The Day’s Ride
Willie and Dylis made us very welcome at Creagh Dhu Guest House the previous night in Tain - even taking the trouble to book us a table at the only eatery in town which seemed to have space. As they were going there too, we had to be on best behaviour!
Setting off on Sunday morning, we were definitely all feeling the effects of 8 days' riding. As we went up the first hill out of the guest house, our legs felt 'on empty'. While this was normal most mornings, it took longer for them to 'fill up' as we warmed up.
We stocked up with sandwiches at the local Co-Op, as we weren't sure whether there would be anywhere open on a Sunday at the mid-point of the ride, and then headed North on the final day's ride. The route took us along the coast, with the North Sea to the right and the open moorland to the left. As we went out of Helmsdale (I think), Matt commented that this was 'the last hill' to John O'Groats. How wrong he was! While the road was mainly flat, there were still pretty big hills to come, and in our 'last day' state, they were not appreciated.
We found a pub/cafe open for coffee - and Matt nearly added some 'extras' to his, as it also had an extensive range of whiskies - but he managed to restrain himself.
We decided to have lunch at Berriedale -having enjoyed an eye-watering descent down the winding, steep road into the village. Matt recorded 48mph, while James (with no working speedo) didn't go as fast but certainly frightened himself. Joe was a bit more sensible (allegedly). At the bottom, we discussed where to have lunch, at which point James stated pointedly that he was not going to eat at the bottom of a hill, as this meant having to start off going up it as our immediate post-prandial activity. Hence we slogged up the hill out of the village, round two hairpins, and over several false crests to finally get to the top. Once there, we hopped over the other side of a dry stone wall to eat our sandwiches enjoying the view over the North Sea.
After lunch we continued on towards Wick, but before then there was yet another very long hill -again with false crests - which went on for at least 1.5 miles; we finally go to the top and had a quick rest before continuing.
Wick seemed to take ages to arrive, but it finally did and we found Morag's Coffee Shop for a rejuvenating hot chocolate, coffee, tea and cakes. While we were there, the girls arrived but as soon as they got to the tea shop, we needed to head off again on our quest. We really wanted to just get this thing finished.
As we neared John O'Groats, we started to wonder whether the girls were going to get there before us, and Matt was just reaching for his phone to suggest that they hurry up a bit, when frantic hooting behind us announced their arrival and they shot off ahead.
Now, Matt had plotted our route to Duncansby Head, which is the furthest NE point in mainland Scotland, so we turned right on the outskirts of John O'Groats, and headed off for the 2 miles out to the headland - including a couple of descents and, you've guessed it, hills. The weather was absolutely glorious, with clear views of the Orkneys, and the view from Duncansby Head was even better. The only problem was that there were no Cathy and Clare. A phone call from Matt to Clare revealed that they were "At the sign in John O'Groats"! It turns out that 'the sign' is not at the furthest point at all, but in the town. Lots of mutterings like "More like Land's End to Somewhere Not Quite At The Other End In Fact Might As Well Make It Inverness" from James, while Joe logically pointed out that if we'd been meant to go to Duncansby Head, the trip would be called "Land's End To Duncansby Head". He had a point!
We finally arrived at the appointed location at the harbour in John O'Groats at 1615, to find Clare and Cathy waiting with a bottle of Champagne, glasses and nibbles. We'd made it! We had managed to cycle the length of the country in 9 days.
All we needed now was to have our photos taken by the sign. Ah, there was no sign - the 'man with the sign' had left with his sign (“It’s my sign, and I’m taking it home”). In fact it turned out later that he hadn't been there all day! Luckily we found another sign and the necessary happy photos were taken. This was after Clare had risked starting a fight when she told a group of large bikers who were hogging the sign that they should "Make way for some chaps who've done it properly, unlike you!". Luckily they had a sense of humour -actually they were very nice.
Now all we needed to do was get changed out of the lycra, load the bikes and drive to Inverness.
The drive to Inverness was a revelation to us - it illustrated just how far we'd been cycling. Bearing in mind that this was the shortest day of the ride, it still took us a good 1.5 hours or more to get back to Tain, and this was with Joe driving, erm, not slowly. We kept noticing how far back along the route various landmarks (like our lunch stop) were, and how long and steep the hills were. Various comments of “Did we really cycle up that hill non-stop?” were made.
Anyway, we finally got to the Premier Inn at Inverness, where Cathy and Clare had previously dropped off the bags, and enjoyed a shower followed by a meal consisting of whatever we wanted –no carbohydrate loading! This was followed by a grateful sinking into bed with the glorious prospect of not having to cycle anywhere tomorrow.
Day’s Facts
Distance ridden: 89.5 miles
Start time: 0845
End time: 1615
Strange signs seen: “Whale Disentanglement Unit” on van which passed us. Now that’s an interesting chat-up line.
Days to go: None!
Thoughts Over A Beer
In the pub, that evening, we had a chance to look back over the trip and reflect on some of the highlights and significant features of the ride.
What was remarkable was that we’d had very few problems – only two punctures (discounting Joe’s self-inflicted one), no mechanical problems and no crashes. The lack of mechanical problems was especially surprising given that some of the roads – particularly in Ayrshire – were of appalling quality, giving a bone and bike-shaking ride. On a couple of occasions James nearly bit his tongue going over some of the bumps!
We’d seen some amazing countryside and ridden some great country roads – all a testament to Matt’s route planning which aimed to avoid main roads as much as possible. We’d only really gone through one urban area – around the Mersey – and even then the Cheshire and Lancashire countryside either side were a revelation.
The B&B’s we’d stayed in could be described as ‘varied’, but the welcome in many was brilliant. After much discussion, we decided that Cuilcheanna House (www.cuilcheanna.co.uk) on Loch Linnhe was the best, but closely followed by Parkfield 7 at Chepstow (the brilliant Elizabeth and Ron) and Broome Lodge (run by Holly and brother while their parents were away) in Largs.
And Finally
This is my last blog for the ride – I hope it’s given anyone interested an idea of the general happenings on the days’ rides. Matt, Joe and I will be putting our more personal reflections on the ride in separate entries shortly (in fact I think Joe’s beaten me to it).
And Really Finally
Thank you to everyone who has donated to Help For Heroes in support of this ride – we’ve now raised over £8,000.
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