Bettyhill to John O’ Groats - just over 50 miles along the top of Scotland to our final destination and the end of our adventure. The thought of the finish wasn’t quite enough to soothe the aches and pains away, but we certainly pedalled away from the hotel with an extra bit of bounce in our pedals.

Not least because there was five of us on the road. Ollie, having managed half a day in the saddle yesterday, was back for more despite a few creaks from his ribs and chest (he had to stop and walk over every cattle grid yesterday), while we were also joined by James’ mate Colin Hopkins, who had raised sponsorship cash of his own to join us on the last leg.

But just because it was our last day didn’t mean we were cut any slack on the road. We’d been informed that the road from Bettyhill to Thurso was fairly flat - Wrong! It dips in and out of coves as it twists along the coast - beautiful but hilly.

For the first ten miles we cycled under the threat of leaden skies, before the heavens finally opened and rain accompanied us for much of the rest of the ride. The irony was that John O’ Groats was in blazing sunshine and for much of our route clear skies were only a mile or so out of reach.

We had plenty of support though. Penny and the Fun Bus popped up after almost every corner videoing us as we went and as we got further east other cars full of supporters arrived on the scene: Georgie’s sister Annabel and boyfriend Mike, James’ Dad Mike and Shona, and four generations of the Marriage’s shoe-horned into a rented Renault Espace. All would turn up at various points to cheer and take pictures.

We all met up together for a coffee stop in Thurso, just 20 miles out from JOG. We didn’t waste too much time because we had another appointment to keep - the 1,000-mile mark beckoned. Colin took the picture below which shows the four of us lined up on the exact spot Tom’s speedo hit four figures - just eight miles out from JOG. By this stage Colin, seated on his mountain bike, was beginning to feel the pace, but spirits were high and the sky was clearing - we even managed to take our rain jackets off for the last few miles. In fact the sun and heat made the road steam - which looked quite eerie as we pedalled through it.

It was an emotional last few miles. None of us really wanted it to end, Ollie wanted to turn the clock back 12 days, Tom joked about pedalling south, James thoughts turned to his Mum (he’s convinced she sorted out the good weather at the finish). Only Colin, who had enjoyed and helping hand from James (quite literally) was relieved when the end came in sight.

The pictures give you a much better idea off what came next as we rolled over the finish line (surprisingly tricky to find actually!) Champagne was sprayed, pictures taken, silly hats worn by the most senior members of the party, forms filled in. It took a couple of hours.

Of course that wasn’t quite the end - we then drove back south to Dornoch Castle hotel for a party. Naturally it took no more than a couple of drinks for the cyclists to start wobbling as they reminisced about stages, hills, B&Bs and events en route, but there was plenty of banter, good food and whisky to keep the party going into the early hours. Special mention should go to Reckitt Benckiser, the company Tom works for, for laying on half a dozen bottles of champagne - a really kind and personal gesture. Especially since Hugh then produced Cycle4Charity mugs for us to drink from…

Tom and James were proud of the fact they were last to bed at about 3am. Let’s just hope they weren’t drawing up plans to do it all again next year…

PS: We’ll be posting a final thoughts blog in the next few days.

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