The "Are we nearly there yet?" Tour 2011: Yes We Are!

We awoke overlooking a dry and sunny Wick harbour. After breakfast we left with the prospect of just 17 miles left to go to reach John O'Groats.

I stopped at the out of town Tesco (they are taking over the world!) to buy a small bottle of Champagne with which to celebrate. Only one small problem - it was 9:10 and you can't buy alcohol until 10:00 (even if it was the smallest bottle ever!) We weren't going to wait.

The miles fairly flew by, helped no end by the fantastic views and a good tailwind, soon we reached the top of heather hill with just 2 miles to go. We coasted down the last 2 miles taking in the breathtaking views, stopping for a few photos by the sign to the village.

We had our picture taken at the sign, in front of the abandoned hotel and headed into the cafe for a celebratory large coffee and an eccles cake! After arriving at 11, We probably spent an hour at John O'Groats, making calls and taking in the experience. The 'village' is as depressing as Lands End is 'tacky' - hopefully the 6 million investment will improve the area and boost the local economy.

There was no crowd, no bunting, no adoring fans but none of that mattered we had cycled from Lands End to John O'Groats and while neither destination is fantastic the journey certainly was.

And it wasn't quite over yet....

We now had to cycle to Thurso which was about 20 miles away but we couldn't go passed Dunnet Head without going up to see the most Northerly Point of Mainland Britain could we. The views were stunning and only tempered by the strong headwind and eight extra miles to cycle! We made it to Thurso about 4:00 and dashed off to the bike shop. Bikes disassembled, packed and carried off to the Post Office for 5:29!

I will do a final summary tomorrow with all the stats etc and final thoughts but thanks again to everyone who has supported and sponsored us - it really did make a difference.

Martin