Day 13 - the end is in sight

Having left our bags with Marc's mum after meeting her in inverness Marc and i woke at 6 with the thought that john o'groats was only 125 miles away. The Cromarty ferry is interesting with space for 2 cars which almost removed their bumpers reversing off the other side. We caught up with the others at Tain for breakfast just as they were leaving and then proceeded to leap frog each other towards wick. Shortly after helmsdale we were informed by some cyclists heading south that we had a big hill ahead. We laughed and mentioned devon. We were definitely heading in the right direction with a long gentle climb followed by exhilarating 40 mph (freewheeling) decents. After a quick cup of delicious vanilla tea, fresh strawberries and shortbread courtesy of marc's mum in wick we all decided to finish the last 17 miles. The views as we were running out of scotland were stunning. After a gentle climb the last mile was a lovely roll downhill which marc and i raced at 30 miles an hour. The finish was a bit of a tip with the line hidden near the tumble down hotel and the sign packed away for the night. Over 120 miles is now the furtherst i have cycled in one day, quite a jump from a fortnight ago when it was 56!

The achievement is still sinking in after the rush to get bikes on the car roof and find dinner. Marc led the punctures with 2 proving skinny 23 mm road tyres are not great for touring. We are all in the car now with massive thanks to Marc's mum for driving all the way up to collect us. We will post loads of photos somewhere soon enough.