustments to my bike, I left for my much anticipated journey to John O'groats. 
Setting off knowing the amount of miles that lay ahead is definitely daunting, however this isn't helped by the fact that the first 2 days are the hardest of the whole trip. Nearly every cyclist that has successfully completed the trip describes the hills of Cornwall and Devon ominously. This was the reason for taking the first part of the trip steady and having shorter days to allow for our legs to adapt gradually.
From Land's End we passed by Penzance and then along a coastal path up to Marazion which has beautiful views across the bay to St Michael's mount. Our route from here turned inland and this is where the tough hills with short sharp gradients that we had heard so much about greeted us. Arriving at our first destination in Fowey, which is a pretty harbour town, was a happy sight and a welcome rest for our legs.
Day 2 started off with a big climb and this proved to be an appropriate introduction to what was probably our toughest day. Our route took us along the south coast, through Plymouth, along the Plym Valley cycle path and over Dartmoor. Dartmoor, being a national park, was definitely the highlight of the first 2 days for its beauty, but also for being a cycling mecca filled with challenging hills (peaks of 1,500 ft) and fast exhilarating descents.
On day 3 we cycled 92 miles which began in Devon and continued through the Blackdown hills which is an AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty). The second half of the day went through the welcoming flat landscape of Somerset, which allowed us to pick up the pace towards our destination of Cheddar. We also decided to take a detour up and down the Cheddar Gorge which turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip - well coming down it anyway!
Day 4 took us through the Mendips (AONB), cycling around Bristol and across the Severn Bridge into Wales. Reaching Wales was our first major landmark and a great source of motivation to continue. The day ended by cycling to Monmouth and then up through the Wye Valley (AONB), which took us along a picturesque cycle path along the Wye river.
Days 5 and 6 were relatively flat and probably less interesting in terms of highlights to remember. Although our route did pass through the beautiful market town of Ludlow, The Shrosphire Hills (AONB) and Chester. Surprisingly what I remember the most from these 2 days was actually a bakery in a little village called Pontsbury. They offered local produce, delicious homemade cakes and proper good bacon baguettes. Definitely one of the great things about cycle touring is that you can eat whatever you want without feeling guilty in the slightest.
Day 7 set off from Chester and was by far the worst day in terms of weather. Cycling 87 miles through industrial northern towns like Bolton, Blackburn 
and Wigan in the pouring rain for 8 hours isn't the best experience for a holiday. However, the last 5 miles gave us some solace as we cycled through the beautiful Forest of Bowlands (AONB) to a nice rural village called Slaidburn where we stayed the night. The local pub had an open fire place and this was the perfect place to recover from an arduous day in the saddle.
Day 8 was a special day and one that I had been looking forward to. It was filled with hills through the beautiful northern scenery of Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cumbria. We started by climbing up a mountain-like pass in the Forest of Bowlands, which was probably my favourite piece of road from the entire trip. We later passed through Kendal, where we decided to try the famous Kendal mint cake. A solid concoction of mint and sugar that I would describe, at best, as tasting like toothpaste. Despite my initial disappointment, I surprisingly grew to like it and it proved to be a much needed energy boost at times. We soon arrived at the Lake District 
passing through touristy places like Windermere and Grasmere. Once we arrived at our destination in Keswick we had done well over 5,000 ft of climbing.
On day 9 after leaving the Lake District we passed through Carlisle the last major town of England and continued to the Scottish border. Reaching Scotland was another massive motivational boost for us and the remaining part to John O'Groats suddenly felt a lot shorter. 
The first 2 days of Scotland, after we had passed through Glasgow via the Clyde river cycle path, probably involved the best scenery that we had been through. Cycling along the entire western edge of Loch Lomond was a highlight as was arriving at the Highlands and going through the scenery surrounding Glencoe. This was capped off by stopping at the Clachaig Inn and having a well deserved pint in one of the most beautiful beer gardens you could wish for.
Day 12 was planned to be a long day however thanks to a mistake that lead to a major 25 mile detour, it ended up being the longest day of the tour at 110 miles. Amazingly this also combined with the hottest weather we had experienced on the trip. Considering 
we were in Scotland this was a surprise and certainly added to the effort required. The day started by leaving Glencoe and taking a ferry to the opposite side of a loch to avoid a busy road. This allowed us to have some majestic views all the way along the loch, across to Fort William and Ben Nevis. Unfortunately, the return ferry was out of operation and this lead to the detour. After this we passed by Loch Lochery and up alongside Loch Ness via the General Wade's military road. This produced beautiful vistas across the local area, but not before a massive hill that was probably the largest single hill experienced during the trip. Not surprisingly we were happy to arrive in Inverness and take a much needed break, this was a particularly hard day that involved 6,984 ft of climbing.
With only 2 days left and the last section of the trip to come we were in high hopes, John O'Groats almost felt within touching distance. Despite this though, we knew that the last section was almost completely in the middle of the wilderness. So we took nothing for granted and crossed our fingers for no mechanical faults. D
ay 13 was our hottest day, 27°C in northern Scotland was certainly an experience I wasn't expecting. While being tiring, it felt a privilege to see the beautiful countryside at its best. The weather also meant that we were mainly spared the grief caused by the infamous Highland midge, which comes in swarms and bites any passerby.
Day 14, the last day! Started with 20 miles cycling towards the northern coastal road where we got sight of the first road sign to John O'Groats. A significant mile marker. This was a great feeling to be so close and meant we only had 56 miles along the northern coastal road to go. However, predictably like a watched kettle this final section seemed to go very slowly. After travelling through some head winds we finally arrived at John O'Groats. The feeling of reaching it after cycling the entire length of Britain was great and although it wasn't the most exotic of destinations, I was very happy to be there. After celebrating appropriately with a bottle of champagne we sat down and calculated that we had cycled 1092 miles, been on the bike for 88 hours over 14 days, climbed 63,218 ft of elevation (over twice the height of Mt Everest), passed through 3 countries and 22 counties. What an achievement!
I always knew that after completing the trip it would be nice to look at a map of Great Britain and say "I cycled that", but in hindsight the trip itself was much more enjoyable than I had expected. I got to see so many beautiful places, got to know my country better and met some generous people on the way that donated to my charity. Now for the next challenge...
Donations in support of my journey for Care International UK can be made directly via my Just Giving page here: www.justgiving.com/Matthew-wilson16.
CARE International is one of the world’s leading aid agencies working in over 80 countries around the globe. We seek a world of hope, tolerance and social justice, with women and girls at the centre, where poverty has been overcome, and people live with equal opportunities in security and dignity.
