Chris’ Spoke-mangling SE to NW Cycle

After a few years of idle loafing in the wilderness, I thought it was high time I concocted another daft adventure to shake off the cobwebs and hopefully raise a bit more money for the Trust. Being no good at running, swimming or sailing, I decided to stick with the cycling and opted for the route linking the most south-easterly point in the UK (St Margaret’s Bay) to the most north-westerly (Cape Wrath).

All the good intentions of training and planning went by the wayside very early on so I set off on the 21^st May not entirely convinced that either myself or the bike would get very far. Luck shone down on me from the off though and I was blessed with hot sunshine for the first 8 days (incredibly). The slight downside of this was that I acquired a dubious 2-tone tan effect as the left hand side of me got burned to a crisp while the right side stayed pale and pasty.

I bumbled my way northwards, staying in some very dodgy guesthouses and hostels along the way, one of which I later discovered has been branded ‘the worst in the UK’! As I crossed over the border into Scotland, the effects of too many deep-fried haggis burgers began to show and I was forced to pit-stop in Stirling to have my badly buckled rear wheel realigned. That evening my luck finally ran out and, having nowhere to stay at 10pm, I lay myself down at the side of Loch Tummel for an evening of al fresco sleeping. I needn’t have worried about sleeping. I spent the entire night dancing the Highland Fling to escape the marauding midges and managed about 20 minutes of shut-eye. A lesson learned the hard way.

Despite the slight setback, I pushed on to Inverness the next day and the following evening spent a glorious few hours speeding through the stunning mountain scenery of Sutherland to reach Durness at 11pm! The final leg involved jumping on a tiny ferry with my bike to be taken over to Cape Wrath itself before clattering my way up a bone-jarring 11-mile track to the lighthouse. Spokes were pinging left, right and centre but the bike just about held out and we reached our final destination at midday on 31^st May.

After a few hours taking it all in and refuelling with tea and cake, it began to dawn on me…. ‘How on earth do I get home from here….?’.

Day 1 – St Margaret’s Bay to Westerham – 72 miles (72).

Day 2 – Westerham to Buckingham – 91 miles (163).

Day 3 – Buckingham to Derby – 91 miles (254).

Day 4 – Derby to Ashton-under-Lyne – 69 miles (323).

Day 5 – Ashton-under-Lyne to Carperby – 98 miles (421).

Day 6 – Carperby to Brampton – 68 miles (489).

Day 7 – Brampton to Caldercruix – 106 miles (595).

Day 8 – Caldercruix to Tummel Bridge – 86 miles (681).

Day 9 – Tummel Bridge to Inverness – 102 miles (783)

Day 10 – Inverness to Durness – 107 miles (890)

Day 11 – Durness to Cape Wrath Lighthouse – 13 miles (903 miles total).