July 29- Tongue to John O'Groats- 114.6kms

July 29- Tongue to John O'Groats- 114.6kms

There was a real expectation in the air this morning at breakfast as we prepared ourselves for the final day "on the road" to John O'Groats (JOG).

The day was one of the longer rides for the trip so we made sure we were on the road by about 8.00am.

The weather was coolish ( 14) with cloud cover and some wind...later in the day we had some rain showers...not significant fortunately

The first few kms were fairly difficult with some steeper road as we got our climbing legs in to gear. After Bettyhill the road had several very steep bits for about 20kms as we negotiated some hilly country.

I started out with Steve and Jane but they soon left me and for about 45kms I was riding on my own...probably the 3rd ride on the road for our group. I was happy with this as it gave me some real time to reflect on the trip and to consider how luck I have been to be able to enjoy it both in terms of seeing country I have never seen before and meeting such a wonderful and friendly group.

After Melvich (42kms) I was feeling quite hungry and was looking for somewhere to eat but in this remote part of the world there was nothing really open...I spoke to the owner of the art galley in Melvich and she said I would have to wait another 30kms to get to a shop.....luckily I was given a banana at breakfast so I was able to get some sustenance!

I slowed down a bit at this time to allow Chris to join me on the ride and we continued together right through the JOG. It was a far more pleasant ride also as the road flattened out considerably and for much of it we had a wind on our backs.

Chris and I agreed that we would take a longer route to see Dunnet Head which is the most northerly part of the UK mainland....nothing much to see really except for a lighthouse which was constructed by a relative ( grandfather I think) of Robert Louis Stevenson the author.

After that it was on for the final run in to JOG and we arrived at about 2.15 and were presented with our medals and had our photos taken at the JOG sign....

The tour company ( Bike Adventures) had arranged for us all to have showers in a local pub which was great ahead of the bus trip back to Inverness.

We also had some food and drink to get some energy back after a "hardish" ride

JOG is really somewhat of a biking mecca and there were many riders staring and finishing LEJOG trips. So it was quite exciting to hear the tales from others who had done the journey. I spoke to one group who had done the trip in 9 days riding over 100 miles (160kms) each day...what an effort!

Unfortunately Chris and Steve were not travelling with us back to Inverness by bus so we had to say our goodbyes. Steve met his wife (Sarah) and they were going to the Orkney Islands for a break...Chris also was continuing his unsupported riding sojourn through the UK. He will be going to the Orkney Islands as well as visiting the Western Islands of Scotland ( Skye, Mull etc) and then travelling back to London via the East coast....Hope he has safe travels!

When the bus arrived at about 6.45pm....we loaded our bags on and proceeded on the 2 hr trip to Inverness. Mike from Bike Adventures presented us all with our certificates of achievement and we all had a celebratory champagne as we motored back.

Today we climbed 1294 metres which was mostly in the first half of the ride.

I will record the final statistics for the ride in a later blog post

Now for the photos....

Today's route...

Some of the coastline....
Note the sandy beaches and sand dunes....

Looking towards the North Sea...

Part of a long descent.....woooowwwww!!!
My descending has improved on this trip...

Looking towards the Orkney Islands...

...and again....

The boat harbour at Castletown....

The most northern part of mainland UK....
The sign to prove it!!!!

...and the lighthouse....
Not much else!

Yes here I am at JOG!!!!

With the trusty bike which did not let me down....only one puncture
Could not be happier!!!!

 

Photos from today- 28th July

Photos from today- 28th July

There is a manor house in there which was owned by the Duke of Westminster

It was the subject of his divorce settlement ...his former wife now owns it

The Falls of Shin....quite pretty....no salmon jumping up stream unfortunately!!!

An upstream view of the Falls...

Our group's bikes at the top of the staircase to the falls....

A view of the Scottish Highlands....

A view up timber logging track
There is a lot of lumbering going on here!!!

A nice road ahead despite a small gradient uphill???
......and no cars!!!

The Crask Inn...good tea and scones
Great hospitality

A long down hill with a view to die for!!!

Another Loch....there is a lot of water on "them there hills"

....and another loch.....

...and another hill....at least we did not climb this one!!!!!

.......and another loch!!
Even more important a long downhill on a good road with no cars....Yeeeeeeee!!

Home for the night and a big celebration on the night before the last ride to J O'G.....

A good pub for dinner

July 28- Bonar Bridge to Tongue- 79.2 kms

July 28- Bonar Bridge to Tongue- 79.2 kms

It is hard to believe that today is the second last day of the ride.....gee time goes fast when you are having this much fun and meeting so many wonderful people with so many great stories to tell of what they have done and will do in the future....

I have described this journey as something like "Canterbury Tales" where there is a journey to a destination but the conversations with those on the journey are almost as interesting as the journey itself.

Today, Steve and I had a 6km ride to catch the rest of the group who were staying at a hotel at Invershin rather than at Bonar Bridge. We made really good time but missed the briefing from Rob.... No real problem as Steve from Tassie gave us the information we needed for the ride and it was only a "one pager" of instructions.

The first stop was at the Falls of Shin which were quite pretty and we were supposed to see the salmon making their way upstream for spawning....I did not see anything but the story seemed a good one!

Amazing when you think of it really that adult Salmon make their way back to their original place of birth to spawn after travelling in the ocean for years...nature has these wonderful mysteries really.

After this it was off to the next stop at the Crask Inn for tea ( about  40kms in to the ride) and scones which had been organized for us all by Bike Adventures....This place is virtually out in the middle of nowhere in the "moor country" but the hospitality of the family who own the pub/B&B was most friendly and the scones were YUM!!!

After "refuelling" it was on the bikes with a lovely ride through the Scottish highlands. I hope the picture I took give you some idea of the remoteness of this part of Scotland where there is basically moor type country with occasional softwood forests which are logged for building timber. The timber industry in the northern part of Scotland is very big and it seems that there are timber jinkers everywhere.
The other think about Scotland is that there are Lochs everywhere and being a person that come from a dry country it is a great contrast....all very scenic
The remaining 40kms was over excellent roads with fairly undulating country with the occasional steeper part ( 5%) with equally good downhills which made for fast riding.
We were at Tongue before 1,30pm which was some sort of record for our journey so far.
Arriving early it was good to clean the bike ahead of the final day tomorrow and get my clothes sorted out.
The dinner tonight at the Ben Loyal Hotel is going to be our final dinner together as many from the group will be travelling further in Scotland instead of taking the bus back to Inverness.... so it will be a rather happy but sad dinner....I have been told that Scot ( one of the folk from the US) might be playing the guitar for us tonight.
I have not spoken about today's weather so.....it was cloudy with temps in the mid teens and we had a gentle breeze in our backs all day...made for great riding.

The ride group for me today was the "3 Amigos"of Steve Chris and myself...all good fun!

Photos will have to be posted later as the WIFI at Tongue is slow....


Todays Route....

27 July- Drumnadchrochit to Bonar Bridge- 80.8kms

27 July- Drumnadchrochit to Bonar Bridge- 80.8kms

Well another contrast again.....seems that Scotland has this ability to surprise us all!

Compared to yesterday with wet weather....today was virtually without rain and we even had some sunny patches....

I think I might have mentioned that after the ride yesterday I was so wet and muddy that I hopped in to the shower fully clothed with my helmet and bike shoes on to warm up and wash everything!!!

Well today it was simply gorgeous with some wonderful scenery as we made our way north along a lot of the East coast looking at the Firth estuary from "on high" in the moor country.

The start of the ride included a 2.6km climb where some of the gradient was at 15% which was rather challenging but once up in the high country what view we had!!

The descent from the climb was quite thrilling with me topping out at speeds of nearly 60kph and at one stage covering 8kms in 13 minutes.....Fast for me!!!

We passed through some lovely town of Beauly and Muir of Ord , Cannon Bridge ( where we had a coffee after 31kms) and Dingwall where after a short climb we had some wonderful views of the Firth Estuary....

Shortly after this we arrived in Evanton which could be described as a town somewhat "past its prime". After discussing the situation with Rob from the tour group he said it would be best to have lunch at Evanton rather than push on to Bonar Bridge where we had been allocated some "dodgy' accommodation.

We took Rob's advice and had a "sandwich lunch" ( 46 kms in to ride). Steve, Chris and I were joined by Helen , Ian and Lorna for lunch and we had a great conversation together...solving the problems of the world!!!!

After lunch it was on to Bonar Bridge...but we had another climb of about 10kms (initially steep then more gentle) through open moorland and fairly rugged country...but the views were stunning of the coastline and estuaries. The final descent in to Bonar Bridge was good. 

As I noted earlier, we were advised our hotel was going to be "average at best"...so when we arrived at about 3.30pm we found the hotel was locked up....Steve and I had been allocated rooms here and we took advantage of alternative accommodation at the Kyle House B&B for 50 pounds......

The lady running the B&B ( Sheila....must have come from Aussie!!) was simply charming and took us in hand for the night.

After sorting out our luggage we made our way to the only "eating house" in the town called the Crannag Bistro and the food was quite outstanding. After finishing a meal of beef followed by strawberries and sorbe, both Steve and I had a "wee dram" to make sure we had a good night of sleep.

We had dinner with Dave and Nigel who had both been allocated to the other hotel in town and I think we all agreed that Steve and I had made the right decision to stay at Kyle House.

In summary today was another great day of riding with some hard climbs but some thrilling descents and scenery.

All in all another wonderful day on the trip.

Now for the photos.....

 Today's Route

The river near Beauly...

The view over the Firth Estuary...

 Another view looking inland over the Firth estuary

Looking over the moors near the top of the second climb....
The North Sea in the distance.

  A bad shot of some Heather!!!

Another view of the coastline....
Looking towards the North Sea.
We saw some oil rigs coming in for repairs as we climbed up the hill...

Steve at the top of the second climb....

A view towards Bonar Bridge from the top of the second climb

Steve taking a photo of Jane ( in pink) and Helen at the top of the second climb

Home for the night at Kyle House
Very comfortable!!!!
Steve at the door....

July 26- Fort William to Drumnadrochit- 85.1 km

July 26- Fort William to Drumnadrochit- 85.1 km

Well what difference a day can make!!!

Yesterday and the day before Scotland turned on the fine and sunny weather...today it was very wet with drizzle and rain for all of the ride. This combined with most of the ride being on main roads made for HARD RIDING.

At briefing in Fort William the weather was OK and I thought we might be in for an OK day....well it seems that the Loch Ness monster had his say as we travelled along the shores of Loch Ness!!!

It was interesting to see the Caledonian canal which was built as a shipping land across Scotland  across all of the Lochs that make up the "Great Glen". From what we were told, the canal was started as rail was being used in the UK and by the time it was finished it was almost obsolete as a trade....pity because it is a real marvel. Today it is mainly used to ship pleasure craft ( motor cruisers, barges and sailing boats) from one loch to another.

Getting back to the ride....We organized to have coffee and scones at Invergarry at the local hotel where we were told by Rob ( tour leader) that they had the best to offer in Scotland!

Well after 42 kms of a mixture of climbs and "undulating" riding in the rain we were ready for a stop in the warm...

The Hotel staff were very good in getting us organized to hang our wet gear and get organized for morning tea... the only trouble was we had the thought of doing another 43 kms in the wet mainly on the main road (A82). But doing this with some sustenance was at least a good start!!!

The rest of the trip wads fairly horrible apart from a short period when we travelled along the bike path along the canal.

The only issue here was the path had this paving of loose stones (like Lilydale topping in Melbourne) which when wet splashed up to cover us all in a fine coat of white mud.... more on that later!

The ride after the bike path was along the A 82 which was busy with trucks, buses, campervans and all manner of cars ( mostly tourists) which made for difficult and careful riding. Despite this we were keen to get to the end of the ride to have a warm shower and lunch.

Steve led the ride for most of the day and we had Walt and his wife June with us and we made excellent time to be at Drumnachronit at about 1.30pm!!

I must say that for a "big fella" Walt really impressed me with his riding today. 

We lost Chris before morning tea unfortunately and he continued on without the morning tea stop to be first in for the group.....well done Chris!! ( Chris said he quite enjoyed the ride)

On reaching the hotel there were some issues regarding the storage of our bikes so we left them chained to a flower box outside the hotel so we could have a hot shower.

Getting in to my room I looked in the mirror and saw that I was filthy from top to bottom and hopped in the shower fully clothed, complete with Helmet to was everything. The shower was beautiful and I managed to clean my gear....now for the drying!!!

The hotel we are staying at is the Drumnadrochit hotel which is "fairly average".

After the shower Steve and I went to the hotel where others from the group were staying and it was certainly much better. We had a burger and a couple of pints with others to reflect on the day and what we achieved...( It was my first burger of the trip and it tasted good!!!)

Today was a day we needed to "get through" and we did without any mishaps. It was the best day so far as speed was concerned despite the weather ( ave riding speed of 23.1 kph) and we climbed 462 metres...so a flattish day

As a result of the weather I am afraid there are very few photos for you all.....

Todays route up the Great Glen...

At the start we had to negotiate this bridge on foot....
A lot of our group is pictured here with wet weather gear on!!!!

What a contrast....
Ben Nevis cannot be seen for cloud....
Glad we made the visit yesterday to see it

One of the weirs on the river between the Lochs...

Morning tea at last!!!!
June with Walt, Steve ( from Tassie) and Steve ( from UK)
Great coffee and scones!!!

The Caledonian canal... with Walt in the foreground

A lock on the Caledonian canal
Very impressive despite the rain!!!!!!

Home for the night
An average hotel

July 25 - Bridge of Awe to Fort William- 89.5 kms

July 25 - Bridge of Awe to Fort William- 89.5 kms

After a wonderful dinner including some nice French wine shared between "fast" Steve and I and a restful nights sleep we awoke to another beautiful morning and day. The past 2 days have been "right out of the box: with little or no cloud and temps in the mid 20's and little or no wind...delightful for riding!

After briefing it was off to the adventures of the day....

The first stop was Connel....you would not believe it!! 

It had a big bridge and I could not think how apt it was that a town named after John Connal , who is one of the best bridge designers in Australia....just kidding!!

After a bit of undulating riding on the main road it was on to Cycle Pat 78 which is a rail trail pretty much through to Fort William ( with a few diversions)\

Travelling on the Cycle Path was certainly easier than the road which was very busy with big truck and cars and campervans.

Some parts of the cycle path reminded me of the paths we have at home and the Warby Trail in the Dandenong's...the only thing missing is the smell of the Eucalypts...

I had a funny day today as I was thinking of my training for this ride when I rode on many of the Cycle paths in Melbourne...interesting!!

This was also combined with thoughts of my earlier calls home to Robyn, CC and Nick to see how things were at home....Jodes I tried you but it went to message bank. Sorry I missed you.

Along the path we met several who were on road trips with fully loaded panniers going both ways. One guy from England was doing the West East ride for instance.

We made a coffee stop at Kentallen mainly due to me going in to coffee withdrawal  but I sense it might have suited Steve as he had a couple of minor scrapes on the pathways. it is amazing how riding on cycle paths is different from riding on roadways and country lanes...as we have pretty much up to now.

After coffee it was on to Onich for lunch at a pub overlooking Loch Linnhe.At this stage we were riding with Bob, Steve, Chris, Jane and myself. 

After lunch it was the final push of about 18km in to Fort William.....BUT oh no.....

Steve said it was a good day to try and see Ben Nevis ( the biggest mountain in the UK) on what was a superb summers day. So we rode a further 5kms to see the mountain which was quite superb really.

On the way back Chris led us on a bike path to show us a 12th century castle which was also very interesting.

Tonight we are staying at the Guisachan Guesthouse which I am pleased to say had great WIFI so I can send out pictures of the past few days

We had a delightful dinner at a local seafood restaurant which was on the banks of Loch Linnhe and we were joined by Margarite from our group who lives in Scotland and was able to entertain us with stories of her life and times her in this wonderful country.

Today is day 17 of the trip and we have 4 more days to go.

A good day of riding with great weather.

Now for the photos....

 Steve and Peter on Connel bridge

Connel township from afar

....Oooppps Steve takes his first tumble and recovers well...

A view of Loch Linnhe....quite beautiful on a lovely day

The Cycle path we rode on...
Quite different from our normal riding of previous days!!

At lunch at Onich...
Yours truly, Steve, Bob and Jane...Chris is the photographer

 Ben Nevis in the middle....

Yours truly and Ben Nevis
I hope a train did not come!!!!

The riding crew with Ben Nevis
Steve, Jane, Chris, Bob and Peter...

An interesting view of Ben Nevis through the arch at the castle....

Home for the night at Fort William

The route today