Another routine morning we set off from Bettyhill straight into tghe first climb of the day and after 16 miles with 60 still to go we had done all 4 categorised climbs of the day.
There were more climbs but none severe enough to warrant a category and it was noticeable after Reay how the landscape flattened and the huge mountains around us disappeared for the first time on tour.
We glimpsed Dounreay nuclear power station but the route went slightly inland to Thurso so we didn't get to cycle past it.
After failing to find a cafe in Thurso we ended up in the North Coast Visitor centre which had a cafe were we had a Veg soup and a Cheese scone which really warmed us up as today was cool.
It had been hot in the sun but cool as soon as it clouded over making layering a problem, I started in a short sleeve top, then doubled up with a long sleeve one, the I added a wind cheater .
We left Thurso along a long straight road into the wind which was hard progress towards John o Groats but before we got there we took an 8 mile detour to cycle up to Dunnet Head which is actually the most northerly point on the UK mainland being a couple of miles North of John o Groats and about 6 miles north of Cape Wrath to the west.
We took our pictures and me and Rob took it in turns to walk along the track past the lighthouse at which point we could claim to be the most northerly person on the UK mainland - everyone else was south of us at that moment - all 67 million people !
Another tough 12 mile slog to John o Groats followed were we stopped for another coffee and took the obligatory pictures before a very fast last 16 miles into Wick which we managed in 65 minutes despite that wind still being against us.