John O'Groats to Lands End

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JOGLE route - Helmsdale to Tain

Day Three of my End to End Cycle Ride

Sea, rail and road between Helmsdale and Tain in Scotland
A view heading toward Golspie - Note Lejogers to the right!

The thing with staying in a seaside village or town is that anywhere you're going means cycling uphill for a bit. and this morning this was a task. As you leave Helmsdale you go over the river bridge and up and in the pouring rain, which it was, this isn't altogether pleasant!

Luckily after a couple of miles the sun came out and the ride through the higher ground was quite pleasant, especially the coastline view looking toward Dunrobin Castle.

After that you're once again into fairly green surroundings and a word of warning that the road gets a little narrower around now. I should add at this point that Scottish Drivers, especially those who drive the Log Lorries are exceptionally understanding of Cyclists, wait their time and give you a nice wide berth.

I stopped at Golspie for a Coffee and sat with two locals, who insisted calling me 'Brian' ! A very cheery tongue in cheek couple of chappies. One was seating a whole Vanilla Cake, drinking a Coffee with a Roll Up and explained how he was having a triple by-pass the following week. This was followed by them telling me how they direct American Tourists to the Beach to view the famous Sea Hedgehogs who live round that area. The first of many very happy encounters !!

After that, the rain decided to fall again, well it didn't fall, it fell down! Luckily the road widens just before Durnoch Bridge and I got over that only to find the sun was shining on the other side, hence the backward view of it on the right!

This sudden weather change taught me a short sharp lesson and that's to have your waterproofs handy at all times. I met a couple of girl cyclists just outside Durnoch who were frantically trying to unpack their panniers to search around for their's and trust me - they were wet!

Tain is set in a very flat area. My Bed and Breakfast was luckily right opposite a Lidl and Co-Op, the only downside being there's an RAF practice area right behind it and you're liable to get the shock of your life every couple of hours or so!


Looking back on the Durnoch Bridge

Distant view of Dunrobin Castle
Dunrobin Castle

JOGLE cycle ride - Loch Fleet
Sunshine and Showers! Loch Fleet


Tain Town Centre
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