Another early start saw us deciding what to wear before we finally rolled off at 7.30 am. It was a wet morning with light rain. The rain got heavier during the course of the morning and we were well soaked. John and Andrew donned full wet weather gear. We headed back towards the A9 and found somewhere for breakfast as soon as we joined that road. We warmed up in the café before we set off again, still having the pleasure of steady rain. We were keeping our heads down and keeping going all the way up to Helmsdale where we stopped for lunch, Susan having found a nice café (Create!). Whilst in the café it stopped raining, which was good news, but as we looked across Helmsdale we could see the bottom of what I had seen described as “interesting hills after Helmsdale” but the rest was shrouded in heavy mist / low cloud.
Having no choice but to go on and the A9 being the only road available we set off. There followed a really difficult afternoon, and one which we took some pride in having read of the difficulties faced by other end to enders. Our journey so far had been mostly sunshine, so having a bad day to survive gave us some brownie points. The mist / cloud stayed with us the rest of the
afternoon and we ended up split into two pairs. Andrew and John well in front with Richard and me behind. We had all donned our brightest fluorescent jackets and fixed rear flashing lights on the bikes but we nevertheless realised the dangers as the A9 is a busy road. Traffic tended to come by in clusters, usually led by a coach or HGV. We were trying to ride on the white line at edge of the road. This was not easy as there were some good hills to climb (even though we couldn’t really see them). Where there were descents we kept speed down so that we could hear traffic behind and move off the road, where possible, to allow it to pass. To add to all of this, we kept getting strong head winds which also slowed progress without clearing the mist.
It was a long slow ride to Lybster and by the time we arrived at 6.30 pm I had nothing left. The wet, the cold and the terrain having drained me completely. The accommodation proved excellent (The Commercial Hotel) as we had a suite of rooms and a living room at our disposal. We were directed to a takeaway down the main street. By the time we were ready to eat, the list had cleared and we were left with a sunny evening, again, even if it was now quite a bit cooler.
A good nights sleep was had by all ready for the final 30 miles.
Having no choice but to go on and the A9 being the only road available we set off. There followed a really difficult afternoon, and one which we took some pride in having read of the difficulties faced by other end to enders. Our journey so far had been mostly sunshine, so having a bad day to survive gave us some brownie points. The mist / cloud stayed with us the rest of the
afternoon and we ended up split into two pairs. Andrew and John well in front with Richard and me behind. We had all donned our brightest fluorescent jackets and fixed rear flashing lights on the bikes but we nevertheless realised the dangers as the A9 is a busy road. Traffic tended to come by in clusters, usually led by a coach or HGV. We were trying to ride on the white line at edge of the road. This was not easy as there were some good hills to climb (even though we couldn’t really see them). Where there were descents we kept speed down so that we could hear traffic behind and move off the road, where possible, to allow it to pass. To add to all of this, we kept getting strong head winds which also slowed progress without clearing the mist.It was a long slow ride to Lybster and by the time we arrived at 6.30 pm I had nothing left. The wet, the cold and the terrain having drained me completely. The accommodation proved excellent (The Commercial Hotel) as we had a suite of rooms and a living room at our disposal. We were directed to a takeaway down the main street. By the time we were ready to eat, the list had cleared and we were left with a sunny evening, again, even if it was now quite a bit cooler.
A good nights sleep was had by all ready for the final 30 miles.
No comments:
Post a Comment