July 29- Tongue to John O'Groats- 114.6kms

30 Jul

July 29- Tongue to John O'Groats- 114.6kms

There was a real expectation in the air this morning at breakfast as we prepared ourselves for the final day "on the road" to John O'Groats (JOG).

The day was one of the longer rides for the trip so we made sure we were on the road by about 8.00am.

The weather was coolish ( 14) with cloud cover and some wind...later in the day we had some rain showers...not significant fortunately

The first few kms were fairly difficult with some steeper road as we got our climbing legs in to gear. After Bettyhill the road had several very steep bits for about 20kms as we negotiated some hilly country.

I started out with Steve and Jane but they soon left me and for about 45kms I was riding on my own...probably the 3rd ride on the road for our group. I was happy with this as it gave me some real time to reflect on the trip and to consider how luck I have been to be able to enjoy it both in terms of seeing country I have never seen before and meeting such a wonderful and friendly group.

After Melvich (42kms) I was feeling quite hungry and was looking for somewhere to eat but in this remote part of the world there was nothing really open...I spoke to the owner of the art galley in Melvich and she said I would have to wait another 30kms to get to a shop.....luckily I was given a banana at breakfast so I was able to get some sustenance!

I slowed down a bit at this time to allow Chris to join me on the ride and we continued together right through the JOG. It was a far more pleasant ride also as the road flattened out considerably and for much of it we had a wind on our backs.

Chris and I agreed that we would take a longer route to see Dunnet Head which is the most northerly part of the UK mainland....nothing much to see really except for a lighthouse which was constructed by a relative ( grandfather I think) of Robert Louis Stevenson the author.

After that it was on for the final run in to JOG and we arrived at about 2.15 and were presented with our medals and had our photos taken at the JOG sign....

The tour company ( Bike Adventures) had arranged for us all to have showers in a local pub which was great ahead of the bus trip back to Inverness.

We also had some food and drink to get some energy back after a "hardish" ride

JOG is really somewhat of a biking mecca and there were many riders staring and finishing LEJOG trips. So it was quite exciting to hear the tales from others who had done the journey. I spoke to one group who had done the trip in 9 days riding over 100 miles (160kms) each day...what an effort!

Unfortunately Chris and Steve were not travelling with us back to Inverness by bus so we had to say our goodbyes. Steve met his wife (Sarah) and they were going to the Orkney Islands for a break...Chris also was continuing his unsupported riding sojourn through the UK. He will be going to the Orkney Islands as well as visiting the Western Islands of Scotland ( Skye, Mull etc) and then travelling back to London via the East coast....Hope he has safe travels!

When the bus arrived at about 6.45pm....we loaded our bags on and proceeded on the 2 hr trip to Inverness. Mike from Bike Adventures presented us all with our certificates of achievement and we all had a celebratory champagne as we motored back.

Today we climbed 1294 metres which was mostly in the first half of the ride.

I will record the final statistics for the ride in a later blog post

Now for the photos....

Today's route...