Day 1: John O'Groats to Kyle of Sutherland

After a night attempting to protect our tent from the harsh North Sea wind, we were perfectly prepared for our first day in the saddle. Not quite yet ready for the routine of getting lycra clad and fully chamois creamed up in a tent you can barely sit up in, we were slighlty late to the start line. This was not helped when I dropped my bag off at the luggage truck to discover a large hole had appeared in my brand new 3/4 length DHB bib tights. Said hole would have been very handy should I needed to have gone for a quick wee - but not particularly suited for 104 miles on a bike with 600 other members of the public. After having a minor panic which consituted me flapping in the middle of a cold wet field and nearly crying, my dad came to the rescue with a small pair of plain cycling shorts which I could wear over the top. I was slighlty dismayed to discover they also had a hole in a very similar place - but luckily the two holes did not align!! So all ready for the off, we pushed our bikes over the start line (too wet and dangerous and busy to cycle over today) ready for a gloriuos start to our trip. Well, it would have been that simple had I not been attempting to do all that whilst putting my cycle gloves on. Net result was that I tripped over my own bike and fell in a not very delicate heap amongst the starting grid. Oh the shame!!

Adam, Dad and I ready to start. Extra pair of cycling shorts and offending holes are not in shot!

Pipers piping to get us on our way. I think we were so late to the start that we missed them.

After our first pit stop, we were so quick to get going - Richard didn't even have time to take our photo! This was our first experience of the lovely food that was on offer at the pit stops. Certainly today the choice of sandwiches and pasties and sweets left us in great hope that pit stop food would be great for the whole 9 days. Unfortunatley after 9 (well after 4) days of eating identical food at each of the pit stops, it became increasingly difficult to stomach

After 100 miles of rather rugged and wet scenery and a number of chain related incidents for Justin that left Adam very cross as we kept on losing groups we were cycling with, we finally arrived at our first destination. About 500m from the end, Adam's bike made a very odd noise and a spoke broke loose. Luckily, a handy bit of sellotape prevented it from jamming in the chain whilst we cruised to the finish line and Halfords were on hand to provide a spare wheel for the duration of the trip.

A nice hot shower, a yummy scrummy dinner and a well earned rest were all in order.