After a good night’s sleep I headed down for breakfast and had yet another opportunity to share testimony with a fisherman called David from near Glastonbury. They were all a bit bemused that I’d visit such a place by bike (and in lycra) and then miss the highlight of an incredible full cooked breakfast and of course the flyfishing.
knowing I needed to clear about 140km I said my goodbyes and got rolling.
Due to the midges the precious evening I had stopped 8 miles short of my intended destination, Lairg, but made up this distance that morning.
My plan, head past Lairg (yesterdays destination) then North to Betty Hill (80km) and then if I had enough energy another 50km to Thurso. That would then leave me 40km to finish in JOG the following morning with time for prayer and a loft to the airport.
The midges were already out in force and seem to have had a tip off that I was coming! The main way to stop them biting was to keep moving! So with some prior preparation, pockets loaded with snacks and other useful bits I started doing everything while on the move. Food and drink were already obvious but getting my gopro camera to sync with my phone and then open wrappers to snacks with 30kg of luggage was not the easiest.
It was a big day with some big gaps of open moorland and mountains. In some spots over 30 miles. Again big hills and some very fast descents but overall was starting to flatten.
As a number of you were aware there was a trainstrike on my travel days. Holy Spirit said ‘Your on My programme’ and not to worry about it.
So as I got closer to the finish I was working out what flight I could get from Inverness and indeed how I could even get to the airport. (Its quite a way from JOG)
Side note.. One thing I’d worked out some years ago was that it tends to be time that creates stress. In a work context a false deadline can drive people into the ground and cause no end of sleeplessness (plus other issues) so I’d resolved, as I was being led by Holy Spirit, to put limited time frames in to allow HS greater autonomy. So when I was looking at crossing Scotland in 2 days and needed to book a flight I was really unsure if I could make the distance without it being a bike marathon and yet still fulfil God’s given objectives.
I was still feeling a bit rough but found if I used essential oils and just was consistent at 80% effort it all worked ok (with added prayer from friends)
While riding along God was speaking to me re- stewardship and particularly Stewardship of environmental matters.. the main words were not ‘climate change’ but ‘Greed’ the way a small minority hold the majority of national resources and without being contentious, I was feeling grieved on behalf of the people and the land about the lack of servant heartedness generally in Government and the lack of consideration for the people.
I arrived in Thurso after 12 hours in the saddle. Pleased to have arrived. I dropped into Lidl to collect some groceries on the way to my accommodation and immediately clocked a guy who was a person of peace.
We struck up a conversation. Turned out he worked at the nuclear plant up near Thurso but from Portmadog in North Wales. Turns out we used to climb in the same place. He kindly directed me to my accommodation and where I promptly got in a bath and went to bed.