Day 1 John O Groats to Tongue

Miles 64, moving average 9.9 mph, overall average 7.2 hrs, cycle time 6:30 hrs total time 8:21 hrs

Set off from JOG at 8:30am clear blue skies and confidence was high. 20 enjoyable miles to Thurso with a few gentle rolling hills to warm up the muscles. Other side of Thurso the clouds came over and it started to rain. And then it carried on raining most of the day! Very hilly and a hard day. Not especially big hills just constantly climbing up, going down, up, down, all day long in the continual rain. Stopped in a tea shop in Bettyhill and they felt so sorry for me they lent me a towel!

But I made it!

And the route and scenery is just amazing! Golden empty beaches, the beautiful rugged coast line, spectacular mountains, amazing lochs and everything so green and unspoilt. Travelling along roads just wide enough for one car, where you see maybe 10 cars an hour. Watch out for though for the sheep sitting in the middle of the road!

Then the rain stopped and the sun came out, my mood lifted and speed picked up. Could also start to dry out a little. Mind you all my gear is hanging up in the B&B hoping it will be dry by the morning.

75 miles to do tomorrow, hoping for better weather and that I can make it. Then the day after is a semi rest day with only 30 miles.

More news later.

Gavin