The End of an amazing trip.

Well, where do I start? I think it's best I start with the end, just to confuse you.
The final stretch was by no means like seeing the finishing straight of the marathon, I think smooth, hill-less tarmac is a luxury reserved for the streets of London, not the back roads of south west Cornwall. It was a sort of 'go out with a bang' ending as on exiting Penzance I went up the steepest climb of the trip, 16.5% I think the sign said, I say I think, I was in total disbelief but had to climb that final hurdle to get to the finish line.
After we left Penzace it was more of what I had gotten used to expecting from the Cornish countryside; narrow, rough roads with looneys driving their farm equipment at silly speeds coming the other way.
There's a certain spike in the back of your mind thats always there to say "Will the next nutter be going just that bit too fast? Will this corner be my last?" You kind of have to ignore it or you don't progress at all.
That was why I hated the final week, I was used to having a queue of 20 cars behind me and stopping every so often to let them past, the majority didnt mind at all, but on one day we had a queue of 60 cars and lorries backed up behind us, after that point I was demoted to un-named roads and more of the ever-present cattle shit clogging up my wheels.
Aside from the skating, the final few days were by far the best, it's weird that things contrast so heavily from skating time to free time. During the day myself and my mom would be at each others throats debating over the best route and how my feet hurt and anything we could find fault with really. After the days skating had finished we would sit down and joke about the funnier parts of the day, have some good food and even play frisbee; completely dismissing the swearing match we had 2 hours previously.
The relief of seeing signs for Lands End was huge, we stopped for lunch in a layby facing a T-junction, one side read Penzance, and the other, Lands End - 2 miles. It was the longest 2 miles of the trip, and I'm not just saying that for dramatic effect, I think the signing was wrong too. It was a battle between keeping my head down and concentrating on the road, and bursting into the 6 year old on Christmas eve I felt like inside.
As the line came into sight I discarded my high-vis shirt and backpack, and the 6 year old came to the surface, I replaced the grimace of the past 27 days with the cheeky grin of the 6 year old thats just eaten all the nutella after being asked not to.
The line approached and the sound of cheering drowned out the pain of the verruca that had split the day before, and the sound of the boards' wheels rolling along the tarmac, and for the first time it was just me doing my thing, no GPS, no navigation, no pit-stops, and no hills. Just one man out doing what he loves doing, not for world records, not for charity, but because he can.
I closed my eyes, opened my arms and felt the soft kiss of ribbon on my chest, and at that moment I made my peace with the road. There had been some pretty bad moments, but they all got me to the place I needed to get to; triumph, in the face of adversity, and against some of the most brutal conditions mother nature had up her sleeve.
And whats this about prevailing winds? Hairy skateboarders are what is prevailing in the north-east of Scotland I think you'll find!
After I crossed the line the rest was a blur, a sip of cider sent me dizzy and I stumbled to the landmark to have various pictures taken, then we got down to the business of celebrating at the local campsite where burgers, sausages and champagne glasses were guzzled in my honour.
It's hard to start thanking people in order, because it's unfair if someone is thanked last they feel like they have done the least, but everyone did over and above what I thought they could and were prepared to do. I'm so proud to know such generous and kind people.
Firstly, my amazing family for supporting this crazy trip and giving me the all important kick up the arse when I needed it. All the wonderful people I have met and stayed with along the trip, it's nice to get to know the people behind the windows you skate past. I am never going to forget such generous people that willingly will accomodate a smelly teenager and his support team for free, they are the real heroes. A special thanks to our meals on wheels crew (thingy and thingy) who made a change of hands of the driver run smoothly, and for support throughout the trip. A huge thank you to the maker of my beautiful Birthday cake, which was so detailed it even had the right coloured wheels on my skateboard, it rests to this day on my wardrobe and I am still too scared to either eat it or throw it away.
For everyone who made their way down to cornwall to see me over the line, I want to say a massive thanks to as it's an expensive trip with the rediculous petrol prices. But it made all the difference that people would go out of their way just so I could see a friendly face to welcome me across the line, and it means a huge amount to me that people are willing to do that for one person, so again I thank you greatly.
To my friends, who have called me everything from 'skater boy' to 'absolute bloody nutter' I want to thank for not only supporting me personally, but who supported the charity too and gave generously to CORDA.
I think it's safe to say that without the help of a few people the trip would have been a non starter, Jenny Jenks of CORDA and Nicky Smith of Nexus have put in a huge workload to make the most of this trip and I want to thank them both hugely for their time, commitment and patients.
Now I know theres always a 'last but not least' in every list of thanks, but I think I have no trouble is saying that the next person is not only a huge inspiration to myself and hundreds of other bidding nutters, but is the most generous, giving, kind, helpful and likeable person I have ever come across. It has been a privelidge to have been helped by, to have been embraced as a friend by, and to have broken a record of the great Mr. (should be sir) David Cornthwaite. Without the help and guidance of Dave, I wouldn't have had the determination to accomplish such a task as this, and I would probably never have thought it possible to achieve what I have.
So then, how do you end this chapter of the Ben Stiff story?
It shouldn't be concluded with a statement, like 'it's been incredible' or 'I'm buggered if I'm doing that again' but it should be a question.
Not one like 'how was it'? or even 'how do you feel'?
Simply; "What's next"?



To find out more about Ben's trip and others like it, log on to www.boardfree.co.uk

Happy skatin'

the last push

It's the final countdown!!
No, not the Europe song, put the air guitars away, it really is the countdown to the end of an amazing trip. To say it has been fun is a huge understatement, and to say its been easy is just a downright lie.
There hasn't once been a time I wanted to give up, there have been times where i wanted to chuck the board into the path of a combine and go off in a strop, but it's tmes like that where you need to just keep plodding on and keep your head - or in my case, feet - down.
This is just a short one, the big thank you to everyone (and I do mean everyone) Will come when I'm over the line.
But for now, I'll just keep you in suspense!

Bristol to Cheddar!

I am lucky enough to have a bed again tonight! I'm being put up by a couple who my mom knows, who were generous enough to lend us a bed for the night, and while were at it, I can steal their internet too!
Today was probably the most varied day I've had, I know every time I update things I say I've just had the most something, but today was quite special indeed.
It was the last day of my grandad taking over the navigation from my dad, and things started smoothly with setting up camp in good time, and having a meals on wheels delivery from two of my mom's good friends; Ali and Mary meant that the first night was completely hassle free, which was just what we needed.
After having 18 days of a pretty rigid routine, it wasn't hard to keep thing flowing the way they had been before, and with visits to local pubs being frequent, we didn't have to worry about washing up too often either.
Today we found a pub like no other, I forget the name but it's what went on inside which was so, er, different about this pub.
As we pulled up ot it, the appearance was just like any other pub, but as we drew closer we found that it was also a chinese restaurant, which had been sort of bolted onto the side as an afterthought, although it was probably a lack of thought more than anything.
We walked in anyway, still hopefull that we could have food from this hemisphere, and on asking the landland if food was available, we were showed the menu's for both English and Chinese lunch.
We were shown through into the resaurant area, which had to be unlocked from the inside to let us in, and we walked into what can only be decribed as a Chinese pub. There was a small bar, and the tables were laid with knives and forks, as opposed to chopsticks, but there were wicker partitions and oriental ornaments scattered about the room in a vein attempt that we might think we had stumbled upon some portal to Shanghai.
To keep things as simple as we could, we all ordered a steak, and the landlady was impressed that I had a similar taste to her in that I have my steak so rare it is still moo'ing when it's served.
After we placed our order th landlady approached with what, at first, appeared to be a breadbasket, but to throw us completely it was full of prawn crackers. Yes thats what I had for lunch today; steak, chips, peas, onion rings and prawn crackers.
After staring at the basket until the landlady had left the room, we all burst into laughter at the same time, which was just the boost we needed to keep the trip in good spirits.
After our very nice steaks we headed back to the road and completed the days skating, but the day wasn't over until we had our first confruntational meeting with the police.
On being asked to 'pull over', I dismounted the board and cooly approached the squad car and asked; "is there a problem?"
It appeared that there had been a complaint about our presence on the road, not that we were causing any particular micheif to the public, just that we were on the road and it wasn't to one persons liking.
I explained to the officer that it was for charity, and that we were nearly done, and he let us on our way.
Still, 800 miles and only one complaint isn't bad going...

Just north of Gloucester to Just north of Bristol.

Today was great; we had photographs taken for a local newspaper, and had an interview with the local radio. We also adopted a new style of collecting our funds, whilst moving!
Not that it was any choice of our own, but in 2 separate incindences today we received money at, pretty much, full speed.
The first was as we were just coming out of Gloucester, we had pulled into the right hand lane of a junction as we had to turn left then immediately right. Only on turning was it that we found that it was actually a dual carriageway, and people were now undertaking us at quite a rate. One passer-by was kind enough to offer a donation, unfortunately it was out of the window of her car, which was going at 15 miles an hour. Now although this is ultimately a fund raising exercise, I was a little hesitant in trying to grasp the fiver, which was at this point being waved ferociously as it was holding up a lot of traffic. I swerved towards the car, hitting more cat-eyes than i would have liked to, and, outstretching my hand I managed to grab the money and rejoin my lane with heartbeat racing.
The second was pretty much the same, but it was the support van that was offered money, not me. A van full of, well, white van men overtook and half way through the maneuver thought it would be a good time to drop in a small donation. So, the driver of the van searched his pockets, as did his friends, and the passenger thrusted a clenched fist towards the support van, which was quite heavy with change. The difference being in this case was that we were no longer on a dual carriageway, and the traffic coming the other way was beginning to look a little worried that the transaction may not be complete with enough time for the van to avoid quite a nasty smash.
Luckily there wasn't a head on collision, and it was the van driver who's heart was racing.
The rest of the day was fairly samey, after we met with the photographer we set off south on the A38 towards Bristol.
As I saw the sign it began to dawn on me that I really was getting close to the end. Being in the south came quicker than I expected, and to be honest I don't really want to be in the South. Of course I do want to progress, and I certainly don't want to turn around, but I don't want this to end. It's been such fun, and I have gotten to know some pretty amazing people, to name one, Sandy McGill's flawless talent of being able to turn traffic lights green from 40 feet away. I swear he had some kind of remote on him.
The trip has been a sort of self-discovery in a lot of ways, now bear with me here I'm not taking up feng shui or aromatherapy or any bollocks like that. But when you're alone for 80% of your day, with nothing to keep you company apart from your Ipod and the growl of a skateboard running over tarmac, you start thinking about stuff, mainly because you have nothing else to do. I think about the people at home who I miss, and although I don't want the trip to end, I can't wait to see some of them, so it's a bit of a funny position I'm in. But aside from all that I think the trip has been well worthwhile, and would reccomend an adventure like this to anyone, just don't go stealing my world records!!

The well earned day off.

Today was great! I woke up and didn't bang my head on the roof of a van, didnt have to open a trapdoor to find solid ground, didn't have to pack any tents away, and most definitely didn't have to do any skateboarding!
Having said that, I did feel inclined to go for just a small skate, but I was already late for leaving for my brothers graduation, so I pressed on with getting ready.
With everyone suited and booted we set off to the theatre Royal where all the other relatives, friends, boyfriends and girlfriends were queuing to get in. The Graduates entered using another entrance.
The ceremony went on for about an hour and a half, and after the first 30 or so graduates, my hands were starting to hurt from clapping, but I was assuming everyone else was thinking the same thing. My brother was announced and our little group went mad, I didn't care that my hands were hurting, he deserved everybodies applause, not just mine.
After the ceremony we met up with him and had all the photo's taken of him with various members of the family. My dad took over 120 pictures, I can't think what of as there were only about 9 of us.
With Dad's camera memory full we headed to a lovely fish restaurant where we toasted his achievements and ate until we could hardly walk.
We stumbled back to his flat in an all too familiar drizzle, which seems to have been following me all trip long. When we arrived we swapped our suits for something a little less damp and set about planning the next few days of the route south.
My grandfather takes over from the drivers seat of the support van tomorrow, he will take me south for the next 3 days, at which point my mom will pick up and we will be in deepest darkest Devon.
Looking back on the first 2 weeks, it's unreal to think that I have already crossed the entire length of Scotland on a skateboard. I can't look at a map without chuckling anymore.

South of Scotland.

It's been 4 days since I last updated the blog. Unfortunately the English countryside hasn't yielded much in the way of wireless internet.
I am now in my brothers flat in Nottingham, and tomorrow is my one and only rest day; which I am taking to wish him well on his graduation.
The past few days have been a mix. After we left Mike Hunter - one of the rotarians to put us up - in the Lakes the rain went south with us, there were times where I could have gone swimming and not gotten any wetter.
Coming out of Shap was something I'll remember for a long time. There's something about skating up a 10% hill against 30mph gusting headwinds carrying torrential rain that sticks in the mind.
On a lighter note, we have walkie talkies! They are a real help with navigation as I don't have to stop at every turning and consult with the driver. They are also fun to play games like I spy with, and arguing without having to look at each other.
The roads have been good to me too, after passing into England the traffic has picked up a lot though. Even going around, let alone through some towns has been very on and off with letting traffic pass, skating for 5 minutes, then doing the same. It's really tiring because I can't get into any kind of rhythm, even with the Ipod on.
The board is holding up fine, although we had to swap some bits over with the trucks, 500 miles of twists and turns takes a lot out of them, so we just swapped the base plates where the axles are mounted, and were rolling on again in no time. Actually it took 3 of us about an hour, but the time just flew by...
After the Preston day, the roads seemed to get a bit calmer, but we were still reminded that we needed to be careful when lorries and tractors went past; kicking up clouds of diesel as they went, which wasn't too nice to breathe in.
The hills are now definitely getting smaller by the day, the shoes are still taking a beating though as there are more traffic lights to stop for, and more pedestrians to avoid. People still look at me as though I'm not on a skateboard at all, that I'm some kind of alien thats rolling down whichever street it happens to be. I guess as I'm only the 2nd person to have done this, people haven't really gotten used to it.
Unfortunately, on one of our days, the GPS I carry with me stopped working, so we have 3 days with no record of me skating at all. So if anyone asks, just take my word for it, the very confused yet amused people of the north-west of England can back me up.
There haven't been any encounters with any sheep since the last one, I'm quite dissapointed at the English wildlife really it's quite unadventurous. Although I was woken by a sheep this morning, and before you start getting any funny ideas, it was in the field next to our campsite, along with some equally noisy geese.
At the end of today we were pretty much out of the busy part of the UK, the next busy place will be Bristol, and I think thats where the hills will pick up again, but hopefully after a rest day, and a few days of flat'ish' skating, I'll be ready for them.
From then on it's into Devon, and then the final few days.

England!

Post by Dave @ http://www.boardfree.co.uk/

By lunchtime yesterday Ben had made it to Kendal, Cumbria, having made it safely through the Scottish Highlands to England. Still a few more hills to go, but he's feeling strong and isn't far off the halfway mark now.

Lockerbie to Penrith

I crossed into England today! I'm so happy we made it across the entire length of Scotland, the only upset we had was that I left my wash bag at someones house. I hope that will be the only thing to hinder our progress.
The action started before we had even hit the road today, or rather last night. We were semi woken up by a startled woman who claimed her husband was having a heart attack, but the crucial point of her panic was that she couldn't operate her mobile phone to call 999. She seemed to be more concerned about the health of her Nokia than that of her husband.
The other two guys leapt out of bed - as I was cocooned in my sleeping bag on the roof of the van - and helped the lady by calling an ambulance and attending to the man in the caravan.
After a few short minutes the Ambulance arrived and whisked off the man to hospital, which left us to get back to the business of sleep.
In the morning the woman we helped explained that the 'heart attack' was really just severe stomach pains, but better to be safe than sorry. And incase you were worried, her mobile was low on signal, but is expected to pull through. She gave us 20 pounds for the charity and we went our separate ways.
The cross into England was a great moment, to be the youngest person ever to skateboard across Scotland, but unfortunately this moment had to be repeated because nobody was filming it. Not quite so emotional the second time round.
We pushed on into northern England feeling revived, a new Country brings new adventures I guess.
Not long after the border we entered Carlisle, and almost immediately the traffic backed up without us knowing it. After we passed a Police van coming the other way we hastily pulled over and let 3 minutes of solid traffic pass, very hopeful that the van did not return.
As the traffic was so bad, we decided to pull into an area which was slightly less traffic dense; a quite housing estate where we stopped for a lunch of chicken rolls.
On returning to the board I realised that my Camelbak had all but been emptied, and as I looked around for a source of wather I soon realised we hadn't just pulled into a quiet housing estate, we had pulled into their local church car park and they were having a Bingo and Cake sale event.
I approached the church with my brother, half expecting to have the water brought to us in a golden cup and be blessed before we tipped it into the plastic bag. We were met by a woman who firstly insisted she charged us for setting foot into the Bingo hall, then upon hearing our predicament directed us to a toilet, where I filled up my Camelbak in a sink. Not exactly the Holy Grail, but it got the job done.
Refreshed, we set off trying to avoid the traffic of the city, and luckily made it out without causing much trouble at all.
Along the trip we have come across most things the British roads have to offer; Pelican crossings, Zebra crossings, and even hysteric sheep. But today was the day of the Cow crossing.
Less than 5 minutes after leaving Carlisle we turned off onto a smaller road to try and reduce traffic, where we found ourselves waiting upon a farmer hearding dozens of cattle across the road, which brought with it more of what I met in Scotland. Poo.
After dealing with the smell, I tip-toed acrossed the milefield ahead and continued with the route, only to be met with another old friend; the 25mph headwind.
The wind was something i had gotten used to in Scotland, and having a brief reminder that mother nature was the boss just made me a little more cautious, so I plodded on as best I could.
We were soon overtaken by a fleet of cyclists, each member of which looked at me just as puzzled as the previous. But that just spurred me on as I was determined to overtake anything on this trip, and with the wind playing in my favour, the cyclists were in for a surprise on the climbs ahead.
The road undulated in 2 large valleys in which more riders passed me. After the 3rd they were all exhausted and stopped for a break, I casually pushed past them and bagged all 11 of them. With a huge grin on my face I turned to the support van, and we pulled into a layby to finialise a few navigational bits, at which time all the riders rode straight back past me. But I guess that's the way things go. I was happy that I could overtake a fully grown roadie, even if he was stationary.
Tomorrow we head for Kendal, I hope there are a few cyclists looking for a race, and they better watch out, because I don't get punctures!

Falkirk to Biggar

After the drizzly day skating in Falkirk, it was nice to see that someone upstairs was thinking of us. We seemed to be the only part of the UK to have sunshine almost all day. As for downstairs, the roads were smooth, with only a few lumps and bumps, but i've gotten used to it being Scotland, it's a rarety to have smooth roads so I take advantage when they present themselves.
After leaving the McGill's house we headed to the Falkirk wheel, which was orginally going to be called the millenium wheel, but there was confliction with the London eye.
It was amazing to see the thing work, it transports canal boats from one canal into another by turning on an axle and lifting the boat about 70 ft into the air, where it joins the other canal. I know my descriptive skills wont have painted much of a picture for you, but I've just spent the last 8 days skateboarding over 250 miles, cut me some slack.
As for the skateboarding itself, it is going great, the first right shoe we started the trip on is now well and truly finished, the second shoe; which had been worn in by my dad, fits - if you'll forgive the expression - like a glove, which of course its doesn't because had I been skating in gloves for the past day I would probably be in the Emergency room.
Today was an average day, as average as skateboarding 30 miles can be I suppose, but we had no issues with navigation, or blisters, or even renegade sheep.
We have been put up again tonight by more members of the Rotary clubs which scatter the UK, My brother and his Uni friend are in one house, and I am further down the street.
Unfortunately the house I am staying in has no internet, so I'm stealing all I can while I'm here.
I hope that has given you your fix of blog for today.
I am on ITV Scotland around 6pm tomorrow, so if you are in the area you can tune in, and you can find it online if you go on the ITV website and then look for previous episodes and look for me in the scotland area. If you are reading this in the morning then please be patient as it hasn't been filmed yet!
More when it comes, and I'm sure it will.

Crieff to Falkirk

Today saw the arrival of a new member of the support team; my brother Sam. He will take over from my Dad and will be accompanied by his Uni friend Tom.
After skating into Crieff the previous day, we met up with my brother and his girlfriend and stopped for lunch in a lovely café called number 24; who gave me my lunch for free. All we needed to do was wear our Corda t-shirts and the puzzled looks and questions came flooding in, which is more than I can say for the money side of things.
Because we have had so much time skating, we haven't had all that much time to get any funds up for the charity, but hopefully with an extra member with in the shape of Tom, we can try and get a few more pennies on board, no pun intended.
After Lunch we set off for the campsite, we pitched up with the car my brother had driven up in, and then we all bundled in the van, with not a lot of room to spare, and I tried to push on to do another few miles. 12 to be exact.
It started to drizzle so I felt it was a good time to call it a day, we pulled over before we reached the dreaded A9 again, and a trio of friendly bikers gave us £15 as I drooled over their rides, very jealous of their engines.
The next day meant farewell to my Dad. It was sad to see him leave to say the least, he had worked so hard before the trip and even harder during it. He had made my meals when I was too tired to help and still made them even when I was fine. Every turning, every decision to be made, he had planned the day before and was ready to tackle when they arrived. I hope when he reads this that he realises how much it meant to me that I was so dependant on him to be available and he was ready with everything I needed and more (which equates to me needing a drink, and him offering me a drink and a nutri-grain).
After our goodbye's myself and my brother set off in the van. Straight away we had problems as my brother wasn't used to indicating with the other hand, so was signalling to motorists on the dual-carriageway using his windscreen wipers.
We managed to navigate our way into Falkirk with no problems at all, then the weather took a turn as we stopped for lunch.
Fuelled up on yet more pasta leftovers, I was ready to brave the rain and pushed on for another 9 miles outside of Falkirk to give myself a headstart for tomorrow.
After swapping wet, sweaty clothes for my warm, dry hoodie we set off to my first nights sleep in a bed for 8 days.
We met up with Sandy McGill, a member of the Falkirk Rotary club, who are involved with various community bits, and offered to put us up for the night.
We followed his car for what seemed like hours, into a place we are sure we wont be able to navigate out of tomorrow. But that seems of little consequence now, as I'm sitting at the McGill's computer with a lovely 3 course meal in me, I can hear that double bed calling to me.
Goodnight.

Aviemore to Dalwhinnie

Today was beautiful in every sense of the word. The weather was great, the roads were silky smooth for the most part, and there was even a whisper of a tail-wind in places!
The evening before we got mobbed by the local midges, they ate us alive. We woke up in the morning covered in red spots, but that didn't dampen our spirits at all.
We set off in good time from the campsite and hit the road with the wind, literally, in our sails.
We plodded along and expected today to be just like the others.
A few miles in we were making our way south from Aviemore when I saw a cloud of dust a few hundred feet ahead, I thought it was just machinery as there were all kinds of bits of equipment scattered on the road. It turns out that I had just witnessed a 60 mph head on crash between 2 lorries and they had sandwiched a car, one had turned over and spilt its 'equipment' all over the road, blocking both lanes.
The traffic quickly backed up and Dad and I parted, I could fit past the crash but Dad had to re-route.
Not wanting to be a nuisance, but also very concerned at the same time, I approached the site and asked a few people whats was going on. No-body was really doing anything as it had just happened, the driver of one of the lorries was crouching on the verge, shaking like nothing I have ever seen. I gave him an energy bar in hope that it would help at least take his mind off the situation, and I pressed on. There were more than enough people there to help, and I was in no position to start playing the hero, so I plodded on past the crash.
After 3 days of traffic, skating the A9 with no-one around was surreal, I was taking full advantage of this by weaving the full width of the lane to keep speed down on hills, and finding the smooth spot in the middle of the road.
Not long after I had pressed on, Dad caught up and it was back to business as the traffic picked up again.
After a fairly mundane remainder of the day spent pushing along the A9, things picked up when a sheep ran at full speed onto the dual carriageway.
Desperate for a companion to share the road with, I embraced the new road user, and as the road was clear at the time, had a little skate with the highlander. He kept pace pretty well, and for a moment I thought he was with us for the long haul, but as an 18 wheeler approached, he felt it appropriate that he left the situation.
Maybe there is a world record for being the first person to skate with a sheep on a dual carriageway? I dont know, but it was hillarious nonetheless, and just the lift I needed.
A few miles later we waved goodbye to the A9 as we set of tomorrow for Tummel Bridge, sad to see the back of it, but relieved that we were progressing, slowly, but progressing.

Inverness to Aviemore

We had our earliest start today, not exactly up at the crack of dawn, but we were on the road after a stop in a supermarket by 10am.
Inverness had been a pit stop area on the way up and the way down, although it was useful it was good to see the back of it.
The hill Dave had warned me about the night before had a bigger brother lurking round the corner, another 25 minute climb ensued against more 20 mph headwinds.
We had our first encounter with 'proper' rain today. The clouds in Scotland are very strange; they are always there and are ready to rain, it's just whether they do or not which is the hard part to predict. Unfortunately, we were rained on, and mixed with the wind was chilling to the bone. I stopped in one of the hundreds of layby's that litter the A9 and put on the kersey mill bomber jacket. The rain stopped almost instantly after this and I found myself slowly cooking away in my new attire. Less than a mile up the road I swapped it back for the vest.
We rolled along happily for a few more hours and I was feeling so good I pushed a few miles past where we were scheduled to stop for the night.
All the previous days uphill pushing had seemed to come into one downhill at once, the last 30 minutes of skating were all on a gentle slope downhill.
I'm sure I'm going to pay for it tomorrow.
The pushing leg is now classed as a weapon as it has gotten so hard, and although the foot has a small bilster on it we are coping with it well, (we cut a hole in my shoe)!
Dad doesn't know where we are going tomorrow........God help us.

Dornoch to Inverness

Wow, 120 miles down and no major upsets. I'm really happy with the way the trip is going.
Yesterday was the trip from Dornoch into Inverness. My dad thought it best we got off the A9 and gave the traffic a day off from our interruptions, so we took a small road which was actually a shorter route than the A9 would have been anyway.
What a move, straight away the wind died down (which had been a 20 mph head wind for the past 2 days) and the road went from being loose gravel to ironed out tarmac, the traffic was minimal and I was let loose to get some miles down on the Scottish countryside.
There is a downside to skating on the country roads though; I appear to the locals (by that i mean midges) to be a 6ft tall bright yellow flower darting along the road. Almost instantly I was swarmed by tiny black dots, all wanting to get a piece of my high-vis shirt. A remedy I found was skating ahead of them a bit, then taking a mouthful from my camelbak and spraying it at the offending insects, a messy affair, but effective nonetheless.
After I did my whale impersonations and had gotten rid of the midges, we pressed on. Straight past a horse competition of somekind, and where there are horses theres sure to be, yes, mountains of horse poo.
One was conveniently left steaming in the middle of the road, as I swerved to avoid it I kicked up yet another cloud of black dots, which proceeded to follow me and my now horse poo flavoured wheels.
A few miles on we rejoined the A9 and things were about to get worse. We reached a mile long bridge, and as there were no layby's for Dad to stop in, he left me to skate along the footpath, which was riddled with potholes where the joins in the bridge hadn't met properly.
After I met up with Dad we had a 3 mile uphill climb, and then coasted downhill into Inverness.
We coasted into Inverness, quite relieved that we had survived almost 10 miles on a dual carriageway with no problems.
The evening before we set off, I rang Dave Cornthwaite (the only other person to skate the UK) for a check up and a chat about how things were going. He sounded happy that things were progressing well, but warned me that there was a 'big hill' the other side of Inverness and it was better to get it out of the way before the start of day 4.
I can tell you now, when Dave Cornthwaite says it's a big hill, it is a very big hill. It took me almost 15 minutes of constant pushing to reach the summit, after such a climb I was happy to retriet back into Inverness and find our campsite.
We are hoping to reach Aviemore today, it's the smallest mileage so far so I'm hoping I will get there in one piece.
A huge thank you to everyone who has already donated on the site. Keep it coming, because I wont stop skating.

First two days down

Post by Dave @ http://www.boardfree.co.uk/

Spoke to Ben last night and he's doing well. Over 80 miles down so far, he's made it to Dornoch just off the A9 in Northern Scotland, has a small blister hotspot on his right heel but a new hole cut out of his shoe should stave that off. Inverness tomorrow, then Aviemore the next day, BornFree is on the way.

The Journey North

At 5.15 pm on friday the 27th June; Bornfree was officialy up and running.
Myself and my father set off in our trusty van Freda, and headed north to our first night of camping. The traffic wasn't all that bad for a friday night, we trundled up the A1 for a few hours, following the GPS religiously every step of the way.
After a few hours on the road and 70 pounds out of the kitty for petrol money, we arrived at where the GPS told us was our first campsite. We followed its directions down a pothole ridden lane for 2 miles, until we met a large metal gate which had been locked in position into the ground. We rang the campsite, quite worried that we were going to have to sleep in a lay-by, but the management quite cooly remarked that some GPS deviced 'tend to do that' and we would have to use the gate on the other side of the campsite, which was a 5 mile round trip.
Exhausted, yet strangely happy we pulled into the campsite te right way, found a hook up for electricity and we both sharply fell into a well earned sleep.
The morning was a bit sudden for me. I had forgotten that I was on the way to the end of the Country and was sleeping in a camper van. I sat upright and proceeded to smash my head on the roof of the van, which pops up to create a sleeping compartment.
After convincing myself I was in a car in a field, not in a cosy bed, I opened up the trapdoor in the roof of the van, slid out of my sleeping bag and was welcomed onto the ground floor by my Dad holding a bowl of museli.
We bundled everything back into the van and made our way north again, this time a little more wary of the GPS's track record.
11 hours later, and after a crafty stop for ham and cheese rolls, a visit to the angel of the north, numerous traffic delays on the A1 and A9 and many overtaking moves, we arrived in Wick; home of Neil and Mary Thompson.
Their directions were spot on, which is more than I can say for the GPS, and we arrived just as dinner was ready to be served, we enjoyed a superb 3 course meal of tomato soup, chicken hotpot with rice and home grown rhubarb crumble.
I'm now sitting about 18 miles south of the start line, and after seeing the first few days work I will have ahead of me, I know I am in for a long hard slog. But with the support of great people like Neil and Mary, and all my friends and family, this month will pass just as quickly and easily as any.
So what does it feel like to leave John O' Groats heading to Lands end on a skateboard?
Well, I'll have to tell you that tomorrow.

Getting Started

Well, it's been a long time coming, well over a year now, but finally I am ready to skate the length of the UK.
Welcome to BornFree, a 900 mile skateboarding journey for CORDA in aid of young stroke victims.
Today is the day before the ball, or rather "board" starts rolling. We are packing the support vehicle full of enough supplies to last myself and my Dad the first week. Everything from plasters to wine gums is going on board and we need to leave enough room for us to sleep at night too! After the first week of skating with my Dad my brother will pick up the driver's seat and give me a top-up of what I need. From then it's down to the west midlands, where my Grandfather will do the same. The same will happen with my mother, picking up the trip near the Welsh border, and seeing me to the finish line in Land's End, all in 27 days.
If I am to accomplish this I will hold 2 World records for being the fastest, and youngest person ever to skate the full length of the United Kingdom.
Follow this blog for day to day updates of where I am, where I will be in the next few days. And other things like how the trip is going and if we have had any big problems or successes.
You can also feel free to drop me an email or even call me on the road if you would like.
More coming soon, watch this space!