We had camped the previous night in Bettyhill up on the North coast of Scotland. We had popped down to the pub at the bottom of the hill, and had a few pints and a meal each. It was a nice little pub, but when we arrived, one of the locals in there was a little worse for wear. 20 minutes later though, we had a giggle, when his wife barged into the bar, virtually grabbing him by the ear and dragging him home - he'd only popped out for a pint of milk !!!!! The cockney landlord in there had more tall drinking stories about the drunk man than a fisherman. Like the night he had 72 pints, give or take a few, or the time when he drank 16 pints without even going for a pee. And judging by the number of stories of lightning strikes in the area knocking out internet, telephones, tv and sky services, then surely this could be an area dedicated to the capture of green electrical energy !!!!
Me and Andy were on our way along the top at 7:30 in the morning. It started off as a fine and relatively calm day, I even put a little suntan lotion on my face which as it turned out, proved to be a little premature.
My wife Ann was with us to transport us back down the road to Edinburgh, so there was little point in packing up all the tent and camping gear and loading it all on the bike - we did the gentlemanly thing of leaving all the gear on the campsite for Ann to pack up and load the van up with, so our final day along the top was pannier, and significant weight, free.
after such a long distance of carrying a load, the bikes felt completely different when unladen. The first 12 miles were a little lumpy, but by this stage of the trip, we're quite happy to cycle up any gradient - put the bikes in the granny gear and plod up slowly. However with no bags - it was a bit of a doddle.
however, the winds then came. We specifically chose to cycle South to North due to the prevailing south westerly winds, but in the 17 days of being on the roads, we've only had the wind in our favour for about 7 hours in total. Rain hasn't been too bad, but the wind ............
Fair play to Andy, he took the lead and I stuck in behind him. I thought to myself - about time too, it's just a shame that it's taken til the last day to do a significant spell up front, then it dawned on me, Ann was taking photos and a few video clips, so he wanted to appear to be the one in the front all the time !!!!!! I hope his cycling training buddies make him pay over the coming weeks ;-)
On the way we had stopped for a coffee in Thurso - only to realise that nothing opens this far North on a Sunday. It was at this point, that Andy chose to tell me that my cycle helmet wasn't sitting right and needed straightening up. It's at a "jaunty angle" he told me, and said that it's often been at a jaunty angle. It took him a thousand miles, but eventually he thought he'd get around to telling me I was looking a little camp !!!!!!!
we knocked off mile after mile, the rain came, the wind got stronger, the weather god was throwing everything at us and even the normally reserved Andy chose to swear out loud in the final straight towards John o 'Groats, but we would not be defeated.
As we cycled the last 100 meters down to the finish, we put our arms around each other as we cycled across the line.
a few pictures were taken, we were both chuffed to bits but for me it was tinged with the fact that our trip was over. I dropped him off at the airport this morning, and for the first time in nearly 3 weeks, I haven't heard him chattering away. I sort of miss him already !!!!!
It was a long 6 hour drive back from John O Groats to Edinburgh, and we followed the main A9 south, the route that many cyclists might take to do the journey. Both Andy and myself have been over the moon with the route we chose. It may be longer, it may take more days to complete, but with traffic free roads, scenery all around that you can look at and cherish, and take your time over, it could hardly get better.
what started out as a bit of a desire a few years ago, really turned out to be a great adventure, which along the way, we like to feel that we've done some good to the Parkinson's charity. We're just shy of £1500, which will go to helping out the cause, so it really is a big thanks to all those great comments of support along the way, and to the charitable donations which will make a difference to hopefully one day finding a cure. Thank you very much.
And of course a big thanks to both Ann and Donna who ferried us to the start and from the finish, and had to put up with us doing all the organising in the months running up to the trip, and for , well, just putting up with us !!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment