Day Three - Thursday

Stats for Thusday 11 Sept:

Distance: 361 miles
Average Speed: 46mph
Elapsed time: 10 hours
Driving time: 8hrs

Leaving behind us the warmth and hospitality Of Martin Shelly and of Irene Goddard (with whom we stayed at here lovely B&B), we headed mostly North.

"Mostly" because a glitch on the TomTom took us about 20miles South for no well explained reason but once we sorted that out we were well on the way. Inverness basked in September sunshine (no, REALLY!) as we sat on the grass by the tourist information office and ate today's interpretation of lunch - it's amazing what people sell in th petol stations.

Sweltering in an air tempaerature of 20 Celsius, we pushed on towards Ross and Cromarty, past Alness, over the Spey into Sutherland. The countryside now is undeniably majestic; great mountains sweep down around us, dark peaty lochs at their feet, their inky waters whipped by the autumn winds. The autumn winds have also been doing their best to unseat us both all day; coming over a pass just south of Inverness we stuggled to stay upright in the buffeting gale. Sutherland gave way to Caithness and we knew then we were in wild country - even the sheep go round in twos up here. Apart from the obsessive use of speed cameras, unmarked cars, unmarked motorbikes and manned speed traps, our journey up the twisting A9 was marred only by some squally showers and the omnipresent side-winds.

The harbour at John O'Groats. In the distance is Orkney

We arrived at John O'Groats and did the obligatory photo-call by the town sign before making Duncansby Head,the top right-hand corner of mainland Britain just 51 hours after leaving Winchester on Tuesday.

Duncansby head

Fired with enthusiasm and adrenaline from our success, we added Dunnet Head (the northern-most point on mainland Britain) to our itinerary before a hearty supper of freshly -caught Orkney salmon at the optomistically-named "Sea View" Hotel.

Dunnet Head, the Northernmost point on the British mainland

With just over a thousand miles under our wheels, we have settled into the trip and the faffing quotient has diminished significantly! The bikes have been running well and our extra excursion to Dunnet Head (a 32 mile round-trip) seemed like a fun outing despite having already covered over 300 miles.

Altough our arrival in John O' Groats has been exciting, we are both eagerly anticipating the challenge of Cape Wrath tomorrow; we will need some luck if we are to make the crossing of the Sound of Durness and we still need to make it to Ullapool once we get back to Durness after our mini-bus excusion to the Cape itself. Stay tuned to find out if we make it, or whether we have to come back to complete The Four Corners...