A Backroads Bicycle Ride From Land's End to John O'Groats"

I first met these three push bikers at a traffic circle. I mentioned I thought they were heading down the wrong road. Corrected, they rode off.

20 minutes later I caught up with them!!! It's the truth.

They were taking a tea break. They invited me to stop. Two girlfriends were driving the van. One had a type of cancer. Their ride was a fund raiser. Their goal was to ride from Land's End to John O'Groats in 4 days!!

A few hours later that day, I met Adam and Jenny from near Perth Austrailia. They also were riding to John O'Groats. The ride was to celebrate her 50th birthday. She had been planning it for a few years.

That night we had supper together in a Thornhill pub 2 miles from the campground where we had pitched our tents. Actually, I have a small bivvy sack. Eddie, one of he regulars at the campground gave us a lift to town and said to call him when we wanted a ride back. A couple hours later, we called Eddie. No answer. Fortunately a pub patron heard our predicament and drove us back to the campground, where we stopped in to see Eddie. He was waiting by his phone - - but it was turned off.

Interestingly, I had no concern about where I was to sleep that night. While at one of the bike stores in Dumfries, I was chatting with a man who was curious about my saddle bags. I eventually told him where I was headed that night (Thornhill). He gave me his home address in Thornhill and said I could spend the night with him and his family if I couldn't find other sleeping arrangements! You know, this sort of happenstance does not surprise me anymore.

The next day, Saturday, around noon I rode thru Dumfries Scotland stopping at couple bike shops for a couple small items. Then 12 miles north of Dumfries in the middle of "nowhere" my right pedal broke apart. I had to get back to Dumfries quick before the bike stores closed. After all, the next day, Sunday, they might be closed.

Thirty seconds later a small car pulled up and stopped at the intersection. The driver, a mental health worker who was returning to Dumfries from a client visit, started looking at a map. I asked for ride and off to Dumfries we went with all my stuff packed in his car.

I had to again visit both bike shops to get the right type of pedal. Finally, I retraced my route.

The next day, Adam, Jenny, and I did a long ride to Ayr, where around 3 pm we separated. They were following a slightly different route than me. I was headed up to Ardrossen to take a ferry out to the Arran Island - not to be confused with the Aran Islands off the western coast of Ireland. They were staying on the mainland.

A few hours later, on the ferry I met Will Thomson, who was on an "Around Scotland Fundraising Ride." He has myelofibrosis a type of bone marrow cancer. We rode together for the next four days - until we got to Inverness. As a resident of Aberdeen, he was my extremely knowledgeable guide to Scotland. See
www.justgiving.com/willthomson.

In the photo on the right,Will is standing in the front yard of the B&B where we stayed that night. The next morning while having breakfast, I watched a couple of the sailboats raise their sails and leave. Humm - thoughts of the Housatonic Boat Club.

What --- Here is Adam and Jenny again. Will and I bumped into them a couple times days later. When their route said "go left around the loch," my route said go right.

As we got closer and closer to the end, I bumped into more and more riders going to John O'Groats. We also saw others going south to Land's End.

Most people like Adam and Jenny, who visit Loch Ness, drive (or ride) the road to the west of the loch. Will and I took the road on the east which would eventually bring us to Inverness. At the southern tip of Lock Ness we first had to walk up a steep hill for about two miles.

On the right is a photo of the road on top of this mountain range look back where we came from. The body of water you see there is just a pond - not Loch Ness.

Arriving at Inverness quite late (probably around 7:30 pm) it started to get quite cold and we had to look very hard to find a B&B. I remember standing on a street corner and shivering a bit.

The next morning Will and I separated. He was headed east back to Aberdeen. Thanks Will. I was headed north.

My first job was to cross the Black Island (a really nice area, however with a 3-mile gradual downhill ride) and to take the "two-car" Nigg ferry across a firth. On crossing, it was a "one-bike" ferry. Photos on right.

That afternoon, it was cold, windy, and rainy. It was really my first bad weatherday. At the town of Tain I stopped, visited a library and used the internet and hoped to wait out the rain. But, the skies to the north were a solid dark gray. So I found a B&B at around 3 pm - the earliest time I ever stopped for the day. Had a great chatty host and hostees at the B&B.

The next morning at breakfast I had an informative chat with a couple who lived on the Orkney Islands. Actually, she is a mail carrier and so knows alot about the islands. I was thinking I could get to the main island and visit on my bike all the important sites in one day. "Absolutely not!" she said. At least 3 days on a bus tour.

But my real concern this morning was wind and black skies. The weather did not look too favorable. But off I rode. There is now only one route, A9, from here north to John O'Groats, only about 90 miles away.

Photo on right was taken about 10 am.

I stopped in Dornoch briefly for a short snack. I was sitting on a stone wall across from a small store, when guess who pulls up and stops. You guessed it - my buddies Adam and Jenny. The stop turned into lunch and a little more extra time because it was now raining.

We spent the night in Mary's Farmhouse B&B.

In the photo below we are looking toward her house in her backyard. At this point I've seen enough sheep to last a lifetime.

On right is also her backyard - looking in the opposite direction over a cliff. Imagine having your boat moored in your backyard.

Back in Edinburgh, my last night in the U.K. I stayed with the Chapman's - Dr's Dorothy and Brian. We were seat mates on the plane on the way over to Edinburgh from Newark. They visited D.C. for a week. They invited me to stay with them my last night before flying home. This worked out great for me because I could store my bike suitcase with them.

We had haggis for dinner, a traditional Scotish dish. It was very good. The photo on the left was taken at almost 11 pm at night. Behind them is the Hawes Inn. In northern Scotland at this time of year, you can read a newspaper outside at midnight. Photo below, Dorothy is coming out to drive me to the airport.

Brian and Dorothy, Thank you.

That afternoon on Friday June 20 back in Newark Airport, I rented a car and drove to Solomons, MD on the Chesapeak bay, which is about 50 miles south of Annapolis. That night I met Bert, a long time friend, who was sailing his new (used) boat home from Charlston S.C. up the Intercoastal Waterway. From the bottom of the Chesapeak on up, it is mostly open water. It's best to have at least 2 people on a boat.

When we arrived in Cape May NJ after a couple days, Bert decided he needed a rest after 15 days on the boat, so we drove home on Wednesday June 25. He'll retrieve the boat after a short rest.

After the army, Adam spent a couple years skiing in western Canada (Whistler), he has trekked in the Himilayas and South America, he is also a champion skydiver, he scuba dives, surfs, etc, etc. He is 42 and while he was talking about what he wants to do for HIS 50th birthday, he said he'd probably get all the things on his list done before turning 50.

Above way left, that's probably Jenny in the yellow jacket. She led most of the way. By the way, she is or was the female champion skydiver in AU. And once early one morning she surrepticiously climbed a 1000' 2000' ? foot antenna tower and dove off. She is also a competitive sailboat racer.

The sign says Land's End 874. That's if you ride the "A" roads. We rode mostly "B" roads and back roads. And got lost a few times.

Jenny's odometer was just about 1,100 miles.