Tongue to John O'Groats, then back to Mey

OMG! More than 70 miles on a hilly, single track road into 20mph head winds. I managed an average speed of 12.8 mph and felt I'd done really well.

The scenery along the north coast of Scotland is amazing. It's very hilly on the western side, but it gradually eases as you head east. The flowers that were missing yesterday made an appearance today - miles and miles of yellow flowering gauze, pink heather, yellow iris, enormous ox-eye daisies - the works. Then, as you got further east, field after field of sheep (+ lambs), horses (+ fowls) and cows (+ calves)

The skies were clear and there were fantastic views across the Atlantic to the Islands (Rabbit Island, Storma and (eventually) Orkney).

A pleasant mix-up with the Heart Rate Monitor meant that for the first time in my life I'd ridden for nearly two hours, honestly believing that I'd only just managed an hour when I stopped for my first break.

I was thoroughly exhausted by the time I got to John O'Groats, and (briefly) fed up. It's such a tiny place. I got there 'late' (just after 6) so everything was shut and deserted. The sign had been taken down; there was no food and no coffee and no-one to talk tocelebrate with. Add to that the fact that I was so tired that I couldn't even begin to contemplate getting back on the bike to ride the 7 miles back to the B&B in Mey and you can see where I'm coming from.

But hang around for a little while and other cyclists start to come through, the pain eases and you begin to cheer up: a heavily bearded man from Dundee arrives - he'd ridden from Land's End to York, then up the east coast of England and Scotland - a longer route than mine but done in the same time; two club racing cyclists who'd ridden in 6 days with a club mate offering domestique services (carrying the luggage, organising food/drink etc) from the 'team car') and a guy who was riding on his own, with his wife working domestique who claimed to have completed the ride in 4 days.

We swapped stories and took photo's for each other, then I headed for the nearest pub to get something to eat. The others waited for a bunch ride to finish - another group of cyclists raising money for Aids in Africa (Race against time), who were said to be completing the ride in a week.

At the pub, I met a man who'd ridden a route similar to mine in the same time, but all the fingers on his right hand were missing. There was a also a lady who'd ridden a similar route, taken slightly longer but who'd camped/carried a huge amount of camping equipment the whole way.

Finally, there was an elderly gentlemen who'd spent 61 days walking from Land's End. Humbling.

(No tractors this year, and no tractor groupies - perhaps I was just too late?)

I finished my meal with my first pudding in a fortnight (Clootie Dumpling) and then headed back to Mey (7 miles back towards Thurso) to the B&B.

Total miles so far: 1,037.87
Total calories: 45, 953
Number of end to enders: too many to count (or too tired and too lazy)

Watched another wonderful sunset at 11pm.