The Golspie Inn was very welcoming with a good menu which Rob would have enjoyed more had he not had a bag of chips on his arrival in the village!
I did not partake of the food for obvious reasons.
Today we woke up with rain lashing against the window. I believe the South enjoyed this weather on Sunday.
We set off up the coastal road (A9) into a Northerly wind laced with chilled water. Mmm nice ! Within 20 minutes we were all soaked to the skin. We stopped at Helmsdale at a roadside cafe to drip dry a little and warm up with teas and coffees.
The proprietor gave Martin his best offer of the day when mopping up our drips on the floor, he asked her if she could mop us down as well to which she replied: "get your kit off then !!"
We pressed on up the coast and almost stopped at Dunbeath but didn't because when you stop you loose all your heat. Unfortunately the bloke with the buckets of water at the side of the road had been to Halfords and had armed himself with a new pressure washer which he was having great fun with, much to our annoyance.
Wick was very, very welcome, some 52 miles of cycling through the wind and rain later.
We booked in to our B&B and showered and tried to dry our cycle clothes a bit. At about 6:45pm once it had stopped raining, we all donned our partially wet gear and set off for the last 17 miles to John O'Groats. The wind this time was the thing to deal with, gusting 30mph from the North. Oh whoop-ee!
We eventually arrived at 8:30pm. They had taken the sign down and the wind freshened to about a force eight, making some of the cycling somewhat comical.
Martin & I had ordered a taxi to take us & the bikes back to Wick. I'd have put money on Rob joining us but he chose to ride back instead !
So there we have it. End to end in 12 days on bicycles ( and a little bit of train for me when I was sick)
Looking forward to being back home tomorrow night with my family.
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