Brora to Lybster - stage 26 - 28 July

Yesterday, my good friend the Bald Eagle of NoToMob fame pointed out that gale force winds were forecast and that any sensible cyclist would bolt their cycle down and stay where they were. I therefore asked the Royal Marine Hotel, a lovely 4 star establishment, to extend my stay by a day. Unfortunately they were full so it wasn't an option.

I therefore decided to have a simple little 30 mile jaunt to Lybster where another good hotel was to be found, the Portman Arms Hotel.

Was it windy? Early on I noticed a small bird flying in the wind, it was flying backwards despite flapping its wings at 10 to the dozen. I found myself struggling to make progress downhill due to headwinds. I also found myself going uphill without pedalling. I parked my bike on its stand, an inverted V shape, so 3 points of contact with the ground, it blew over! Trying to go through an underpass in Helmsdale I struggled to get through, they do make a bit of a wind tunnel. With a side wind I was often blown towards the centre line, fortunately all the drivers I was overtaken by today were very good and left lots of space.

Whilst waiting to pay my bill at the hotel, as others were at the desk, I wandered around the salons and found these lovely old golf clubs

and a snooker table (what a waste, I could have potted a few balls last night)

This was the first of three abandoned petrol stations that I passed

Flowers make any place much nicer

Look, John O'Groats, only 66 miles and two days to do them in, luxury.

Lovely views today

The Scottish covid message

More lovely views

The harbour at Helmsdale, weather going a bit wrong

10 minutes later, the same sunny harbour

 The old harbour

Looking back at Helmsdale after climbing out of it.

Great views all day, just keeping the sea on my right

 Badsea, a clearance village

The view from Badsea

The monument at Badsea

Not much left of the 200 year old buildings

No idea what this was about

Great view, about to hurtle downhill

Look how blue the sea is

Today's short stage was one of my favourites. The sun shone a lot of the time and it was easy to navigate as I simply had to keep the sea on my right and stay close to the shore.

I was warned in Helmsdale by a lady, with a well behaved border collie, that there was a steep climb out of Berriedale Braes but that the vertical double bend had been removed. After a refreshing drink and cake at the bottom I climbed out from the cafe to a set of temporary lights. Ignoring the fact they were on red I entered the coned off section as I could never get up the half mile of controlled section in the time allowed and started up the slope to see what would happen. Part way up I met a supervisor walking down. Hello he said, a tough climb here. I stopped to say hello and he then said, weren't you staying in the Royal Marine Hotel last night? which he also had been. We chatted for a few minutes and then I climbed onwards and upwards until I met the single lane section. Another worked told me when it was safe to proceed and I crawled upwards. A fire engine on blue lights was waiting to come down but he had to wait for a heavily loaded lorry which was even slower at climbing than me. I was in bottom gear but kept on climbing as I wasn't on the penultimate day in the mood for giving up.

Tomorrow marks the end of my epic journey, which has been enormous fun and I'm not keen for the cycling to end so after a taxi bike journey to Inverness on Thursday I will start cycling to London, via Edinburgh initially where my friends have the spare room in their flat with my name on it.

Derek