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Day 14: Thurso to JOHN O’GROATS

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Firstly… yeeaaaghhh!!!!!!! Whooooohh!!! Secondly, I really struggled to get out of bed this morning. I knew this wasn’t the day to sleep in and miss my transport to Inverness (I was booked on a three-hour minibus transfer at 2pm) … so I dragged myself up and headed over to breakfast at 8:30am. No food last night aside from a bag of crisps (and three Moretti) despite a heavy day on the bike. Strangely, I didn’t feel like much breakfast either though I did have a few sausages and a couple of other bits. My legs - and body - felt tired after the last few days, but did know that I would be ok once I was on the bike…. and I was was. At last… rollin’! Final countdown  I’d got so close to John o’Groats due to my extended rides of recent days; I was only around 25 miles away. This didn’t seem like a normal day. A slight (one-person!) party atmosphere … I was playing cheesy music when getting ready, and it spilled over to later on (see below!). It was not yet ‘over’ - I know I am very capab...
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Day 13: Laing to Thurso

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Well that was a tale of two halves! From views that were truly sublime to a headwind that was nothing but utterly ridiculous. Laing to Tongue The day started well. The Laing Highland Hotel was a really nice - if slightly retro - little place, with lovely staff. They did a nice breakfast at a set time, and it was nice to see a little ‘Reserved for Room 3’ plaque with orange juice and Crunchy Nut Cornflakes waiting for me when I came down. Don’t be mistaken…  that was just the warm up for my daily Full Scottish! Tasty it was too. I’m going to get withdrawal symptoms without my daily fix of that once this trip is over I reckon. I suspected that it would be a long day though… I struggled walking up a flight of stairs back to my room… aching legs… not great! Hit the road, Jack The weather was fantastic; the first half of the ride had easily the best weather of the past two weeks! Too hot for a gilet… and I was really regretting my life choices by wearing a black top and black bib shorts...
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Day 12: Findhorn Viaduct to Lairg

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What. A. Day!! If started off at the wild camping place after another poor night of sleep. It was better than the night before but was still not enough, and it also started raining during the night. As well as disturbing my sleep, I had to pack up with everything getting soaking wet. I was so tired. I had breakfast nearby and the tiredness really hit me even more. The packing up took ages (my dodgy back and hands aching from holding handlebars all day didn’t help), and I started riding really late again; probably gone 11:30am.  It ended up being an epic day in the end though!  On the road and heading North Firstly I rode to Inverness, where the rain started. I found a nice cafe with a rainbow flag proudly displayed on a decorative bike placed outside. It also didn’t serve milk, everything was plant based. An oat milk latte and amazing chocolate orange brownie it was then. I presume they didn’t have dairy in the brownie either, but damn it tasted fine. I couldn’t tell any diffe...
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