Day Twenty Three – Melvich to John O’ Groats

Sunshine and blue sky for our last final push across the top to JOG – fantastic.

Dounreay is now a nuclear storage facility, having been decommissioned in the nineties, and looked an eyesore on the lovely coastline.
Into Thurso which, being Sunday, was pretty much shut.  But the Pentland Hotel was open for Sunday lunch. 
We liked Thurso – wide streets and attractive buildings.  But we must get on – only eighteen miles to go. A quick glance at emails and so forth and we were off again.
At Dunnet we swung left onto the road up to the headland of Dunnet Head, the northernmost point on the British Mainland. 


Well –it was only five miles each way and it seemed a shame not to.  It was worth it – glorious views across the Pentland Firth to the Island of Stroma and beyond, Hoy and the rest of the Orkney Islands.  Stroma apparently used to have quite a large population but they have all left now and the island appears to be uninhabited. 

I perked up as we finally cycled into John O’Groats at six o’clock.  We cycled in together as we wanted to cross the line at the same time.  We crossed the line together and we gave ourselves a big pat on the back before repairing to the Seaview Hotel.

One thousand and ninety seven miles.An excellent adventure.& Tomorrow we would be heading off to Orkney for a well earned rest.

Stats

Miles: 45

Beers: Three bottles Orkney Ale