It's all change for the final day, my usual evening routine would include the washing of the days clothing providing it time to dry over a couple of nights before it's needed again. As there would be no riding on Sunday I got the night off! Only to fall asleep in anticipation of what would be our final day.
Breakfast was not served until 8am at the earliest, so this morning would be the latest start we have done all trip. After a hearty breakfast (including haggis) we packed and set off near to 9.30am. Very late for us. And there would be no rest as no sooner had we left the hotel we started our 3 miles of climb to 700ft. I think that when mother nature was lending a hand to carve out this part of Lands End to John O'Groats she thought "I know, lets have a laugh and throw in some big hills on the last day". They may have been big but in my opinion they are some of the best.
The weather in this part of the world was also having it's fun. The heat was rising quickly and the sun blazing just before the sea mist came in. The wind today worked in our favour with it either blowing from the south or east as it changed through the day. This gave a good tail wind helping us through the day.
We got a message from Tracey to say she had landed at Inverness and collected the van. She was going to grab some supplies and head our way and hopefully meet us near Wick.
We found another great tea room for a short stop and refreshment before pushing off once more knowing that Tracey would be getting ever closer. The hills started to reduce and our speed and distance was increasing quickly and soon we were at Wick. And yes, Tracey found us on the far side of the town. It really was great to see her. For the remaining 16 miles she took my bags in the can and acted as support crew for the last leg.
We were flying. The incentive of both a van to collect us and the finish. There was one last hill towards the end and one last blast of windy weather from the east before we would meet the finish. Some texts started to arrive on my phone (which is mounted to my handlebars), it was from Peter! It said just a few miles to go, to enjoy it, and an encouragement for Holly. I read it out loud. Cheers Mate, nice touch.
The final bend and we were on the home stretch. Absolutely fantastic, we had actually done it. Many of you had been tracking us live through the internet. And so the messages of congratulations came flooding in. A little while after, the group of riders who had been following us all arrived in a big rush. I did smile to think we beat them. We had finished the day in our fasted time.
Thank you everyone. For your support, for your encouragement, and for your donations. Thank You.
http://www.justgiving.com/steve-farrage
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