Ollie and Brian our hosts at Greenacres, cooked us an excellent breakfast. Yet another stay where we were treated so well.
http://www.greenacre2002.com/
We cut across country on minor roads to Tain to join the A9. Chris realised he had left his bottles behind at the B&B.An hour later Ollie and Brian had them back with him after driving after us to near Golspie - that's "going the extra mile!
The Coffee Bothy at Golspie served up a Malteser cake which seemed to give us renewed energy, so much so that for the first time in over 900 miles the three of us rode together for the next 15 miles.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Coffee-Bothy/186246894768198
The Berridale Braes was where it all fell apart - a brute of a hill where Chris and Phil pulled away from me.
The gorse was in flower, matching the colour of my panniers and brightening up a barren and wild landscape.
Next stop was a late lunch at the Bay Owl at Dunbeath. A chance to get out of the biting North Westerly wind and warm up. Baked potatoes more reasonably priced here.
http://www.thebayowl.net/
Badbea clearance village was a poignant reminder of how this landscape changed with the Highland clearances and the devastation it caused to the highlanders. Crofters were evicted from their villages in the glens by the landlords to make way for more profitable sheep farming and were forced either to scrape a living on the sea shore, as at Badbea, or emigrate to Canada.
Wick's town centre has been gutted by the two retail parks at either ends of the town. Morag's Victoria Sponge was the driest piece of cake of the whole trip but still every crumb got eaten.
The last 17 miles to John O'Groats was into the teeth of the wind. The viewpoint from Warth hill was for me my abiding last day memory and the best end to the ride. Before us was the northern coast, the island of Hoy and its tremendous sea stack of the Old Man and the Islands of Storma and Orkney.
Chris and I waited for Phil (another first!) and we free wheeled down to John O'Groats together- a real dive of a place and an anti climax. Both Lands End and John O'Groats could do with a makeover. Even the chips were lousy.
We posed for photographs by the sign and texted family and friends.
We had come to the end of an amazing journey through this wonderful country of ours so rich in history, culture and varied landscapes.
We now had the small job of getting to our accommodation in Thurso - a mere 20 mile ride along the North coast. Any plans of cycling out to Dunnet Head,the most northerly point in the mainland of Britain were soon abandoned as we struggled with the wind.
Lisa at the Pentland Lodge was a diamond. She gave us all separate rooms even though we had only booked two, phoned the local bistro, booked us a table, ordered us steaks, took our washing and had it dry for the next morning.
http://www.pentlandlodgehouse.co.uk/
The bistro did us proud. Phil ordered champagne and the meal was soaked down with a passable bottle of Merlot. Three double Malts at the Commercial completed a great evening.
http://www.greenacre2002.com/
We cut across country on minor roads to Tain to join the A9. Chris realised he had left his bottles behind at the B&B.An hour later Ollie and Brian had them back with him after driving after us to near Golspie - that's "going the extra mile!
The Coffee Bothy at Golspie served up a Malteser cake which seemed to give us renewed energy, so much so that for the first time in over 900 miles the three of us rode together for the next 15 miles.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Coffee-Bothy/186246894768198
The Berridale Braes was where it all fell apart - a brute of a hill where Chris and Phil pulled away from me.
The gorse was in flower, matching the colour of my panniers and brightening up a barren and wild landscape.
Next stop was a late lunch at the Bay Owl at Dunbeath. A chance to get out of the biting North Westerly wind and warm up. Baked potatoes more reasonably priced here.
http://www.thebayowl.net/
Badbea clearance village was a poignant reminder of how this landscape changed with the Highland clearances and the devastation it caused to the highlanders. Crofters were evicted from their villages in the glens by the landlords to make way for more profitable sheep farming and were forced either to scrape a living on the sea shore, as at Badbea, or emigrate to Canada.
Wick's town centre has been gutted by the two retail parks at either ends of the town. Morag's Victoria Sponge was the driest piece of cake of the whole trip but still every crumb got eaten.
The last 17 miles to John O'Groats was into the teeth of the wind. The viewpoint from Warth hill was for me my abiding last day memory and the best end to the ride. Before us was the northern coast, the island of Hoy and its tremendous sea stack of the Old Man and the Islands of Storma and Orkney.
Chris and I waited for Phil (another first!) and we free wheeled down to John O'Groats together- a real dive of a place and an anti climax. Both Lands End and John O'Groats could do with a makeover. Even the chips were lousy.
We posed for photographs by the sign and texted family and friends.
We had come to the end of an amazing journey through this wonderful country of ours so rich in history, culture and varied landscapes.
We now had the small job of getting to our accommodation in Thurso - a mere 20 mile ride along the North coast. Any plans of cycling out to Dunnet Head,the most northerly point in the mainland of Britain were soon abandoned as we struggled with the wind.
Lisa at the Pentland Lodge was a diamond. She gave us all separate rooms even though we had only booked two, phoned the local bistro, booked us a table, ordered us steaks, took our washing and had it dry for the next morning.
http://www.pentlandlodgehouse.co.uk/
The bistro did us proud. Phil ordered champagne and the meal was soaked down with a passable bottle of Merlot. Three double Malts at the Commercial completed a great evening.
Congratulations. Interesting route via Arran and hope you ahve made a new whisky convert. . Those last 15 miles to JOG into a headwind brought back (painful) memories.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations, great blog!
ReplyDelete