Tuesday July 8, 2014

We had a lovely breakfast at our B&B and headed to the train station at 8:00am.  We had reserved our bikes on the train and were surprised to discover another bike already on the train.  Franz a German touring cyclist who had also cycled LeJog was already on the train with his bike.  There was only room for two bikes!

We got Ralf’s bike in place and then manhandled mine to fit behind the seat near the luggage area.  The train guard came through and said you can’t leave that there.  We explained we had all reserved places for our bikes – yes he said there is room in the other carriage.  My bike then got moved to the other carriage.

The train journey was 4.5 hours long and we chatted to Franz for the majority of the journey.  He has done several long touring rides in Europe including one through Poland and into Russia.  The last three trips have been for a charity to raise money for children in institutions in Romania.

The train had to stop for 8 minutes in Invergordon.  This has to be one of the nicest railway stations in Scotland.

We got our bikes of the train in Inverness without incident and cycled to the car rental place to pick up our van.  We thought we were getting a small van but it ended up being quite a big van.  Both bikes fitted in with the panniers left on and room to spare.

It was a rather hair-raising drive.  Ralf tended to hug the white line on my side and often their was no shoulder or the kerb would drop away.  I mentioned to him a couple of times that he was over the white line, he commented better that way than being hit by the vehicle coming in the opposite direction.  The roads were rather narrow in places.  We took the A82 all the way to Fort William, we drove along Loch Ness – didn’t spot Nessie.

We went through Ben Nevis and  the Trossachs, along Loch Lomond, it was a beautiful drive with spectacular scenery.  We stopped as often as we could to take photos.

We stopped at this area to take a better photo of Ben Nevis and surrounding mountains and came across this monument for the Commandos who trained in this area.

It so much better by bike, you really feel the scenery. In a car I felt a little detached from it, very beautiful, but not really connected to my surroundings.

We arrived in Troon at about 7:30, we checked out the ferry terminal and I spoke to someone to see if we could get tickets for tomorrows crossing to Larne.  He didn’t think there would be a problem, but to arrive at 9:15a.m.  if possible.

We drove over to Ayr where we had to drop of the van and got something to eat.  We had already decided to sleep in the van, save some money and be at the car rental place as soon as it opened.  That way, we would be able to cycle the 12.5 ks back to Troon in plenty of time to get tickets and the ferry.

While we were rolling out our sleeping mats and sleeping bags, a security guard came around and asked us what we were doing.  We explained we were too late to drop the van of, and we needed to be back in Troon for the ferry, so were were going to sleep in the van.  “Na’e problem, we have had a problem with fly tipping (illegal dumping) I just had to check uuu oot – be careful g’neat”

We were settled in and asleep late (11:00)

Monday July 7, 2014

We made it, not that there was any doubt, we arrived in John O’Groats at 10:15ish this morning. We cycled a total of 1,665 ks (1,034 miles).

We had a lovely cooked Scottish breakfast (which includes black pudding, if you want it), Ralf did, blugh!

We left the B&B at 8:30 and motored to John O’Groats, we had a great tail wind and covered the 27 odd ks in less than 1.5 hours, which doesn’t seem too fast but on loaded touring bikes it is pretty quick.  I had a big grin on my face all the way.  The scenery was lovely, but the grin was due to the fact that LeJog was almost done.

We could see a rain storm on the horizon but fortunately the wind was strong and kept blowing it ahead of us.  That is the way we like it.

As we headed to John O’Groats about 6 kms short of the end we passed two German touring cyclist who cheerfully told us we had 6ks to go.  They had finished their End to End yesterday.

We arrived at John O’Groats and took photos, as usual we offered to take photos of a couple who were taking separate photos of each other, he reciprocated for us and took some really good photos.

We stopped in the café and had a coffee and bought a little bottle of Pulteney 12 year old Malt Whiskey to celebrate. (Pultenay distillery is in Wick).  At 10:40 we were drinking whiskey, the family on the table next to us noticed us celebrating and then chatted to us about our End to End and our journey.  Lovely family.

Of course on the way back, we hit the tailwind which became a full on headwind, Ralf took the lead and I had a lovely ride back to Wick drafting Ralf all the way. Thanks my love.

The scenery in this area is lovely with Broch\’s, and coastal views.

We settled into our B&B (the Netherby) and had a lovely shower.  We needed to do a load of washing before heading to Ireland and as we had plenty of time, I asked Alison (our host) if there was a Laundromat in town – she offered to do the washing for us.  We went for a wander around Wick and by the time we came back our laundry was clean, folded and outside our room – Thank you Alison.

Wick is a contrast of dowdy grey buildings and a pretty harbor.  I am not sure how to describe Wick, the initial view of Wick is a dowdy grey town.  The downtown is not a pretty site, a lot of closed stores and very dysfunctional.  We couldn’t find the Tourist Information centre and the railway station is hidden. However, if you look behind the main street we found a pretty harbor, a floral clock, and a couple of walks, but they are well hidden.

Ebenezer Street is listed in the Guinness World Book of Records as the smallest street in the world. It was constructed in 1883, when the 1 Ebenezer Place building was built. This building was a hotel at that time, and the owner was asked by the town council to print a name on the shortest side of Mackay’s Hotel. He did so, and the world’s shortest ‘street’ was born, although not officially approved as a street for four years because it took that long to get the required Ebenezer Place door in place. Today, Ebenezer Place contains only a single address because there is no room for another and No 1. Bistro remains part of MacKay’s Hotel.

Tomorrow we leave Wick by train to Inverness and then drive to Ayr ready for Leg 4 – Ireland.

Sunday July 6, 2014

I woke up early (5:00) and dozed until 6:00 when we started our morning routine of packing up the tent.  We had a good breakfast of scrambled eggs, fruit and yogurt and left the campsite by 8:15.

I knew we had some hills to climb today, but I was feeling good.  The sun was out and warm.  We had one fairly steady climb into the village of Hemsdale.

Ralf was taking a few photos from the bridge as we entered Hemsdale and spotted this monument to the Emigrants.

In the late 18th century well into the 19th century, Highland estates moved from arable and mixed farming, which supported a large tenant population, to the more profitable sheep-farming. Surplus tenants were ‘cleared’ off the estates from about 1780; and the Clearances were ongoing nearly 70 years later at the time of the potato famine in 1846.

Not all clearances were brutal, but some were. Nor were they confined to the Highlands. But the Highland experience was the most traumatic. The Highland Clearances devastated Gaelic culture and clan society, driving people from the land their families had called home for centuries. This monument was to remember the emigrants that went far and wide to new countries including Canada, New Zealand, and Australia.

I chatted to another end to ender a fella from Liverpool who had decided to do a triple – Lands End to John O’Groats – John O’Groat to Lands End and back again – now that is crazy.  He had finished his first leg in 9 days – of course he is supported and is staying at B&Bs.  He turned to his support driver and said this is the way it should be done.  I’m not so sure, if we could afford to do it B&B I think we would.

The hill out of Hemsdale wasn’t too bad, but the one after that was 13%.  It was a tough long climb.  After that it was a dipsy doodle kind of ride up and down, for the most part we had a tail wind.

Lunch time we stopped in a small village with very bazaar parking rules.  Actually I don’t think they had any rules at all, everyone seemed to park where they wanted to parallel, angle parking, double parking and even triple parking.  We were very careful leaving the village.

After lunch the weather changed the temperature dropped from 23 degrees to 16 degrees and the wind changed direction from a tail wind to head wind – that just isn’t fair.

When we arrived in Wick it was raining and cold, we couldn’t find the Information Centre but I asked how much it was to stay in the hotel – 100 pounds!!  She told me about other guest houses and B&Bs.  We are staying at a very nice guest house – we got a deal for cash, still expensive at 70 pounds but at least we are dry and warm and the blog is updated.  Tomorrow we are staying at another B&B, because we have to be at the train station for 7:45, train leaves at 8:15 for Inverness.  The campsite is 2 miles out of town.  We deserve to spoil ourselves after this ride.

Tomorrow we ride to John O’Groats and back again 55ks with photos and a dram of whiskey to prove it.

Saturday July 5, 2014

Had a bit of a lie-in this morning (7:00) and on the road by 9:00.  I felt good as we started off, but at some stage my legs left me behind and I had no energy for about 15 kms.  Sometimes your mind starts arguing with you – I knew we had about a 75 k ride to do, I looked at a traffic sign and did the calculations in my head from miles to kilometres and realized I had to cycle 80 ks – now usually 5 ks is nothing, but for some reason I was also calculating how far we had cycled, the time it had taken and how much longer I had to be cycling that day.  Mind games, sometimes you have to ignore them other times you cannot.  That was my problem this morning.

On the opposite side of the Firth from our warmshowers host house is Invergordon.  It is an industrial town with the prime industry being the repair of oil rigs.

After lunch the legs came back and I finished the ride feeling strong.  At our lunch stop was this Scottish air ambulance, raising money and awareness of the work that they do.  It turned for this perfect side view shot before flying away.

It rained on and off during the morning, maybe that was part of my problem as well – I am definitely solar powered. As we came down one hill the road sign said watch out for otters. Unfortunately, we don\’t usually stop to take photos when we are hurtling down a hill, especially if you can use the momentum to get halfway up the other side.  Ralf on the other hand couldn\’t resist taking a photo of this dam, not far from where the otter sign was – he didn\’t see any otters.

This was the first road sign that we have seen with John O\’Groats on it – we are going in the right direction.

I didn\’t know Scotland had a county called Sutherland.

We arrived in Brora and stopped to pick up some provisions for dinner.  A fella stopped to talk to us who was from Toronto.  We carried on to our campsite just outside of Brora where it started to rain, we chatted to the owner and I had an ice-cream, by the time I had finished my ice-cream it had stopped and was a lovely evening.  After setting up the tent we went for a walk.  We crossed a golf course and there was a lovely quiet beach.  In Australia the golf hazards were kangaroos, in Scotland the golf hazards are cows and sheep.

The last time we camped next to the sea was in Australia.  We went to sleep listening to the surf.

Early to bed tonight 8:30 pm.

Friday July 4, 2014

Happy 4^th July to our American friends.

Another awesome day on the bikes.  We followed NCR Route 7, which kept us away from the A9 until Inverness, then we had to follow the A9 for a while before heading out to Culbockie where our warmshowers hosts live.

Today was a day of bridges.  We passed this lovely bridge in Carrstairs. It was an old pack horse bridge and in the evening it is illuminated.

Then we spotted this tressel bridge in Moy which is the last remaining wooden tressel bridge on the British rail network (Perth to Inverness). It has been reinforced with cement supports, but they do not detract from the original structure.

We saw this smaller viaduct but cannot remember where it was.

The viaduct at Culloden was stunning.

Tomorrow we cross the Cromarty Firth on this bridge (causeway).

The NCR 7 did take us a little off-route, a 15 km diversion to the Clava Cairns, which is an ancient burial site, and to Culloden, which is a much more recent ‘burial’ site.

The cairns and burial site on the winter solstice is lit by the sun, directly into the passage way.

1760 was the Jacobite rebellion – Bonnie Prince Charlie had raised an army to reinstate himself back on the throne of Scotland and England – he had got as far as Derby, but was on the retreat when the Royalist army slaughtered the Jacobites.  The Jacobites were armed with knives, broadswords, and farm implements and leather shields, the Royalists had cannon and used grapeshot.  Bonnie Prince Charlie high-tailed it back to Europe over the sea to Skye.

This small cottage and others around it was surrounded by the government second line forcing the Jacobites to retreat.

After Culloden we went into Inverness to book our vehicle for the trip across Scotland to pick-up the ferry to Ireland.

We were going to take the direct route in from Culloden but decided to follow NCR Route 7 again.  It took us down a green avenue where we spotted dragons, wizards and a gruffalo, all carved out of trees.

As we crossed the river out of Inverness it started to rain!

It did clear up and we were relatively dry by the time we got to our warmshowers house at 4:00.  Iain cycled out to meet us, he hadn’t warned us about the hill up to his house!  We were warmly welcomed by Joy and Iain, their son and daughter-in-law are on the road and suggested that Iain and Joy become a warmshowers host.  We were their first guests.  Iain and Joy are a really nice couple, very interesting to talk to we had a superb dinner with them vegetarian shepherds pie, cabbage from the garden and peas and a wonderful dessert of mixed fruit and nut crumble – the crumble was more of an oatmeal topping and custard – lovely. We checked our route for tomorrow and chatted with Iain and Joy until 10:30, then to bed.

Thursday July 3, 2014

Ralf took his bike to the local bike shop at 9:30 am.  They were able to fit the bike in for repair and replaced the spokes by 2:00 pm.  We had decided to stay another night at the YHA, and get an early start tomorrow.  Our wamshowers host has very generously offered to host us tomorrow night.

As we walked into Town we noticed an old train pulling into the station – would you believe it was the Royal Scotsman.  It is now a tourist train that arrived in Aviemore from Inverness.  Apparently the cost for a ticket is about 1,000 pounds per person, which includes the meals and champagne.  Beautiful dining car, silver service all the way.  The romantic age of train travel recreated.

After the Scotsman pulled out a second steam train pulled in.  This one was much cheaper to travel on and did a short trip up the rail and back.

We got a lot organized today.  We popped into the outdoor stores and bought the seam grip we need and some tech wash for the jackets.  We booked the train from Wick to Inverness and have found out about hiring a van to take us from Inverness to Troon our departure port to Ireland.  We also checked on campsites in Troon and Larne.  I feel happier knowing that things are semi-arranged for our trip to Ireland.

There are a lot of rabbits in Aviemore and we saw a red squirrel, but these two kissing rabbits were cute.

Apparently it snowed in June on the Cairngorms – it is summer !!

I also washed our jackets in the Tech Wash.  However, for some reason it over-frothed and the washing machine was full of suds.  I opened the door of the washing machine and all the suds spilled out – fortunately I had a bucket underneath the door, but it took me 15 minutes to clean the suds from the washing machine.  What a mess.  Ralf had done something similar when we stayed with Joy and he used regular washing up liquid in her dish-washing machine and ended up washing the floor.

It is always nice staying in a hostel where they have a kitchen that we can use, we made a lovely dinner and are going to have an early night.

Wednesday July 2, 2014

What a great day, I had the biggest grin on my face all day.  The route that the fella told us about today was awesome. Turn left at the white arch, he said.  This was the start of an awesome route, but no indication on this stone that it was part of Route 7.

We left the campsite at 8:15 under sunny, but cool skies.  It got cloudier and cooler during the day but it was an amazing ride. The route was easy to follow and ranged from single lane road to limestone trail and then back on to a single lane road.  We followed the old A9 which was adopted by Sustrans for Route 7 of the National Cycle Route.  It was amazing, no cars at all, although we paralleled the A9 almost all day.

The route took us through forest, glen and hills.  We climbed out of Blair Atholl to a height of 462 metres, but it was easy, gradual climbing.  As soon as we crested the summit of the hill, the wind picked-up and we had the best tail wind for the next 40 kms!

The scenery was stunning, we saw Scottish heather, babbling burns, lochs and snow on the hills.  A perfect day of cycling.

We got to Aviemore just after 2:00 and decided to stay in the YHA, because of the wind.  After we had showered, it started to drizzle and continued for most of the afternoon and evening.  Aviemore is a big climbing and walking area, almost every other store is an outdoor store.

The only thing that marred a perfect day was Ralf had a flat tire, which turned out to be a broken spoke.  Hopefully we can get it fixed tomorrow and be on the road later in the day.  We have a warmshowers just north of Inverness tomorrow night.

Tuesday July 1, 2014

Happy Canada Day.

The clouds were grey and overcast this morning, and it was a little cool.  I put my socks on and we both wore our wind breakers for the first 10 kms.  We had to backtrack into Perth this morning from our camp site at the Perth Raceway camp site.  We made it through Perth and headed up the A9.  It wasn’t a bad route for the first 20 kms, then it got busier and became a dual carriageway. There are often traffic signs which are very strange.  Both of these signs let motorists know whether there is police presence or not.

We had come of the A90 briefly to follow another National Cycle Route, but we seemed to be wandering all over the place again, so we got back on to the A9.  Ralf was behind me shouting out transports, but they weren’t too bad.  The busy A roads are so noisy all I can concentrate on is the road.  About 5 miles from Pitlochry we were passed by a Highway Maintenance lorry who pulled into the lay-by ahead of us.  He waved us into the lay-by.  I thought oh no we are in trouble.  No, the kind man said “I bet you’re not enjoying this are ye?”  We agreed that is wasn’t much fun.  He told us where to get off to follow a more direct rural road into Pitlochry and even better told us of the old A9 that we could follow tomorrow all the way to Aviemore.  Thank you – a road angel.

We found our campsite, and settled in.  I did a load of laundry, the sun came out this afternoon and this campsite actually has a place to hang the washing.

While I was waiting for the washing to get done I ‘planned’ a route for Ireland.  Now we just have to work out how to get there.  15 hours on a train with 5 changes ! or rent another vehicle!

There are going to be a few things we have to check out when we are in Inverness. Trains, planes and automobiles and ferries to Ireland.

Ralf was in a bit of fug this afternoon.  He has been struggling with the lack of customer service and today he didn’t get a hot shower – luke warm at best.  Then he discovered we had to pay to wash our dishes – 0.20p for hot water.  The camp site was cheaper, 11.50 for the night, I think that is because we now realize we can ask for a backpackers pitch.

We also discovered today that there are campsites for the remaining days of our trip – Aviemore, (warmshowers near Inverness), Brora, Wick and 2 at John O’Groats.

Monday June 30, 2014

A long day but a lovely ride.  We left the hostel at 9:00. We were hoping that the roads would be a little quieter at that time, I don’t think they were that much quieter.  It seemed to take forever to get out of Edinburgh and to the Forth Road Bridge – in fact it did take two hours for 22.5 kms.  Our planned route was 75 kms, I was a little concerned that we were taking too long.  However, as soon as we crossed the Forth we got going a lot quicker.

We followed cycle route 1 and 7 to get to the Forth Road Bridge which kept us away from the A90 (which we weren’t allowed on).  Sustrans is working on a dedicated route from the A90 to the Forth Road Bridge.  At the moment there is a diversion through the Dalwhinny Estate.  Ralf commented that this was the nicest diversion we have been on.

We crossed the Forth Road Bridge – it was great – a very wide cycle way and a separate pedestrian path.

The Forth Rail Bridge is famous for having to be constantly painted.  By the time it has been painted from one side to the other, they start all over again.  It was a lovely route, rolling hills and the road coming down into Perth was 5 kms of winding downhill.  I was expecting it to kick up at any time but it didn’t.

No idea when we cycled into the Kingdom of Fife – or why it is called the Kingdom.

At one point we saw a big hawk sitting on a post.  We both managed to stop without disturbing it and Ralf almost had his camera out then a big lorry came by and scared it off.

We have now planned our route for the rest of the week.  We should be in John O’Groats by Sunday.  When we get to Inverness we will have to book our train trip from Wick to Troon and our ferry trip from Troon to Larne (Northern Ireland).

We arrived in Perth and tried to find the Tourism Information, eventually we found it and found out where the camp site was.  It is about 5 kms out of Town which we will have to return the same way tomorrow.  We got the tent set up just before it started to rain.  Our tent is leaking!! We will have to get some seam grip when we are in Inverness.  We managed to eat our dinner before it started to rain again. Forecast is for showers all night, hopefully it will be good tomorrow.

Our campsite is in the area of Castle Scone, where the Stone of Destiny was kept.  The Stone of Destiny was used in the 1300’s to Crown the Scottish Kings.  It was taken from the Scots and kept in Westminster Abbey, only returning to Scotland in 1996.

Sunday June 29, 2014

This should be the week to get to John O’Groats.  We are a little concerned that it has taken us longer than we thought, but on the other hand it is not a race.  I think because this was seen as more of a challenge ride rather than a trip around the UK it has become something different from NZ and Australia.  The diversion to Edinburgh has been good for us.  So what if it takes longer we are still seeing a lot of England and Scotland.  The disadvantage we may find is that the weather will turn against us as we get to Italy/Greece later and we do not have gear that is rated below 0 degrees.

Today we had a nice lie-in and a good breakfast.  We decide to take a “free” walking tour of Edinburgh.  These ‘free’ walking tours are provided throughout Europe and you pay what you think it is worth at the end of the tour.

Our tour started at 11:00 and took 2.5 hours, our guide was called Billy and he was very good. Lots of information about Scotland, the City of Edinburgh and places to return to see when we have more time.

Billy took us down little side streets which are called closies in Edinburgh and you can find some interesting history down these streets. Down this particular closie was the Writers museum – Robbie Burns, Robert Louis Stephenson – not sure if JK Rowling is in there or not.

Did you know that equestrian statues have a distinct history – one leg up means that the rider suffered an injury in battle, two feet up means that the rider died in battle, all feet down means that the rider dies a natural death.  Things you learn from this blog! The above photo is Billy describing the equestrian statue – one hoof up.

We passed the café where JK Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter novel.  She looked over Greyfriars cemetery and the school which she used as Hogwarts.

The school was donated to the city by George Heriot to provide an education for the orphans and poor of the City.  It is now a very expensive private school – which still accepts 73 scholarships a year – apparently.  We also went in to the Greyfriars cemetery which houses the grave of Bobby, the terrier who sat on his masters grave for 14 years.  At that time in Edinburgh he would have been considered a stray dog.

However, the story of his loyalty to his dead master became well known and the City Councilors awarded him the keys of the City, giving him the right of a citizen of the City – which actually meant he could vote in an election – several years before women had the right to vote.!!   If you work at 113 Collier Street (my former employer) the tiles in the fireplace on the second floor which used to be Chris Jones’ office and is now Dan Amadio’s office depicts the story of Greyfriars Bobby.

We passed the Grass Market which used to be the site of the gallows.  The story of Maggie Dickson was related to us, she was hung here, and was taken to the cemetery.  However, she wasn’t dead, she was bought back to be hung again when someone shouted she had already paid for her crime and could not be hung again.  She was left to go free and married the young lawyer who had shouted she had already paid for her crime.  There is a pub named after her.  The other noteworthy pub is called the “Last Drop”  the pub that the convicted were allowed to have their last drink in.

The castle currently has an abomination of a structure attached to it.  It is built for the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, a stadium which houses 7,000 spectators.  There is a 3 year waiting list for tickets. Our tour took us only in the old city – the new city was built in the 18^th century!

After our tour we had a bit of lunch then wandered back up Princes street.

I got back to the Backpackers and updated the blog, but was unable to post.  Our hostel is within 100 metres of the Balmoral Hotel.  I am guessing we are paying a lot less than people who are staying in the Balmoral.

Our hostel is the one with the blue door!

We got a free dinner tonight Chilli con Carne. After dinner we chatted to a group of young Spanish people.  We have noticed that there are a lot of Spanish here in the UK.  A lot of them are disillusioned with their government in Spain and the high level of unemployment (55% for young people aged between 18 and 28)!  27% unemployment overall.