Lost Near Home Ride 🌤️

Tour Fever Noetselerberg 🟡

Climb Portal: Col de la Croix Saint-Robert

Pacer Group Ride Douce France

Padel at Moovv 🎾

We reached the sea, but are not finished yet. Today was initially planned to be the day we would reach John o’Groats, but we altered our strategy a bit. As our hotel today is in Thurso and our taxi departs from JOG tomorrow, we thought it would be absolutely unnecessary to do those extra miles to the signpost today already. After almost 1600 kilometers in the saddle for the past eleven days, adding extra mileage to our journey is not the first thing we think of every morning. So an easy 70 kilometers today as our route joined paths with the North Coast 500. Met some people underway and they were pretty much impressed by our adventure but even more jealous at our ten days of dry weather. We had again no rain of course. Blessed with heavy tailwind, John o’Groats is close now. We will succeed!

The North Coast 500
The NC500 is a specific circular route created by the North Highland Initiative in 2015 to foster wider awareness of this remote part of Scotland as a tourist destination and to help boost and diversify the local economy. The roads always existed but by creating an itinerary, giving it a name and a social media identity, it has grown rapidly in popularity. LEJOG1000 meets the NC500 at Bettyhill. It is undeniably a stunning route along the coastal edges of the North Highlands of Scotland and understandably popular with cyclists, as well as people in campervans, cars and on motorbikes. However, its rapid growth, and particularly the number of motor vehicles on the route, have brought pressures as well as benefits to the communities it passes through. New restaurants, pop-up cafes and accommodation have been developed along the route bringing welcome new revenue as intended, but some communities have suffered from the increase in traffic and even litter. Not every resident sees it as a benefit. It is the double-edged sword of tourism in places described as ‘wild’ and ‘remote’ – how do you retain the very essence of what attracts people in the first place against a backdrop of burgeoning popularity?

Fragments from ‘Britain's Best Bike Ride: The ultimate thousand-mile cycling adventure from Land’s End to John o’ Groats’ by John Walsh and Hannah Reynolds.

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Dick Vloedgraven

LEJOG (11/12) Tongue - Thurso 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

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Lost Near Home Ride 🌤️

Tour Fever Noetselerberg 🟡

Climb Portal: Col de la Croix Saint-Robert

Pacer Group Ride Douce France

Padel at Moovv 🎾

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