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Thursday 27th May 2010 Bettyhill to Thurso An easy ride today with a couple of small hills near the beginning, all rideupable, then a flatter, rolling countryside. There were a couple of brief showers but nothing much although it was still cold. Sunny intervals.
I rode this leg with John Rimmer whom I’d met the night before in the Bettyhill Hotel. At Melvich we had a cup of tea in a pub/café run by an Essex man. He’d opted out of the hustle and bustle of the south-east seven years earlier and loved it up here, running his pub and camp site and four self-catering chalets. A big ‘geezer’ type of chap, he was, very friendly. He said he had a lot of Lejogeurs coming in and had also had Rosie Swales stop by once – on foot towing a trailer in which she slept by night.
As we left we met two more cyclists who were making for Thurso, both Lancastrians by the sound of them. One was going to continue to Orkney but he didn’t say much. Also a bit further on I thought I saw Simon, the chap from the Leominster B&B, pass by while we were stopped taking a photo or two. Then to cap it all who should turn up but John and Martin, the two blokes I’d met right back in Cornwall on 11th May. I’d since seen John again on 17th when Martin had been called away for a funeral. Today they were doing a long ride, from Tongue to John O’ Groats and then straight back to Thurso, a total distance of over 80 miles. After a chat they rode off ahead of us but we caught them up again in Thurso when we went into town for a cup of tea. They didn’t leave the café there until 2.45 so still had a fair old way to go yet that day.
My companion, John, was booked in at the Waterside Guest House and happily they had a room available for me too so I checked in there - £32. At 7.45 John and I left the B&B and went looking for sleazy street girls and frivolous sex… Sorry, Mrs Rimmer, I’m just joking, we really went looking for a meal which we obtained in the Red Pepper bar of one of the local hotels. Honest. So the tasty tart I ended up with was actually just a goats cheese one with salad & chips plus a rhubarb and blueberry crumble and ice cream. All very nice although a tad pricey at £21. After eating we went in search of John and Martin and found them in a bar whose name I’ve forgotten or never knew, but which advertised itself as somewhere to ‘let your bits shake to the music’. A definite repellant but it wasn’t as bad as it sounded, probably because being Thursday not so many people wanted to shake their bits. In fact the place was half-empty. John and Martin were there though, flushed with success at having achieved their LeJoG. It had been an 84 mile last leg for them and we helped them celebrate with a few pints – nice blokes. Tomorrow… the final leg. Distance: 31.04 miles Average speed: 10 mph Max speed: 31.4 mph | |||||
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