Last day, and the rear wheel gets much worse…

This trip has been a great journey through Britain, although the last couple of days were more about the destination given the problems with my back wheel.  However, today was the final day… and it felt like a race!  Before I went to bed last night I checked the bike and got it ready, which was a good thing as I found two loose bolts.  I went to bed early, and got up early, and was very energised.  Normally it takes at least 10 miles of cycling to start to warm up, but this morning I felt totally ‘on the button’ as soon as I left.  The first 30 miles flew past incredibly quickly.

Going back a bit, to last night when I got to the B&B in the middle of nowhere but had a very slow internet connection so couldn’t upload any pictures.  Well here’s the story from Lairg where I sent the last ‘proper’ update.

About five miles from Lairg I went through a cattle grid, and immediately the scenery changed – it became much more open and barren.

Although it was cloudy, the sun was trying to burn through.

Absolutely magnificent cycling roads – empty, great scenery and good tarmac. 

I saw this big bird of prey but have no idea what it was.  I’d say definitely a Golden Eagle…

Onwards on really great roads.

There’s been a lot of forestry activity, the logging machines chop the trees down, shave off the branches and take the logs, which means that there were whole areas full of decomposing branches.

If you have young children, you’ll have seen the film Cars.  Lightning McQueen pulls a tarmac machine called Bessie who makes beautifully smooth, shiny tarmac.  Well I cycled on it!

Eventually got to the remotest Inn ever.

I was sharing the bathroom with the owners; this was his ‘business’ reading…

And here’s the bath as it filled up with peaty water full of bracken!

The light is amazing – here is the view at 9pm and 7am the next morning.

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So back to today.  I left the Inn…

The sky was looking bad, so I put on my waterproofs, but within 5 minutes I was back to t-shirt and shorts…

The scenery was fantastic and I was flying.  So far on this trip I have really enjoyed stopping, having a look around and taking pictures.  Today it really felt like a race…

I came across a load of sheep in the road – move over!

Up to a village called Bettyhill, where there were golden sands.  This must be great on a sunny day.

I cycled through dips and crests, some of the uphill bits were hard going, when a Tornado flew over at low level.  The sound was amazing but unfortunately I didn’t get it on camera.  However, in the distance, was… the sea!

Finally into Caithness…

… and a vision of the Old and the New.  The Old was Dounreay power station, the very first nuclear power station in the UK…

There was a bit of Flash Gordon about it – you don’t see power stations like that anymore.  It is being decommissioned now, at a cost of £2.6 bn.  Gulp.

And then, the New, right next to it…

At Doureay there was also something called ‘Vulcan’ which is where the Navy test the nuclear reactors for the ships/submarines.  What an awesome name for a nuclear reactor testing programme!

In the distance was Thurso – a big landmark for this trip, as I had to cycle through there, for a further 20 miles to John O’Groats, and then back again.  That’s after a 60 mile cycle ride.

When I got to Thurso, I changed my B&B from somewhere near J O’G to within Thurso.  I happened to check my rear wheel, and when I spun it – oh dear.  Over the past few miles I kept feeling like I had a puncture at the back as the bike would suddenly slow down.  When I spun the wheel, which should have freewheeled, it would do one revolution and then seize.  This was not good at all – after 200 miles of wobbling wheels, the ball-races in the bearing were starting to fail.

This is very bad news.  I knew I had pushed it with the back wheel so far, but my biggest fear was the bearings letting go.  And this is what was happening.

I was only 20 miles from John O’Groats, so thought through the options: do I risk it, and have the wheel seize on me, or do I take a taxi and do the last bit of the trip by car?   Clearly only one option: ride the bike.  At times like this you need to decide ‘am I going to ride slowly and nurse it to the end’ or ‘do I go banzai?’. 

If the wheel failed after that, well so be it.  But I was going to go for it.  And I rode that bike like I have never ridden it before!  It was an exhilarating ride, as fast as I could go, for 20 miles thinking at any time the rear wheel would seize up.   There were noises from the back wheel, the ball-races were clearly losing their lubrication, but my plan was to get to J O’G regardless.

And I did!

It was a bit of an anti-climax as it was very commercialised (it you want a picture next to the sign you either pay the photographer or take a pic yourself and put money in the bucket).  I wanted to get away as quickly as I good because I was getting cold.

After a few phone calls / texts, I needed desperately to warm up, so it was another 20 miles back to Thurso.  This time it started to rain for the first time in the whole trip.

Today was the longest day of cycling - 103 miles, and also the fastest - I averaged 15.5mph.  

I got back to the B&B, tired, wet, but satisfied.  Then out for a beer and curry with Tony that I have met on-and-off through this trip, along with his wife.

The end of an epic journey.  I will write some reflections on the train home tomorrow. 

Here’s a summary of the day.

Tomorrow I am on the four-hour train from Thurso-Inverness (it took only a bit longer to cycle that far), then Inverness-Edinburgh, and then a fast train from Edinburgh-London.

I can’t wait to see my family!