LEJOG day 11

The sun was shining over Dornoch when we left Highfield Guest House (highly recommended) although the blue skies gave little clue of what was to come. As usual the last minute preparations were fairly frantic, searching out gels, & bars for Richard, chamois cream, sunglasses and Sarah's phone which had a habit of disappearing.

After our normal rush & although we wanted to be on the road early (we'd have more time to celebrate & Andy would be able to catch the end of the footie!) we took the time to have the final departure photo.

Despite only getting lost when we departed from our preplanned route we had decided to take the unclassified coast road as "Luigi" had suggested it cut out a nasty section of the A9 and was very pretty. He wasn't wrong the Dornoch coastline was stunning & we were treated to a variety of wildlife including seals basking in the sunshine.

We were making good time along the rolling A9 when the weather changed! Sarah pointed out some low cloud over the hills wondering if rain jackets might be an idea, Andy thought it would only be a short shower & there was no point stopping to find out where the support car was (which had been distinctly absent that morning Ken & Allison were photographing dragons & pipers!) 

Within minutes we were pedalling through snow & hail and it was bl***y freezing, so cold that Andy couldn't feel his fingers. Out of nowhere support arrived towels and extra layers meant we could get on our way rolling throgh more stunning scenery.



The road surfaces were great and on one long descent we raced to hit top speeds of close to 50mph  the downside being that we had to climb up the other side ;)

         

    

              

During the rides it was always good to keep an eye out for our keenest supporteres, the dragons, who would often pop up in the most unexpected places....

After 10 & half days we finally arrive in John O'Groats to be greeted by Allison & Ken armed with champagne, cameras & cakes! By this time it was absolutely Baltic so much so that Ken lost the feeling in his fingers & didn't manage to video us arriving - which was probably a good thing as we managed to take a wrong turn over the carpark at the last minute.

Relief & big smiles all round!





As John O'Groats has very little to offer apart from its northerly location we headed back to Dornoch. Where you might have guessed we had a few celebratory drinks, stripped out of our lycra, shed the grey hoodies and grinned like idiots.

Team celebrations at Dornoch Castle Hotel