Cheers Mark !!!!!

Reflections of the North Coast 500

Its been 2 months since my North Coast 500 cycling adventure for Health in Mind.

I raised £1767.11 + £370.81 (gift aid) + £250 donation from my employer (the Royal London Group).  Which makes a final figure of a whopping £2387.92 from 87 donors !!

I cycled 572.3 mile in total over 12 days.

So why did I do it ? well mainly I wanted to raise awareness for  mental health issues, and I hope I have done that.  I hope people feel they don't need to feel ashamed and that its OK to talk about it.

The second reason was I just wanted to have an adventure. I wanted to do it solo and unsupported and somewhere I had never been before.  The north of Scotland didn't disappoint.  Its one of the most spectacular places I've even been and I had brilliant weather the whole time.  I wanted to show that you don't need to travel around the world to have an adventure, sometimes the best adventures are right on your doorstep !!!.

I hope you have enjoyed my blog and thanks for your donations to Health in Mind.

Here's a wee movie of my trip :

https://goo.gl/photos/UXrMPEivudUpVXR89

All the best and take care

Dean

Day 12, The final ride to Inverness

Sadly today was to be the final day of my amazing adventure, however I still had a challenging 60 mile cycle to deal with.  It was raining heavily when I woke up.  I had perfect weather for 2 weeks and on the last day it was lashing it down :-( .  I made my breakfast in sombre mood watching the rain fall and the fact it was the last day of the trip.

However by the time I finished up and started to get my kit together the rain stopped and the sun started to peep out from behind the clouds.  Maybe it was going to be a fine day after all !!!!!

The rain stops and the sun shines !!! 

OK, ready to go for the last time !!!

Today's ride was fairly sizeable, 63 miles but the NC500 route was sticking mainly to the A9.  I wasn't too keen on this as yesterday the traffic was getting busy.  I got a good tip from a guy in the hostel the previous evening, to take a quiet back road over the hills just past the Dornoch Firth to Alness called "The Struie".

The ride down across the Dornoch Firth was lovely not to busy and was along the coast.  I then turned off the A9 to Edderton then up across the Struie.  It was a great road quick hilly, but that's the way I like it !!!!!

I rejoined the A9 at Alness and had a coffee and bacon roll at the Skiach services.  The next section was horrendous.  Heavy traffic and lots of lorries zooming past fast and very close.  I was glad to get past the Cromarty bridge where most of the traffic seemed to be heading across.

Lunch stop today was in Dingwall.  Then the next stop was Muir of Ord.  I has now cycled full circle as I stayed here on my first night of the trip.  From now on I would be retracing my steps through Beauly back to Inverness.

No trip around Scotland is complete without a trip to a distillery, so I stopped of for a tour of the Glen Ord distillery for a drop of the 'Singleton'.

Glen Ord distillery.

Fancy a cask ?

Me and a still.

Spirit still.

Slainte !!!

A great last excursion and a nice wee dram.  So then it was the final 10 miles, through Beauly and back along the Beauly Firth into Inverness.  I watched my GPS count down the miles till 0, and I stopped outside the Train Station, the North Coast 500 was complete. !!!!!!!

Back to Inverness

Still smiling !!!

I parked my Boardy to the station, got changed out of sweaty lycra and went for a walk around the town.  The sun was shining and the pubs busy, so I headed to Johnny Foxes for a celebratory dinner (for 1 !!)

Thumbs up in Inverness

After that it was time to jump back on the train to Edinburgh, so I loaded "Boardy" up and headed home !!!!

Boardy heading home !!!

Lets just say I had a few beers on the train as I watched Scotland slide past me and I had time to reflect on what I had just done over the last 2 weeks.

I had cycled in total 598.2 miles and raised £1672.11 for Health in Mind.  I only had a target of £500 !!!!!


Final Route:

Day 11, Lazing about in Lairg !!!

After the monster 100 mile cycle I was going to have another rest day at Rogart,  I had a nice long lie in my train carriage and a yummy full Scottish breakfast to start the day.   I then had a "short" cycle to the village of Lairg for the day.  Lairg lies on the banks of Loch Shin, right in the centre of the "north" part of Scotland.  It has roads west to Ullapool, north to Durness and Tongue and East to Brora and Golspie so makes for a pretty good base cycling in the area.  Its a very beautiful area and I found it similar to the Scottish Borders.

Firstly I had a nice smoked salmon lunch at The Pier Cafe.

Wee hoose in the Loch where the 'Broons' live !!

Lunch at the Pier

The Pier Cafe.

After lunch I went to explore the Ferrycroft visitor centre.  Lots to discover here about the area and some  archaeological walks you can do nearby.  In the village they were setting up for the Lairg Crofting show which would have been a good thing to go to if I could stay another day.

Looking over Lairg.

Loch Shin

Loch Shin.

Lairg Pano

Lairg Selfie !!!

After that I cycled back to Rogart to my train carriage for my final night of the NC500 adventure, for tomorrow I was cycling back to Inverness !!!

Evening stroll in the hills at Rogart.

Today's cycle route:

Day 10, hitting the wall or hitting the tonne !!!!

This was the day I was sort of dreading.  I was looking forward to getting to John o'Groats and getting my photo taken there, but I can't say I was looking forward to the 100 mile cycle.  I was starting to have second thoughts about this stage, thinking that I might chop it in 2 and have a night in Wick, but I decided to see how it went.

I left Thurso early doors as it was going to be a long day.  The sun was shining and it was nice and warm all good omens for the day ahead.

Beautiful morning looking over to Orkney.

As I passed Gills Bay I noticed the Pentland firth ferry from St Margarets Hope, Orkney coming in so I pulled over to check it out.  It appears I am becoming a bit of a ferry "enthusiast"  !!!!  It was such a lovely day for sailing I was tempted to just jump aboard !!!.

Ferry reversing in.

A nice day for sailing.

Off she goes to Orkney.

After the ferry I then pushed on along the coast to John o'groats.  The road was flat and fast and it didn't take too long.  I got there before it was too busy with tourists.  I got the classic John o'groats photos before having coffee and breakfast in the cafe as the bus loads of tourists started to arrive.

Made it !!!!!

Time to head back to Edinburgh

"Arty" scupltures !!!

Before turning the bike south and heading for home I had to visit the famous Duncansby Head sea stacks.

Pano from Duncansby Head looking to Orkney.

Sea stacks at Duncansby Head.

Sea stacks at Duncansby Head.

I then turned Boardy south for the the final stage back toward home.  As I started south I had a last look back toward John o'groats and Orkney and it felt kind of sad that my adventure was coming to on end. However I couldn't dwell on it as I had I big day to get through.

I pushed on south on a fast road down to Wick.  That was 40 miles covered pretty quickly and I wasn't feeling to tired.  I decided to go for it and do the 100 miles, so pushed on through Wick.  It looked like I nice town so will go back there one day hopefully.

As I headed south I could see a few oil rigs out in the distance in the North sea.  By the time I got to the town of Lybster I was starting to feel tired and a bit hungry so I pulled over to the Waterlines visitor centre for lunch and had some nice soup.  It was a very interesting little museum about fishing, farming and the wildlife in  the area.

Lybster Harbour.

Lybster Harbour.

After  lunch it was onward to the south.  The sun was blazing, and as we left flat and fast Caithness roads we started to enter the hillier terrain of Sutherland.  As the day wore on the oil rigs gradually started to move behind me which was mentally tough going.  Then I hit the horror of the Berridale Braes.  A terrifying descent, followed a horrendous vertical climb.  I found this the toughest climb of the whole tour, even worse than the Bealach na'ba.

After that experience it was time for a coffee and cake stop at Helmsdale at the Timespan Gallery and Cafe.

Coffee and cake at Helmsdale.

Feeling refreshed after that stop I was ready for the last pull down through Brora and Golspie to the little village of Rogart.  I would be staying here for another rest day, so I decided to stay at the best hostel in Scotland, Sleeperzzz where you get to sleep in a railway car !!!!!

Welcome to Rogart !!!

My carriage awaits !!!

My room.

My room.

The toilet

The shower.

The kitchen.

The lounge.

Making dinner.

Rogart station.

The Corridor.

Sleeperzzz, Rogart.

Well, I survived my first 100 mile cycle, 102 miles in total !!!.  I now had 2 nights in this fantastic little hostel and a nice rest day tomorrow.  It was a great day, what cycle touring is all about !!!!!!

Route :

Day 9, Nuclear reactors and the bright lights of Thurso !!!

I had a nice quiet sleep in an empty dormitory in Tongue, ready for the next 50 miles of the trip.  I skimmed across the north coast of Scotland toward the my stop for the night in the town of Thurso.  I had my usual bowl of porridge for breakfast before setting off.  As per usual leaving Tongue offered the customary hill climb to get the heart started !!!!.

Leaving tongue

After about 5 miles on the main NC500 route I decided to take a bit of a detour along the coast through the village of Skerray.  It was a lovely cycle along the coast.  I stopped at the charming thatched village post office to send my postcards.

Skerray Harbour.

Skerray Harbour.

Skerray Post Office

Village main street.

Skerray greenhouse, (not many buses run here I guess !!)

After my wee detour around Skerray, the route went inland for a while, it was a lumpy ride and I was starting to flag a bit.  I made it to Bettyhill for my morning coffee.  I went to the tourist information centre and and cafe.  I just had a coffee as they were charging £5 for a bacon roll !!!!!

Do I go that way ?

I cycled on along the coast through Strathy getting hungrier and hungrier until I stopped for a well deserved pub lunch of sausage and chips at the Halladale Inn, Melvich.

The final stretch of coast road to Thurso, passed the Dounreay Nuclear reactor.  As I approached this massive site there was signs to the visitor centre.  I though this would be an interesting little excursion. so I pulled over to check it out.  However the "visitor" centre was a bit disappointing:

Dounreay visitor centre.

Yep the "visitor centre" consists of a picnic bench overlooking the site !!!!!.

Needless to say I didn't stop there too long before heading along to my final destination  Thurso !!!.

It was a bit strange arriving in a big town after a week in the wilds.  I soon found my accommodation for the night Sandra's backpackers.  Its a fairly bog standard "city" backpackers, however it was clean, compact, the owner was very friendly and they provided free tea/coffee/biscuits and you get breakfast thrown in also, which was great.

After settling in I went to the Caithness visitor centre which had lots of info and history of Thurso and thankfully lots of information about the Dounreay reactor !!!!!

Reactor control room in the Caithness visitor centre.

I then took a walk down to Scrabster to watch the Orkney ferry arrive and depart.  In the evening I headed over to the Y-Not bar and grill for dinner and a few beers before the big 100 miler tomorrow !!!!

The worlds most northerly palm tree in Scrabster.

The "Hamnavoe" in Scrabster harbour.

The "Hamnavoe" in Scrabster harbour.