63 miles, approx 4,300 feet of climb, 5 hours (and a bit) on the bike, 29 degrees and sunny!
So, we’ve arrived in Brora. There’s not a lot to say about the place really, it’s clearly seen better times, and now only has one pub, run by an Englishman, which has an amazing Whisky selection. The also sell chicken goujons, and half pound burgers. I had both. Abd two bananas. And two magnums...
The day itself has been an absolute scorcher, the thermometer reached as high as 29.3 degrees. This is lovely if you’re say, on a beach. Not so lovely if you’re say, going up a 13% incline, whilst staring at a beach in the distance.
We set off from John o’ Groats early enough (8.45ish?) with a decent breakfast in us, throughout the day we saw many people I’d befriended on twitter, including a trio that call themselves ‘The Fifty Stoners’ as that’s what they weigh between them. We knocked out the first (fairly flat) 35 miles in record time but knew we had three tough climbs to follow...we certainly did. The Berridale pass was a 13% incline, but although I had to stop three times to grab a drink (it was around 1pm and has the heat of the day) I managed to get up the hill without walking. The same could not be said for a few others I saw or passed...this made me enormously proud.
So we’ve been out and had some dinner. I have an achey knee and ankle, but am about to spray both with deep freeze, and then it’s bed time! It’s 8.05pm.
We do it all again tomorrow but I think there are fewer hills. At least I hope there are...
Another bloody hill, me and Matt.
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