Dover to Durness

June/July 2021

Total Distance 1527.41 KM

Everyone has heard of Lands End to John O Groats and over the years it has been completed on foot, push bike, motorbike and even on a Penny Farthing. Less well known is the journey on the other diagonal going from Dover in the South East to Durness in the North West. The tour operators describe this ride as the more stylish and more challenging route and they weren’t joking, certainly on the difficulty rating.

After a particularly challenging year and the cancellation of our planned cycle tour from Munich to Rome it was a relief to be journeying down to Dover to meet up with two cycling friends who, in better times, had accompanied my brother and myself on two previous tours, Lands End to John O Groats and Channel to the Med.

Unlike our previous tours it was in bright sunshine that we gathered on the sea front in Dover excited and anxious ready for the obligatory group photo and last check of the Sat Nav devices before we set off on our adventure. Anyone who has completed the Kentish Killer will know how challenging cycling in Kent can be and a hard morning of ups and downs saw us arrive at a local pub for lunch. Unfortunately for me soon after lunch as we were making our way to Gravesend to catch the Thames ferry my Di2 gears failed and I was stuck in the highest gear for the afternoon ride. Faced with trying to get my second bike delivered to our overnight stop in Brentwood a phone call to Rob in the Pedal House revealed that the gears had gone into crash mode and a simple button press was all I needed to reset them.

Day two saw us make our way north to St Ives through some gentle rolling countryside in warm sunshine. Day three saw the ‘fun’ start and it we were into, what was to become a familiar pattern, of challenging ascents followed by rapid hair-raising descents unlike anything we face in Suffolk. As we made our way across the spine of England into the Yorkshire Dales the terrain became increasingly challenging and hills of 12%+ and even on a couple of occasions 20% were coming thick and fast. With steep ascents come steep descents and speeds of 40mph were not uncommon as we hurtled back down the hills we had just climbed.

After seven days we arrived in Penrith on the edge of the Lake District and a relatively ‘easy’ day across the border saw us arrive in Scotland. There ended any thoughts of easy/gentle riding and the next six days were some of the toughest days cycling I have ever encountered. Journeying onto the Isle of Arron via a local ferry from which we were lucky enough to see both dolphins and porpoises saw us arrive at our overnight accommodation in Brodick and a chance to relax over a pint watching England demolish Ukraine in the European Championships. The next couple of days saw us making our way up the west coast of Scotland via the Islands of Mull and Skye up to Mallaig. So far the weather had been quite kind to us but the afternoon session into Mallaig was undertaken in a torrential downpour which fortunately turned out to be the only significant rain we had to deal with. Luckily the weather the following day proved much kinder as we journeyed via Kinlochewe to Ullapool and prepared for our final day of cycling. Any hopes that the final day would be easy were soon dashed by a steep, long climb from our overnight accommodation and yet another challenging day was upon us as we made our way through stunning scenery and remote, picturesque Scottish hamlets. The final stretch of our journey was at last fairly flat and gave us a chance to relax and admire the views as we made our way into the remote town north west town of Durness.

All in all a fantastic tour brilliantly co-ordinated by our tour operators, Peak Tours of Derbyshire, in what are still difficult times. Our accommodation was excellent and the fact that our bags were transported and regular ‘Brew stops’ organised made the tour all about the cycling and ensured that all twenty five people, aged from those in their mid 40s to those in their early 70’s, completed the trip. A real cycling experience that I can fully recommend to anyone who is looking to challenge themselves whilst at the same time enjoying the company of likeminded people from a wide variety of backgrounds through some of the most stunning scenery the UK has to offer.