Wednesday 13 August 2008

Day 15: Tongue to John O' Groats

Our new French biker chums,
Aldo and Pablo, outside
the YH
in Tongue.
We think we look a lot cooler.



The last and final day, the end of our journey, judgment day, day 15 0f 15, call it what you like, this was it the day we had been planning for 2 years, the day we thought would never come, it was here, and what a strange feeling. This is the day you have looked forward to but in some ways thought it would never happen.

It started in the usual way. Wake up look around to see who was still snoring, look to see if Mike was up and about, still snoring. I'm going to miss those gentle tones of slumber from my namby pamby Geordie friend. Stretch, and head downstairs for a brew and some breakfast. Back up to the dorm then fill the panniers, fill the water bottles, get the bikes out of the bike shed and prepare for the ride. Today it felt different. Mike and I really felt strange, we knew it was our last day and that made us feel really nervous. We folded the map to fit in the map sleeve, and saw the last bit of road that we would be following, along the top of the mainland to our goal.

We left the Hostel in a sombre mood and joked on what the Gods would throw at us today to stop us on our final leg. Neptune would throw the seas at us, the winds would push us back up the biggest hill in the world, we would have six punctures each, our bikes would collapse, our bodies would give up, the sun would come out and burn the road to sand, the great golden eagle would swoop down and take out our eyes. But no just a road with some hills to get the heart beating and the legs pumping. A few hours later we began to leave the final hills behind us (top speed down hill 43mph), and the road flattend out, we started to feel the need for tea and cake only to find everything shut, one for a funeral, one shut ('gone to get married back in a week'), next stop Thurso! Too far away, but luckily enough we found a pub that gave us a good lunch that was at the same time hosting the wake for the funeral, was this a sign of the end of our journey. Onto Thurso passing Dounreay nuclear site where the one headed cows grazed near by and grass grew green un affected by its surroundings. We entered Thurso and realised that this was the last town before the end, just 20 miles to go, just 20, not 200, just 20 that really hit home. Those 20 became a countdown which soon became 10 then 5 and then 4 then needles and pins kicked in, the hairs began to stick up on the back of your neck what a strange feeling almost unreal, and then that sign was in front of us, 'welcome to John O Groats' we crossed the line together, and headed down to the harbour down to the furthest point our bikes would take us. we got off or trusty steeds embraced and toasted the end of our journey with some Highland 'cyclists' whisky. We had the photos without the sign, 'gone for his tea come back tomorrow', and enjoyed the moment for a good while.We had a meal at the local inn and made our way back to the hostel with a beautiful sunset and a couple of bottles of Orkney ale to drink the night away.






John O' Groats at 6.30 and the
bloody Photographers taken
the sign home again - exactly
like LE.


7 comments:

Pablo said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mike Kelly said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
lis said...

Hello Mike and James
Glad to hear you eventually (only joking!) made it to JoG. We had a good last day and got to the legendary empty signpost just as the sun was setting.As you heard we were quite pleased with ourselves! Weren't the midges awful on the journey! - I am sure they helped us to get there before dark so perhaps they did have their uses!
We are now looking for another challenge - will keep you informed so you can make sure you are doing something different!
Thanks very much for your help and support along the way.
Hope all is well with you and yours.
Best wishes Lis and Gina

Mike Kelly said...

Hi Lis,

and big congratulations on thrashing us by a whole day!

The midges were bad. We had to snack while riding for a few hours there, before we got near the coast.

I promise I won't draw Gina moaning about her hands, gears etc while eating 'go ahead' bars... James is keen to go european next year but I think I'll spend my next adventure with the family. Do keep in touch and well done again. You had some dark times on the way to Carlisle and Slaidburn but what a way to sign off, with 110 on the last day!

Cheers,

Mike

Unknown said...

Hello guys, i'm Aldo (French biker in Tongue) a pleasure to see your blog relating your adventure ... it was fun to know you. I liked a lot of roads in Scotland, surely you too!. Crus with you added to the pleasure of travel. With my bike I have won the race to johm or Groats !!hehehe!!. Already back to Madrid i send you greetings from Spain!

Mike Kelly said...

Hi Aldo!

We met up with Pablo again, after he dropped in to Staffordshire on his way to Dover. Good man, but not too keen on British food.

You'll have to send me your email, so we can contact you if we ever get round to doing the pilgrims route to Santiago De Compostela.

Scotland is pretty special. Great open roads. Too many bugs, that's my only compaint.

Unknown said...

Hello Guys,
I do not see in your blog where staff send an e-mail, nothing happens, here is my mail address aldo.fernandez@gmail.com. Sends you a link to my photos of Scotland. Of course if you plan to travelling in Spain I invite you to visit me in Madrid.