Bettyhill to John O Groats

In Bettyhill we have rooms in the end of house. (In fact it's outside Bettyhill and called Far which is aptly named.  Waking at 5.30 I hear some strange dinosaur like sounds.  The captain claims to be a non snorer but as I lay in bed I take a different view. Perhaps he's a virgin snorer methinks whist chuckling inwardly at my conclusion. 

The next noticeable thing after hearing the first time snorer was the optical display out of the window. The sky up here is stunning. Without any other light polluting the view plus a cleaner air the sky is buzzing with activity. It's alive and the twinkling stars carry on undeterred right into the horizon of the North Atlantic Ocean. This alone was worth coming to see and I am happy to lay awake and soak it all up. The background music from the Captains bedroom subsides and all that is audible is a calming breeze as it scurrys through the gap of a partially open window. 

We are up and eating the English breakfast at 8am - there is no rush as the  girls don't arrive in JOG until afternoon. Asking whether it is a Scottish or English breakfast we are Informed by the lovely Lesley that's 'it's English - a Scottish breakfast is a cup of coffee and a fag'

Rugged up and packed up we tread off in unison for what is our last leg of a journey that has flashed by even though so many thoughts, laughs, miles meetings have been exprienced on route. Message to self - 'enjoy every last mile'and as the sun once again blesses us with her presence I know I will. On day one the Captain declared 'the Gods are with us' in our wildest dreams we never imagined it would be for the duration. 

We have headwind but we don't care it's a lumpy road and we knock out 2000 climbing ft over 18 miles. Stopping to book the ferry for Orkney in the layby the captain has a final attempt to trick me into standing in his urine trail but once again I box clever 'that was your last chance cock' Heading across we have a wave from the Highland Mobile Library. We bumped into each other 50 miles back in Antnahara and  frog hopped each other to Bettyhill becoming very familiar with each other yesterday.

We push on to Thurso where we stop to fuel up for the last time.    Trying to ring my wife for a progress report I am unsurprised to find her phone is off ( It's always either left at home. In the handbag and can't be heard, on silent without her knowledge, not charged, ran out of charge and void of charger or lost) We have at this point no idea where they are? We have more success with 'The Bride to be' as her phone rings but she doesn't answer it. 

Onward to the end and with 19 miles left we watch the mile counters shrinking in size realising we are in terms of the whole journey home and dry. The dry element is unbelievable - to cycle from South to North and no wettings is surley a rare occourance. The wet weather kit is still in the bag. Finally making contact with the Ladies we roll into John O Groats to be greeted with a cheer a kiss and the obligatory photos. Now enjoying some Haggis and nips in the Seaview Hotel after dumping bike for transit. Job done and box ticked . We now move in to the final part of the adventure as we catch the 6.30 ferry this afternoon to Orkney. 

In theory the blog should finish now but it can't - the ride was also about the worst kept secret in The Combe so it must continue. That's not cheesy it just a fact it's part of it. On that basis check in tomorrow 

The tandem End to Enders xxx