Day 2 - Inverness - Freswick
So we woke up, not so fresh faced and raring to go, but the weather was looking promising. We headed back over to the golf place for breakfast and after working out their stupid pricing plan, we got some bacon rolls and some tea.
After packing up the panniers and fitting them we headed off to Tesco to grab some petrol and some cash and headed out to the Inverness bridge. When we left the carpark I turned left and headed for the main roundabout and got on to the motorway leading up to the bridge, but then I lost Blair somewhere along the way.
We waited for 15 minutes and finally, to Emma’s relief, he turned up.
Most displeased
There was a pretty bad accident on the bridge, a 4 car job with airbags and the lot, although I don’t think anyone was seriously hurt. We then continued north travelling up the east coast, along the Black Isle and up to Tain, where we arrived at the Glenmorangie Distillery.
The Glen of Tranquility…
Pretty smelly but great to go and see
After leaving the gift shop with a wee bottle for Dad, we headed up north, stopping at a crossing to soak up some rays. It was turning out to be a beautiful day! My AGV helmet was starting to fall apart though, with the DD adjustment thing ripping off in my hand. Not good for a top-line helmet…(Update after)
The crossing between Tain and Dornoch
The weather was scorching and spirits were up as we headed further north, with some amazing sights along the way. As we threaded our way through some glorious road and scenery, the smell of the Scotch Broom was delicious, a nice coconut smell, reminded me of summer holidays.
East Coast roads are ace
The yellow stuff is the Scotch Broom, lovely!
After quite a time on the bike we stopped at a small food stop and refuelled our bodies. There was some weird locals speaking to us, and at one point called us fat b*stards, which was nice…
Tasty burgers…dodgy chat
After wolfing down our lunch, we headed out to get some petrol. B was petrified of running out so was on tenderhooks all the way to the petrol station. When we arrived it was like a step back in time. An old guy was polishing the engine of his 50 year old classic car and turned to see us riding up. We filled up and we chatted a bit, he was getting his classic ready for the summer. We paid and said our goodbyes.
We must have travelled about 2 miles, and as we exited a wooded area suddenly we were in a retail park! There was Argos, Next, Superdrug….it was bizarre! One minute we are in the back of beyond with an old timer and his classic car, the next we were in the present day!
We decided that we would ride up through Wick to the B&B, unpack the luggage and then head up to John O’Groats.
B&K arriving at the digs
The ride to JOG was good, smooth roads and it was nice to get the panniers off. The bike felt really nimble and light and I made full use of the rev range on one of the long quiet straights…:D
HooHa extraordanair
Once we arrived at John O’Groats we headed over to the sign and some New Zealanders were getting their photo taken. Basically what happens is you pay some money and you get your home town, plus the distance from JOG to your town and then you get a professional photo taken. So the NZers were getting their photo taken and the guy then came across and asked what we would like, so I said can we have the bikes up beside the sign?
“£9.50 each, or if you don’t want the bikes in, it’s free…”
Free it was. So he said that’s fine, if you wait a second he would take down the monster NZ sign for us. Great!
So we waited for a while and he then surfaced with some letters and stuff and started putting them in the slots..so that it read “Your Town ?”….
Arse. Anyway, we got all our gear together with the helmets all lined up, and then another member of the joe P came across and asked if I would like him to take our picture. I said yeah that would be great and he started calling the pro an arse.
After taking our photos, we were standing there and the pro shouted me over, then proceeded to say that we could in fact actually park our bikes anywhere we like outside the chained off area….and that we could put the bikes up on the grass if we liked!? But he was leaving in 3 minutes so we would have to be quick…
Cue me and B sprinting over to our bikes and whizzing round and up the grass..oh it was a laugh.
The pro then got in to the swing of this “being nice” thing and started chatting away to us about how shit my camera was and how he hated the compacts, “what you need is a good old 35mm SLR.”
Are you joking me?
The forbidden photo
Anyway, me and the girls abandoned Blair whilst the guy chatted to him for ages, and whilst he was getting that, the guy that took our pictures came over and started chatting to me. He was on a trip around Scotland the other way in a camper van with his wife, and was bigging up the roads big licks. He was great chat and in the end we had a good chin wag for 20 minutes.
A few more bikers had turned up and Blair had made it away from Nice Guy Eddie and we started chatting to them.
The Gissers and the trailies
The boys were on Trailies going the same way as us, but roughing it with tents and the tins. As we were chatting about how many miles they were dong a day (unbelievable) the pro was now in his car and doing a massive kerb rider over the grass mound. Upon seeing the pro bouncing about inside his car and doing some serious 4×4 in his Ford Escort, he burst out laughing, but with a real shriek of a laugh, and his mate shouted “HOI! Don’t laugh!!!” Really funny.
The Trailies said their goodbyes and said they were going to try and get to Ullapool tonight!!! and then got fully geared up, helmet, gloves, rev your engines….then went 200 yards and got off again at the campsite…gloves off..helmet off….
Local talent hotspot
After milling around for a bit we decided to go and reserve a table at the JOG Seaview Hotel, which we had been recommended by the B&B Lady. Me and B sat outside and the girls went in to book the table, then re-appeared in 2 minutes saying that they had went to the bar and suddenly all these local men were around them. There was also a woman screaming at her drunk husband to get home…So tea in Wick then ladies?
Just as we were leaving some old cars bombed past heading for the JOG post.
The Pro at the JOG post had mentioned in his excitement that there was some sea stacks beside a lighthouse to the East. We went to check it out, and I wasn’t really expecting anything really. On the way to the sea stacks there was a gully type thing where all the birds were sitting in the layers of cliff face. It was really smart.
Cliffs with seagulls and Razorbills
Then as we headed over the crest of a hill the sea stacks came in to view and my word, what a view it was. The light was just right, casting a nice shadow in the slight mist that was surrounding the cliff faces. And the sea stacks were huge!!
Beautiful. The Sea Stacks near John O’Groats
Look out for a photo stitch of that soon..
Anyway, after standing in awe of the beautiful sights that were before our very eyes, we headed back to Wick to grab something to eat. We travelled all over Wick looking for somewhere to eat and ended up beside a Sainsburys at a hotel which I can’t remember the name of…the Norseman?? Anyway, the food was ok and the service was shocking.
We headed for Tesco to fill up and get some drinks for tonight, then headed back to the digs, where the sun was just setting.
New born? No, just itchy
When we arrived we stood in the garden for a bit and Blair was sure a sheep was giving birth, but it was just rolling around….Drinks, some TV and then bed, a big big day tomorrow and we were all a bit apprehensive about it…
The Farmhouse B&B - Freswick. 4 out of 5 YY Stars
Tomorrow = Freswick to Durnamuck 
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