Left John O'Groats at 11:00 and encountered sunshine, rain, hailstones and a barking dog. Fortunately one minute of sunshine beats 20 minutes of rain. This is truly beautiful country with magnificent vistas and I would recommend it to anyone. I was most impressed with how close The Orkneys are and how clear the air is (apart from when the hail's coming down). The first part of the ride over the Flow Country was easy going apart from the strong wind blowing straight into my face - who's idea was it to go from North to South? Doh! It was me!Jan and I met for lunch at the Dounreay visitor centre and I had vegetable soup in the hope I would be turbo-powered for the afternoon. I needed it -the road went up and down like West Ham United for the next twenty-odd miles! Whilst at the visitor centre we learnt that, weather-wise, there's never any heat until after the May Gobs (hail/heavy rain), so we're hopeful for the rest of the ride (in spite of the gloomy weather forecast for tomorrow).I must mention the fact that, without exception, the people of Scotland have been very nice, friendly, helpful and generous - we've collected another £32 in sponsorship without even asking. It took us two days to travel up here and we stopped at two B&B establishments that I would recommend to anyone - The Bridge House in Moffat and Loch Watten House in Watten (about 16 miles from JO'G).Tomorrow sees us turning South and into the mountains. We're hoping to reach Bonar Bridge which is about 56 miles away.
For the statisticians amongst you, my speedo has the following readings:
Distance Travelled: 52 miles
Average Speed: 13.9 mph
Maximum Speed: 39.2 mph
I'll see if I can do a lunchtime missive tomorrow, but now I can hear dinner calling me. Byee, Bob & Jan.
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