Day 20: Melvich to John o’ Groats

Not long after setting off we pass a NC500 sign for John o’ Groats – the first time we’ve seen our ultimate destination on a road sign. It feels wild that we’re within touching distance of our goal. It’s a strange psychology, doing a ride that is so focussed on one place: throughout our journey, whenever anyone has asked where we’re going, we’ve replied “John o’ Groats”. It’s been the mysterious, far-away destination, almost legendary, whenever we’ve talked to anyone about what we’re doing. And now here we are, looking at a sign that points to John o’ Groats. We have made it this far. We are so nearly there.

The landscape flattens out as we cross into Caithness, the final county. It’s rolling hills now, still with the mountainous backdrop, and still with the golden sands beaches, but flatter and more open. We round the corner to descend into Thurso, the biggest town since Inverness. The Orkney Isles are clearly visible on the horizon, and there’s Dunnet Head, the most northerly point on mainland Britain, extending into the ocean with its huge vertical sea cliffs. 

Along the long straight road out of Thurso we go, past Dunnet Bay, where Mark rides out across the sand to dip his wheel in the sea, as we had all done at Mounts Bay on the south coast of England all that time ago. The settlements are ticked off one by one until we reach the junction that will tip us towards John o’ Groats and the end of our journey. 

The little hamlet has been developed in recent years but still, it couldn’t be more different to commercial Land’s End. There’s no charge for a photo at the signpost for a start, so we wait for a moment for others to finish posing, then move in for our own. Three riders, standing at the opposite end of the island to where we started, representing all those who joined us for a leg or two along the way. 

The moment means so much, in many different ways. It’s a hell of an achievement from a riding point of view: having completed a ride that you didn’t know was possible, having cycled what looks on paper as an inconceivable distance, reaching that long-fought signpost. Then there’s the adventure point of view: so much has happened over these three weeks, and we have seen so much, marvelled at the best of what the UK has to offer. There have been ups and downs, physical as well as emotional. And of course, the circumstances under which we’re riding. It’s still difficult to process why we’re here, that Tim is gone. 

Mark leads us in a tribute to the big man who brought us here. We raise our whisky glasses and pour one on the ground for Tim. It is such a touching, meaningful moment and we’re all in tears. 

This is the kind of landscape that he loved: a wild coastline, a powerful sea, big open skies, understated yet welcoming. He came here at least once, on his round-Britain cycle, and I like to think he’s still here, somewhere. 

It’s hard coming off an adventure – for so long you’ve had a purpose, and when that purpose is over, it’s easy to think, now what? I wonder if that’s what overwhelmed Tim in the end: his adventures and cycle trips were his therapy, his way to be free from daily pain and stress, but it can’t last forever. The highs are always followed by a low, and if even the three of us feel a bit down having finished our ride, it would have been especially so for Tim. Each time he went back to the day-to-day he would struggle. I wonder if, in the end, even the cycle tours weren’t enough.

We spend a long time soaking it all in – it’s the perfect place for quiet contemplation, and we each have our own thoughts and feelings to work through. We raise one last pint to Tim in the Last Pub. There are logistics to work out, and another 20 miles back to Thurso, but for now we’re staying put. Throughout the ride we’ve needed to keep on making forward progress, but not any more. We can stay as long as we like. This one’s for Tim.

Stats for the day: 67km riding, 514m climbing (then 20 miles back to Thurso)

Acknowledgments:

Thank you to everyone who joined in on this tribute ride to my friend and yours, Tim McKenna.

Rob, Ashley, Neil, Craig, Jill, Shane, Ian, Ian, Ian, Shivaji, Katy, Kendal, Andy, Simon, Andy, Stephen, Jeff, Ivan, Sally, Alan, Nigel, Mark, H, Andy, Raz, and of course Mark and Lorenzo. It’s a risk doing something like this with complete strangers, but we made it work, and you did it!