Day 20 - Friday 17th August - Helmsdale to John O'Groats

Weather - Dry again but heavy shower at lunchtime

Distance - 60.5 miles

Camp Site - John O'Groats Campsite, John O'Groats

The morning of the last day! There are still 60 miles to go but now everyone will make it. We suddenly had strength to get up and go and even the weather was smiling on us. It had been very stormy during the night and several times I thought that the tent was going to take off in the strong winds but it had blown itself out by the time we got up.

Because we were so far from the breakfast marquee we got ready and packed everything up before leaving the camp area for breakfast. There would be no point in coming back to the tents later just to pack up. We left all our bags on the tarpaulin ready for the crew to pick up in the small van later on once we had left.

We were to be faced with two major climbs - both Helmsdale and Berriedale were situated at the mouths of rivers at sea level and our route took us down steep hills to the river bridges and then the long climb back up the other side. Somehow though they did not seem so bad today - we were so close to our goal that nothing would stop us.

We stopped for coffee and cakes at the Leidhay Croft Museum where the ladies in the café were expecting us and served from seemingly bottomless tea and coffee pots. Once we left the A9 and turned towards Wick on the A99 the route became very bleak and rather boring - it was just a long ride to complete the miles through rather flat and uninteresting scenery. The last major town was Wick with its busy main shopping street and the Caithness Glass factory on the outskirts. This was obviously a stop on the coach tour route as there were several tour coaches in the factory shop car park.

We had agreed that we would gather together as a group in the pub in Keiss so that we could ride in to John O'Groats as a group. Even the normally slow members of the group arrived in good time but a very heavy shower delayed our departure somewhat. Once we got moving again though it was impossible to stay together and the faster riders soon left the slower people behind.

And then we arrived - the sign at the edge of John O'Groats village became the stopping place for photographs to prove that we had made it and then there was the short ride on into the bay itself and the last camp site. As people arrived there were congratulations all round and possibly a slight sense of anti-climax. After three weeks hard work and a total of 1104 miles we had made it and it was over!

The rest of the afternoon was spent shopping for souvenirs, taking photographs at the sign post and taking the last shower of the trip in one of the better showers we had throughout. There was a further heavy rain shower during the afternoon - probably just to let us know that we had not been forgotten - and a full double rainbow towards Duncansby Head.

While we were taking group photographs another two cyclists arrived and told us that they had left Land's End at the same time as us - three weeks ago. They had just arrived but had taken a completely different route to us and had stayed in bed and breakfast accommodation. They also had bad weather throughout their journey.

John O'Groats itself is situated in a bay and is not actually the most north easterly point so I and several others cycled the couple of miles to Duncansby Head - just to be able to say that we had gone from the most south westerly to the most north easterly point of the mainland of England and Scotland.

Once again when the storms moved away there were some magnificent views out to the Orkney Islands and also across to the most northerly point on the mainland, the cliffs at Dunnet Head.

There were thanks all round to all the staff after dinner for helping to make such a success of the trip and we were very pleased when Alex told us that he had received postcards congratulating us from the people who had been forced to leave early. The evening was spent celebrating in the John O'Groats hotel and then we had to fight the midges to get back to the tents for our last night.