scotland tour 198o
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planning stage - four go to john o'groats we had all already been cycling on shorter hostelling trips before and this whet our appetites for more. my sister julie and myself had been on a 1o-day hostel tour the previous summer. school friends beverley and stewart had been hostelling with us in the half-term holidays to the yorkshire moors and coast. we first had the idea of cycling from lands end to john o'groats, but this proved too costly with getting to the start and back from the finish. so we then thought of a tour starting in barnsley, riding up to john o'groats and then back again. stewart and i checked out the train details in barnsley station and discovered that there was an away-day special from sheffield on up to carlisle on the settle to carlisle railway. this worked out a lot cheaper than the hostels it would have cost us to get to carlisle so we booked our tickets. we worked out our tour on three maps and julie booked all the hostels. so it was that we set off in the august of 198o on our tour of scotland.
day 1: tuesday 5th august - royston to wanlockhead we awoke at 4am on the departure day. we rode the 4.5 miles to barnsley and caught the 5am barnsley to sheffield train. at sheffield we caught the 6am train to carlisle, which took us along the settle to carlisle line. the carriage we were in was a really old one - we had our own compartment. we arrived in carlisle at 12pm and began cycling towards gretna green. we sprinted for the scotland sign, which i passed first. this was not the first "scotland" sign of the day, indeed the roads we found ourselves on went in and out of england and scotland for a few miles - giving everyone the chance of being "first into scotland". at gretna green we entered a café and came away with our pockets full of duty-free sugar-cubes for the journey ahead. on leaving gretna green we took a different road from the one planned, which put "a few miles" onto our journey. eventually we got back onto our road. unfortunately this was a very busy main road, the a74, up by lockerbie and moffat. stewart's front-lamp bounced off and disappeared beneath a heavy-goods vehicle - stewart had put his silver chain inside the lamp for safe-keeping. we eventually arrived at wanlockhead (scotland's highest village) at 8pm. the warden was a very friendly little old lady. we met an irishman who was travelling by motorcycle. he had been up north and was heading away from scotland - he kindly gave us his supply of fly-repellent cream and a warning about the midgies.
day 2 : wednesday 6th august - wanlockhead to fintry we set off the next morning, stopping at a shop in the village of leadhills. i bought a comb with a wallet. on the quiet road across the moors we were riding up a slight hill, and as we climbed over the brow we were met with a speeding mini car coming the opposite way. the driver braked hard and burnt rubber onto the road coming to a stop literally in front of us. he opened his window and began shouting at us. "where are you from?" "royston" we replied. "well you wouldn't ride around the streets of glasgow like that would you?" i learned later that there is a "royston" in the glasgow area. it was a near miss; we could have all been wiped out. we continued our journey on some busier roads on the edges of glasgow - we were heading right around it, but we still found it built up and unpleasant. passing through airdrie a gang of local youths began throwing eggs at us. one hit the front-wheel of my bike. on reaching a safe distance i turned and shouted, "you scotch eggs!" at them. later while climbing up a hill through a small town a drunken man came down his garden shouting enthusiastically to us. he was wearing a pair of curtains. we struck up a conversation with the man. he thought we were polish and seeing as we were on his side during the war he thrust a pile of coins into our hands before wishing us well. we eventually got away from the built-up area on arriving at the foot of the campsie fells at lennoxtown. we climbed up into the campsie fells towards fintry. this was the first time that we found some scenery, peace and quiet roads that we could enjoy. the weather was very hot. on the climb up we noticed small waterfall coming off the rocks at the side of the road - which became an impromptu shower. then we waded in a small river before descending down the valley into fintry. the descent had sharp corners and long straights. i was first passed the signpost. fintry was a wooden hostel with simple amenities.
day 3: thursday 7th august - fintry to crianlarich the next morning we set off in heavy drizzle towards our next destination - crianlarich. the early drizzle stopped and the sun came out to begin two weeks of hot and sunny weather. we found the going hard, finishing with another downhill run into crianlarich, and another first passed the signpost for my collection. the hostel was a little unfriendly, but the surrounding scenery made up for that.
day 4: friday 8th august - crianlarich to glen nevis our next designation was glen nevis. the wind was in our face. we climbed up via the bridge of orchy and up towards the summit of rannoch moor. we paused a while at a tea wagon at the top. stewart bought a hot-dog, the sausage dropped out and began rolling back down the hill we had just climbed. we dropped down through glen coe, stopping at the vistor centre. we went in and came back out - everything was too expensive. we continued our journey around to fort william and beneath ben nevis to the hostel at glen nevis. glen nevis was an excellent hostel with its own table-tennis room - where only an eastern asian and us wanted to use it. our new friend was far too good for us.
day 5: saturday 9th august - glen nevis to cannich from glen nevis we went along loch lochy, through fort augustus and eventually passed loch ness. no sign of any monster, but the scenery was great. at lunchtime we found a small beach, with sand. here we bathed and ate our lunch. turning west at drumnadrochit we went through glen urquhart towards cannich. it was while riding along this road that stewart's front-mudguard became loose. he put his hand down to the mudguard whilst still moving. i warned him of the danger. the next second stewart's hand had slipped inside the spokes of the front-wheel jamming between the forks. this had the effect of stopping the bike and throwing him over the top of the handlebars. his hand was cut up pretty bad - and the front-wheel was slightly buckled. i stopped a little way up the road and shouted back that i had "told him so", before going back and picking him up out of the road. at the hostel i put some "liquid skin" onto stewart's cuts, this looked a little like glue and caused him quite a lot of pain. cannich hostel was a small wooden building. apart from us there was only a french family staying. the warden didn't seem too friendly. he was selling slices of bread for 5p. the next morning he had me and stewart burning a load of refuse on a small bonfire. this meant that we didn't get away on time.
day 6: sunday 1oth august - cannich to carbisdale castle from cannich we headed north to carbisdale castle. through beauly, dingwall and the hilly route inland over to bonar bridge. it was hilly, but worth it. on this road there were forests and loganberries at the side of the road. which we picked and ate and collected for later. from the viewpoint at struie hill stewart claimed to have seen the loch ness monster, but seeing as it was the dornoch firth i was dismissive. soon we arrived at carbisdale castle. we were impressed - it was massive. we locked our bikes up beneath the castle walls. a group of german teenagers were also stopping at the hostel. they were sat down in the large hall in a circle, singing songs and passing around what we thought was a peace pipe. as we passed them stewart joined their circle for a moment. he didn't get a chance to smoke the "peace pipe". in the member's kitchen we met a hosteller who was touring by moped. he gave us some tibetan tea-bags. we had a dish of the loganberries we had collected with some milk.
day 7: monday 11th august - carbisdale castle to helmsdale in the morning it was our duty to carry all the bins down from the top of the hostel to the bottom. after this we went to unlock our bikes. then julie found out that she had lost the key. i eventually picked the lock with a fork prong. we left the hostel and headed back down to ardgay and bonar bridge (4 miles away). on the way down stewart thought he could find a shorter way, he headed down a track. thirty minutes after we arrived at bonar bridge stewart turned up. he had found a rucksack, which contained a nice leather wallet. we went into a cake shop and bought a bagful of inexpensive cream-cakes. we saw an old man wearing a kilt. it was then that i realized that i had left the brownie box camera at the hostel. stewart and i rode back up to the hostel, but couldn't get in. so we rode back down to the nearest telephone (ardgay), called the hostel and went back up again to collect the camera. we got the camera and set of back down again. on the long descent from the hostel drive. on approaching a tight corner stewart swung to the left and off the track through some trees. i thought a car must have been coming so i followed him. the wooded area was steep and rough. i hit a rock, pulled a wheelie, nearly knocked my head off on a tree branch and rejoined the road through some rhododendrons. we met up with julie and bev and then headed for helmsdale via dornoch, golspie and brora. there was a spot of rain early on, but it brightened up through the day and became red hot. we arrived at helmsdale youth hostel in good time.
day 8: tuesday 12th august - helmsdale to john o'groats helmsdale was a small and simple hostel and the water was brown caused by the peat. the warden had an american accent. she showed us where the male dormitory was. unfortunately there were no beds left there, so we were put in a small 4-bed dorm along with two americans. the americans had a large supply of vitamin pills, which they managed to drop all over the floor. the interior of the hostel was decorated with sheep bones and draped in onions. the bike-shed key was fastened to a chain from a sheep's skull. well i hope it was a sheep's skull. stewart and i had bought a large bag of porridge oats. our money was beginning to run low, as we had to rely on cafés for our food due to the lack of shops. we had porridge for tea and supper. the next morning we were up early to set off for our most northern destination, john o'groats. it was a good ride with a couple of very steep hills. we purchased a bottle of iron brew pop from a small roadside shop, the first time we had tasted iron brew pop. we arrived at john o'groats youth hostel and quickly got out our fly-repellent cream. the hostel was nice and simple. stewart and i found a tin of custard left over in the spare-food cupboard. this we ate in the dormitory.
day 9: wednesday 13th august - john o'groats to helmsdale in the morning we headed along a flat road to the village at john o'groats. the signpost was spotted on the road in front, which set off a sprint, which i managed to sneak. the place itself was only small and consisted of a hotel, three or four buildings; a couple of shops and a café where we had two plates of inexpensive chips each. i purchased a pack of playing cards decorated with scottish scenes and a cloth pendant. we met a young man who had rode from lands end to john o'groats. he was getting by on the money he had collected for charity. our own money supply was getting extremely low. julie and bev set off together down the road to helmsdale again. stewart and i stayed longer on the beach. we arrived back at helmsdale in the dark at 9pm where we had porridge once more for dinner.
day 1o: thursday 14th august - helmsdale to inverness i awoke in the morning at 6am and went outside and threw up. there was nothing solid, just brown fluid - like the water supply. i couldn't eat any porridge so later purchased a bottle of lucasade, which didn't do a lot, but i got by on fresh air that day. our next destination was inverness. on route our julie's gear cable snapped and 4 spokes broke. we arrived at inverness at around 5pm and i felt much better. inverness was a large town and our place of stay was a superior standard hostel. although the water in the showers was freezing cold and the bunk beds too narrow.
day 11: friday 15th august - inverness to kingussie the next morning we took the wheel to be fixed in a bike shop, which took the remains of our cash supply. we then found that two scottish cyclists staying at the hostel could have fixed the wheel for us. they put a new gear cable on and got everything working. on hearing about our lack of funds they gave us some food. we took their names and address and on our return home we sent them a thank you card. just before setting off on our journey again i had left my bike on the side of a pebble-dashed wall on a slight slope. the bike moved, scraping the paintwork on the top tube right down the pebbledash. it was nearly noon when we eventually set off for kingussie. we cycled at an easy pace climbing up through moy and on through aviemore to kingussie. we arrived at the youth hostel at 7pm. here we telephoned home reverse charges (which was quite an expensive call when the bill arrived later). we explained that the last of our money had gone on repairs at the bike-shop and for money to be sent to a hostel on our journey. our parents mailed some money to be sent to broadmeadows youth hostel 2 days later. the hostel itself was a big victorian building. the warden was an old woman. we found a packet of soup in the spare food cupboard, black coffee and half a jar of marmalade. we had the soup with some bread and then had marmalade sandwiches.
day 12: saturday 16th august - kingussie to garth the next day we travelled to garth memorial youth hostel near fortingall. the sun was still shining, but there was an occasional shower. we cycled over the pass of drumochter, down glen garry, by blair castle arriving at garth at 7pm. the hostel was a massive white mock castle building, very spacious. but the warden was not to our liking. we had no money and no food. it was here that we started to dip our hands into other hostellers' food. we only took from the hostellers who had arrived by car with big cardboard boxes of supplies. we guessed or hoped that a little here and there wouldn't be noticed. i selected a packet of ginger biscuits, which we quickly ate in the dormitory. we also managed beans on toast for supper.
day 13: sunday 17th august - garth to edinburgh broadmeadows was to be our next destination. and a "slight" miscalculation with the distance (due to using more than one map at planning stage) meant that we would have to ride for 14o miles to reach it. it was head wind all the way. down through gleneagles a heavy downpour of rain soaked us. we did around 8o miles arriving at the edinburgh end of the forth road bridge well into the night. we decided that we would wear our socks on our hands and continue to ride through the night to make the distance up and get back on schedule. however while riding through the city centre of edinburgh at 2am in the morning we were stopped by a policeman. on learning who we were and our ages he decided that we were not allowed out on the city streets at 2am in the morning and promptly "arrested" us. from his police-box he telephoned our parents - which gave them something of a startle. beverley's parents wanted to drive up and pick us up, but we managed to convince them that we would be okay. while we awaited the arrival of a police van to take us to the police station we were offered a cup of tea by a security guard in a cabin across the road. the big black police van arrived and along with our bikes we were put in the back. after 5 minutes the van stopped and the police bought us a bag of chips from a chip-shop. on hearing of our troubles a few local revellers wanted to give us money. the van then headed for edinburgh's main police station where we were placed in two cells. stewart and i had the cell next to one that the police officer told us was for murderers waiting to be hung. it had a proper bed and furniture in. our cell came with a thin mattress and a grey blanket.
day 14: monday 18th august - edinburgh to acomb we were woke up at 6am after 3 hours sleep. our stay at her majesty's pleasure was short-lived. the police gave us our bikes and pointed us in the right direction. we were all very tired and hungry. we still had to ride to broadmeadows (near yarrowford) where we should have been the night before to collect the cash our parents had mailed us and then had to ride on to the hostel at acomb in england as all our hostels were pre-booked. we cycled down through galashiels. we arrived at broadmeadows youth hostel at noon and then had to endure a field full of cows before we got to the hostel itself. we collected our mail and money and headed for the nearest town where we bought and ate a load of food (buns, biscuits, pop and fruit). our money soon disappeared again. so we headed for acomb, england and home. it was a close call between stewart and myself for the england signpost. it was a hard ride with head wind over the scottish borders and into northumberland. we arrived in acomb, after riding for 12o miles, in the dark at 11:3opm - the warden was still up and was waiting in the street with his torch. he brought us some bread and jam, which we ate in an outside annex before stumbling through the dark to our bunks. the next morning stewart ate the warden's dog's dog-food. we were starving.
day 15: tuesday 1oth august - acomb to grinton lodge grinton lodge: this was our last hostel on our tour. we had set off from acomb and travelled what appeared to be the shortest route across the moors and dales. looking back we should have headed down the middle of the country - away from the yorkshire dales. the head winds turned into gale force. we arrived in barnard castle at 8pm and headed for reeth via the stang - a very long and steep climb. my back tyre exploded and we were not carrying a spare. we began to walk, it was getting dark. just before the stang begins it's steep part there was a farmhouse. we knocked on the door and explained our predicament. the farmer put our bikes in his barn and gave us a lift by car to grinton y.h.. we arrived at 1opm - our bikes were now 8 miles away. everyone had gone to bed so we "helped ourselves" to some weetabix from a big box of food. the next morning we awoke with a gale blowing. at 7am i walked down into grinton village (hundreds of rabbits hopping around) to telephone our parents. stewart's brother had offered to come up and collect us. we awaited his arrival in an enclosed bus-shelter in grinton village. we shared a jar of marmalade between us. stewart's brother arrived and we collected our bikes from the farm on the stang and returned down the a66 and the a1 to our home. our tour of scotland had reached its end.
scotland tour 198o - facts and figures julie a. shaw: age 16. carlton bike with panniers. stewart heathcote: age 14. carlton corsair bike with saddle-bag. graham d. shaw: age 14. peugeot talisman bike with panniers. beverley maskell: age 13. puch bike with bags. members of the birdwell wheelers cycling club. 1ooo miles. 15 riding days. average miles per day 66.6. approximate cost: £35. august 198o.

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