Walking 1000 miles from Lands end to John O'Groats in aid of The Air Ambulance (starts april 7th 2024)

Tuesday 15 June 2010

Two of two or the end ! 15/6

Not sure what to say yet will update the end blog asap , but job done !

Ok about time this was done I think! (24/6!!!)

The day started with a quick walk into Wick where a great little Cafe allowed Alfie In!  John and I full fried breakfast later hit the road (A99) out of Wick to the road NE to Ackergillshore where as the tide was out we were able to clamber over the rocks below the pier , made a nice find here of a massive sea urchin. >


.A bit further along and Alfie nearly got an early supper of young Cormorant luckily he came away when called, and the bird just got a bit shocked!, John then put the bird into the sea where it swam out to a rock where its mother waited.
Just above the the bay is the Impressive Ackergill Tower, more of a castle really!
Here a path enables you to avoid the rocky coastline and we started to make better progress, the beach here is sublime! and next to no one else was here, for any one planning a similar route there is a river cutting through the beach into the sea but when we walked through it was only boot deep so no great problem.

Coming off of the beach at Keiss views along the coast show the impressive ruin of old Keiss castle, but as lunch called a drink was taken at the local hotel, before the A99 lead our feet for another 5 miles or so to Freswick, where the bay is fronted by the formidable Freswick house which dominates the bay.

The last hill totally obscures the view of end of the walk till the you get within the last mile or so, but i doubt anyone would be concerned as the views of the Orkneys (weather permitting) are astonishing!

John O'Groats itself is surprisingly large albeit well spread out, with the last kilometer taking you to the now boarded up Hotel where the official finish line is, Why has no one taken over this old Hotel? surely there's an investment here?, Meeting up with Ruth again here (after she had met us on the road near Freswick!) and with the end sign post photos taken, a celebratory beer was had at a hotel up the road where we met up with Chris (lejoger) who was staying at the hotel till he headed home tomorrow.

For me and Alfie a few nights in a large tent with all needs catered for Thanks Ruth!!! were bliss full tho it had to come to an end. so as promised we gave John a lift back to Stafford where he picked up his train and the M6 took us back to the midlands and home.


I suppose the question I've left unanswered is would i do it again? well the answer is certainly not no! but at the moment its not yes either!
 in time when my finances allow I may well reverse the route or find another (stirling looks good!(yes looking already!)) but for now i'm letting my knees recover they seem to be very stiff now that i'm relaxing more!, 
the feet? well i suppose i've been lucky as other than lots of silly little blisters they've been fine!.

At the start of the walk I weighed a whopping 14+ stone (ouch!) by the end I'm considerably more trim weighing in at 12.5 stone so its safe to say I lost two stone or one seventh of my body mass during this expedition, hope I can keep this weight!

Alfie has amazingly had no problems at all during the entire walk! the only thing to slow him down was hot days and a quick dunk in a river or trough soon sorted him out!.

Biggest challenge now for me is work, I dont have a lot ! so if anyone needs an Electrician................