Day 11 – Durness to Tain – 295 Miles.

Quite a relaxing start to the day, we weren't due to catch the boat to Cape Wrath until 9 am. We decided to leave one tent up and leave our kit in it so we could ride to the small harbour unladen. The plan was to take the bikes across on the pontoon raft and ride to the lighthouse. However, despite the sun shining, the loch was quite choppy and discretion being the better part of valour, we decided to leave the bikes behind! The boat that took us across was really quite small – and we were quite keen to get back onto dry land!














The lighthouse now has a small café to cater for the tourists that pop over to see the wilderness; we took advantage of it before our return – this time on a slightly bigger boat!



















Rupert has arranged to have a fresh rear tyre to be fitted to his bike tomorrow in Inverness as his current one is quite badly worn, and it certainty won't see him through to the finish. With the bikes once more fully laden, we headed west along the northern coast road. Although this is designated as an 'A' road, for much of it's length it is single carriage with passing places. The locals still drive at dual-carriageway speeds though – we did however arrive in one piece at Dunnett Head, the most northerly point of mainland UK. Like Lizard Point (it's southern equivalent) there is little in the way of tourist attractions.















A short ride took us on to John O'Groats – which wasn't as tacky as Land's End, but isn't somewhere you'd stay for long. We bumped into a group of RAF Cyclists who had just completed a ride from Land's End – if we were saddle-sore I'm sure they had it twice as bad after seeing their saddles!

For the second half of the day, we were able to really cover some miles as the A99 and A9 down to Tain followed the coast all the way. RAF Tain is another bombing range, the OC of which has kindly allowed us to stay at his facility. Its nice not to have to throw the tents up.





















Another day closer to the finish – now we are heading south, it really feels as if we're on the home stretch. RAF Leuchars is our target for tomorrow.