Negotiating Like a Child

Children are expert negotiators. As a father of three impressively persuasive daughters, I know to my cost that children are masters at bargaining and winning a deal. The incredible thing is, this talent seems to be instinctive. We never teach our children these skills, they just seem to be born with an innate ability to negotiate. This month I spent a hugely rewarding two days on a negotiation course run by Bill Garcia of TableForce. The course was outstanding – easily the most useful two-day course I have ever done – but during it, I was struck by how closely the approach Bill taught us resembled the negotiating behaviour of my own daughters:

  • Children know to try – the first rule of bargaining is to give it a go. As Wayne Gretzky put it, ‘you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take’. And children try better than anyone else; they do so with audacity and persistence. 5 minutes before dinner:
    • Can I have an ice cream?
    • No!
    • Can I have an ice lolly?
    • NO!
    • Can Charlotte have an ice cream and I’ll share?
    • No, No, No!
  • Children know the power of the opening position. By starting big they shift the cursor of expectation and get a bigger outcome:
    • Can we go to Disneyland today?
    • Wha…? No. How would that even….?
    • Ok. Can we go to the park then?
    • Sure, whatever.
  • Children know to never give without getting:
    • If I tidy my room, can I have a biscuit?
    • But you should be tidying your room anyway.
    • It will be super tidy.
    • Ok, sure…..
  • Children understand the motivations of their parents and use that knowledge to manipulate (they get on our page).
    • Can I have a snack?
    • No, you’ve literally just had dinner.
    • I could have an orange – I’m really worried I haven’t had my 5-a-day today.
    • You win, have an orange.

So, the question is, if I understood all this as a child, why have I just spent time re-learning the same skills? Like almost all children I was taught that negotiating is impolite. I was told it is rude to bargain with people and, over time, I learnt to stop challenging and accept other peoples’ opening positions without question. That approach may have made for an easy life when I was schoolchild in a classroom, but in business, and indeed in adult life, it means entering every negotiation on the back foot. So, this month I spent two days learning skills that I once knew, skills that I see every day in my own children. Next time I want to clinch a deal, I’ll think like a child. Some would say that shouldn’t prove too much of a challenge.

 

 

How I Found a Job After Leaving the Army

It is now a year since I started my resettlement journey – transitioning to civilian life after 20 years in the Army. Although it was undeniably daunting at the outset, I am delighted with the way it has worked out. I have a job with an excellent company, I actually get to go home to my family every night (a key driver for leaving) and I am in a financially stronger position. I am fortunate that I have achieved everything I wanted to in the 12 months following ‘pressing the button’.

This seems like a sensible point to take stock and review the last year, not least because it may prove useful to those leaving the service now in the same way that I found the advice invaluable of those ahead of me on the conveyor belt. Rather than tackle this with the usual ‘top tips for resettlement’ I thought it might be helpful to recount how I set about planning my transition highlighting what worked and what didn’t along the way.

Planning

With a background in Plans and Operations it seemed logical to apply the same trusted planning method I’ve used all my career to my resettlement campaign. I started by articulating as simply as possible what I was trying to achieve, namely a job in the private sector that I could commute to daily with a salary that matched or exceeded my existing Army salary. I then conducted an estimate process to produce a plan to deliver that end state. As shown in the diagram below, I devised five Lines Of Operations (LOO) to break the task down into manageable chunks. Each LOO had its own end state and all five aggregated together to deliver the overall objective. I haven’t shown it here, but the plan existed at a further level of detail comprising around 60 milestones and sub objectives, which I tracked using an online project management application.

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The LOOs were:

LOO1 – Build the Network

If there is one piece of advice that I was given consistently through the resettlement process it was that networking is critically important. The advice is accurate too; there is no substitute for having a diverse and influential network of contacts who are able and (hopefully) willing to help. My challenge, however, was turning that theory into practical reality. I had been aware that maintaining a network was important for years, so over time I built up a fairly substantial collection of contacts on LinkedIn. Military officers are fortunate in this regard; simply by virtue of moving so frequently we meet a broad spectrum of people, both serving and civilian. I found collecting these contacts on LinkedIn in the years before I left invaluable, especially as many of my serving contacts had already left and therefore had trodden the resettlement path before me. It really helped when the people I spoke to had been through the transition process themselves and every single one went out of their way to help. It is hard to overstate the value of the network I already had as a direct result of being a military officer.

Armed with my LinkedIn contact list and a large glass of wine, I set about categorising my contacts into those that might be in a position to offer me a job, those that could assist by opening doors, and those that could provide specific advice. I quickly discovered that the first category doesn’t really exist; networking does not often lead immediately to a job offer and if you adopt the attitude that it should you will lose friends pretty quickly. Once I had a list, I allocated everyone a score based on how much I thought they might be able to help me. I then started at the top and began making contact, initially on LinkedIn but always followed up with a meeting in person. This proved hugely valuable, and a large proportion of my meetings led to further referrals and several led directly to interview opportunities. Without exception, everyone I met was happy to give up their time and I left every single meeting with at least one new nugget of advice. If I could do one thing differently it would be to focus my networking on the geographical area in which I planned to settle. I made the mistake of focussing on my network’s centre of gravity, which was inevitably London. It is amazing how many times I met people who could help me get a job in the South East, but who had little influence in the North of England, even when they worked for a company with regional offices. Developing a Partner level relationship with one of the ‘big four’ in London was surprisingly ineffective at securing a job with the same company in the north.

In addition to this informal networking, I also harnessed a couple of more structured and well organised networks. The Officers’ Association is an excellent resource and they were able to put me in touch with some very helpful ex-forces contacts. I also joined the Two Roses networking group which, despite the name, is a Yorkshire focussed networking group for veterans. They are a really helpful and friendly bunch, with the added advantage that they know the ground in the North. My understanding is that most regions in the UK have similar groups – I suspect the OA would have details.

LOO2 – Apply for Jobs

It sounds ridiculous but it is easy to forget that you actually have to apply for jobs! Particularly in the early days when I didn’t understand how networking operates, I naively thought that eventually I’d be offered a job from that process. I’m not saying that never happens, but it is extremely rare. Fortunately, I recognised this before the optimum time for applying, which turns out to be 3-4 months before the ideal start date, so I was never on the back foot.

Generally I found that the two best ways to find vacancies was organisations’ own careers webpages and LinkedIn Jobs (the job I ultimately secured was from LinkedIn). Before I started, I invested time writing and tuning my master CV and covering letter. I wrestled with the debate about how demilitarised both should be, and I ultimately decided on a hybrid. Completely civilianising all language and appointments looks ridiculous and contrived – being an Ops Officer is simply not the same thing as a Chief Operating Officer – but equally it is still important to write in a way that the target audience will understand. On several occasions I was complimented on my CV for its absence of ‘nonsense jargon’, something I achieved by writing in plain English and not seeking to translate every element of military language.

I focussed on detailing achievements and outcomes in my CV. As someone who now sees many CVs a week, I can confirm that the real value comes from evidence of success in roles similar to the job you are applying for. Once I had written a draft CV I sent it to an array of people for ‘red-penning’. I kept doing this until I started receiving suggestions to change something back to the way it had been in a previous version. Then I knew I was chasing the error!

I spent about half a day on each job application. It takes this long to tailor the CV and covering letter for that specific job. To really force home the idea that my application was laser targeted at a specific job I made a conscious effort to weave the language of the job advert and job specification, including using full phrases, into my CV and covering letter.

For every application I tried to let someone from my network on the inside of that company know that I had applied. This has a twofold benefit; if they are willing to put in a good word that always helps but perhaps even more importantly they are able to nudge the process along when the glacial HR process inevitably stalls.

Overall my approach worked as most of my applications led to some kind of positive follow up.

LOO3 – Build Online Profile

Resettlement is effectively an exercise in personal promotion. Fortunately, in the social media age it is really easy to build an online brand to portray yourself however you choose. It is important to start early, engage with multiple platforms and to remain consistently active.

I once met a CEO who claimed he wouldn’t hire someone if they didn’t have a LinkedIn profile. Possibly an extreme position, but it does serve to highlight just how important LinkedIn is in the modern job market. I made sure my profile was immaculate, both in terms of content (which must compliment the CV) and appearance, including adding a few photographs. I also made sure that I was active on LinkedIn daily, including writing original content. I’m not sure exactly how, but high activity and original content seem to be the two things that promote profiles to the front of the algorithm queue.

I also started blogging on a website that I set up originally purely for self-promotion. As it turned out I quite enjoyed writing and the blog also served as an excellent platform to promote my charity fund raising efforts, but these were fringe benefits. I wrote (and still write) at least one article a month on a subject of professional or personal interest, which I then promote on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. The benefits of this are hard to quantify, but I do know that in the period of my resettlement my website was viewed almost 6000 times, which is a great deal of exposure I wouldn’t otherwise have had. It is not unreasonable to assume that many of the companies that I applied to will have Googled me and it certainly can’t have done any harm when they found a site with a narrative that was completely under my control.

LOO4 – Conduct Training

The resettlement period offers an opportunity like no other to invest time and money in personal development. At the beginning of the process I conducted an analysis of the gap in my skills and professional profile. I did this by consulting widely, but also by reviewing hundreds of job adverts to get a feel for the skills and attributes they were asking for. I quickly understood I had a deficit of commercial understanding and finance. I also didn’t have much in the way of formal recognition of cyber skills, despite having a good few years practical experience.

To address the first two shortfalls, I enrolled in Manchester Business School’s AMAC course. I can’t recommend this course highly enough; over 3 weeks it teaches MBA level material tailored at the gaps in knowledge a typical mid to senior level officer has on leaving the forces. I learnt a huge amount about business governance, strategy and finance, and it provided an excellent opportunity to get to know officers in the same situation, many of whom I now count as valued contacts. A qualification form Manchester Business School also has a certain gravity that plays well on the CV and at interview.

To tackle the cyber skills certification gap I did the CISMP course. Whilst good enough, I would with hindsight have done CISSP instead as it is probably the most widely respected general qualification in the industry.

LOO5 – Administrate

In the whirlwind that is resettlement it is easy to forget the considerable burden of administration that has to be done on leaving. It all takes longer than might reasonably be expected so it is worth starting early. It is imperative to apply for the pension as soon as possible to ensure payment starts on termination. It is also worth speaking to the taxman before the inevitable first pay cheque gets taxed at emergency rates.

The Results

A year on from starting this process I am pleased to be able to say the plan worked. I have an excellent job with NCC Group managing a team of cyber security analysts and engineers delivering Managed Detection and Response to an array of customers across multiple sectors. The company is ambitious and progressive; there are plenty of ways my career could develop from here without changing employer. As for the all-important commute, I now drive 25 minutes each way and go home every night, which is a welcome far cry from the two nights per week at home that originally pushed me to abandon ship. And, although it isn’t about the money, there is a mortgage to pay so it is not an unimportant consideration! I achieved my objective of matching my Army salary so with my pension added to the mix I am now financially better off than when I was serving.

As for the other opportunities I was pursuing, the facts are these:

  • I actively pursued 13 clear opportunities over a 2-3 month period.
  • I had some kind of first interview (telephone or face to face) for 10 of the 13.
  • 3 opportunities were ended by the company after the first interview. 2 were ended by me.
  • I was invited to a final interview for 5 of the original 13.
  • I attended 2 of the interviews and was offered positions as a result of both.
  • I withdrew from the remaining 3 interviews as I had already accepted a job with NCC Group.

If I had been offered this outcome at the outset there is no question the decision would have been to ‘stick’ rather than ‘twist’! The resettlement process is a huge amount of work but, in hindsight, it was enjoyable too. It isn’t often in a working career that anyone can dedicate several months to finding their ideal next career step without distraction. I feel very lucky I had the time and resource to get it right.

 

 

 

 

 

Lessons From Cyber War – Extract of Talk to the IET

I was delighted to speak to the Inverness branch of the IET on 5th December 2018. The following is an extract of what I covered:

Cyber security is a fast moving business. Threats emerge and threat actors evolve at pace, so as security professionals it is essential to learn lessons in real time to stay ahead of the game. That is why cyber intelligence is such an important discipline; it provides the edge that transforms a reactive approach to a more valuable proactive model.

Of the threat actors, criminal groups pose the greatest threat to business security. However most criminal organisations have neither the means nor the resource to be as surgically effective as state actors. In recent years cyber has become increasingly critical as a weapon of war. The tools and processes used at this level are often the best there is, so it makes sense to learn all we can from such operations. Even if we only examine detail available in open source reporting there is much we can learn from case studies including:

·       The consistent targetting of the ‘soft underbelly’. It is striking how often access is achieved by using a vector overlooked or considered unimportant by defenders.

·       Human weakness – almost all successful attacks at some point take advantage of the human in the process, who is often much more porous than the technology.

·       Unexpected indicators of compromise. We can’t always anticipate the indicators of malign activity and therefore traditional ‘signature sniffing’ approaches become increasingly ineffective. The future lies in anomaly detection; by highlighting outlier activity to experienced analysts we stand a much better chance of effective detection.

Learning from case studies is tremendously valuable, but learning from theory is useful too. Many authors have used the UK military Principles of Defence to extrapolate lessons for cyber security, indeed there is at least one security business that uses the principles to structure their consultancy. There is good reason for doing so; defence is defence, whether in the physical world or in cyber space and the six principles are equally valuable in each:

·       Depth – Any cyber security solution must be multi-layered to frustrate, delay and deter an attacker. It must also incorporate physical, technical, procedural and cultural elements.

·       All round Defence – There is no point locking the front door if the back door is left open.

·       Mutual Support – Aggregating our monitoring from multiple sources, and combining with threat intelligence in a Security Incident and Event Management (SIEM) system gives a more coherent and holistic view of what is happening in our networks.

·       Reserves – Any organisation must be capable of business continuity (resilience is key) and disaster recover (backup is key).

·       Offensive Spirit – Taking or gaining the initiative by ‘hacking back’ or ‘hacking first’ may be off the agenda for commercial organisations (at least within current law) but that doesn’t mean that offensive thinking can’t help us defend. This is most easily brought to bear by aggressively pursuing intelligence.

·       Deception – Using honeypots or dummy networks can be effective in identifying breaches and gathering information about attackers.

As information develops as our most valuable resource it is imperative that we take every opportunity to develop our understanding of how best to to defend it.

Why is Patching so Hard?

Patching computer systems is like healthy eating; everyone knows they should do it, most people know how to do it, but far too often it is done half-heartedly or not at all. A staggering 80% of all successful cyber-attacks could be avoided if the breached system was maintained at the latest patch state. Wannacry, perhaps the most infamous and widespread attack in recent years, was entirely avoidable as a patch for the vulnerability it exploited was released a month before global mayhem was unleashed in cyberspace.

So why do we inflict this misery on ourselves? Why don’t we just patch and head the majority of our security worries off at the pass? As a fully paid up member of the ‘head scratching’ security community I watch on with incredulity. But I am also a hypocrite with a short and selective memory. Only a few years ago I was on the other side of the fence, responsible for managing hundreds of systems in extremely challenging circumstances. Back then security patching was a perpetual headache that far too often became overwhelming. With the benefit of hindsight, patching was difficult for an array of reasons:

  • Configuration Management.  Few will admit it, but configuration management is poor to non-existent in the majority of organisations. And if you don’t understand the state of your systems it is impossible to determine what patching is required. Once control is lost it is very difficult to regain.
  • Cost.  Patching can be expensive. It gets even more expensive when products reach end of life and support stops. At that point the choice can be stark; engage in a major upgrade or consciously neglect patching newly discovered vulnerabilities. Making the business case to change on the basis of a risk that can be difficult to quantify is notoriously difficult when money is tight.
  • Time.  I was once responsible for a fleet of systems that were held offline in a warehouse in readiness for emergency use. On a monthly basis we built each system and applied updates and patches. Or at least we tried to; in reality the process took far more hours than were available in a typical working week. The result was a fleet that became ever more out of date and ever more vulnerable. This is an extreme example, but dedicating time to patching systems can be difficult when there are so many different demands on our resources.
  • Risk and Disruption. Most organisations have at least one legacy system that nobody really understands, but whose existence is critical to the business. Making any changes to such systems is regarded as poking a sleeping bear, so the idea that you would attempt to patch it, or any system it interoperates with, is regarded as self-harming at best.
  • Impenetrable Security. The very worst reason I have ever heard for not patching came from a third-party managed service provider who argued that it wasn’t necessary because their cyber security solution was so robust. As an industry insider I am a huge advocate of comprehensive cyber security, but there is no solution that is impenetrable. This approach is akin to leaving your door unlocked because you have a fence that is almost (but not quite) unscalable.

So, despite the bewilderment of the cyber security community there are many good reasons why patching is difficult. However, there is no getting away from the fact that patching is the single most impactful measure that any organisation can take to improve their cyber security posture. Understanding your enterprise and its vulnerabilities in terms of business risk is an important first step that enables prioritisation of resource (the NCSC has some great advice on this). Once this has been achieved, a holistic cyber security solution can be designed. The answer, as ever, is a portfolio of measures that work together to drive down risk.

Just Keep Running

It’s pleasing when a good habit becomes a tradition. Last weekend I completed my third Great Scottish Run half marathon in a row, and once again I thoroughly enjoyed it. Of all the running events I’ve done, the Great Scottish Run stands out as the best organised, most friendly and most fun. Importantly too it isn’t just a single event, rather it is a whole weekend of different running distances suitable for all ages and abilities. For the first time all my family took part. My daughters (aged 7 and twins aged 3) ran in the family mile and I’m proud to say they kept up a good pace running the whole distance, which is quite an achievement for two girls who last year watched from a pram. I’m equally proud of my wife, who ran her first 10k finishing 7 minutes ahead of her target despite having to run an extra 3k just to get to the start in time for the gun after traffic chaos on the M8.

So we all got a medal to go with the sore legs and sense of achievement. If the running bug sticks, and I’m sure it will, the new family tradition of pounding the streets of Glasgow in the last weekend of September has many years left to run.

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LEJOG – The Final Blog [Video]

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Video: 2 Weeks in 11 minutes! With thanks to Maze Car for the original music.

It is several weeks since I found myself at John O’Groats after an epic two-week cycle from the very bottom of the country. Save for a lingering painful elbow (bizarrely) I have pretty much recovered. Time then to look back and reflect on what was a most memorable adventure. Hopefully the information below will be useful to anyone else who is thinking about tackling the End to End; I can thoroughly recommend it!

Preparations

Training – I started training back in the depths of this year’s interminable winter. On my very first ride I got caught in a blizzard and became so cold I couldn’t unzip my pocket to get my house key when I finally made it home. After that I set myself a rule that the temperature must be above 3 degrees Celsius before getting in the saddle and that proved bearable. Over 3 months I cycled just over 1000 training miles. It was tricky to squeeze that much in to an already busy schedule and I mostly had to fit rides in before or after work. Whilst I certainly didn’t ‘over train’ I could certainly have completed LEJOG with fewer miles under my belt. I reckon half the training would have been enough to stay the course without much additional discomfort. I did find integrating hills into the training and always cycling with loaded panniers invaluable; essentially it was all about preparing as realistically as possible.

The Bike – As expanded in this blog I spent a long time finding the right touring bike. Without rehashing the detail, there is a great deal of difference between a road bike and one that is designed for comfortable load carrying over long distances. I eventually settled for Ridgeback’s Panorama and it proved an excellent decision. Apart from a broken mudguard I can’t fault the bike; it remained a pleasure to ride both on the roads and on tracks even after many hours in the saddle.

Equipment – Conscious that I had to carry all my kit I gave a huge amount of thought to what I needed to take with me. My final kit list is detailed in this blog. Perhaps remarkably, with the benefit of hindsight I wouldn’t change a thing. I took nothing superfluous and I needed everything I had with me. Travelling light did mean doing laundry every couple of days, but that was very manageable as most of the places I stopped had excellent facilities. Other than the bike, my 5 pieces of kit that I found most invaluable were:

  • Garmin 800. At times navigation wasn’t easy (especially in cities) but without my Garmin it would have been nearly impossible. If I had my time again I would have upgraded the mapping to Ordnance Survey’s but even with the basic free mapping the Garmin was a lifesaver. Psychologically it was also very helpful to know exactly how far I had to go and how much more I had to climb at any point in the day.
  • Toolkit. I was very lucky that I didn’t have any major mechanical failures (or punctures) during the 2 weeks so my limited toolkit was only used for tinkering. However, the peace of mind that comes from knowing you can get going again after a puncture or a broken chain is very reassuring.
  • Sunscreen. All tanning is damage! It is easy to forget that 10 hours every day for 2 weeks without any shade exposes you unforgivingly to the elements. As someone who gets worried about sunburn when a light is turned on I found factor 50 essential .
  • Chamois Cream. No need for detail here, but if you sit on a saddle for much more than a few hours then a healthy dose of Chamois cream is essential.
  • Third water bottle. The bike came fitted for 3 water bottles. I was a little sceptical that this might have been overkill, but on one occasion in particular I was miles from anywhere in blazing sun and I was very grateful for the extra water.

Route Planning – This blog gives more detail about my route planning. In short I decided the places I wanted to go and used the Garmin route planner to join them up. This gave a huge amount of flexibility to make the route my own. I was, for example, able to schedule a rest day at home with my family. To me this is one of the great advantages of planning your own route rather than joining an organised event. The routes recommended by Garmin were mostly direct and on small B roads where possible, which made for very enjoyable cycling. Less enjoyable were some of the cyclepaths that Garmin selected. Some were excellent (for example through Bristol or from Glasgow to Loch Lomond) but some were simply impassable. Even good cyclepaths can be hard going as they tend to require frequent dismounting to negotiate gates or road crossings. I would estimate that 15% of the entire route was on cycle paths and of that I would have preferred roads most of the time. I wouldn’t advise a blanket avoidance of cyclepaths, but before going near them it is essential to have a high level of confidence that they are fit for purpose.

I found local knowledge was really helpful and on a number of occasions I changed my route on the basis of a conversation around a Youth Hostel dining table. Likewise, I sometimes just wanted to get the day done and so opted for bigger A roads rather than the planned Garmin route, as was the case from Melrose to Glasgow.

Accommodation – Staying at Youth Hostels was a revelation. Meeting people from all walks of life and with a real diversity of back-story was all part of the experience, and that was best achieved in Youth Hostels (the smaller the better). Where hostelling wasn’t an option I stayed in B&B’s or hotels. Nothing remarkable to report except a further recommendation for the Crask Inn, which offered exceptional hospitality in a truly unique location at ridiculously reasonable prices.

The Journey

As they say, if it isn’t on Strava then it didn’t happen! Thanks to my Garmin I know that I cycled 1063 miles in 14 days. I climbed 15508 metres and reached a highest point above sea level of 575 metres in the North Pennines. I cycled a total of just under 90 hours, although with breaks a typical day was more like 7-10 hours. My average moving speed was 11.9 mph.

With these numbers I clearly wasn’t going to set any records, but that was never the intention. The pace I set was entirely sustainable and after the first two days (which were the hilliest) I felt that I could cycle 80 miles every day indefinitely. That isn’t to say there weren’t difficult times – those climbs that never end or the destination that just doesn’t get any closer – but overall it was an easier physical and mental challenge than I expected it to be. Cycling LEJOG is well within the capabilities of most people who can ride a bike.

Of course the whole experience was made easier by the weather. I was very fortunate in that I was only rained on for around 3 hours in the entire 2 weeks. Occasionally it was a little hot, and I did have to contend with an unusually persistent northerly headwind but if I were playing weather pontoon I would certainly stick rather than twist.

The people I met along the way also made it easier. Every day I met interesting and kind people who were invariably happy to spend time chatting. I met some familiar faces on the road too, and on a few happy days some old friends rode some of the way with me. It is difficult to overstate how much difference some company makes when you have been riding solo for so long; I am hugely grateful for all those who gave up time to ride some the way with me.

Fundraising

Whilst raising money for charity was never my primary goal I did take the opportunity to fundraise for the Royal Signals Benevolent Fund and the Gurkha Welfare Trust. Both these charities mean a great deal to me and I have been closely involved with both during my Army career so it made sense to support them during the event that marked the end of my military service. I had intended to invest effort in chasing corporate sponsorship, but in a busy year that simply wasn’t possible. I therefore relied on the generosity of individuals, which was quite simply remarkable. I don’t have a final total yet but at the time of writing I have raised just over £1650. A heartfelt thank you to everyone who supported me.

Final Thoughts

This country is a remarkable and beautiful place. More than anywhere else I know it changes dramatically in very short distances. In a day of cycling it is possible to see countryside, coast, mountains and cities without ever feeling that you are missing anything as you sometimes do when travelling by car or train. On a bike the country rolls by at the right pace; not so slow that you feel constrained and not so quickly that its evolution becomes incomprehensible. It is a great way to appreciate all that the UK has to offer and a fantastic way to meet the people who live and visit here. I can’t think of a more rewarding way to spend two weeks.

LEJOG Day 14 – Crask to John O’Groats

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I had a great evening last night at the Crask Inn. Given that the hotel is some 15 miles from the nearest alternative bar or restaurant all the residents tend to eat together. So last night I found myself sharing a table with couple of cyclists who are also doing LEJOG and a German couple who were touring by motorbike. The meal was excellent (home made steak pie) and the conversations continued well into the bar after dinner! The Crask really is a special experience.

After an equally good breakfast this morning I set off bound for the north coast in a hail of midges. After a brief climb most of the first 30 miles was gently downhill through barren but beautiful countryside. At Altnaharra I turned right onto the less hilly route through Strathnaver. This is Highland Clearances country, and the interpretation boards at the side of the road marking villages that once were served as a sober reminder that this place wasn’t always so deserted.

I reached the coast at Bettyhill, where I stopped at the hotel for a cup of tea and a cake. I then made my way along the coast to Thurso. This section was fairly lumpy, although I have come to expect climbing is inevitable when cycling along a coast! At Thurso I had planned to have a coffee, but it seems Sundays defeat the place and not a thing was open. Undaunted I cracked out the emergency Mars Bar and headed east. The last 20 miles were actually fairly easy going, except for the inevitable headwind, which had upped its game for the last hurrah.

The experience has very much been about the journey and not the destination, so arriving at John O’Groats was never going to be Champagne corks and fireworks. As it panned out, I arrived, took my place in the queue to have my photo taken with the sign and then made my way to the hotel happy that the job was done.

The last 2 weeks has been an extraordinary experience. Watching the country morph through all its forms has been a privilege and an education. I enjoyed meeting the people and hearing their stories. If you are ever fortunate enough to have 2 weeks to spare this is a great way to spend them.

And finally, thank you. Thanks to all who donated, all who supported me daily and all who joined me or met me on route. Thanks for all your support for my charities (you can still donate!). You have raised £1400 (so far) and every penny of it will change lives. Thank you most of all to my very understanding family; without your support this would not have been possible.

Tomorrow – Yes I am getting on the bike again, 17 miles to Wick to get the train south!

LEJOG Day 13 – Inverness to Crask

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It was noticeably cold as I saddled up this morning and headed north out off Inverness past the football stadium and over the bridge. I followed the A9 and the A835 to Dingwall where I stopped for a bacon roll; the tradition is two days old now and I worried it would be unlucky to break it! I particularly appreciated the cup of tea that went some way to thawing me out.

From Dingwall I headed north again on the inland route to Bonar Bridge. The road is good but it includes a long drag of a climb, the advantage of which is a tremendous viewpoint with a vista over Sutherland including the peak of Ben More Assynt about 30 miles to the north west. My next stop was Bonar Bridge where I had two lunches in a little cafe. I got speaking with another cyclist who was on his last day of a 5 day tour of the West Highlands. I could tell he was in a different league as his route to Inverness was 25 miles further than mine simply because that way was more scenic.

It is apparent that the touring industry is booming in the far north of Scotland. I think it is probably as a result of the marketing of the very popular North Coast 500 route, but whatever the reason everywhere there are people in motor homes, on motor bikes, in classic cars or on cycles touring around this remote and beautiful part of the country. Getting passed by Ferraris and DB7s also serves to keep things interesting!

I arrived at the Crask Inn in the late afternoon. The hotel is marketed as Scotland’s most isolated and certainly there isn’t much around here that would cause me to dispute that claim. The welcome is extremely friendly though and they have a well stocked bar and serve a hearty dinner. Needless to say I’m happy!

Tomorrow – John O’Groats.

LEJOG Day 12 – Glencoe to Inverness

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The curse of the midge is felt particularly keenly in Glencoe and I’m told that the warm and humid weather has made it one of the worst years on record for the biting menace. The Youth Hostel has a siege mentality, which means that there is strictly no opening of windows. This in turn creates an uncomfortably warm and stuffy air in the building and especially in the smaller dorms. I was therefore in no mood to hang around when I woke up this morning and was on the road before 0800.

I made my way around the coast toward Fort William, but after only 10 miles or so I succumbed to some excellent roadside advertising and found myself in a little cafe eating an uncommonly good bacon roll.

Once in Fort William I stocked up on lunch essentials at the supermarket as my route today was remote enough that cafe and pub stops were far from guaranteed to coincide with my appetite. I left Fort William just as the ‘Harry Potter’ train was leaving for Mallaig with its 500 tourists on board. As I cycled out of the town the smell of the steam train lingered in the air; if I was a generation older I would probably have felt nostalgic!

I made my way up to Loch Ness, where I opted to head along the much quieter southern route. The road on this side of the Loch has recently been widened and resurfaced and consequently it is excellent for cycling. The only drawback was the 350 metre climb, which was very hard work with tired legs. The view from the top was spectacular enough to attract bus loads of tourists, but despite being a little on the busy side it was still a great spot for lunch.

Having struggled on the climb, I enjoyed the descent, which went on for almost 10 miles. At the bottom the road followed the Loch side so I took the opportunity to do a little Nessie hunting. No joy until the statue at the Dores Inn, which I took as a sign that it was time to stop for a drink.

The run into Inverness was a little hillier than my legs were ready for, but nonetheless I soon arrived at the relatively new and very large Youth Hostel. Now time to find some dinner.

Tomorrow – Crask Inn.

LEJOG Day 11 – Glasgow to Glencoe

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From when I first started planning this trip, today is the day I have most been looking forward to. The scenery between Loch Lomond and Glencoe is among the most spectacular in the country and the opportunity to spend a day taking it all in at bike pace was really exciting. I was also delighted to be able to ride most of the day with my friend Niall, who joined me as far as Bridge of Orchy, from where he got the train back to Glasgow. As his train wasn’t until evening we were able to take a fairly leisurely approach so there was plenty of time for the odd coffee and cake stop.

We made our way from Glasgow to Loch Lomond on the cycle way that follows the Forth and Clyde canal and the river Leven. Despite my previous misgivings about cycle tracks I was prepared to make an exception for this one as I used to use it frequently when I lived in this part of the world and I knew it was a well maintained route with a tarmac surface. Once we got to Loch Lomond we joined the A82, which was a bit of a shock to the system. The drivers on the A82 today were collectively the most discourteous (and occasionally dangerous) that I have encountered to date. Clearly everyone was in a rush to get into the Highlands.

The weather was again glorious. We stopped for coffee in a cafe in Luss and sat outside enjoying the sun. For once though my luck with the weather slipped a little and shortly after lunch we were caught in an almighty thunderstorm. We stopped in Bridge of Orchy to dry off a little and there I said goodbye to Niall before I continued to Glencoe. This 22 mile section is nothing short of stunning. The climb up onto Rannoch Moor was worth it for the view alone and the 5 mile descent into the natural amphitheatre of Glencoe was breathtaking. The view of Buachaille Etive Mor standing guard over the mouth of the glen is one of the most stunning in Scotland, and it is all the better when not viewed from a car!

Tomorrow – Inverness.