The wind seemed
to have dropped somewhat by the morning. We only had 40 or so miles
to reach John o' Groats so we were expecting a fairly easy day.
How wrong we were to be proved!
The scenery
continued to be desolate for some time but started to improve as
we got nearer to Thurso. Our hostess at Strathy had advised us to
leave the main road part way along and take the minor roads to Thurso
since they are less hilly. Whether this was good advice we don't
know but the wind made it such hard work all the way that any route
would have been difficult. Progress was painfully slow as the wind
increased in strength again, though not quite as strong as the day
before. It was on this section that we realised that the middle
chainring was just about worn out - the chain kept jumping if we
applied too much pressure. The roads were more or less flat all
the way to John o' Groats so that helped a little.
Thurso is a
surprising place. After travelling through such remote, desolate
country and knowing that you are so far north, you don't expect
to ride into such a "normal looking" country town with all the usual
amenities and shops. It was good to stop for a while though - we
were tired, cold, and ready for a cup of hot chocolate and a chance
to warm up in a coffee shop. It was difficult to drag ourselves
back out to continue the struggle.
The above makes
it sound as if the experience was terrible. In truth, while it was
a struggle, it felt worse at the time because we were at the end
of a very long ride with the added obstacle of the wind. We were
both getting to the end of our energy reserves. However, it was
no more difficult than the struggle along side Loch Naver the day
before, which we'd laughed our way along.
Having left
Thurso, we knew it was only about 20 miles to journey's end and
this kept us going. A break at a picnic site outside Castletown
on the shore of Dunnet Bay refreshed us for the last section although
it was very cold sitting at the picnic table in the wind. As we
continued on, the Castle of Mey was seen over the fields but the
Queen Mother didn't pop out to cheer us on. We learnt later that
she wasn't coming up until the following week so that probably explained
it.
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