DAY 9 - LAIRG TO JOHN O'GROATS - 98 MILES

After the efforts of day 8 - day 9 was going to be a challenge, given the previous exertions on our legs.

Garrie and Hanna set off early as usual and John T kindly dropped us off at the place we had stopped the previous evening and miles past the hotel and we made our way out of Lairg for the last day of the trip.

In comparison to previous days, the weather was just right! The roads narrow and quiet (apart from the sheep) and the terrain beautiful but not too undulating. The only obstacles proved to be the sheep. In one hilarious incident they ran in front of us for about 500 yards, before peeling off to let us by.

In no time at all we had reached Betyhill - the first view of the sea since Cornwall. The scenery from the hotel where we enjoyed a quick coffee and some snaps for the album (photos to come) was again breathtaking. The best news however was that we were now heading west to John O'Groats for the rest of the journey and the wind would be in our backs all the way. It even warmed up enough to take of the jackets and legwarmers - a sight last witnessed around Shrewsbury!

The pace of life seemed to get slower the further north we got and so the time taken for lunch was much longer than we would have liked. However, undeterred, we mounted the bikes for the last time and flew round the last 20 miles to John O'Groats. The team all wore their L&G Investment Management shirts for the last day and it was fitting that we all came over the line together in the sun to bask in the glory of the achievement.

We shared champagne and beer and happily made our way back to Inverness to spend the final evening celebrating.

Little did we know that the gravest danger lay ahead of us as the taxi driver (Stig from Top Gear) flew down the A9 as if his life depended on getting there.

The beer and curry afterwards was well received, however, there was little energy left to do anything else, so after another couple of beers we headed off to bed happy in the knowledge that we had (finally) made it!!

It was fitting that we reached the target amount of sponsorship on the last day and we would like to thank all our sponsors and the drivers for giving up their own time to support us.

Same again next year? - not at the moment!