Day 13 - The End of the Road!

We did it! Today we reached the north-eastern most settlement on the British mainland - John O'Groats. It was a beautiful day for cycling, almost perfect - sunny from the outset, not too hot, not too windy. We started from Helmsdale and were immediately confronted with the Berriedale Braes - a steep ride up to an undulating plateau, followed by a steep descent into Berriedale and another steep ascent out of it. We climbed about 1500' in the first 10 miles. Which as any cyclist knows is quite a lot of up in a fairly short distance, and it was followed by more up afterwards. But, although the Berriedale Braes have a bit of a fearsome reputation among LEJOGers, I found them not as bad as expected. Just the usual matter of getting into a low enough gear and spinning the pedals to the top. The reward once the Braes were over was amazing, sunny vistas over vast expanses of coast and golden and purple land - the gold from cropped fields and the purple from heather on the hills behind. Just simply beautiful beyond words to describe. At least beyond my limited talent. Photos will follow but will not do them justice.

After passing Lybster (which to my surprise had a street with a French name, Quatre Bras), the road turned north and headed straight on for miles and miles - miles without traffic or traffic lights or other streets or houses, before swinging more north-easterly and continuing on in the same vein. I later found out that this relates to a battle against Napoleon's French troops - a skirmish in the larger battle of Waterloo that the allied forces including several Highland regiments won. Sorry Mika (a French colleague) :-)

 The stats:
Distance cycled today: 53.5 miles
 Ascent: 3,053'
Distance from Lands End: 947.5 miles 

After arrival we took the obligatory photos, had lunch, and took a taxi back to Wick for the train to Inverness, which I am on as I am writing this. It was funny getting the taxi because I'd told the controller we wanted to meet it at the 'John O'Groats hotel'. It turned out there is no hotel called 'the John O'Groats hotel', so it had been told to meet us at the Seaview hotel a quarter of a mile back up the road. So it was back on the bikes for 5 minutes to reach it. We both found our legs complaining a bit about this as it seems they'd thought their work was done when we got to JOG. Funny how the body reacts to what the mind expects.

So that's it, the ride is over but this blog isn't finished yet. There are photos to add, videos to edit and perhaps more musings to write.