Our Inn served a breakfast fit for a king; magnificent fresh fruit and a hearty “cooked” breakfast;it would be the highlight of our morning.

A quick dip for a fabulous view of the sea,then the climbing began.A strong east wind was rolling off the hills, barren from centuries of abuse; our east northeast route was going to be tough, today.  We could see the fog on the horizon, obscuring our view of the Orkney Islands in the distance.  The barren land offered no protection from the wind and only the occasional pasture.The wind was relentless, trying hard to beat us and winning.  The fog that hit us at eleven threw it’s own damp cold to the fun we were having.  Just before noon we were rescued from the windy uphill abuse, with a two mile downhill.  Though we had to pedal to maintain a downhill speed, it did not have the strain the hills had given us.  We stopped at the first place we could find for a big bowl of hot soup.From our seats in the diner, it looked as if the sun had broken through, so we were anxious to start the second half of our ride.  the blue patch of sky that had lured us away from our warm lunch, was quickly swallowed by the fog.  The cold quickly set in again as the wind continued it’s assault.  We could not tell if we were going uphill or not as the wind made every pedal stroke a struggle.  Our few pictures of the landscape

and coves, seem so serene as we write today’s ride from the warm comfort of our hotel room.  As the damp fog continued to roll across the fields like tumbleweed in the desert our views were reduced to that which was just a few feet in front of us.Our hotel was a half mile from the John O’Groats point.  Badly beaten from the hills and wind, we dropped our bags, grabbed our jackets and headed down the road.  Shrouded in fog, John O’Groats was a signpost and a photo.  It is also the northern most settlement in the United Kindgom.  Today was by far our toughest day of this tour, or maybe the contrast of yesterday’s most gorgeous was just too much of a contrast.  We were disappointed we had been denied the sea views, but we did take John O’Gorats off our bucket list.