Melvich Hotel Thurso

... and I can't see what's wrong with it. <br><br>For some reason, I come over all emotional after Lybster, it must have been the sugar! Pulling myself together, I try to make it to Dunbeath but by a tiny place called Latheronwheel the siren's call of a B&amp;B sign is too much and I stagger to their door. <br><br>Sandy and Betty are lovely and help me hang the tent up in their garage to fully dry out, then force feed ...

... Helmsdale scare me. <br><br>Worrying isn't going to help though and I'll just have to take each day as it comes - there aren't any shortcuts! Inspired by a friend who cycled across America and who talked about having specific milestones for every day (alarm going off, getting on the road etc), I decide that as well as milestones I'm going to focus on what makes me smile each day - anything from a silly placename ...

... The civilisation is remarkably advanced given that this was before the pyramides. There are also a few sets of standing stones (current theory is one for the moon cycle and one for the sun) on the island, which are huge. most of them have been re-erected in about 1906- apparantly it only takes about 8 men and a huge wedge thing to lift them even though some stones are several ton. Currently there are a whole bunch of archaeologists digging ...

... suburbs of Edinburgh the rest of Scotland is surprisingly sparsely populated, with lots of little towns along the way. The towns here tend to have one high street, or main street, along the "highway" here and that's about it. Some of them are downright adorable like Creif with it's little flags and hanging baskets of flowers. The natural scenery is also amazing, with awe inspiring bens and glens. We hit what we think is the edge of the ...

... the cold?? Till that day, we suffer. One Wednesday afternoon we trekked on the train to Tynemouth; the conditions were especially cold and ******. Having reached the beach one rather irreverent northerner retorted:<br><br>&#8220;Surfing here? Are yous joking mate?&#8221;<br><br>We smile back with naïve enthusiasm. The conditions weren&#8217;t perfect but I wanted to go out anyway&#8230;a full 15 minutes later I paddled in - afflicted with what I&#8217;d describe as severe ...

There's something amazing about knowing that you have everything you need to survive with you. I have clothes, food, shelter and transport. What more do I need?<br><br>There's something a little bit less amazing about having all that stuff with you when you try to get it on and off several busy trains. Why did I bring so much stuff??<br><br>Train ride up was fairly uneventful, it just took a long time. I always thought that Inverness was a long way North ...

... with 3 of the people I met in the Hebrides' last year when I started this challenge. Great to do the last event with them. We ate out at a fish restaurant and then saw Sula a Danish/Scottish band that happen to be touring, excellent. It was fancy dress on Thursday. No prizes for the best dressed. I wasn't sure whether to wear the fishnets with the nurses tunic or not, but did. Just a quick 3 (approx) miles along the beech. You had to predict what your time will be and the ...

... It said "Tongue 16 miles". Looking on my map, I realised I was no longer 'just north of Inverness', but moreso almost at the northern coast of Scotland. It was starting to get dark, and I wasn't sure about petrol situations etc, so I decided to just turn around in this village and head back the way I came, and back to Inverness. It took about 2 hours which wasn't bad, considering. Oh, and at one stage I thought I was really lost when I saw a sign for Dublin.

... After lots of brews and making sure we had everything we needed and that all our electronics managed to communicate with each other we enjoyed our last shower in a nice warm house for a bit and got packed up ready for the cycle into Edinburgh. Call this 1st day giddiness cause we could have got the train from a mile up the road but instead cycled 15 miles into the town centre. It was worth it though ...

... was lovely. We stopped for lunch at Bonar Bridge. At Wyck, we bought fruit juice, and sweets, then headed for o'Groats. Our B&B was two miles out of "town". All the civic centre really is: three or four souvenir shops and the ferry ticket office. Not an extraordinary lot. After we checked in, we drove to the tip of Britain. Pas, Ann, and I took a footpath along the shore-cliffs. Mum still ...