Today was the first real day of the challenge, despite the two gruelling days travelling to the start! There was genuine excitement and some nervousness when we had the obligatory photo taken at John o groats. All started well and we were cruising along for all of two miles when chicks chain fell off. Panic ensued about what was wrong but it seemed a minor glitch as it never happened again throughout the day. Having driven the road on the way there we knew what to expect, what we couldn't expect was the weather. It was beautiful, not too cold, sunny and only a few clouds but these just added to the atmosphere.

Right from the off we experienced breath taking views of coastlines, skylines, hills appearing from a thick mist, trawlers and ships in the almost black sea. We had arranged to meet Dick, our driver at the 40 mile mark, there was some confusion as we arrived there before he had passed us, we knew he had been enjoying the breakfast that we were too early to get! So on we carried til he caught us up, around 42 miles. This happened to be the start of a steep (13%) hill that we just had to ride before we stopped. On the way down chick managed 48mph before slamming on the brakes to avoid a nasty meeting with the ground, a few hundred feet below the hairpin bend he was approaching. The exhilarating descent was followed by a long, long steep ascent of the same gradient. We all dug in and in no time (it felt like days) we had reached the top of what was a Cat 3 climb. The rest of the day was spent climbing more hills, watching fighter jets buzzing just overhead, seeing the wildlife including seals, herons, cattle, sheep galore and even a red squirrel, although this was stuck to the road, seemingly a victim of a hit and run incident! Various rivers, babbling brooks, bridges, estuaries and hills were viewed along what must be one of the prettiest, if most sparsely populated barren areas in the country. We thought we were nearly done for the day at 127 miles, but nature decided to throw in 2 hills, each around 2 miles long at the end that just about finished us off. A hair raising descent right at the end of a series of hairpins between 15% and 20% gradient provided a thrilling end to a tough but thoroughly enjoyable day. In total 135 miles averaging 14 mph in a steady headwind was a great ride for all of us.

Whilst in the bar that night, we were talking about options for tomorrow's ride. Various options were discussed when Sparks proclaimed 'I'm only thinking about dick!' whether this was referring to his option of the ride tomorrow suiting our driver or not was never discovered and we spent the next 10 minutes choking our drinks!

Anyway, another early start tomorrow sees us cycling 50 miles to fort William where we will make our attack on the highest mountain in the uk!