sultzer
Active Member
Day 1 John O Groats ---- Tongue
We arrived at our digs at the Weigh Inn at Scrabster on fri 12th june , got our gear sorted out , since we arrived early decided to do John O Groats to Scrabster that night as we had a few hills during the day.
We had our pic took then headed off , after we met a few lejog cyclists doing the last of the 1000mile trip.
We took a wrong turn but still on course for Scrabster we countined through the countryside , wait a min where was Brian , yip he took a turn ended up a few miles outside Wick , we met up after at digs.
Brian stunk out our toilet in fact the whole room since then he was called nibbler .
Day 1 officially now we headed off after a great breakfast towards Tongue our 1st stop over . As we headed further out we passed Dounreay , , further out we continued to Strathy , then onwards with wind in our faces , hills steeper than our Hilltown , more hills , there was only tarmac and heather to look at most of the way. where we were overtook by a group of cyclists , we met up with thses throughout the day , stopped off at Bettyhill where we had a ice cream , then onto Tongue through wilderness not a soul or hardly a car .
We arrived at our digs to chilllout . Day 1 over 6 to go
Day2 Tongue - Tain
After a good night kip and meal well apart from Brian wholocked himself out of room and kipped on the couch.
We head out of Tongue up more hills , weather was no to bad light wind overcast . Over more heather hills , Around the 2.30pm Jason jnr had a flat took his pump out it was in bits , Brian said he had a double nozzle on his pump , great i thought until he brung it out , was it hell it was a air bed adpter , great so we managed a few mile where we spotted a cyclist a frenchman but his was no good , i cycled few miles down where i met up with a couple who husband just finished his lejog the day before , he just up and gave me his pump and went on his way . Flat fixed , a few irn brew drunk iced cold we headed off to more hills , never seen a house for 21 miles , we headed for Lairg 1st town but hey shops shut o well stopped at cafe .
We then headed to Bonar Bridge then over it on the way to Tain our 2nd stop , on way we stopped at a wee shop where Jnr drunk a tin of monster in 3 secs .
We arrived at Tain sore but got tent up , decided to get a taxi into town guess what they do not run on a Sunday during holiday time ??????????
We just a stew from tins .
Campsite is great level pitches
Day 3 Tain - Aviemore
We got early to head off when Brian noticed a flat tyre , waited for him to fix it while we took the tent down etc.We headed into Tain to stock up on munchies , came out of tesco noticed Brian tyre not in properly another 30 mins to fix .
We were on our way more hills etc , the cyclists we seen for the last 2 days passed us again , we passed a few notable distilleries on the way , crossing 1 bridge heading towards Inverness and that hill was long and steep , we then headed over the Kessock Bridge and Inverness looking for cycle route 7 which we never found headed up the A9 now that was a thrill 5 miles later found a B road , then route 7 .
Along the way we ended up on a cycle path on the A9 and the Slochd Summit , where jnr did not know he was going up hill.
Headed into Carrbridge and stopped a wee shop were i got a great steak pie .
Then it was a slow slog into Aviemore , and our digs , where jnr fell asleep quickly .
Day 4 . Aviemore to Dunkeld
Well this morning Brian was well zzzzz it his alram was off for 3 mins , jnr needed to presuade him to get up. Eventually he did arise with a hot cuppa down we headed to tesco for supplies and headed off down the road , as we went through midge city along the road to Dalwhinne and into wind and more wind which took it toll on jnr .We stopped at the bottom of the Drumochter Pass beside the warning sign , it was a slow slog up in the wind , as we passed the cyclists we seen days before whooddered us some of their food but we had plenty , we made itto the top withoutthe other 2 knowning.
We had a good decent down through to the House of Bruar where i needed to decide which road to take as no route signs where shown.
We then headed off to Blair Atholl then to Killiekrankie , pass Pitlochry where we were ment with 2 different routes to the same place ??? so we opted to go for 83 .
It was a slow cycle through midges to Dunkeld where jnr was hanging on the rear , as we cycled into our campsite Debz was there to change our gear .
Day 5 Dunkeld to Edinbrugh
We headed out of our campsite into Dunkeld , we went straight onto route 7 and headed to perth through B roads and cycle paths , 9 mile to perth Brian took a wrong turn , omg he hasto look at signs .
We reached perth which was busy with cyclists , then we had to get out of Perth which was easily done.
We stopped off at Bridge of Earn for supplies then head for Kinross . It was ok going a few hills but easily done , we were still ahead of time by the time we reached Kinross.
It was then onto Dunfermline , by this time we notice a massive winding road which kept on going i think around 2 miles. We headed into the Dunfermilne towards the bridge then over it , this is where it got compilcated due road works , signs etc .
Thanks to locals we managed to get to our campsite around 1 hr later .
Day 6 Edinbrugh to Dumfries
Well this was going to be the worst dayof the whole cycle , from the time we left .
We left early enough but signs were leading us in a circle , after a look at the map we headed for the A90 thank god as it took us 3 hrs to get going , we headed along there headed towards Biggar then the A702 , a long slog but we eventually started to get somewhere , after a bite to eat we headed along the A702 then onto Beatocks road a break at last 15 miles going down hill.
We saw a sign post 23 miles to all happy , until we took route 7 after 3 signs it disappeared , as we headed through the wood , Brian was at back he disappeared , after a hour we got worried this is when we decided to call the police , he said i would have got out ye right wrong direction , we finally got to our campsite knackered but all together . 2 punctures to fix in the morning .
sorry no pics as it was one of those days
Day 7 Dumfries to Drummore
Our last day inthe saddle , we took the desicion to take the main roads no matter what . i let jnr sleep in a bit today , fixed punctures , well kind of Brian pump broke. We got up our hosts at the campsite were letting use their cooking etc, but we headed off to beat the school run .
We got to Dalbeattie pretty quick stocked up on grub etc , Brian wheel blown up , yet again another hill on the outskirts headed to Castle Douglas yet again good time .
We then headed along the A75 to Newton Stewart , another hilly road where Jnr was getting the worse for wear dehydrating , no bloody wonder drinking whole bottles tried to explain only take sips but he knew better.
Got to Newton Stewart had grub then more hills , closer we got the more knackered we got , we finally seen Drummore sign told both of them it was only 14 miles well more like 24 miles.
As i cycled putting up the pace a bit , i began to increase it passing through the B class road onto the final stretch. Through Ardwell onwards to Drummore , we finally seen our goal took a breather a few pics and headed to the Clashwhannon pub and our digs for the night.
We had one heck of a welcome there many thanks for that , even if Brian fell right there again , got a pint which went right down , got our keys headed right for a shower then for our meal , which was fantastic , Louise & Martin i cannot thank you enough for that .
We even got a collection from the pub to and to guy stewart for his which he left behind the bar .
We got to Mull the following morning through the cattle etc .
Will stick up thank you etc later
We arrived at our digs at the Weigh Inn at Scrabster on fri 12th june , got our gear sorted out , since we arrived early decided to do John O Groats to Scrabster that night as we had a few hills during the day.
We had our pic took then headed off , after we met a few lejog cyclists doing the last of the 1000mile trip.
We took a wrong turn but still on course for Scrabster we countined through the countryside , wait a min where was Brian , yip he took a turn ended up a few miles outside Wick , we met up after at digs.
Brian stunk out our toilet in fact the whole room since then he was called nibbler .
Day 1 officially now we headed off after a great breakfast towards Tongue our 1st stop over . As we headed further out we passed Dounreay , , further out we continued to Strathy , then onwards with wind in our faces , hills steeper than our Hilltown , more hills , there was only tarmac and heather to look at most of the way. where we were overtook by a group of cyclists , we met up with thses throughout the day , stopped off at Bettyhill where we had a ice cream , then onto Tongue through wilderness not a soul or hardly a car .
We arrived at our digs to chilllout . Day 1 over 6 to go
Day2 Tongue - Tain
After a good night kip and meal well apart from Brian wholocked himself out of room and kipped on the couch.
We head out of Tongue up more hills , weather was no to bad light wind overcast . Over more heather hills , Around the 2.30pm Jason jnr had a flat took his pump out it was in bits , Brian said he had a double nozzle on his pump , great i thought until he brung it out , was it hell it was a air bed adpter , great so we managed a few mile where we spotted a cyclist a frenchman but his was no good , i cycled few miles down where i met up with a couple who husband just finished his lejog the day before , he just up and gave me his pump and went on his way . Flat fixed , a few irn brew drunk iced cold we headed off to more hills , never seen a house for 21 miles , we headed for Lairg 1st town but hey shops shut o well stopped at cafe .
We then headed to Bonar Bridge then over it on the way to Tain our 2nd stop , on way we stopped at a wee shop where Jnr drunk a tin of monster in 3 secs .
We arrived at Tain sore but got tent up , decided to get a taxi into town guess what they do not run on a Sunday during holiday time ??????????
We just a stew from tins .
Campsite is great level pitches
Day 3 Tain - Aviemore
We got early to head off when Brian noticed a flat tyre , waited for him to fix it while we took the tent down etc.We headed into Tain to stock up on munchies , came out of tesco noticed Brian tyre not in properly another 30 mins to fix .
We were on our way more hills etc , the cyclists we seen for the last 2 days passed us again , we passed a few notable distilleries on the way , crossing 1 bridge heading towards Inverness and that hill was long and steep , we then headed over the Kessock Bridge and Inverness looking for cycle route 7 which we never found headed up the A9 now that was a thrill 5 miles later found a B road , then route 7 .
Along the way we ended up on a cycle path on the A9 and the Slochd Summit , where jnr did not know he was going up hill.
Headed into Carrbridge and stopped a wee shop were i got a great steak pie .
Then it was a slow slog into Aviemore , and our digs , where jnr fell asleep quickly .
Day 4 . Aviemore to Dunkeld
Well this morning Brian was well zzzzz it his alram was off for 3 mins , jnr needed to presuade him to get up. Eventually he did arise with a hot cuppa down we headed to tesco for supplies and headed off down the road , as we went through midge city along the road to Dalwhinne and into wind and more wind which took it toll on jnr .We stopped at the bottom of the Drumochter Pass beside the warning sign , it was a slow slog up in the wind , as we passed the cyclists we seen days before whooddered us some of their food but we had plenty , we made itto the top withoutthe other 2 knowning.
We had a good decent down through to the House of Bruar where i needed to decide which road to take as no route signs where shown.
We then headed off to Blair Atholl then to Killiekrankie , pass Pitlochry where we were ment with 2 different routes to the same place ??? so we opted to go for 83 .
It was a slow cycle through midges to Dunkeld where jnr was hanging on the rear , as we cycled into our campsite Debz was there to change our gear .
Day 5 Dunkeld to Edinbrugh
We headed out of our campsite into Dunkeld , we went straight onto route 7 and headed to perth through B roads and cycle paths , 9 mile to perth Brian took a wrong turn , omg he hasto look at signs .
We reached perth which was busy with cyclists , then we had to get out of Perth which was easily done.
We stopped off at Bridge of Earn for supplies then head for Kinross . It was ok going a few hills but easily done , we were still ahead of time by the time we reached Kinross.
It was then onto Dunfermline , by this time we notice a massive winding road which kept on going i think around 2 miles. We headed into the Dunfermilne towards the bridge then over it , this is where it got compilcated due road works , signs etc .
Thanks to locals we managed to get to our campsite around 1 hr later .
Day 6 Edinbrugh to Dumfries
Well this was going to be the worst dayof the whole cycle , from the time we left .
We left early enough but signs were leading us in a circle , after a look at the map we headed for the A90 thank god as it took us 3 hrs to get going , we headed along there headed towards Biggar then the A702 , a long slog but we eventually started to get somewhere , after a bite to eat we headed along the A702 then onto Beatocks road a break at last 15 miles going down hill.
We saw a sign post 23 miles to all happy , until we took route 7 after 3 signs it disappeared , as we headed through the wood , Brian was at back he disappeared , after a hour we got worried this is when we decided to call the police , he said i would have got out ye right wrong direction , we finally got to our campsite knackered but all together . 2 punctures to fix in the morning .
sorry no pics as it was one of those days
Day 7 Dumfries to Drummore
Our last day inthe saddle , we took the desicion to take the main roads no matter what . i let jnr sleep in a bit today , fixed punctures , well kind of Brian pump broke. We got up our hosts at the campsite were letting use their cooking etc, but we headed off to beat the school run .
We got to Dalbeattie pretty quick stocked up on grub etc , Brian wheel blown up , yet again another hill on the outskirts headed to Castle Douglas yet again good time .
We then headed along the A75 to Newton Stewart , another hilly road where Jnr was getting the worse for wear dehydrating , no bloody wonder drinking whole bottles tried to explain only take sips but he knew better.
Got to Newton Stewart had grub then more hills , closer we got the more knackered we got , we finally seen Drummore sign told both of them it was only 14 miles well more like 24 miles.
As i cycled putting up the pace a bit , i began to increase it passing through the B class road onto the final stretch. Through Ardwell onwards to Drummore , we finally seen our goal took a breather a few pics and headed to the Clashwhannon pub and our digs for the night.
We had one heck of a welcome there many thanks for that , even if Brian fell right there again , got a pint which went right down , got our keys headed right for a shower then for our meal , which was fantastic , Louise & Martin i cannot thank you enough for that .
We even got a collection from the pub to and to guy stewart for his which he left behind the bar .
We got to Mull the following morning through the cattle etc .
Will stick up thank you etc later
