At quarter past nine this evening, Frank reached John O'Groats after a covering a total distance of 925 miles since last Monday
His last day on the road was another outstanding effort.
As he set off, at 6:30 this morning, it was raining. His first message was pretty downbeat: "psng dn! cold wet hungry. Not happy", but half an hour later, things were starting to look up. As he cleared Slochd Summit at 1328 feet above sea-level he could see that there was a break in the clouds ahead of him.
When he reached Inverness, he stoked up with coffee and a big, fatty breakfast in the warmth of the cafe at Morrison's. He admitted that the fat probably wouldn't be helpful, but it certainly felt good.
At a little after 3 pm he passed Dornoch and turned North-East for the final push towards Wick. With the wind almost behind him he was beginning to believe that he could make it to the finish before nightfall.
As Frank forged onwards, I went out to rehearse with my band. While we were setting up the gear, a text arrived from Wick, and at 9:15 the news came through that he had finally made it to John O'Groats.
When I 'phoned him, after our rehearsal had finished, he had already cycled back to Wick!
He was staying at a small hotel and was about to find the bar, so I didn't want to detain him for too long. He sounded understandably happy and thanked everyone who has been following his exploits for their support.
Of course doing the ride was the easy bit.
Now he's got to collect the sponsorship money...
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I enjoyed his travels, where's he going next then? Of course, we want a daily up date from his base camp reporter!
ReplyDeleteI shall be sure to ask him when he gets back to work.
ReplyDeleteGo Frank! That's a huge journey in one day.
ReplyDeleteHow's he getting home?
Getting home??
ReplyDeleteHe's probably so pleased to have got there that he may well stay.
(Actually, I think he's returning by train.)