Day 0
June 10th - From Inverness to John O'Groats

For someone who usually has a bag of hula-hoops for breakfast, forcing down a humungous fry-up was a bit of a struggle. But I managed it. When I left the Eildon Guest house at 10am it wasn't raining but all the roads were wet. If it wants to rain all night and be dry during the day that's fine by me. I had a quick ride around Inverness and then made my way to the train station in time for my train which left on the dot at 10:56 (no mistakes on the ticket today).
It was a really picturesque route mainly up the east coast but cutting inland at Helmsdale and then heading north towards Thurso. I was in danger of arriving at the youth hostel too early - it didn't open until 5pm so I decided to get off the train one stop early and have a bit of a ride. The 'station' I found myself at, namely Georgemas Junction, was just a platform in the middle of nowhere. Kirsten said this area was like the surface of the moon and I can see what she meant - there were no landmarks at all. I had to guess whether to go left or right out of the station to head for Thurso and, needless to say, chose the wrong option. It was only after about a mile when I came to a junction and was able to find it on the map that I knew I had to turn around. The weather had brightened up by now and it was a nice ride up to Thurso. The John O'Groats hostel is self-catering so I bought some food at the local superstore and then set off. The views across Dunnet Bay on the north coast were fantastic especially in the sun. I'll put a 'photos' page on the site when I get chance but they won't do it justice.
I wanted to get to the hostel by 6pm to watch the Canadian Grand Prix and I would have done it if I hadn't made the stupid mistake of thinking that the John O'Groats youth hostel would be at John O'Groats. How silly of me. It's actually at Canisbay, 3 miles before John O'Groats but I didn't realise this until I had gone well past it. I got to the hostel at about 6.10 but it didn't matter because it turned out they hadn't got a television anyway. From now on I am not going to assume anything !
Dinner consisted of a bowl of pasta and tuna (that's the limit of my cooking ability) and while eating it I flicked through the 'End to End' book which people sign at the start or end of their trip. Most people go from south to north so most of the comments were about completed journeys and it was quite eye-opening. The number of stories about what a struggle it had been worried me slightly and to make it worse most of the comments came from cyclists who were clearly keener and fitter than me. I had hoped to be at Land's End by the Friday before I go back to work so I could have the weekend to recover but I think it'll end up being a mad rush to get the trip finished by the Monday. The good news is that nearly all the comments said what a great experience it had been and, as another guy at the hostel said "You've got to do the end-to-end, that's what it's there for"
I'm going to try and have an early night tonight ready for tomorrow. It won't be easy as it doesn't start getting dark up here until well after 11pm. I'll try and make an early start and see if I can get to Tongue which is 65 miles away. With all the weight on the bike this is probably not going to happen but if I am to follow Kirsten's scenic route down the west coast then I'll need to put the miles in.