Day 13 Helmsdale to John O'Groats

The final day of LEJOG brought the following stats:

Miles: 54.2
Climbing: 2903 ft
Average Speed: 12.5 mph
Max Speed: 35.7 mph
Time Riding: 4 hr 19 mins
Total Duration: 5 hr 20 mins
Steepest Gradient: 11.6%



Berriedale Braes

The final day of my LEJOG adventure was underway at 8:30, with just 55 miles to do before reaching the goal of this fantastic journey I was expecting a relatively easy day. This expectation was shattered within the first 4 miles with the climb from Helmsdale which totaled over 700ft. A brief respite was had until mile 8 where I reached the Berriedale Braes. Here the A9 drops sharply towards the village of Berriedale where it crosses the river and then climbs steeply through a number of switchbacks.





After the Braes the A9 and then the A99 would continue to offer short but challenging climbs all the way to John O'Groats. As well as the constant rise and fall of the road another constant was again a head wind, must have been between 10 - 15 mph.  This kept the temperature low despite the glorious sunshine, requiring the use of 3 layers to stay warm. All this added to the relatively slow progress during the morning eventual arriving in Wick at noon.


After a brief refueling stop the final push was made to reach the ultimate destination. The final 13 miles seemed to take an eternity with yet more seemingly big climbs, in reality none were steep or hard but the legs after 13 days were spent.

As I rode the final mile into John O'Groats, thankfully downhill, I felt jubilation at completing this adventure amazed that I had had the staying power to see it through to the end.

After the obligatory photos at the iconic sign, many thanks to the tourists who took the pictures, no need for yet another selfie, I headed over to café and had a celebratory beer followed by coffee and cake, where I chatted with another cyclist who had just finished LEJOG. He had taken slightly longer than me ( 5 years ) having broken the journey up, I had to admire his determination.

Once the celebrations subsided and the coffee and cake had been consumed I headed to my overnight accommodation in Thurso, a ride of 20 miles, thankfully with a tailwind this was probably the quickest 20 miles of the entire journey.

John O'Groats to Thurso Stats:

Miles: 20.7
Climbing: 728 ft
Average Speed: 15.5 mph
Max Speed: 30.2 mph
Time Riding: 1 hr 19 mins
Total Duration: 1 hr 47 mins
Steepest Gradient: 10.4%

Helmsdale to John O'Groats

 

John O'Groats to Thurso