2002: John O'Groats to Inverness
~ in aid of the West Cumberland Hospital's Children's Ward

:: Day One:
Glenn Southward & Joe Pattinson collected the mini-bus late afternoon on Wednesday the 5/6/02 and then headed on to Ennerdale, where we had all planned to meet up outside of the Fox & Hounds public house.  This was so that we could pack all our bikes and personal belongings into the bus ready for the early start on the Thursday morning.

On leaving Inverness via the Kessock Suspension Bridge, we saw a sign stating that John O’Groats was still 130 miles away. The weather was unbelievable, the sun shinning and not a cloud in sight.  We finally made it to John O’Groats just before mid-day, a journey of 417 miles and nearly 8 hours on the road. After a little look around and a stretch of the legs, it was time for the cycling to begin. With the time pushing on, we were now faced with 45 miles in the saddle, riding to a small village called Strathy.

Here we were to spend Thursday night in a local B & B.  The views from there were awesome, right along Scotland's northern coast for as far as the eye could see, cliff faces rising hundreds of feet up from the beaches below. One thing we found to be very strange, was the nighttime or lack of it - as never really got dark!

:: Day Three:
Up bright and early on Friday morning, another brilliant day, again a sunny cloudless sky. We were only due to cycle 23 miles along the coast to our next port of call; a place called Tongue. The plan was to reach The Tongue Hotel by mid-day as the England/Argentina World Cup game kicked off at 12:30hrs. I’d being assured by the landlady that we would be able watch the game in the Hotel bar, if this had not being the case, I was facing a mutiny on the bike ride.

 The scenery along the coast from Strathy to Tongue was out of this world, white sandy beaches and blue seas. With the sun shinning you could of being forgiven for thinking you were in some far off land, had it not being for the greenery around us. We reached Tongue and the Hotel as planned just before mid-day, then it was into our rooms, showered, on with the England shirts, shorts, England caps and sun glasses, England flags and into the bar before kick off time and rest as they say is history. We won the football, but lost the pool & dart, on a penalty shoot out to the locals. I’d like thank the locals (especially big Andy) as they took the sas-a-nac invasion in good humour and made the day one that none of us, nor themselves will forget for years to come, hopefully one day we will return there for a re-match (and WIN).

We’d travelled nearly 20 miles from Tongue and only passed one dwelling on route. At Altnahara they were having their annual sports day, so we stopped and watched a band of pipes & drums doing their stuff for half an hour or so. Then it was back in the saddle and a long climb out of Altnahara for the best part of 10 miles till we arrived at The Crask Inn, surely this must be Britains most remote public house. We stopped there for a bite to eat. With the best part of 30 miles (of climbing) behind us, we were now faced with about the same distance, but this time it was nearly all-flat and down hill, having said that we still had a fairly stiff breeze to ride into. On we travelled for about 15 miles to the next sign of any civilisation, which was a place called Lairg, on through Lairg, where we stopped to take a look at The Shinn Falls, before completing our days journey at a place called Ardgay. To date we’d covered 121 miles in the equivalent of two days cycling (one full & two half days).

:: Day Five:
Sunday morning, the last day of the cycle ride, another 60 miles to go to our journey’s end, on The Ness Bridge in Inverness, the place we’d started the Inverness to Glasgow cycle ride two years earlier. The day started off with a cycle of some 15 miles down a busy main road, the A836 to a place called Tain. Here we got back on to the near deserted back roads, and once again and headed in an easterly direction. When we reached the coast, we turned south and headed towards the Nig Ferry. The Nig Ferry so we were told is the smallest car ferry operating within the British Isles. We got onto the ferry for the 20-minute sailing across the mouth of The Cromarty Firth, to Cromarty itself, which is on The Black Isle. After something to eat in a local Hotel, it was back into the saddle. A long steep climb faced us to the summit of the Black Isle - after which it was a long welcome, and mainly down hill ride all the way into Inverness where we completed the ride on the Ness Bridge as planned.

Looking back over the cycle ride, I would say this one, had surpassed even the Inverness to Glasgow ride from 2 years previous (which is saying something!). The weather had being excellent, the scenery was out of this world and the crack amongst the lads, both while cycling and in the evenings was superb.

Best of all was the fact that we raised the grand total of £2,600 which has being donated to the Children’s Ward in the West Cumberland Hospital, where the money will be spent to purchase an electrically operated bed and an infusion pump.