So that’s it, the end! Unfortunately there is no official photographer at 8pm in John O’Groats, just like at 8am in Land’s End… On the other hand, I’m not sure we really cared that much. The past 8 days have been an amazing experience, with ups and downs (in every sense) and both beautiful and not-so-beautiful scenery along the way!

Now for an account of the last 3 days, as best I can remember.

Day 6 – Cumbernauld to Fort William
So we woke early to yet more rain ($&?#!) and slightly damp kit that had failed to dry out. This was unpleasant [It later transpired that we had cycled through one of the wettest days on record for Glasgow!]. The Garmin had not been enjoying the weather either and so we decided to go with paper maps so the GPS could stay warm and dry in the bag. Unfortunately this did cause some routing ‘hiccups’, and the morning was slow going.

When we pulled into Callander for a break, we were cold and wet, but we found a laundrette to dry the kit whilst we had lunch. This was almost certainly one of the best decisions of the trip, especially as it stopped raining during our break! After lunch we headed onwards to Fort William, stopping for a quick coffee at Bridge of Orchy, before our final leg through the Cairngorms to Fort William.

Just as we left, we met two other LEJOG-ers (Tom and Kyle I think) and briefly cycled together. Unfortunately we were going a bit faster and had to go our separate ways again. However, the scenery during this last section was really stunning, and the time passed quickly. We eventually made it to Fort William Backpackers for the night and even managed to get our laundry done (excellent!).

Day 7 – Fort William to Ardgay
This was our latest start of the week, and we ambled out of bed around 8am, before getting breakfast from Morrisons and then heading out to Nevis Cycles to see if we could degrease and re-grease our chains after all the rain of the previous two days. The staff at the shop were extremely helpful, and we soon had the bikes back in good working order. It was however about 11am when we left…

Cycling along the Great Glen was quite scenic, albeit a little busy traffic-wise. We made good progress, and our first stop was at Fort Augustus, which was sadly a bit of a tourist-trap. The food at the cafe was rather poor and over-priced, and may even have been the cause of Andy’s food poisoning that took hold later that evening.

For our second stop, we found a nice new coffe shop in Dingwall. The food and drinks were both great, although the manager was perhaps trying too hard to please (it was a new cafe)!! The last leg up to Ardgay was slow, since Andy was feeling rather ill, but we did make it in the end, and some of the scenery was great. Avoided getting wet too, which is always good!

We pulled into the B&B at about 8.30 and found that the local inn had stoped serving. Thankfully our host was extremely nice, heating up some soup and making rolls. In all, our night was very very pleasant and breakfast good too (although Andy wasn’t up to much eating).

Day 8 – Ardgay to John O’Groats
We left the B&B at around 9am and headed over to Bonar Bridge to grab some supplies. On a sunny morning the views were fantastic.

(Bonar Bridge)

Following our host’s advice, we took an early stop at Shin Falls, where Salmon can be seen jumping up the river. Unfortunately we didn’t have long and I only glimpsed one Salmon! We continued up north through Lairg, and stopped off at the Crask Inn for a hot chocolate. The Inn is in the middle of nowhere, but very friendly and the drinks were nice too!

Further on up the road (towards the coast) were some of the quietest and most picturesque roads of the whole trip. A very enjoyable cycle indeed.

When we reached the coast, we had a stop in Bettyhill for lunch and then contiued along the coast towards John O’Groats. The cycling was hilly, and by this point Andy’s ilness and my knees were keeping the pace low. Nevertheless, we were making good time and after a short stop at Thurso, we made it to John O’Groats – an excellent feeling of acomplishment!