LEJOG Day 17 - Strathy Bay to John O’Groats

It’s done - we’ve completed the challenge. I’ve ridden from one end of the country and Jan has driven it! I was late starting off today - we’d had a very comfortable night and relaxing breakfast in our Pod and I was also hoping the thick cloud would burn away a bit, but no luck and wearing long trousers, two pairs of socks and three layers on my top, I set off at 10:30. The wind was still from the east and the forecast reckoned it would be about 11 to 13 mph. It felt stronger to me, but I’ll bow to their expertise. My Garmin reckoned there were only two climbs on todays route but I have learnt that it doesn’t count every hill as a climb! As anyone who has ridden near a coastline can attest, every stream/river making its way to the sea can carve out a valley needing a descent and a climb - I had a few of these and the wind made freewheeling downhill slow and climbing up slower! The countryside on this north coast is bleak to say the least and especially so on a grey day like today so I didn’t have much to distract me from the continuous slog. It also explains the relative lack of photos. Thurso distracted me as I had to stop at a couple of sets of traffic lights and spotted a Tesco store - it must be the furthest north on the mainland. I hadn’t seen any yellow cars all morning but there were a few in Thurso. Carrying on, after another climb, a bend in the road and there was Dounreay Nuclear Power Station and I took some pictures as I passed. I believe it is being decommissioned but I noticed that Rolls Royce have a presence on the site and recall that they reckon they’ve developed a small, economic nuclear reactor for which they want public money to develop further….. We’d decided to meet for lunch at Dunnet Bay about 30 miles into the ride and I arrived there about 20 minutes later than I expected, however, Jan had been exploring and was a bit behind me so I had to wait a while for the packed lunch she’d made us. Dunnet Bay is a wide expanse of sand backed up by lots of grass covered sand dunes. In fact once I’d tuned my eyes into spotting them, a lot of this coastline appears to be covered in sand dunes or sand dunes on top of the rock base - look again at the photo of Strathy Bay that I posted yesterday. After lunch I got back on my bike and knuckled down to get the final 20 odd miles done. The wind was still making it a chore but the sun did (briefly) break through a couple of times. The closer I got to the finish, the broader the smile on my face became and finally I’d made the final turn and could freewheel down to the finish. Jan was there and we had a little celebration, took some photos and sent a couple of messages. Well that’s it. It simultaneously feels like only yesterday but also a lifetime ago that we left Lands End and now here we are right at the other end of the British mainland. Thankyou everyone for your support, encouragement, sponsorship, comments and competition entries. The biggest Thankyou must go to Jan - as usual she has come up with some great places to stay, kept me healthy, clean, fed, dressed and pointing in the right direction. How she does it, I’ll never know, so thanks Jan. Todays stats: Distance: 42.28 miles Avg speed: 9.9 mph Max speed: 30.2 mph Climbing: 1,917 feet Total distance: 983.2 miles Yellow Car Boom!: 130 Here is the bit you are waiting for:- The competition winners are: Guess the total distance: Louise with 984.0 (very closely followed by Margs with 982.2 and Brian with 984.2) Yellow Car Boom!: Carly was bang on with 130 (Tina also guessed correctly but unfortunately we received her guess after 12:00 hrs today). We’ll hand over the prizes when we get back (what’s the betting they are Scottish themed?). Thanks again everyone, I need to get some sleep.

LEJOG Day 16 - Lairg to Strathy Bay

Today was a mixed day - the ride away from Lairg was quite easy with a gradual uphill gradient as we went deeper into the Scottish Highlands. The scenery was fantastic with clumps of mountains in every direction. The rocks in Scotland are the oldest in the UK and amongst the oldest in the world. The mountains we see today are merely the stumps of much bigger mountain ranges that have been ground down by multiple ice ages - it makes one bloke on a pushbike seem very insignificant in comparison. Whilst I was pondering on this and other thoughts I realised that the quiet narrow road with passing places I remembered from 16 years ago was actually quite busy - there were several lorries and vans associated with a wind farm being constructed about 12 mile further north, as well as quite a few camper vans and groups of motorcyclists! It wasn’t much of a problem for me but it gave Jan a few problems, none of which fazed her. We met up for a tea break at The Crask Inn and a mere 10 miles later met up for lunch at Altnahara (yes, I had soup and sandwiches again - oh, and a pint of cider!). Next we used a B road up Strathnaver. This was wonderful, quiet and very scenic although I noticed the wind getting stronger and shifting to the east as the afternoon progressed. By the time I climbed into Bettyhill and turned east the wind was very noticeable and blowing at about 15mph. As I changed my map sheets one got caught in a gust and flew off down the road! Leaving my bike on the verge I had to run back down part of the hill I’d just struggled up before I managed to retrieve it! The next ten miles were pretty unpleasant - although the sun was still shining, the combination of two long, steep hill climbs through very barren countryside, straight into a wind that wanted to push me backwards was energy sapping. I coped by having a couple of drink and energy bar stops, concentrating on details on the maps, trying to find the smoothest line on the pretty rough road surface and thinking about what to write on tonight’s blog. Meantime Jan had sent me details of how to find tonight’s stop. Finally at about 17:30 I rolled up at Strathy Bay Pods where we are staying. Perched over Strathy Bay with a magnificent view of its extensive sandiness, it has central heating, hot and cold water, Wi-Fi and cooking facilities - it looks like we’re in for a comfortable night! Don’t forget to post your guesses for my total Lands End to John O’Groats mileage and also what you think the Yellow Car Boom! total will be. The closing time for your entries will be midday tomorrow (Wednesday 8th June). With the winners announced later that evening (subject to me finishing tomorrow!!). Todays stats: Distance: 55.89 miles Avg speed: 10.2 mph Max speed: 31.3 mph Climbing: 2775 feet Accumulated distance: 941 miles Yellow Car Boom! Total: 124