Day 15

Thurso to John O'Groats

Went to bed last night feeling optimistic we only had 20 miles to go. However, we awoke to the worst storm I've ever cycled in with 50mph +winds coming off the North coast. At John O'Groats when the north wind is blowing there is no land mass before the arctic to break the wind. We were further north than Gothenburg and Moscow and wind chill factor must have been below zero. The sheep were hiding behind walls, branches were being blown off trees and we had to cycle leaning intothe North West wind which otherwise would have blown us off. t took under two hours to get to John O'Groats and it was without doubt the toughest part of the journey. At times when cycling directly into the wind we were pedalling in our lowest gears even on downhill sections.
When we arrived we felt more relieved than elated. The weather was that bad we ran to the missing John O'Groats sign, quickly took a photo and ran into the cafe to shelter from signs and bins being blown over. Like Lands End the official fingerpost had been removed. In Lands End we were too early to pay the £5 to have our picture taken, in John O'Groats the official photographer had not turned up for work because of the weather.
In the cafe, which is only open for three more weeks before it closes for the winter; we sat next to the radiator and began to thaw out. We were joined by another cyclist in the cafe whose friend had abandoned the ride 20 miles before the finish to phone a taxi because of the dangerous conditions. When his friend arrived in the taxi, they
postponed their journey by one hour and let us loan their taxi for the 18 mile trip Wick. The £22 taxi ride to Wick including bike carriage was worth every penny and two cyclists from Bath saved us from the early onset of hypothermia and the dangers caused by the high wind.
Thanks for all texts and messages today. I'm now on the sleeper train from Inverness to Crewe.

Stats
403 feet climbed
20 miles cycled

Final stats

Total mileage

1005 miles

48000 feet climbed