LEJOG day 70: Wick to John O'Groats

I'm writing this post a day late, still in a state of mild disbelief mixed with euphoria, because after I finished walking at the signpost yesterday I was too busy celebrating with my parents.

To be clear, the last 40 miles of Scotland made for really quite rubbish walking; the John O'Groats trail can't come soon enough. I'm sure along the cliffs and away from the noise of the road you could forget and forgive Caithness for being pretty flat, but on the A99 you can't help but notice. Also, the tarmac meant I was still developing blisters.

All that being said, there was a long stretch where the road was almost empty and within view of the sea, which was nice, but was immediately followed by a tedious meandering climb over a moderately pathetic hill surrounded by moorland, after which John O'Groats came into view, still distressingly far away and not in the same direction as the road.

I think my heart broke a little bit- or was it just my feet? - at the point where I turned right, away from the straight road and its pavement, leading to the signpost less than a mile away, to walk out to Duncansby Head. I didn't make it- I was trudging along, resenting the up-and-down, when the lighthouse came into view, up another hill, and still looking far away. I reminded myself I was walking to John O'Groats, not to Duncansby Head, and promptly veered off along the coastal path to enjoy my last mile of the trip along the cliffs in the wind. I actually saw some waymarkers for the John O'Groats trail on my way.

Then the signpost appeared, suddenly very close, and just like that I'd walked the length of Britain.

Shortly after, I found my parents, and prosecco.

Distance walked: 19.79 miles
Time taken: 5h25
Percentage complete: 100%
Miles left to walk: 0
Days since I was last rained on: 3
Lunch: egg and cress, doritos, smoothie
Last night's B&B: Breadalbane House Hotel, Wick: nice enough but I think in the dodgiest bit of town- lots of boarded up windows around

 Castles
 If you're thinking, "Louise, that looks a lot like moorland", you'd be right



Comments

  1. Latti20 July 2017 at 18:29

    Congratulations from Arne and me Louise, well done.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anto21 July 2017 at 03:19

    I really enjoyed your blog (particularly when I briefly featured) and really must say a darn jolly good show 'ol bean, quite an epic journey. Have a cup of tea on me. Lovely to meet you and best of luck with all future endeavours. The roads will be lonely without you.
    Anthony

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous21 July 2017 at 12:08

    So proud of you! I hear there are more efficient ways of visiting Edinburgh - please do come back and visit some time!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

LEJOG day 65: Alness to Dornoch

Image
Today I had my first experience with the A9, and I'm afraid it looks unlikely we can be friends. Unless the road is closed to South-bound traffic from tomorrow until I get to John O'Groats next Wednesday, I predict that walking along the A9 is going to feel a lot like taking my life into my hands. There are a few problems I've already identified with the A9, and I'm sure I'll find more. To start with, as soon as the cycle route I was on yesterday hit the A9, its attitude to walker- and cyclist-safety became frankly lackadaisical. The same cycle route which provided me with an off-road tarmac path to protect me from the horrors of a mostly-deserted single-track road yesterday today decided that a painted white line along the edge of a thundering A-road frequented by HGVs carrying literal actual trees was sufficient protection. It did not change its mind as we crossed Dornoch Firth, with the exception of the actual bridge, where I was gifted a whole eighteen inches ...
Read more

LEJOG day 55: Ardlui to Tyndrum

Image
Today feels like such a victory. When I woke up this morning I was limping like nobody's business, and nothing about my ankle looked any more promising than it had the night before. But I got myself on the 9am ferry back across Loch Lomond with the logic that as I'd walked 2.5 miles on the thing yesterday, I could at least make it to the campsite at Beinglas farm 2 miles further on, and if I couldn't take any more there's a bus from there to Tyndrum. Most of the limping appears to have been down to everything stiffening overnight, because it got persistently better and although I'm not cranking out the miles at my usual pace I'm no worse than Naismith thinks I should be, overall. I was offered a very fancy support bandage by a Kiwi called Sue (who coincidentally grew up in the same town I worked in on my elective), which sadly didn't fit in my boot with my foot, but I bought a smaller, less effective one at the campsite shop for hobbling around in in the...
Read more