{"id":349,"date":"2017-08-11T12:01:51","date_gmt":"2017-08-11T12:01:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fatblokeonabike.com\/?p=349"},"modified":"2021-05-04T00:04:53","modified_gmt":"2021-05-04T00:04:53","slug":"sdtm00","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fatblokeonabike.com\/?p=349","title":{"rendered":"Day 00 &#8211; Getting there"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If there were any doubt in my mind about the size of the task I&#8217;ve set myself for this next week, it evaporated in the mountain views that passed my train window over ten and a half hours.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.fatblokeonabike.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/20170810_071854.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-351 lazyload\" data-src=\"http:\/\/www.fatblokeonabike.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/20170810_071854-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.fatblokeonabike.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/20170810_071854-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.fatblokeonabike.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/20170810_071854-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.fatblokeonabike.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/20170810_071854-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.fatblokeonabike.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/20170810_071854-1080x810.jpg 1080w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/225;\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The 07.24 from Durham due, after 3 changes, to arrive in Thurso at 17.50. For those of you who think Durham is in the far north, there&#8217;s an awful lot of north north of Durham. In fact, there&#8217;s more North north of Durham, than there is South south of it.<\/p>\n<p>In Edinburgh, there was a recumbent bike taking the whole of a space meant for two bikes, so mine spent the journey to Perth getting eveyone&#8217;s way. The recumbant&#8217;s owner, a really pleasant guy called Rad from Leith, was was travelling to Wick for the start of a week-long ride back home.<\/p>\n<p>Recumbent bikes fascinate me. I love that I&#8217;ve found a sport that means I can sit down until I reach cake; these guys get to lie down on the way there and back.<\/p>\n<p>Rad is as enthusiastic about these bikes as every recumbent cyclist. He was great company and we exhanged stories for the entire journey.<\/p>\n<p>The train didn&#8217;t arrive in Thurso. At Dunrobin Castle, we were told passengers for Thurso had to get a bus. I had 2 stops to get changed into cycling gear and load the bike. Rad helped and we wished each other a good ride. He stayed on the train for Wick.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.fatblokeonabike.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/20170810_172849.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-352 lazyload\" data-src=\"http:\/\/www.fatblokeonabike.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/20170810_172849-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.fatblokeonabike.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/20170810_172849-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.fatblokeonabike.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/20170810_172849-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.fatblokeonabike.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/20170810_172849-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.fatblokeonabike.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/20170810_172849-1080x810.jpg 1080w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/225;\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>It turns out a coach ride where the driver has instructions that passengers are late for a ferry they need to catch, an hour away on narrow, windy roads, is going to be a memorable experience. It&#8217;ll certainly have you reaching for a seatbelt.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.fatblokeonabike.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/20170810_185155.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-353 lazyload\" data-src=\"http:\/\/www.fatblokeonabike.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/20170810_185155-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.fatblokeonabike.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/20170810_185155-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.fatblokeonabike.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/20170810_185155-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.fatblokeonabike.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/20170810_185155-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.fatblokeonabike.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/20170810_185155-1080x810.jpg 1080w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/225;\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I had just 90 minutes to make it the 20 miles from Thurso to Strathy, if I wanted dinner. With headwind and hills, I just made it.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.fatblokeonabike.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/20170810_192733.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-354 lazyload\" data-src=\"http:\/\/www.fatblokeonabike.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/20170810_192733-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.fatblokeonabike.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/20170810_192733-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.fatblokeonabike.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/20170810_192733-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.fatblokeonabike.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/20170810_192733-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.fatblokeonabike.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/20170810_192733-1080x810.jpg 1080w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/225;\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Let me recommend the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.strathyinn.com\">Strathy Inn <\/a>to you all. Heather and Craig run a fabulously friendly little pub with rooms and serve fabulous food.<\/p>\n<p>Today has been an intro, a prelude, or prologue. Strathy point is three miles away. That&#8217;s where I&#8217;m heading after breakfast to start this adventure properly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If there were any doubt in my mind about the size of the task I&#8217;ve set myself for this next week, it evaporated in the mountain views that passed my train window over ten and a half hours. The 07.24 from Durham due, after 3 changes, to arrive in Thurso at 17.50. For those of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":353,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-straight-down-the-middle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fatblokeonabike.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fatblokeonabike.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fatblokeonabike.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fatblokeonabike.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fatblokeonabike.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fatblokeonabike.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fatblokeonabike.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fatblokeonabike.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fatblokeonabike.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fatblokeonabike.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}