TRAVELLING UP TO THE START

You know the saying, 'FAIL TO PREPARE. PREPARE TO FAIL?'

What a load of rubbish that is. If you haven't prepared in the first place, you're hardly going to prepare this time around..... just to fail!

Any road, I'm going off-piste here. On leaving home at a ridiculous time this morning, in darkest, yet surprisingly mild Bolton, I realised the difference having two fully packed pannier bags on the back of a bike make! It felt like some kid had hopped on the back for a free ride. On checking that no-one had actually gone pillion, I realised very quickly how doubly hard it is going to be climbing some crazy routes I've mapped out.

IS IT TOO LATE TO PULL OUT?!?!

THE TRAIN JOURNEY

06:03 - BOLTON TO PRESTON: I actually arrived early for once in my life (pick your jaws up off the floor people!). This wasn't enough to stop me panicking when the train arrived and so I ended up in 1st Class as, that was the closest carriage to me on the platform. How the other half live! Well, pretty much the same as a normal carriage from what I could see. No hot towel on take-off though!

06:40 - PRESTON TO GLASGOW CENTRAL: This time I was shown to the correct carriage without even asking - perhaps they knew about my previous journey! In the quiet carriage this time, it's really jumping in here!

10:10 - GLASGOW QUEENS ST TO INVERNESS: What a difference to the last train this is. It's a bit more lively on here thanks to the football fans making their way up to Inverness, boasting to one another about how bad their own teams were doing.

The sun has been shining most of the way up and I'll state it's case once more that, Scotland in the sun has got to be one of the most beautiful countries in the world!

14:00 - INVERNESS TO WICK: The irony! As soon as we left Inverness, the mist set in for the entire journey.

I think we stopped at every single station on the way on this train!

I finally arrived in Wick at about 18:30. I popped in to the supermarket for a few bits and then cycled the 16 miles to Hamnavoe B&B in John O'Groats where I'm staying for the night.

Hopefully a good night’s sleep is ahead in preparation for tomorrow morning.