Last day: The middle of nowhere to John o'Groats

And so to our last day in the saddle:

Getting the bikes ready for the last time had a slightly nostalgic edge to it and we were glad that the overnight drizzle had stopped, with the promise of some better weather as the day wore on. Our B&B, despite being for all appearances in the middle of nowhere was very comfortable and also very profitable - another donation to Marie Curie: Thank you! 

 We started with an easy ride due north, up an empty and very straight forest track, with no traffic and briefly visited the Camster Cairns - a 5000 year old settlement, with dwellings simply made out of a massive pile of stones  -shame we couldn't see how they kept the roof up!

The road continued dead straight for ages!

The last 'big' town we visited was Wick - a good banana stop - and where we had the opportunity to visit

 the world's shortest street apparently! (The model in the foreground is for comparison purposes only.)

 The 'street' (Ebenezer Place) is simply the door frontage of the Wallace hotel. Bit of a cheat really, but in the Guinness Book of Records. Out of Wick, we then only had a dozen miles left, but there was still time for one more last hill.

OK I know it doesn't look much in the photo, nor in comparison to some of the hills we'd done over the last two weeks, but it was a hill nonetheless, and the last one at that! 



Over the hill and our first sight of John o'Groats and Orkney! We were able to coast to the coast!

And so to the signpost.

and the obligatory photo. Looking slightly more world-weary (but no thiner, since we were wearing so many layers to keep the cold wind out still despite the welcome sunshine!) and VERY pleased to have finished!

So. In 13 days we've got through 981 miles, 15,535m of climbing (no really, I checked it!), 21 counties, about 3 cwt cake and 13 full English/Scottish breakfasts! 

We've both had a fantastic time but would not have been able to do any of it without Mary's help every day. It was great not having to carry all the stuff we needed and she always managed to find something new to eat at our pre-arranged stops. Thank you.

And thank you to to all the people who sponsored  us for the ride - We are now collectively over £4000 for Marie Curie Cancer Care - a fantastic result! - but there's still time to add to the total if you would like.

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/PeterMathews

Penultimate day: Dornoch to Lybster

We started today in the drizzle and accompanied by the roar of RAF jets practicing above the Moray Firth, and had a lovely 5-6 miles initially away from all traffic following the small coast road back round to join the A9 again. Following the coast still we came through Golspie and then past Dunrobin Castle (clearly no sense of irony when they named this highly ostentatious pile which was almost certainly built on ill-gotten gain). I'm surprised Disney haven't used it as a film backdrop before now it's all turrets and spiky bits.

 Not all of this coast is quite as affluent though. Brora wasn't the height of luxury and their garage isn't as successful as others.....

 Apparently, this strech of coast was also where the last wolf was seen in about 1700 - so 'Hunter Rolson' killed it of course... then someone commemorated the event with a stone!

 The villages were usually where each river joined the sea and were a simple row of houses each side of the river, but it meant a sharp downhill and then a long (and sometimes sharp - an 18% hairpin on one!) uphill on the other side of the valley. We were also still heading into a very cold wind - quite wearing after a while!

 We stopped at a tea shop next to a long croft - which was also a museum, which we would have looked at if it had been open. The tea and cake (and warmth!) were welcome though!

 After quite a few days of searching, we finally managed to get the obligatory shot of some Longhorn Highland cattle  - a very cute family group they made too - but not without some pain, as I managed to get a real belt from the electric fence! Quite a shock!

 We finally made it to Lybster, another of the small ribbon villages, and then out the other side in search of our B&B, which is a lovely house, but in the middle of nowhere! Somewhat bleak scenery...

And so we come to our final day. a short 30 mile run up through wick to John o'Groats and then in the car back down to Perth! Here's our route:

Last day tomorrow!

Elevensies:Inverness to Dornoch

Still a bit wierd doing this all a day behind, but having arrived at Lybster with a bit more time to spare, I should be able to catch up with this. We started out yesterday at Inverness in lovely sunshine,

 but not far out of town we were drenched with a hail storm, not 10 minutes from leaving our B&B, and coming pretty much out of a blue sky! Hail hurts when you're riding into it!

Despite the start, the day was really a lovely day for cycling and knowing that we needed to take things steady and easy, meant that we were able to take in our surroundings a little more too. We headed round the southern side of Beauly Firth and at it's head is the lovely town of Beauly, with a really nice ruined Abbey -  a perfect banana stop.

 Our next stop, just after the little town af Dingwall (excellent bike shop apparently which we didn't manage to try out!) turned into something of a cycling convention, as we were joined by 3 others who were touring Scotland - and told us of very high winds on the Western side, so we were glad we'd avaoided going! - and then another end-to-ender passed by, having just spent the morning getting his bike fixed in Dingwall (hence the shop recommendation...). Nice interlude. Heroic tales were swapped. Geeky technical gear stuff was discussed. Cakes and coffee consumed. A cycling convention.

We got going again rather reluctantly and headed along the Cromarty Firth coast, passing Invergordon where they make oil rigs it seems! We also spent quite a bit of time spotting birds of prey flying impressively above us most of the day, but since neither John nor I are very good at identifying them and the photos are way too small and indistinct, I can't really say what they were!

 The rather interestingly named Sands of Nigg were our next stop and where John and I went slightly different routes: John heading up the A9 and me taking a slightly longer route round the Kyle of Sutherland,

 round to Bonar Bridge. On the way I noticed a lovely little church with some ancient celtic stones in the graveyard. Apparently a place of worship since 700 with an interesting association with the sea.

 Bonar Bridge is nothing special, but since it was only a further 6 miles away, I rode up to the Falls of Shin.

 A fantastic waterfall where salmon can be seen leaping up the falls.... usually. They probably only do 9 to 5 and I got there just after they'd clocked off the day. The falls were nice though!

 Realising I was a little behind time and still had 19 miles still to go, I time-trialled it back as fast as I could towards Dornoch, but not quick enough for John to worry enough to come out in the car in search, so I had a pace car escort into the town! Dornoch is a VERY well-to do place. Big Hotel, Golf club and Scibo castle nearby which is why Madonna got married there I suppose!

 The Castle and the Cathedral ( a pretty small one but a cathedral nonetheless) were very impressive...

...as was dinner at the Eagle (despite running out of beer - how can a pub do THAT!!!??) and our B&B, which had easily the best shower of the trip so far! Nice breakfast too! 

Day Ten Glencoe to Inverness

This seems so odd - having got a day behind, (due to wifi speed in Inverness) I'm trying to write about only two days ago, but already it seems to be an age. Cornwall seems like a lifetime, or at least an entrirely separate trip! the pictures I've taken help and it is probably worth starting with the view out of my bedroom window in Glencoe -  a fantastic (a very over-used word but truly appropriate for Glencoe) place all round. The B&B (or really a Self-Catering-chalet-with-someone-who comes-and-cooks-breakfast!) was excellent, with a lovely pub in walking distance, in the middle of nowhere.

 Mountains in your face, and the sound of water everywhere. And if you walk home from the pub and you see a couple of wild deer - Mr Deer got decidely agitated that we were clearly getting to close to Mrs Deer; shouting and jumping up and down at us! - you know it's different.

 Which made it really hard to leave. Looking back on the road up to Fort William shows just how special a place it is. However the trouble with Scotland, is that almost everywhere you look there's a brilliant view and once we'd got into the Great Glen it was difficult to keep riding rather than stopping to take photos! Once we got through Ft William, we took a smaller road running parallel to the A82 on the Western siide of the glen and we were rewarded with fantastic views of Ben Nevis and the rest of the Nevis range (Ben Nevis is the lumpy one on the right below)

Our B road was lovely and quiet, but a bit hillier than the A road. We managed to miss meeting Mary at the first rendevous (she was waiting at the carpark in the picture below while I was photographing the Nevis range behind her!)

 We continued up the A82 - fantastic scenery all the way past Loch Lochy (pretty unimaginative! bit like calling a lake the Lakey Lake, surely!) - and eventually reached the southern end of Loch Ness at Fort Augustus. You can see though that we were enjoying good weather now with sun off and on, and virtually no rain. Still pretty cold though. Here's our first sight of Loch Ness. 

 The road up the loch pretty much follows the waters edge, but every now and then we needed to go slightly 'inland' to get round the next river enetering the loch, and the small town that was nestling in the valley it created. All are beautiful places  - here's the old bridge at Invermoriston.
 and we finally met up with Mary at the next lay-by. As usual, she re-fuelled us with coffee and cake and we've also had the occasional pasty and macaroon!

 We continued to enjoy nice sunshine all the way up Loch Ness (boy is that a long loch! it's about 23 miles!)

 and passed Urquart Castle which was difficult to get nearer to because of all the tourist traffic. The road was generally reasonably quiet except for all the tourist coaches - hundreds! However, John was now beginning to struggle with a hamstring problem that was beginning to hurt going uphill, so we took each incline at a steady pace

and reached Inverness a little later than planned, but still in good time for the B&B, which was overlooking the river Ness - which looked a bit full to me!

This is the view from by bedroom window later that evening after an excellent meal at the Castle Tavern. However, as a result of John's discomfort, we realised that heading over the country to get to Scourie on the West coast for the following day (about 90 miles and pretty lumpy) was going to be too much, and we agreed to re-route up the shorter (and hopefully flatter) East coast. A few calls to cancel original B&B bookings, some (frustratingly slow!) web searches to find new places in Dornoch and Lympster and calling with our fingers crossed that they'd have vacancies!

So our new Route for day 11 is Inverness to Dornoch, although I opted to an extra loop up to see the Falls of shin, adding another 37 miles.

Day 10 - Glencoe to Inverness (intro)

Short entry tonight until I can get somewhere with more reliable wifi to upload the photos from today's ride. Words simply would not be enough for the scenery today. Unbelievably beautiful. Must do this again sometime on foot!
So photos tomorrow and an account of our day up the Great Glen.

Ninth day

(Apologies -  I've just seen that I hadn't actually published yesterday's post - sorry. I thought I had, but must have been a little too tired!)

It's events like this ride which really make you focus on the basics of life: what am I going to eat? where am I going to sleep tonight?  and what's the weather going to be like?

Today was all about the wind. We knew the forecast was showery, with a westerly wind, which wasn't too helpful since we were heading towards the Great Glen (ie north-west from Dunblane), with a couple of sections which were essentially due west - so heading into it. Whilst we left Dunblane in the dry

 we soon got the first of the day's showers, and I regretted not putting overshoes (waterproof covers) on my shoes. Spent the rest of the day with wet feet! silly. The rain stopped briefly, so we did too, for the first of our routine breaks (usually a pee and a banana, in that order) by a lovely loch that was quite sheltered from the wind.

 More showers and wind, and we were steadily climbing too, so it wasn't too long before we had our first sight of snow in the distance.

I had quite a day's training because after taking a photo I had to catch John up at each time. I must have done about 30 'effort's during the day. That's John disappearing into the distance!... 

 and again below! But this time the showers had stopped but the wind was stronger as we came over the moorland before we got to the head of Glen Coe.

The wind was directly in our faces now

 but the scenery was magnificent - so much water!

 and we arrived at the B&B -actually a self catering chalet - a little later than planned, having overshot the turning.

Dodgy internet connection, so can't write any more!

Pieces of Eight

An earlier start than I wanted with a rework of the blog entry I lost, but I definitely saw the best part of the day by being up at 6 - the early sun and stillness turned into a grey day with lots of gusty wind that battered us around over the Borders country south of Edinburgh. Having met Mary to re-fuel with a pastie and cake, we then spent the next couple of hours trying to get through Edinburgh city centre, (which, frankly, is a mess! - Princes Street is a building site due to the new Tram system, but it's taking an age apparently!)

 We moved on as quickly as we could against the wind and got our first sight of the Forth bridges just outside South Queensferry - 
 
The cyclepath to get us on to the bridge itself was a nightmare, finally emerged at the southern end without us actually having to go on the motorway! The wind blew us over pretty quickly but we then needed to turn West, into the wind again.

 Fantastic view of the Rail bridge of course - a thing of beauty!

We have become used to the rain starting at some point in the afternoon, but this was something else! Driven on by the wind, it was heavy and persistent, and in our faces, all the way - about 2 hours - into Dunblane. To make the stage worse, most of the road from Dunfermline to Alloa had been stripped for re-surfacing - it was like riding on cobbles for about 12 miles!
We arrived very wet, very cold, and very hungry. soup at the B&B was very welcome but we also managed to demolish some major food later too.

Route tomorrow is up to Glencoe. Forecast is less rain, but a strong headwind. Great!