Sight seeing... Edinburgh Castle, the Royal Mile, Scottish Parliament building, Hollyrood Palace (swarming with police awaiting a visit from the Queen).
Followed by an hour's blissful massage that over-ran by 20 mins! Legs felt worse after but hopefully they'll feel much better tomorrow for it.
Met up with Alexis for dinner. (Sadly Keith is away this weekend, ironically cycling - from London to Paris!) And even allowed myself to have a beer. Quite fancied a big night out... but refrained.

Not so much to report today. Today's scenic route involved some short steep climbs that I hadn't expected. Plus with a headwind and tired legs I found them quite tough.
One very heavy but brief downpour was enough to soak my bottom half. Wet feet is the worst bit as they rarely dry without assistance of an overnight radiator.
I had quite a late start so had lunch in Kinross. The ride after here was mostly single track roads through lovely scenery, until arriving in Dunfermline.
Suddenly I was really starting to miss the stunning scenery from earlier in the ride and when in the mountains.
Crossing the Forth Road Bridge was quite a momentous occasion. From here I followed the well signposted cycle route towards Edinburgh until a couple of miles from the centre then let the SatNav take me to Keith and Lex's place.

Starting the day with a 10 mile climb sounds hideous but it was probably the best time for it. It was gentle to start off with and only at the very top did it require the lowest gears. Once again I was extremely lucky to have a tail wind. I spoke to some guys this morning cycling LEJOG i.e. other way. The headwind they experienced yesterday made the climbs even nastier and on the downhills they only achieved 30mph. These are big hills so the wind must've been stronger than I realised.
Seeing Glenshee ski centre (or any ski resort) out of season always seems odd. Of course, being at the top meant only one thing... next is a big downhill :-)
Determined to try and beat yesterday's Vmax, I gave this everything. Firstly there's a physical limit to how fast your legs can go round. Secondly there's the gearing. With my bike, a hybrid, the gearing is longer than a mountain bike but shorter than a road bike. I found the limit of these 2 factors to be about 43mph, pedalling like a madman! Then, thirdly, there's the combined effects of gravity, gradient and length of slope, wind and drag.
Whilst descending it started raining and the wind seemed to get up, feeling like a headwind but perhaps this was just the speed. After the intense bit I looked down to see that I'd clocked 46.9mph! Gutted I didn't quite beat yesterday's speed but was absolutely buzzing. Such a rush :-)
The majority of the rest of the day was downhill. Ate lunch at a lovely spot called Bridge of Cally. Cycled through 2 hail showers, and even took shelter for a brief tropical style downpour.
Blairgowrie looked nice but I didn't stop. From there the A93 got much busier but on the whole I've been impressed with how much room nearly all drivers give to cyclists.
Made it to Perth, 51 miles. Staying in a hotel - just as well...had a snooze, slept through my alarm (almost impossible!) then was woken by a call to my room from Sharon! Think I would easily have slept through otherwise! Room service tonight :-)

Quick update on how I'm faring.
Wrists. Have taken a bit of a battering as I don't have suspension forks. They're a bit sore and click when I move them!
Right shoulder. Sharp pain when I put my arm at certain angles. Must avoid.
Back. Holding up better than I'd expected given that lower back pain has always been my achilles heal.
Legs. Here's the real problem. Quads are a little sore to touch and when tensed. They were worse last night but are still enough to cause slight concern. Considered taking a rest day today, but after a long 10 mile climb (!) it's downhill to Perth. Then Edinburgh tomorrow night and a rest day staying at Keith and Lex's.

Woke up with legs feeling tired. Not a good start to potentially the most demanding day on the entire JOGLE route; Grantown-on-Spey to Braemar.
I crossed over the River Spey and began climbing shortly after. I hadn't got into the swing of things and this first climb seemed really tough. Again, not a good sign for a day filled with long climbs, all too brief downhills, then more climbs.
Novelty factor fun was had by playing mp3 files on my handlebar mounted satnav for the first time. The sheep ran a mile on hearing The Prodigy (!) but were much more content with Jamiroquai :-)
After 14 fairly demanding miles I'd reached Tomintoul and for no reason I called into the tourist centre. Glad I did - the conversation with the lady revealed that the ski station at The Lecht (the highest point on the entire route and also my intended stop for lunch) isn't always open. A quick phonecall which reached their voicemail meant I ate in Tomintoul.
The pub next door was ideally located. I overheard that only last week some of the roads around here had been closed due to torrential rain and flooding. That reminded me how lucky I've been, not only missing those floods but also the awful weather and flooding in England over the last week.
I also got chatting to a friendly, elderly Scottish couple who sat on the adjacent table. I explained the reason behind my ride and the chap immediately volunteered a fiver! Thank you Mr and Mrs Hardie.
By this stage I'd only averaged 9.1mph, 3+mph slower than previous days; a good indication of the harder terrain. I had managed a Vmax of 35.4mph though :-)
The climb up to The Lecht wasn't as bad as I'd expected, and on the other side I clocked a new, impressive Vmax of 47.2mph. Loved it :-)
The bit that killed me over the day was the repeated number of climbs. And although the day ended after only 47 miles, the last 9 on flatter terrain really dragged on.
The day nearly ended in disaster. On a mission to find food, I discovered that typically Braemar doesn't serve food after 8pm! Managed to find the Lodge hotel which served until 9pm. Huge relief.
Legs feel the worst they have to date. Hope they're better in the morning - another big climb to start the day...

With a bonus day of Sharon's support, we had the same dilemma of planning a suitable end point for the day. This was more complicated than before as beyond Inverness I'll be heading to Edinburgh, over the Grampian Mountains. This will mean tougher cycling but more significantly there are far fewer settlements and hence options for stopping points. Planning today's end point was influenced by tomorrow's potential ride, and it soon became obvious that today needed to be a big day...
Thankfully the morning's progress was really good. It's the simple things that can make a difference to progress, or perceived progress. Watching the bike computer tick over each hundredth of a mile is interesting but totally demoralising given the distance required today and overall. Instead I chose just to display the time and occasionally flick over to distance whenever I thought about it, holding out for longer periods to get a greater boost from the ground covered. This worked well.
Sharon was with me until mid morning then drove ahead to the B&B and then to the airport. No problems with the flight today though.
At Cromarty Firth I seemed to be flying along. At the mid-point of the bridge I saw another cyclist really struggling heading the opposite way. This was when I realised I'd had a tail wind and just how lucky I was.
At Inverness I saw a sign saying 34 miles to Elgin (thought I'd mention that just for Jenny!). I'd covered 35 miles and was going well so wanted to continue a little while longer before lunch. I knew options were less before heading out of civilisation but there were a few villages so I felt sure I'd find a pub. This I managed but the first didn't sell food and the second had a kitchen closed sign. A local suggested a place in Balloch at the top of a long hill. I was assured they served good food and were open so set off as this was on my route anyway. The hill was indeed long and I found the pub with ease.
Without doubt the lowest point of day was being told the kitchen closed on Mondays and that I'd have to head back down the hill or into Inverness, several miles away. The barmaid confessed to not knowing the area too well. I was so HUGELY relieved to find the Battle of Culloden tourist centre very nearby complete with restaurant. Result! Further good news was delivered by Sharon after her joint effort with Chris had come up trumps with a lovely B&B. Also, I checked the computer and had covered 40.56 miles already!
The roads after here turned into much quieter single lanes and some beautiful scenery. First up was Culloden Viaduct then scenery changed from farmland to forest and later to moorland.
Generally the road was climbing but with quite a few downhill sections. These are always fun, but the sting in the tail is knowing you'll have climb again whatever height you've dropped, and then more. Getting to the beautiful Dulsie Bridge was another high point. From here the scenery changed to moorland and was relatively flat. Although exposed I was lucky with the weather. I finally made it to Grantown-on-Spey a little before 6pm. What a day! 72 miles!
The Dunallan House B&B deserves a special mention. Jayne and David were terrific hosts and my room was lovely. The free standing bath in the middle of the loft bathroom was the perfect way to relax the muscles.

The intention had been to tick off as many miles as possible on an unladen bike, before Sharon had to head off to the airport. However a later start than planned meant not taking full advantage of Sharon and the hire car.
Sharon drove 5 miles ahead a couple of times - the first to let me scoff a banana, and the 2nd time to hand over all my gear. It has been so nice to have her company and the support crew role she's been playing so well ;-) She had to head off to Inverness for her flight but had the great idea of taking my gear ahead to a B&B. Choosing the days end point was tough - didn't want to push myself too hard while my body is getting used to the exertion but conversely wanted to capitalise on carrying minimal weight. Decided on Invergordon, 70-odd miles away.
Soon after Sharon left me the topography became much more demanding and suddenly 70 miles sounded like a nightmare. Keen to push on I didn't phone S to change the plan but shortly before stopping for lunch S phoned to say she thought it was too far, so we set Tain as the new days goal. Lunch at Helmsdale provided a well needed rest and refuel, although the hotel restaurant could've been warmer. Mostly I've been cycling through light rain showers and a light wind, and it's actually quite chilly too. Wore my jacket all day today mainly to keep warm. So, when I stopped for lunch I felt the cold immediately and had a cosy pub in mind with an open fire... but was sadly disappointed. That said, the food was lovely. Roast beef, loads of veg, Yorkshire pud... and chocolate fudge and vanilla ice cream brownie for dessert. All easily hoovered down!
Thankfully the afternoon's cycling was easier than the morning's, and I made it to the B&B just before 5pm.
Sharon's flight had a technical problem so was delayed. Then the next thing I hear is that Sharon's on the way back to me for the night!
We've just eaten a lovely meal - had roast turkey - at a hotel in Tain. Seriously wondering if I'm going to put weight on during this ride!

Just checked my computer, 58.17 miles today - almost exactly the daily average I need to complete the ride in my target time. Averaged 13.9mph and hit a top speed of 37.8 down one of the big hills

I grew up frequently seeing the Land's End signpost, and often wondered what the one at JOG was like. Well, perhaps unsurprisingly they're almost identical, as I hope to show you with another photo in just under 3 weeks.

Drove to JOG via Dunnet Head, the most Northerly point on the mainland. Also visited Duncansby Head hoping to see a puffin... and was successful! Also saw some highland cows - reminded us of woolly mammoths! JOG nothing special. Saw quite a few end to enders, mostly finishing, including Roger from Aylesbury with whom we chatted for a while. He had cycled through the horrendous weather last week and, justifiably, was very pleased with finally finishing his ride. He had nothing but positive words to say to me about the whole experience though. Finally set off at 4pm and managed 2.5 hours before finishing in Occumster, 29.5 miles. Sharon picked me up and took me back to the hotel in Wick. Good progress today despite the late start. Much easier without the panniers :-)

To give you an idea of the preparation (or lack of...) that I've done, here's a brief summary:
March - commuted a few times into work, 12 miles each way
April - crazy period at work... no cycling
May - end of crazy work period immediately followed by holiday in Egypt. As well as commuting a couple of days a week (I know, should have done more...), weekends were as follows:

5 wks before ride - weekend in the New Forest. Hired a bike (see the profile pic!) and rode some miles with Sharon's family. Desperately missed my suspension seatpost

4 wks before ride - May Bank Holiday weekend, Played cricket with Wes on Saturday. Sunday cycled 37 miles from Ealing to Nick's in Tring. Rained non-stop, everything from light to torrential (prep for Scotland??). Nick's company on latter half really helped. Monday, aborted plans to ride home - temp was 5 degrees in the morning and rain was worse. Pleased the bike fitted into the back of Sharon's TT

June
3 wks before ride - Saturday, cycled 17 miles to Hoddesdon, played cricket again with Wes. Took a full-blooded drive on my left thumb (thanks for sticking me at silly mid-off Wes, and for throwing down that friendly one...). Sunday, cycled back. No front cog gear changes. Monday, hospital, X-Ray, not broken just swollen sore and a funny colour.

2 wks before ride - Saturday, cycled 60 miles, almost to Worthing. Met Karl and Sharon for lunch in Horsham (some interesting locals there Karl!). Foolishly mentioned that I hadn't had a puncture for years. You can see where this is going... had a puncture a few miles from my destination. A good day's ride though and good bike fixing practice.

1 wk before ride - went sailing! PPP/PFI Challenge. Should've been cycling but couldn't turn down the opportunity. Really enjoyed it. Perhaps fitting that I should spend the weekend on the water given that the ride is to raise money for a new lifeboat.

1 day before the ride (today!) - cycled into work, panniers fully loaded with all the gear for the ride and some other stuff. Simply HAVE to shed some weight (my and luggage!)... otherwise this could be really tough!

Even though I'll start the ride tomorrow, my justgiving webpage is still open and will be available for a little while longer.

A massive thank you to all those who have already sponsored me - I'm currently at £1,400 so over half way to my target of £2,500