Getting home

Having completed the mission of visiting all the places in the UK that I have lived at for longer than a month, I needed to get home. Luckily there is a ferry from Orkney to Aberdeen three times a week, and Liz was kind enough to deliver me to the Orkney ferry terminal.

There was one further milestone to achieve – to have bicycled 3000 km on this mission. After Orkney, I had 12.01 km to go according to my navigation system, so I set off home on the old Deeside Railway line (by far the best cycle infrastructure around Aberdeen) and at Peterculter went past that milestone.

One final twist in the tale…. on my way around the second to last corner from home, there was a sharp clunk on my spectacles, followed by a sting on my nose – yes I had collided for the first time on this trip with a bee. Since the nearest hives to that corner are ours, I guess this was a welcome home from our girls!

Final statistics: Caithness, Orkney and Deeside ride 130.2 km, Overall 3015.1 km (for a number of reasons, this will be lower than actual). Ascent in last two days: 1216 m, overall ascent: 29928 m. More statistics will follow, along with a few further blogs on the whole journey.

I am about £700 short of my target of raising £8000 for my two chosen charities. I would very much like to achieve that target. If you or anyone else that you know (and can persuade) would like to contribute a little more, I would be very grateful.

https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/MarkTasker5