Jul 23
After arriving at JOG, we took the following day – a Sunday – off. It felt a bit strange having breakfast then wondering what to do, rather than load up, mount up and push off. We walked the half mile down to the harbour area and took another look inside the ‘First and Last’ kiosk, …
Jul 14
Our last day ‘in the saddle’ and there are blue skies above! Not too far today so we take our time over breakfast and then I rescue The Beast from the meeting room in the hotel – the only place other than outside. We left on the A836 towards Dunnet Head, a gentle climb out …
Jul 14
Well there was blue sky when we got up but by the time we’d got the bike out the shed and loaded up, it had gone. The climb away from Farr Cottage was a hard start to the day but it was a small price to pay for the hospitality we had enjoyed and the …
Jul 12
Started the day with a photograph of the two of us and The Beast to send to Arthritis Research UK. Zoe there has been sending out press releases to some of the local newspapers and needed a photo with the both of us in and hopefully, a nice Scottish backdrop too. It’s a problem with …
Jul 11
A dry start today, though the grey cloud covering looked ready to off-load at any moment. Today’s ride would take us out into the wilderness, or as close to it as we have come on our journey from south to north. At only 37 miles away, it would have been nice to have ridden all …
Jul 10
Woke up and peered out of the window in the vain hope that it wouldn’t be raining. No such luck. Chatted over breakfast with other guests and was given another £5 to add to the collection of en-route donations. Not far after leaving Tain we saw the signs for the Glenmorangie Distillery and decided to …
Jul 09
We rescued the Beast from the hotel lobby and loaded the bags outside, watched by a couple of bemused Americans. Getting out of Inverness was relatively straight forward as we just headed for the water, a couple of streets away. A cycle path ran alongside it to the Kessock Bridge to cross to the Black …
Jul 08
Breakfast at Fairwinds hotel and we watched a red squirrel scampering over the bark of a huge redwood tree near the conservatory where we sat. That and the rain. By the time it came to pull the Beast from its overnight stable in the disused church, it had turned to a fine drizzle. Leaving Carrbridge …
Jul 07
Very low, grey skies and a much colder day greeted us as we loaded up the Beast for the day’s ride. We left Newtonmore along the main road – many smaller Scottish towns have little more. The road ran reasonably level up the North side of the Spey. The national cycle route actually switched to …
Jul 06
As I looked out of the window at the little station of Blair Atholl it started to rain. This was the last thing we needed for our ride over the Drumochter Pass. Fortunately, by the time we’d had breakfast and loaded up, it had stopped. This helped cool the air but it was still quite …
Jul 05
This morning it was humid and dry. So, for the first time I think, we started off in short sleeves. The cloud was low and grey but at least there was no rain. As we left the village of Bankfoot, we passed a parked car with a bike on the back. A little while later …
Jul 04
A pretty gloomy start but at least it wasn’t actually raining. It was humid too, so at least I was determined to leave off the waterproof. Karon seems to tolerate working under waterproofs a lot better than me and can ride with one on most of the time, just putting the hood up under her …
Jul 03
For once the sun was pushing through the weak cloud cover as we sat and ate our porridge. It was so nice not to be cocooned in full waterproofs as we said our goodbye’s to April and headed off to find the cycle route that would take us out to the Forth Bridge. It was …
Jul 02
What’s the first line of that Supertramp song? “Oh it’s raining again”. I find myself singing it to myself again as I peer out the window after getting out of bed. We breakfast and get ready to battle the rain again. Today is a short ride into Edinburgh to stay with Karon’s cousin April in …
Jul 01
The bar come restaurant at the Tushielaw overlooks Ettrick Water at the back and as we sat eating breakfast were were entertained by a family of wagtails on the far bank. Later, as we chatted with the landlord (we were the only overnighters) an otter trotted along the bank too. Good start to the day! …