I’ll cut to the chase, shall I? We made it.
We got up at 04:30 today so that we could take some photos of sunrise over the sea, then decided it wasn’t worth going back to sleep, packed our kit and were on the road by 07:50. Despite the chilly morning air, the rapidly warming sun was on the verge of burning within a few minutes, as we discovered for ourselves what the camp site owner had warned us of: “Oh, you’ve got a hilly day ahead of you!”
Sunrise over the North Sea
The road that went on and on...
The A9 hugged the coast most of the time, veering away periodically to climb a hill – seemingly for no reason – before plunging back down again. One helpful driver encouraged us, “It gets worse, mate,” but before long the A9 became the A99 and shortly after that we turned off along a back road. This road could have been built by the Romans if only they had made it this far north. With the exception of one mysterious wiggle and a few slightly staggered junctions, we essentially cycled in an absolutely straight line for about 20 miles, along roads so featureless that the Ordnance Survey map showed the individual house names.
...and on and on...
As places to refill our water bottles have dwindled, we have occasionally asked people who were in their gardens as we passed if they would mind helping us out and, without exception, they have been very polite and helpful. Today we had a delightful conversation with an old lady, who not only explained the the mysterious land mass on the horizon was Aberdeenshire but even went inside and fetched an atlas to show us, pointing out and naming all the hills we could see.
After following The Straight Road over what seemed like an endless landscape of gentle ridges and troughs, we crested one final hill and were met by a scene that could only be described as spectacular. Unlike at Land’s End, where we looked out to sea and saw precisely nothing, the sea that we saw stretching out in either direction before us was littered with islands, much larger and closer than I had imagined they would be.
Our first view of the northerly coast
During the last 10 minutes, we rolled down to the coast before turning east and fighting our way through the head wind to reach John o’ Groats itself at exactly 15:00. We also pressed on the last 2 miles to Duncansby Head, a lighthouse at the most easterly point of the mainland.
The lighthouse at Duncansby Head
The dinner served to us by the pub along the road was described on the menu as “Hero Burger”. Capitalising on a captive market? Perhaps.
The final mileage on my speedometer was 928 miles, not quite the 1,000 we had expected but – we hope you’ll agree – far enough. We made it!
The signpost at John o' Groats
The signpost at John o' Groats
August 10, 2009 at 12:38 |
Congratulations Will !!!! and Dan too !!!!