Day 10

The final countdown.... de dah duh daaaaa, de dah duh da daaaaaaaaa

After 9 long days on the road we set out, stiff and creaky, for our final day's ride. We had somehow managed to get our sums wrong, in that our intended route would have been somewhere in excess of 130 miles. This sort of distance could well have broken us. So we re-visited the maps and managed to reduce the distance to 110 miles, whilst still avioiding the busiest main roads.

We headed off from Tain, up the A9 over the Dornoch Firth Bridge and drafted 40 miles up to Helms Deep (aka Helmsdale). A light tail wind and beautiful blue skies eased us up the singl track A897 which followed the Wick railway line and Helmdale River. It was beautiful and remote and the views across the Sutherland hills were breath taking. Once over the peak of the 15 mile climb, we stopped for our now standard picnic lunch of oat biscuits, cheese, tomatoes, pickle, apples, fruit cake and flap jacks.

After lunch the weather closed in a little and the wind changed direction, so that by the time we reached the northern Scottish coast at Melvich (about 3.30pm), the final 39 miles were looking quite tough. The bleak, edge of the world, Dounreay scenery added to our feeling that the final push could be hard. And it was.... Will had a bad dip. He dropped his water bottle and having stopped to collect it, threw his bike into the hedge in frustration.

Eventually, we crept into Dunnet, powered by the last of our bananns, biscuits, gels and power drinks, and dropped our bags at the very friendly Distant Sands Hotel. We sculled a quick malt-of-the-month, and then led by our tireless leader, Rob, powered into John O'Groats with the very last of our energy.

We arrived at about 7pm, and as in Land's End, the sign post had been removed for overnight safe keeping! Still we hugged, heaved a collective sigh of relief and took the obligatory photos (see attached). We then bought some souvenir tat and made a hasty retreat to the pub whilst we waited for our mini bus to take us the 11 miles back to our hotel.

Our anticipated massive knees up never really materialised as no amount of whisky or Jack Daniels seemed capable of keeping us away from our beds before midnight.

But what a trip it has been.

Memories and experiences to savour for ever.

Thanks for reading.

Yours tired but happy,

LeJoggers

xxxxx

PS - Final mileage total............ 1,005.9 miles in 10 days. We did it!!

PPS - Stats highlights (a) Highest max speed, 49.0 mph (Andy Day 2); (b) Highest Average speed 16.1mph (Day 10); (c) Longest Distance, 110.4 miles (Day 10!); (d) Longest saddle hours, 7hrs 59mins (Day 5)

PPPS - Many thanks to the Swiss boffins that created "Assos". A most welcome embrocation.

PPPPS - Dieter! How are the sandals...

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