Day 10 - Helmsdale to John o Groats

And now...

Breakfast on day ten was a buoyant affair.  Lots of jokes being swapped as the team sat down to its last guilt free big breakfast before we would have to start watching our calorie intakes again.

It was made more buoyant by the fact that knew we had the toughest 17 miles of the day out of the way.  Those three hills between Helmsdale and Dunbeath are truly breathtaking and very reminiscent of the horseshoe pass near Llangollen that thankfully we had all trained on. The knowledge that they were not in our path to John O Groats now and we could drive to the top and continue our journey was very uplifting.

Wick away

The ride this morning was slightly odd though.  There was 36 miles to go when we left the van at the tea room on top of the hill outside Dunbeath which normally would take us around 3 hours to ride on one  of our training sessions.  However, nobody seemed to want to race this distance away and instead we settled into a more gentle pace and really began to look around and chat as we made the trip.

For most of the journey we rode two aside chatting away to each other.  The level of conversation has always been a good indicator of the mood of the group.  The hour dash from Perth to Peebles there was practically none for instance whereas this morning was filled with laughter and chatter as we pushed along the very north of Scotland.

There were discussions about how we felt, what it had meant, what would we do at the end and (importantly from my perspective) was crying allowed when we got there?

After a brief stop in Tesco in Wick, where a few of us got the food we had actually ordered as the staff (Richard) struggled with the drinks machine buttons, we were chatting to two guys who were waiting for the airport having just completed the trip.  They had done it unsupported over 19 days ad the stories they told of the human kindness they had encountered, people genuinely wanting to help them, were touching.

We got back on the bikes and headed off to the final stop on this tour.

Rolling finish

Approaching John o Groats you sweep down to the coastal path near where Donald Trump would like to build a new golf complex.  If the wind yesterday is anything to go by you would need to learn to hit punch shots and run shots PDQ to be anything like successful on it but I digress.  We had to climb up one last hill to finally get the view of the finish line.

As a group we stopped in the layby at the top overlooking the sea and then started to roll down into John O Groats.  When I say roll i mean it. In this case we litereally rolled.  Not much pedal power was exerted or considered and gravity pulled the four of us to our destination.

We had made a promise on the top of the hill that having started at Lands End together we would roll across the line into the John O Groats car park together as well.  And that is exactly what we did. At a pace of about 3 mph.  Personally, I was glad of this.  The wave of emotion and pride in the team that swept over me coming down that hill hit hard and looking up was a challenge, cycling practically impossible.  Lets just say I was very grateful for my mirrored sunglasses :-).

Team together at the finish line

We crossed the line and then headed for the official signpost for the photos below.  Calls were made to loved ones and it was amazing how quickly the news spread with messages and calls then coming back to us practically within seconds as the news broke onto Facebook.  I now know how football teams must feel when a transfer is about to take place.

We had a photo like this 9 and a half days ago.

Having posed for photos from multiple angles with David Bailey Bob we headed back to the visitor centre to sign the book to confirm we were End to Enders.  We also signed the book on behalf of our support drivers who we could not have done without.  Bob, Mike and Barry a great thanks and your names are also in the book as part of our team.

The last thing on our agenda was to get ice cream from the shop which was fantastic and we could then load up the van, board it and head to Fort William for our celebratory meal.

Heather

You may or may not remember Richard asking for some motivational songs to put into his Ipod.  Thanks to Stephen who chose Proud by Heather Small which was a great choice.  This song was in my head most of this morning as we were coming closer and closer to making this achievement. Just as the van made the jump to light speed outside of John O Groats, the question in the chorus filled my mind.

"What have you done today to make you feel Proud?".  This.