Kirkwall (Orkney) to John O'Groats to Thurso

Another cold night in the tent at Kirkwall, awoke to drizzle and a cold wind yet again. A long hill to cycle up out of Kirkwall - rewarded by a great downhill bit after this - I reached 34.9 mph according to the bike trip - the fastest yet. Was straight into very cold and stinging rain. Still wearing my full winter gloves - not had cold hands with them as yet, even when sodden from the rain - which is quite amazing as my hands get cold very quickly. I have learnt that where ever I am going I always pack my hat and gloves with me (I have gloves of verying thickness) - they have served me well on every trip I have ever made at some point.

Despite the rain and wind and cold, I really enjoyed the cycle ride south - helped by the rain dissappearing after lunch. We were cycling down the right hand side of Scapa Flow - I'd never heard of Churchill's Barriers - four stone and concrete barrier dams that were built during the second world war to form a defence against German U boats sneaking into Scapa Flow through narrow channels between the islands that make up this southern leg of the Orkneys. This only happened though after the Royal Oak was got by a U boat very early on in the war. They managed to sneak past ships that had been purposely scuttled there to prevent such a thing - the U boat commander had 'local knowledge' as he was a fisherman and had been there prior to the war. The barriers had been talked about before this but because they would take so long to build, and because everyone thought the war 'would be over by Christmas' the plans were shelved. Once resurrected though things moved fast - and the planning and design stage happened in record time - but the conditions for the construction workers that were taken on from all over the country were felt to be so bad that over half of them left within 2 weeks of arriving - only no doubt to be conscripted into the war and endure far worse conditions soom after... Because the sort of men they required to build the dams were also the men that were required for the war itself, they ran into difficulties in getting the work to progress. After the battles in the desert - many Italians were taken as POW's from Torbruk and brought up to the Orkneys to work on the project. The Geneva Convention meant that POWs couldn't be forced to work on projects that were of benefit to the war effort - but after what must have been skillfull negotiations on both sides the POWs were persuaded that as roads would be put on top of the barriers, which would link all the islands together and were therefore doing something that would help the islanders, then they would undertake the work - and in return get better living quarters and out of work activities to do. The barriers were built of stone filled gabions dropped in 2 lines across the gaps, and infilled with large rocks, then cast concrete blocks with hooks in them for lifting with a crane were then dumped on the dam that had been formed. 3/4 of a million tons of rock and a milion tons of concrete were used. The road bit wasn't as im[portant so was the last bit to be done - finally being opened 4 days after VE day.

The POW camp of the Italians was missing a chapel - so two nisson huts were joined together and the Italians creatwed a magnificant church from these and concrete, and paint. One of the POWs was an artist and had a postcard of the Virgin and Child given to him by his mopther that he'd carried in his pocket all through the war - so he used this then to paint a copy of the picture over the alter. Much of the insode of the church appears to be brickwork - but when you actually touch it, it's just painted on. Nothing else of the POW camp remains, just the church and the barriers and the odd bit of old scuttled wreck.

By the time we reached the very small ferry pier at the extreme south of the Orkneys it was about 4 oclock - no one else there - just an empty waiting room / portacabin. The ferry wasn't due till 7pm (only started running on Saturday, 1st May - today was bank holiday Monday, the 3rd May - explains probably why we've seen so many tourists (relatively speaking). So another 3 hour wait, so out came the kettle for a cuppa - not so cold that I needed a 'hottie' this time though. Could see John O'Groats, 6 and a half miles away south across the notorious Pentland Firth stretch of water. There is a rip tide' that races down here - 12 hours in one direction, and then another 12 hours in the opposite one. Notoriously dangerous water.

7 pm saw the small ferry boat arrive - felt bad when only Roger and me, plus a local who arrived out of thin air appeared to betting onto the ferry - had to take all the bags off the bike and lash the bikes on the back deck. But just as I remembered that a bus ran from Kirkwall to the ferry - it suddenly appeared and about 30 day trippers trouped onto the ferry, all on their way back to the mainland. The weather was cold but fantastic now - clear and fantastic views over the water, and amazingly smooth crossing, given the reputation that this is a very rough ride. The safety announcements gave relatively detailed info about what to do if something happened and I've never been told before that if needbe take a life jacket and get in the water and hang onto a rope!! Also never seen quite so many lifejackets ready at hand in nettings along both sides of the seating area - or the large plastic bag lined bins at the end of each row of seats like giant sick buckets!!!

We were dumped off the ferry as super fast speed - diffixcult with bikes that had to be carried up steep narrow steps and all the panniers - nearly left two behind - pnly realised as we counted all the baggage - had to be passed over to us as the boat was pullinmg away form the pier. Not sure what all the fuss was about and speed etc as all they did was some pretty impressive manouvering to get the ferry through the narrow entrance into the very small harbour at John O'Groats - very nifty bit of work.

As it was now well past 8 oclock, the photographer that stakes a claim to the famous photo opportunity at John O'Groats wasn't there to extract any money from us so we took the obligatory photo - but minus the usual signpost sign that he very carefully takes away at the end of each day. Two lycra clad blokes and a suffering wife were also taking a photo - 'Which way are you going?' and 'How long did it take you?' was all they wanted to ask - and not really listen to you reply. They were End to Enders, and their homemade flag was for 'blood bikes'. The campsite was very close by - somehow it epitamised a typical British campsite - even down to the bleakmess of the weather - the wind was getting back up now, and was very exposed to the sea. Chose our spot behind a camper van to try and give us some protection should the wind really get up later, and our tent is OK as long as it is pitched into the wind - otherwise very vulnerable to wind and rain. Next door was a large army looking tent - a gang of fellas doing a recce trip for a larger group of End to Enders in June - cycling 1200 miles, 3 were cycling the rest were there to form the SAG team - never known what SAG actually stands for - but an American term for being the support team for a group of cyclists - carrying all the gear, sorting food out, putting tents up and down etc - so emans the cyclists can move a whole lot faster than we can - loaded down with all our stuff - plus just setting up and pulling down our 'house' every day takes lots of time. The three cyclists left about 6am this morning - leaving the SAG team to sort out all their stuff etc. I heard them up and about - so turned over and snuggled down in my sleeping bag listening to the rain falling on the tent.

A very grotty days cycling today - Roger was most definitely not a happy chappy - can't say it filled me with much joy either. The wind was a strong easterly one - and guess which way we were cycling - that's right - EAST!!! The rain was a really wet persistant drizzle, and when we called in at the Castle of May (where Queen Mum used to come for her holidays - she bought the rundown castle in the 50's) - we were very out of place looking like a pair of drowned rats compared to the silver rinse brigade that were there. A lovely cafe - built by donation mainly - very nicwely done - painted in the blue that the Queen Mum liked, of sustainable wood and local building materials etc - very thick and posh looking napkins - a lovely bowl of pea and ham soup with a buttered cheese scone warmed us up nicely. The castle is only small but very interesting and the guides are a mix of locals and people who knew her when she used to go and stay there. Of interest is that virtually none of the royal family actually ever stayed there - they preferred the Royal Yacht Britannia as it was much warmer.... The Queen Mum (I'd forgotten she was 102 when she died) formed a trust for the castle about 6 years before dhe died, and wanted it to become a tourist attraction so as to bring money into the area once she had died - they had had a 'dummy run' before she died. The guides in the house were incredibly knowledgable and full of little intimate tales about the Queen Mum and the dratted snappy corgis. We looked round the walled garden but not much to see at the moment - I was amazed how trimmed back all the plants and roses were - hard to believe that they will all grow and bloom this summer and form a show garden.

Hard to get back on to the bikes and get cycling again. A long grind of a hill just before Thurso - did hope to get further today but would have meant another couple of hours minimum into the head wind and a night camping again - so opted for an early finish and a very small hostel, Sandra's Hostel - over a fish and chip shop. Really appreciated the lovely hot shower - the first shower for many a day - and warmed up reading in bed before weakening to a chip shop supper, a read of the latest election news in The Times, and onto the internet to check emails etc out. The rain stopped for a while after we got here but is back drizzling again now. O I do hope summer comes soon - would be nice to be able to cycle without the big yellow coats, two layers underneath and big winter gloves on.

Great to get the emails from you all - not sure why some of you can leave comments and others can't? What's the secret Shay?