Day 10: The longest yet

Jack made us breakfast, showed us his small yet speedy motorcar, and his neighbours donated £35.

Holls and I are smiling. The roads are tough and smooth, extreme contrasts every few hundred miles. We finished 12 miles short of schedule yesterday and I was in bullish mood, time to readdress the balance and make Scotland work in our favour.

Within an hour and a quarter we're at the end of the A702, having a break in Abington services. Average speed of 11.7 miles per hour. I hurt! The rest of the day is much of the same, hard slog, blisters appearing after two days of getting accustomed to new shoes. The roads, even the cycle paths, are hard going. Rough and potholed. Lockerbie was a long way away at the beginning of the day, beyond our previous longest day's mileage, and at times it looked out of reach.

With 14 miles to go we pull up and collapse onto a patch of grass. It's half four. Dimitri films and I talk rubbish into the camera, we talk about our pasts and prepare for a final push. By 6pm I've covered 42.5 miles, average speed for the day 10.2mph. Blisters everywhere. But we're in Lockerbie! On track, on schedule. England tomorrow!. Tomorrow I become the first person to skateboard the length of Scotland. How wierd is that!