Day 0 - Free food

Distance - 32 miles
Average speed - 10.9 mph
Maximum speed - 26.8 mph
Time - 2 hr 56 min

Ok, so it wasn't the most official of days, mainly because we weren't at our starting point until 3pm. The overnight train to Inverness was without drama. However, sleep was difficult to come by. Several times in the night I entered a state of rest during which you drift off for what seems like 20 minutes but actually turns out to be 2 hours. I hasten to use the term sleep though, just because I always seemed semi-conscious of noise and movement around me.

After a one hour wait in Inverness we boarded our bikes, then ourselves, onto the 10.38 to Wick. After a quite astonishing 23 stops at some of the smallest stations imaginable we arrived at Thurso. At this point, despite being exhausted from the travelling, we were quite keen to get going. So after quickly loading our bikes we made towards John O'Groats. We stopped en route at Dunnet Head, a nice 100m climb to the most northerly point on the British mainland. Annoyingly we spent most of the time heading east and the wind was an easterly. In other words a head wind. Not a fun start to the trip. But you should start as you mean to continue.

After taking in John O'Groats and officially 'starting' we retired to our nearby hostel, spent after a relatively gentle 32 miles. We then ate the moat interesting meal ever thought of, courtesy of Jonny. From the free food left at the hostel we had an interesting mix of pasta, soya mince, chicken gravy and tomato ketchup. And lest I forget the genius that Gareth brought to the table in the form of oregano. Either way there were plenty of carbs and carbs are good.

Now I must sleep for I am shattered and apparently already lagging behind the boys.

Night all.