Day 19 - The Final Push

From Lybster to Thurso via John O'Groats (route)

Had another pleasant B&B (these were booked by Hill Junior, with his nose for quality accommodation), hosted by Andrew and Ann, who run the Croft House, next to the A99 in Swiney, nr Lybster. Andrew is a keen railway enthusiast and is building an outdoor O-gauge track around his garden. If only his garden didn't take up so much of his time, he would have finished it by now. But we were glad to enjoy the fruits of his garden labours, in particular two perfectly ripe strawberries, remarkable for the fact that tasted of something other than supermarket plastic.

After a good breakfast, and no overnight tyre incidents, we set off in a Northerly direction into the teeth of our customary gale. The weather was grey, cold and overcast, but fortunately not raining. We worked our way up through ever increasing bleakness and isolation, with the North Sea on our right, with glimpses of oil rigs in the distance. Morning tea was taken in Wick - the last town of any substance (although it is in fact a Royal Borough).

After Wick, our minds were only on one thing, that of getting to John O'Groats - it started appearing on the road signs - with steadily decreasing mileages - 17, 14, 11, 9, 6... etc. Then finally we crested the hill after Freswick to see, spread out before us, the Pentland Firth and the Orkneys beyond. Alas, we were running out of Britain to cycle over. We did have thoughts of continuing our journey by catching the ferry to the Orkneys, but time pressures meant that we decided to leave this challenge for a later date.

So there was nothing for it but to descend into the grot of John O'Groats with all its tacky touristic commercialism. Had a celebratory pint of 80/- in the Seaview Hotel (should be called the seedy hotel) and three rounds of their finest sandwiches (our ranking: joint worst trip sandwich). We passed several end-to-enders and noticed that they were all hurrying to get away to somewhere else as fast as possible.

After John O'Groats we called in to see the red-haired Wilma who lives in Huna, in a house with fine views of the Pentland Firth. We don't actually know Wilma, she is a friend of a friend (Gill Bullock), so we just stopped by to say hello, and pass on Gill's best wishes to her. In return Wilma passes her regards to Gill.

On the remainder of our journey to Thurso we noticed a strange phenomena. The wind, which had been in our faces for the last five days suddenly was on our backs. We could utilise our top gears, and moving at lightening pace, sped through the various villages on the North coast, including the Castle of Mey, former favourite home of the Queen Mother. So fast did we cycle, that we missed our afternoon tea stop, and arrived in Thurso at the unprecedented hour of 4pm. Our profile shows that today was a fairly flat day, one of our easiest.


We are now mightily relieved to be sitting in a warm pub, contemplating the prospect of several days of non-cycling. It's been a great adventure. We have seen a cross-section of Great Britain and enjoyed ourselves in the process. The weather hasn't been too bad either, in fact we count ourselves lucky to have only been heavily rained-on on 5 of our days. But we're pretty tired just now and need a break. At the moment when we sleep, it's difficult to find a position in bed that avoids stressing aching muscles. Tomorrow we get a chance to relax with an 8 hour train journey back to Edinburgh (in Hill Senior's case 15 hours to Adlington, Cheshire).

According to the gps, the total mileage was 1086, with approx 16,000 metres of climb (see here for complete route)

Day 18 - Through Sutherland into Caithness

From Dornoch to Lybster (route)

Our stay in Dornoch, courtesy of Isla, was extremely pleasant. We had an excellent night's sleep, and, to date, our best breakfast (from a B&B). Dornoch seems very popular with tourists from across the Atlantic. In fact, one of them, from San Francisco, has taken up residence and runs an Italian restaurant, Luigi's, which served us excellent local fare. The proprietor, being a cyclist himself, arranged double portions of pasta for the two well-honed athletes and supplied advice for the remaining section to John O'Groats. Later, we learned, that Dornoch cathedral was selected by Madonna for the christening of Rocco.

Instead of setting off at 9am, our two highly skilled mechanics fitted the new front dérailleur onto Hill Senior's bike. Some fine tuning may still be required in order to remove the excuse of stopping in order to change gear at the bottom of each hill.

When we did finally start pedaling, we took quiet roads towards Skelbo castle, and around Loch Fleet, with its picturesque mud flats, including lounging seals. In days gone by, there was a ferry to the north side which we sorely missed as it would have obviated a section of the A9.

On joining the A9, immediate havoc was wreaked, in the form of another puncture for Hill Junior's rear wheel (current score: Hill Junior, 4 punctures; Hill Senior, 2 punctures & 1 tyre hernia). Hill Senior pedaled on into the North Easterly wind, oblivious to the chaos behind. Eventually the Hills were reunited at Golspie, and then, back in convoy, proceeded to Brora for morning tea and cake, taken at a roadside table, at a pub, on the edge of the A9. This we enjoyed, in the sunshine, amid the roar of the traffic and the smell of the diesel fumes.

More A9 took us to Helmsdale, passing on the way a well preserved Broch at Cain Liath. The views from the A9 as it weaved its way along the coast were enthralling - blue sea, blue sky (over the sea), mist on the mountains inland. At Helmsdale we sought out the much recommended La Mirage restaurant which served us a gigantic "fish & chips tea", which was too large, even for our appetites.


After lunch, due to the threatening weather and reports of a mini-monsoon battering the rest of Britain, we donned our wet weather gear for the afternoon's vertiginous assaults on the A9 ahead. The combination of stomachs packed to the gunwales and muscles wrapped in waterproof clothing enabled us to exude gargantuan quantities of perspiration. Its also encouraged the sun to come out. In this manner we climbed the Ord of Caithness, a 740ft high wild section, and then negotiated the Berriedale Braes. According to our guide, this has a reputation amongst end-to-enders for causing quivering knees, but not so for these two endurance athletes.

At Dunbeath we encountered that rarity, a tea room, open for business. Run by several charming natives, it offered a very wide selection of cakes, of which we took full advantage. It was then a short section to Latheron (nothing to do with the need to apply creams and ointments to sore posteriors) and then onto our B&B in Swiney, near Lybster.

Our GPS track today includes a missing section (the straight line interpolation) caused by battery failure. We had been using modern batteries with a life of about 6 hours, but had to restock in Fort William, purchasing batteries marketed as "Duracell Special" which must date them to circa-1980.

Day 17 - Across the Firths

From Foyers to Dornoch (route)

Following our most expensive dinner meal in "portion control" Foyers Bay House (not just a B & B, it's a country house), the breakfast proved equally economical with its quantities and was only alleviated by the spectre of red squirrels gambling across the lawn.

In common with some of the previous days, we discovered at the moment we were setting off that one of our bicycle tyres had decided to leak air during the night. In this case it was Hill Junior's rear wheel, which had been causing us grief the previous day. What with fixing the puncture and a half-hour lie-in (we were not permitted to breakfast before 8.30am) we set off late.

After five good days of weather in Scotland, our good luck broke. Our ride to Inverness was through a persistent drizzle, becoming driving rain, which of course, was into our faces rather than on our backs (in 16 days of riding we can only count one day in which we enjoyed a tail wind).

Hill Junior purposefully rode off ahead at break-neck speed to get his real wheel repaired in Inverness, while Hill Senior dawdled along the edge of Loch Ness, enjoying the low-level misty views, and taking photographs, including one in which the Loch Ness monster can be spotted in the left middle ground by those active members of the wine society and CAMRA.

The two Hills were reunited at the Highland Bicycle Company, Inverness, where Junior's bike was fixed for just a tenner. Bargain. Meanwhile Senior's bike had developed a hernia on its rear wheel - necessitating a new tyre, the old one having become completely threadbare after only 200,000 miles.

Such is the extent to which these bikes are being ridden, yet more equipment failures came to light. Senior's front deraileur has sheared in two, preventing automatic gear changes on the front, so the fallback change mechanism of dismounting and manually moving the chain to a different ring was adopted. We picked up a new super-deluxe deraileur mechanism, but haven't yet had time to fit it.

After all our bike maintenance, we scoured Inverness for tea shops and settled on the Pumpkin Cafe in Inverness station, which served us medium mugs (quite large) of tea and "blissfully blueberry muffins".

We continued our journey by taking the A9 across the Kessock Bridge, acorss the Moray Firth (first of our three Firths today) and then we veered off the A9 into the Black Isle (thanks to a passing Irish cyclist for his informative navigation advice). Spotted a red kite soaring above us. Through ever-increasing rain we made our way to Fortrose where since there was no open pub, we took our lunch in the lee of the Co-op who provided us with some plastic sandwiches and fresh fruit.

After lunch the weather cleared up, the sun was seen again, and we were able to enjoy a spectacular climb up to a radio mast on the highest point of the Black Isle. From here we had good views across the Moray Firth to the Aberdeenshire coast. We then descended into Cromarty where we caught the Nigg ferry. This takes two cars, and has a strange turntable mechanism to rotate the vehicles once on board. The ferry took us across the Firth of Cromarty (second Firth of the day) - it was very picturesque - we saw a crowd being taken out to see the local dolphins.

We enjoyed a quiet run along the edge of Nigg Bay (a RSPB reserve) until we rejoined the busy grand-prix track of the A9. We took the A9 hard shoulder (apart from a brief and worthwhile diversion into Tain) all the way across the Dornoch Firth (third and last of our Firths), and then found a minor road through Cuthill to the town of Dornoch. Or perhaps one should call it a city because it boasts a cathedral? Certainly its a very smart and attractive spot to spend a night.

This is the first of the B&Bs booked by Hill Junior who promised a kind of massage parlour (for cycling muscles) allied with a lycra laundry and a mecca for real ales.

Total mileage today is well into the 60s. You can't see from the graph, but honestly, there was a head wind. Our total mileage so far is just shy of 1000 miles - and yet according to a recently viewed roadsign, we have something like 80 miles to get to John O'Groats in the two days remaining.

Day 16 - Up the Great Glen

From Fort William to Foyers (route)

This was supposed to be our easy day after yesterday's exertions. Cycling Hill Junior predicted that we would arrive in mid afternoon and spend the rest of the day lazing around reading the Sunday paper but the best plans of mice and men........

So we ate our customary full cooked breakfast and then prepared to set off at our usual 9am. Our hosts (retired police from Hyde, Cheshire married to Brenda from Mobberley) warned us off the forest tracks but we decided to chance it in order to avoid the busy caravan and charabanc laden A82.

We passed through Fort William only long enough to pick up the said Sunday paper and to denude the coffers of the Royal Bank of Scotland. Soon after we met the Caledonian Canal, a wonderfully impressive piece of engineering. Thomas Telford had also thoughtfully provided a cycleway along the towpath which we gladly used. This gave awe inspiring views of Ben Nevis still adorned with patches of snow and equally beautiful views along the Great Glen.

Once Loch Lochy was reached we took the cycleway through the forest ignoring the warnings and driving our cycles to the limit of their capacity. Then after a particulrly rough stony section Hill Junior's back tyre lost all its air. On close inspection he had also suffered two broken spokes. He claimed that this was nothing to do with his weight but rather all the extra gifts he was carrying for his beloved. Puncture repaired we moved on only to suffer another 6 miles later. Fortunately we were close to a cafe near Loch Oich serving excellent cakes and tea which enabled us to recover our spirits, and to psyche ourselves up for the challenge ahead.

Lunch was taken a few miles later on in Fort Augustus which unfortunately has no cycle repair shops. We will need to limp on into Inverness before fixing the broken wheel properly.

Out of Fort Augustus we took the quiet south side of Loch Ness, which necessitated one of the longest climbs of the tour so far, through some very attractive upland loch strewn landscape. The rain threatened and the wind was always against us but we pressed on nurturing our machines, reaching Foyers at about 5pm.

In Foyers there is supposedly an impressive waterfall but this only operates when the hydroelectric system permits.

Day 15 - Up Loch Linnhe

From Kilmartin to Fort William (route)

Excellent night in Kilmartin, which is quite a lively place despite having a population of less than 100. Apparently this is all to with it being something for a mecca for archeoligists, as it has a rich neolithic (cup & ring) and bronze age past, and was also capital of Dalriada - a kingdom in Scotland, founded by the Irish (see '1066 and all that'). We also visited Kilmartin's churchyard which has some interesting 14th/15th-century engraved slabs.

As with all long days, Hill Senior's equipment suffered a loss of pneumatic form first thing this morning. We cannot understand why this always happens overnight, while in a locked shed, but we didn't have time for a thorough investigation. Instead we replaced the inner tube in record quick time (about 20 mins for us) and trusted to luck.

Today's journey, at 72 miles, is one of our longest. Especially so as the route that we chose in order to have a tail wind (from Lands End to John O'Groats) resulted in a fierce head wind, against which we had to battle with all our strength and aching knees.

After a tough morning, in which we had many excellent vistas of the lochs, we made it into the safe harbour of Oban, where we found a fancy patisserie, too gentile to permit sweaty lycra clad cyclists to sit inside. Instead we sat outside in the freezing North-Easterly wrapping our hands around the cups of tea, and consuming carrot cake and fruit scones. We weren't able to stay long in Oban as we had to press on, but Hill Senior reports that he once took a bath, courtesy of the Calendonian Hotel (despite not being a resident), when his yacht put into port, and he strode purposely through the lobby as if he belonged.

After leaving Oban we crossed Loch Etive on the Connel bridge, with the 'Falls of Lora' rushing out below us. The road wound along the side of Loch Linnhe, giving us spectacular views across to Ardmurchan and Mull. As we passed along the side of Loch Creran, we were pleased to see that the erstwhile railway bridge had been converted for road traffic and leg weary cyclists. Just after the bridge we took our lunch in a recently converted pub, the Creggan Inn. We sat outside with nice views across Loch Creran, munching our baguettes, and rehydrating with SOFT drinks (such is the paucity of real ale establishments).

After Loch Creran we headed further up Loch Linnhe to Ballachulish, encountering on the way a welcome stretch of cycleway under construction, and provided a much need respite from the busy A828. As we rounded the headland we got excellent views up towards Glencoe, and towards Kings House Hotel, a much used staging point for famous West Highland Way walkers.


At Ballachulish, we joined the busy A82 for the first time, with its maniacal boat-towing 4x4s, whose drivers seem to delight in trying to shave off our paintwork as they pass. Afternoon tea was taken in the Hotel Onich. We had clearly rejoined the main tourist drag, as we were able to purchase cream teas with strawberry jam, served on cloth covered tables by a waiter (with a clothes peg over his nose to prevent the Eau d'Hill reaching his sensory organs).

While the rest of the country were being drenched with rain and were agonising over potential delays to the Wimbledon Ladies Singles Final, we enjoyed a mostly rain-free day, only needing to put on our wet weather gear for half an hour right at the end of our day. This was some disappointment to Hill Junior who wanted to test out in full his newly purchased waterproof booties (purchased in Dumfries).

We arrived into Fort William sometime after 5, where we were dissuaded from climbing Ben Nevis by our landlady, Brenda, who explained that today was a practice for a big mountain biking race and that casual climbers were barred.

Overall it was a day of beautiful Western Highland scenery - lots of Loch vistas, with huge mountains rising in the background. Our profile shows that our morning was signifantly more active than our afternoon.

Day 14 - Onto Kintyre and into Argyll

From Brodick to Kilmartin (route)

Had a good night's stay on the island of Arran, in our most expensive B&B so far (do they run a racket here?). Despite the price, there was no fresh fruit for breakfast, but Hill Senior reports the mackerel coated in oatmeal was delicious.

Feeling full of energy we eshewed the flatter and shorter route to Lochranza, opting instead for a stiff two mile climb across the island to its west coast. We were rewarded with a good run with views across to Kintyre and made Lochranza with plenty of time to spare before our ferry, allowing us to take the opportunity for a cup of tea and slice of lemon and ginger cake from the cafe. Met a local holiday maker who complained of bad weather in the North and admired our bicycles. Meanwhile, another inhabitant kept the grass low at the roadside, seemingly oblivious to tourists.

Our 12 noon ferry (courtesy of CalMac) deposited us on Kintyre just half an hour later, in a seemingly deserted spot. The only road out rose steeply over the wild and beautiful countryside, until we joined the A83 at Kennacraig, where the ferries for Islay depart. Lunch was taken at the West Loch Hotel just short of Tarbert, outside in the glorious sunshine, where Hill Junior consumed a bottle of Orcadian ale to celebrate his arrival back on the mainland.

The A83 took us alongside Loch Fyne, with many fantastic Riviera like views in the fine weather. We turned off the A-road at Ardrishaig, onto the path alongside the Crinan Canal, which cuts across the Kintyre peninsula (a 9 mile canal saving a sea voyage of 130 miles) - this canal now seems to be used mostly by yachts.

Tea was taken alongside the canal at the Cairnbaarn Hotel, in the company of other cyclists, of the Swedish variety. Enjoyed our first Scottish shortbread - excellent! The remaining journey to Kilmartin was across flat bird reserve country in the steadily increasing warmth of the afternoon - we pottered along and arrived at our B & B at the usual time - just before 5pm. Kilmartin is surrounded by neolithic monuments, has some interesting medieval tombstones in its graveyard, but best of all, enjoys a hotel serving real ale.

Overall it was an average-length day, with a bit of climbing to get across Arran and up from the ferry at Clonaig. But apart from that, lots of flat sections alongside Lochs. All in all, it was another very good day in which we enjoyed the best of the weather. Tomorrow will be one of longest days - we have over 70 miles to do to get up to Fort William.

Day 13 - Through Ayrshire to Arran

From Kirkconnel to Brodick (route)

Had an enjoyable stay in Kilkconnel with Yvonne Stuart who runs a 4000 acre estate. Our B & B included fishing rights for salmon and sea trout. Time constraints prevented us from taking full advantage and we were also out of season for the deer stalking. We did manage a trip into town to experience the local scene of a depressed open cast mining community. Needless to say, we found no real ales, but made do with Belhaven Best.

Our ride today took us through the open cast coal mining, gradually downhill towards the Ayrshire coastal plain. We discovered that Ayrshire county council are most economical in their use of road signs, so we were forced to ask for directions from a local farm labourer who was tending his neaps and tatties. He was delighted to abandon his toils and to advise us of our route - not only for the next 5 miles but also for the remainder of our journey to John O'Groats. We had a prolonged conversation with Jim Corbett (unrelated to the famous Jim Corbett, the tiger-shooter in India), covering of range of subjects. One in particular has caused some worry - that of the Scottish Midge. Jim's advice was never to stop cycling once you get past Larig, as the midges at this time of year would drive us to insanity. Something to look forward to.

Tea was taken in a pub in Tarbolton, where Burns and his friends formed a debating club called the Bachelor's Club. Although several other customers had started on the McEwans Export, we abstemiously stayed on the Liptons and took a fruit scone to sustain us.

We arrived at the coast near Irvine, amongst several large chemical and pharmaceutical factories, and numerous golf courses - being close to Troon. Hooked up with a coastal cycleway which wiggled along the Irish Sea with views across to Arran and possibly to the Mull of Kintyre (although the visibility was not brilliant).


We got to Ardrossan in good time and took our lunch in the ferry cafe waiting for our 3pm ferry. Spent the afternoon doing the crossword, rehydrating and mentally preparing ourselves for the next leg of our journey.


A mere 50 mile day, and also the least amount of climb on a single day so far. Don't think it will get any easier than this.