Day 1 – 62 Miles – Scrabster-JOG-Dunbeath – wind in the …, just wind actually

Tag 01 – Lands End,  Tag 02 – Wick,  Tag 03 – Dunbeath

Woke up to a grey and very windy day in Srabster harbour, but a good nights sleep, and with loads of excited anticipation for the day ahead.  We have a phone inverview with KMFM at 815 and then off at 9! Good fried scottish breakfast, radio interview, chatted with some people who were over from ferry this morning from Orkney. All ready to go by 10.

The cycle to JOG was very pretty, beautiful, desolate landscape with flashes of sunning colour from the heather and peat. 22 miles form Thurso (Scrabster) to JOG, gale head winds all the way, and took 2.5 hours. Found the sign, took the photos, and two very generous people donated £25 pounds there and then to us, so I just had to give them a sticker each. Had a meal at the costa cafe there, very chatty ladies behind the counter, filled the bottles, and then 2pm we started heading south towards Wick. Placed first intelligent Health tag just before the car park at JOG on a large gate post (all the other posts round here are metal, not good for a hammer!).

Wind still super strong, but just peddling, then the rain started coming in on a hill climb. The views coming down the coast are stunning. Roaring sea, castles built right on the edge of the cliff, dramatic rolling countryside. The 16 miles to Wick seemed to take ages (about 2 hours) and still raining.

I completely missed the turning for the distillery (ah well there’ll be plenty more) and we rode out of Wick towards Latheron. Placed the 2nd IH tag just outside (south) of Wick on a BT pole, and kept on. We now had a bit of a tail wind and with the sun coming out in places, the ride (hill climbs and all) was enjoyable. Latheron was a lovely … collection of houses, so we decicded to keep going to the next ‘big’ town of Dunbeath, where we had been informed there was at least A pub.

Made it to Dunbeath by about 630, popped into the Owl Inn to ask about a bnb in the area, and the owner (Trevor) called up the farmhouse bnb who thankfully had a bed for the night. Cycled to the farmhouse, back up the hill we had just gone down to the Owl Inn (after 60 miles felt a bit cruel though) and met Mary who runs the Farmhouse. bikes in garage, stuff up stairs, stretch and warm down, bath and Mary had asked one of her neighbours to give us a lift back to the Owl for dinner. Shane tried to break my knees with the seat getting in, and then tried to take my fingers off with the door getting out. Hmmm.

The Owl doesn’t look much from outside, but inside. Stunning view across the small town of Dunbeath, with the white castle on the cliffs above, winds lashing the coast still. Had a dinner of beer, soup, steak(me) chicken(shane) and whiskey. We had to get there by 8 as the chef goes home then, and by 930 we were the only ones left in the place. So we had a chat with every one. Trevor who owns the place with his wife Irine has been there 2 years now, and loves whiskey. He had about 78 different malts, and is slowly getting towards his goal of 100. If you’re ever in the area, I can heartly recommend the Owl Inn for a delicous meal, a nice chat, and a superb dram. Irine gave us a lift back to the BnB, said good night to Mary, and then passed out within seconds of head on pillow. All in all, a good start to the ride, however, tomorrow, Berriedale awaits….

Day 0 – 02 Miles – Trains Planes and Automobiles

Packed car up with bikes and picked up Shane, both tearfull farewells to our wifes and families. Picked up our driving leg support crew, Philippa (thanks Philippa!) and drove to gatwick, uneventfull drive, heavy traffic.
Arrived at Gatwick, checked in. Made sure that support crew had coffee and a sandwich, gave our thanks and said goodbyes, then through departures, where flight was delayed for bout 1 hour.

Flight was normal easyjetflight, both kind of dozed off, woke coming in for landing at inverness to see the plane rolling round in crosswinds like it was in a tumble drying and Shane feveriously reading the emergency landing card.

Picked up bikes and chatted with a bloke who had just done the LEJOG journey, ending up going round the northwest coast to then finish at JOG. Wished us well. Got a cab, nice cabbie, chatted about the routes and different roads round the highlands, he said that we should call into the glemorangie distillery near donarch as we’ll be coming down past this.

Just out of the airport we saw two very large burly scotsmen walking along the side of the road. In kilts. We reckon they were paid by the scottish tourism board.

Arrived at Highland cycles who were to put the bikes together for us, really nice bunch of blokes, left our bikes and kit there, and went for a wander round inverness.

Nice place, loads of scottish type architecture, wandered past a castle area, beautiful views over the river, and right near it was a pub the castle tavern that served ale. Turned out that it is the CAMRA pub of the year 2010 and keeps beautiful scottish ales, nice friendly owner and turns out that they are having a beer festival this weekend 11th and we might be back in inverness by then. Nice pint and some chips. Then a stroll back to the bike shop via M and S to pick up some dinner for the train.

Bikes have been all assembled perfectly and ride like they are brand new, thanks to Steve and the guys at Highland cycles. Almost time for the train, so we wheeled the bikes to start with, but not being used to panniers on the back , we found a quiet bit of road and had a test ride. All good.

Train all on time at Inverness, no worries loading bikes, found a table, and away on the train leg. Chatted to some Thurso locals, one lady had just finished the half marathon in Glasgow, and one bloke was on his way to JOG to start a run and walk from JOG to LE! 4 hours and 26 stops later (the train zig zags across the highlands) we arrived at Thurso. The train manager took a photo of us in front of the Thurso sign at the station, and then we headed off to the the Ferry Inn in Scrabster. Checked in, then a beer at bar told to visit distillery at Wick, and the super kind lady behind the bar gave us our first key ring , and it’s a hip flask too! Phew! Sleep Time.

All down here from now till Perth tonight (we hope anyway)

Finally last night I was able to get the materials out and paint. It felt great. I used an ink brush and some light watercolours. The picture is of the road between Spean Bridge and Dalwhinnie – some of the most fabulous scenery I’ve ever seen. Hopefully there’s an influence of cycling movement in there somewhere….

Gregg grabs some refreshment at the roadside near Creag Meagaidh before the next climb (our highest so far) – think its known as dutch courage!

Stopped for a moment to get this photo of the beautiful Loch Ness.

The Loch Ness Monster has moved, he/she no longer resides in their previous famous location, but has moved away to Findon Mains.

Just rolling into Inverness, so here is a bridge for your viewing pleasure.

Hey there all! Well, finally got a chance to get online and write a quick post. It’s Thursday night (end of day 2) and at a lovely place named Alness just outside of Inverness. It’s been a great day of riding and have met loads of friendly people so far, random strangers have even come up to us and given us donations!

So, what’s been happening. Well, in the Maps link there are the first two route maps of where we’ve been and some new photos under the galleries section. I’ll be posting write ups of the first days as well so keep an eye out for them.

Thanks to everyone for your well wishes and encouragement, it’s super to get them when your on the bike, tackling a gruelling climb! So onwards!

Cheers Gregg

We got to john o’groats! It’s very, very windy here but not raining at least! We now head south… Folkestone is of course just beyond the horizon…