Day 15: We did it! LEJOG accomplished, Puffin Croft Farm, and the shortest street in the world!

[Dollymixture]

It’s day 15 now and we are definitely getting a little tired and worn out now! We had a later start today and another one tomorrow, so that will help us catch up on some rest.
We had a good nights sleep in the Travelodge at Inverness Fairways - I think it is a new one as it is all very modern and clean with some extra touches and bigger tv’s

We started off today with breakfast from Asda - we hadn’t meant to get breakfast in there, just popped in for bottles of water, but spotted bacon rolls in the hot counter! These turned out to be absolutely delicious and only £1.20 each - bargain! Think we will be back again tomorrow. 😅 We also picked up much needed coffee’s and Frappuccino’s for everyone from The Starbucks Drive through.

We finally got on the road at about 2.30pm - much later than I would have liked as we had a long drive to John O’Groats and back again.
The sat nav predicted a 2 hour 45 min journey to get there.
The roads were surprisingly quiet and we made good progress, with a quick toilet stop on the way.

As we drove in to John O’Groats I found myself feeling quite emotional! It’s been such a big journey and travelling with four kids (three with autism) and two dogs has been challenging at times! Haha! So it definitely feels like an accomplishment and it was lovely to see the kids so excited to complete the LEJOG mission

We parked up (£2) and went in search of the landmark sign to get the obligatory photos. Definitely much colder this end!

There are a few shops and a cafe at John O’Groats, but much less than at Land’s End. There are some sculpture’s there too, which Lila was desperate to climb on, but not allowed 😂

There is also the original fog horn that was used to warn ships in the fog. Lila did have a climb on this! Little monkey.

We looked in all the shops and I bought some John O’Groats pin badges to go with the Land’s End ones I had already got. There is a pair for each of the kids.
Elliott also spotted a huge bunny door stop which he fell in love with - £35! He couldn’t make his mind up whether to buy it or not, but he really wanted it - it’s rare for him to want anything, so in the end he bought it, despite me wanting him it will have to sit on his lap all the way back to Bristol! 😆

We are now officially ‘end to Enders’ so had to get a photo of the kids with the sign to mark the achievement

We popped in to Puffin Croft petting farm next. It was only a few minutes away and I had seen it on Ben Fogle’s ‘New Life in the country’. The lady had bought the farm and moved to John O’Groats without even seeing it and having no experience of owning a farm! Pretty impressive how she embraced a completely new lifestyle. It was only £2 each to go in, plus we bought a couple of bags of carrot pieces to feed the animals for £1 a bag. The money is put into an honesty box in the shop. She also had homemade soap, candles and art work to buy, along with cakes and baked goodies.

We first saw the donkeys - they are gorgeous and so tame! They let us pet and stroke them, and the kids fed them some carrot.

We also saw some very tame and entertaining goats of all sizes, and a pig who was hilarious as he just walks up to you and opens his mouth waiting for you to drop carrot in!

Lila’s favourite was the tiny Shetland ponies! They are so cute and teeny!

Elliott loves the bunnies of course, one of his obsessions is rabbits and he has two pet buns that he has talked about non stop since leaving Bristol! He was super happy to get to see and pet some bunnies at the farm.

There were also lots of ducks and chickens, some had babies so we got to see ducklings and chicks

The petting farm is only small but was absolutely one of our best stops - the kids adore animals and we were the only ones there for quite a while so they got to spend ages with the animals, who are all really tame and full of character!

We had to pass through Wick to get back to Inverness, so we had a quick stop to see the World’s shortest street! The kids love this sort of thing and it had them quite amused!

We then carried on a little further and stopped at The castle of Old Wick - 14th century remains. We had a look at the castle but the main reason for the going was to take a walk along the coast - it is so dramatic there and incredible rock formations, including the Brig O Stack.

It was a really nice walk and hardly anyone there. There are no barriers or fences though and literally steep cliff drops in every direction, so did make me a bit nervous!

It was about 7pm now and we still had a couple of hours drive to get back to Inverness, so made our way back. We got back gone 9pm, but it was a great day despite all the driving - one of my favourites.

Tomorrow we are off to explore Loch Ness and the kids are going to go kayaking at Fort William.

[Bootrip2]

Looks like a great trip! Fantastic achievement. DD wouldve had to have the bunny doorstop too!

[Cutiepie]

Fantastic trip. The kids looked like they thoroughly enjoyed it

Great achievement and you have made me want to do a road trip in Scotland sometime myself.

Looking forward to reading the rest

[BevS97]

What a fantastic day. I love the whole concept of doing LEJOG. This will be a holiday to remember.

[disneypars]

Fantastic trip.

[P&S]

What a brilliant day! Well done on the 'end to enders' achievement

The petting zoo looks just gorgeous and I remember it on TV.

I'm loving this report

[JudeB]

What a great experience for you all. Have loved reading all about it.

[Dollymixture]

Thanks all It’s hard to believe it will all be over in less than a week! Been a crazy but amazing experience so far!

[Mental Minnie]

Just found this thread, started with the Loch Ness kayaking. So I am reading it backwards. Really enjoying it. What an amazing trip and your photos that I have seen so far spectacular. Well done on the End to End challenge. The family photo at the sign is beautiful. What memories you are making, the scenery is gorgeous. I'm off now to find the rest of your report and catch up. Enjoy the rest of your amazing trip. Do you think you will have enough room in your car on your journey home for all your purchases ? lol
Wendy x

[mrsdjh]

Well done on making it!