Day 13 - LEJoG

Day 13 was our last long day on the road. We had 73 miles to do from Bonar Bridge to Wick where we planned to stay the night and leave the last 18 miles to John O'Groats for the next day. During the ride from Cromarty they day before I noticed the onset of some pain above my right ankle. It grew worse as we finished the ride the day before and I was becoming concerned by the time we reached Bonar bridge. Some rest and anti inflammatories certainly helped and it was a lot the better the next day as we set off for Wick up the A9 coastal road. In my head some alarm bells were ringing though and I was worried. I made sure i spent the day spinning in lower gears to reduce the loading and for the first 20 miles it was fine then i was aware of it again and i knew this was not going away. We started to see signs for John O'Groats and realised how close we were to completing the ride and pressed on gently with steady speed along the coast road.




It was with about 50 miles to go that the weather closed in and the rain started. We battled against headwinds too and Gary for the first time in most of the trip rode on the front to reduce the load on my leg. Anything I could do to protect it from getting worse I was doing. It was one long road so no complex navigation required! It was brilliant and a huge help and I enjoyed the tow. Thanks Gazza.








The road was really quite pretty and then we hit Helmsdale where there are two large climbs but nothing bigger than anything we hadn't seen in the Cairngorms and actually we walked the steepest again to reduce the loading on my tendon.







Then the road levelled out and wind and rain was our enemy. It was a long cold drag onto Wick and the cloud was so low and visibility so low Gary moved to ride behind me again as his red jacket was more visible to oncoming traffic. We could see about 50 yards in front and it was a busy road with a lot of traffic.

There were numerous towns marked on the map ahead and we planned to stop at the next one with a tea stop for a chance to rest and warm up with a cup of tea. However it seems someone from the highways department had been bored one day as they drove this long road to Wick. It were as if they had stopped at random intervals and created signs from towns choosing the letters in the same way 'Countdown' contestants do, Bruan, Whaligoe, Ulbster, Thrumster. None of them seemed to exist as places though and no tea shops so we just pressed on and made it to Wick eventually. We took some brief respite in the bus stop for a snack and stretch.




That was it the last full days ride with luggage and we were booked in to Mackay's Hotel in the centre of Wick. It was a fabulous little hotel and we felt immediately at home. I had booked a deluxe room and we walked in dripping wet and cold to find that the room was fitted with a spa bath and a bottle of bubbles were cooling nicely. We hadn't quite done the last 18 miles but it was pretty well a formality the next day so we felt entitled to celebrate and relax.




I was a little sad that the weather had been so bad. I had really looked forward to this ride up the coastal road through parts of Scotland I had never seen before. Its a shame we didn't see much of it. However the knowledge of what we had achieved to get there and the number of days of good weather that we did enjoy it was only fair that we had a few days of bad weather too.

We ate that night in the Bistro in the hotel and had a lovely meal and a couple more glasses of wine than we would generally allow ourselves. The hotel recognised Gary's recent significant birthday then we collapsed into a deep sleep before the final leg.