Our journey began at 5.30am as Mr and Mrs Pat drove us to
Luton airport. A punctual flight and we were soon hurtling (literally)
north in the comfort of our Inverness guide, Gavin’s Land Rover. Nervous and
excited in equal measure we were given an excellent guide to the area by Gavin
as well as getting a sneak preview of the climbs in store. Meanwhile Mark
and Bill were already in Scotland and after a rendezvous in the hire car lot
set off up the A9 in the support van to join the rest of the group.
A general team “faff” ensued in the John O’Groats car park
as we took an hour to get changed, set up bikes and so on. Well,
technically we took half an hour and Pat took a further half hour. He
managed to puncture without actually mounting his steed and then faffed about
with at least two other tubes before finally settling on a long valved version.
A quick photo by the harbour and finally we were on the
way. A fairly gentle start and we made good progress waving
enthusiastically at the other end to enders who were completing their
journey. We gave up counting at about 20 which only took 30
minutes. There is a beauty to the bleakness of the landscape, however the
first big hill at Dunbeath soon focussed our minds. The second climb at
Berridale Braes was a real sharpener at 13%. This slowed us considerably and
having started after 3pm we were in a mad dash to be at the hotel in time for
dinner. Bill, our soigneur, driver, photographer, bag carrier and chief
supporter was doing a sterling job stopping every 10 miles or so to refill
bottles pass round flapjacks and keep us all going.
Despite the steep hills (max height 758ft) and the 76.7 mile
afternoon ride we managed 15.7 mph. Not bad considering the 5.30 am start in
Kesgrave! We settled in for a quick meal at Trentham Hotel, good “home
made” food, rooms also a little “home made” (needs a little TLC, but did the
job).
Faff of the day winner: Pat for his car park tyre-change
marathon
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