Day 11

100 miles to go. Earlier start than usual and another lovely tailwind. Dramatic skies of dark clouds and blue skies. We flew along for 20 miles before finding a perfect spot for a quick pie overlooking a highland loch. From there we followed along a valley, dropping slowly towards the sea and the north coast. It would seem to be the hay making season in Scotland and we too were making hay while the sun shone, and more importantly, the wind blew on our backs.

We arrived at Bettyhill (married to Graham), at around 12 with 40 miles behind us, and were generously donated a round of scones from the hotel for our efforts. The finish line was not quite in sight, but round the corner and over the hill, so we made a few calls to bring forward our travel arrangements home to Bristol, committing ourselves now to the final 55 miles.

Suitably refreshed and anointed with increasingly essential creams, we pedalled off eastwards into a 20mph south easterly wind and some rather lumpy terrain. Ahhah! Some lejoggers have to put up with headwinds for most of their trips, but we had been blessed up to that point. I crouched down, hands on the drops of the bars and pedalled as hard as I could - it read 8mph on my GPS!

The next 35 miles were a real slog but very exhilirating with the beautiful coast line and the battle with the wind - at least the sun was still out. We reached Thurso 20 miles short of JOG, and refuelled at a seaside café, smashing a vase, Greek style in celebration. One last essential application and then we set out to complete our ride. We diverted inland to avoid being blown into the path of a German camper van and toiled once again into the teeth of the wind.

We spotted the lighthouse on the horizon and counted the miles down, extremely slowly, on the GPS. Not so soon it was measuring the distance in hundreds of feet, not miles and we arrived at Duncansby Heads lighthouse. Not the tacky John o'Groats tourist sign for the two Jameses, we opted instead for the extra mile and the exposed lighthouse. We snapped a few self timers and then disturbed a bird watcher from his Archers fix to take the finishing line picture.

The previous 10 miles or so, I has been dreaming of what the finishing line prize might be, however my continental style touring coach with on board toilet did not materialise. Instead we team time-trialled the further 18 miles into Wick with yet more headwind. Wick-ed! 117 miles today, 99 miles to finish the lejog route. Average speed 12.6 mph. Job done. More reflections perhaps later. Right now I am tired...
Love and more peas (I've missed them), J