Day 23 - Inverness to Lairg


Day 23 – Inverness to Lairg


A big day ahead and we have already had some recently.  Today we've got 86 km and 2000 feet of climbing. We leave our BandB and ride downtown.
BandB room with bikes out the back
Our BandB in Inverness




 Zita and I debate! about if I should buy some warm clothing. I feel better compared with last night but don't want to get cold again. I was badly chilled yesterday. However I think I just need to manage the clothing that I do have better -  not get more that I will not use. So we head north along the river and over an amazing bridge across the estuary.
Inverness Bridge
It is raining and blowing like stink as we cross the bridge.

There are great billowing storm clouds in the south west where the weather is coming from.  Not a good start we.
We follow along the cycle paths which are mainly off road till we get to Dingwall.  I'm concerned about our late departure.  The bad weather comes in bursts of 30 minutes or so. From Dingwall we climb up 100 metres and traverse around the hills with great views over the Cromarty Firth- which is an inland sea water-way. Salt water.
We can see a big oil rig at the mouth of this waterway in the distance.  We're on a mix of cycle paths and quiet roads.  After the climb we have travelled quickly. We stop at Evanton for lunch. Another jacket potato for me!
On a little further we turn onto the B9176 which is a shortcut across the tops, avoiding 25 kms around the coast.  This is a variation determined by the people who created our route guide. We will be off the standard cycle route 1 for 25 km.
This proves to unexpectedly  be a very busy road with fast cars, blind corners, big trucks and no shoulder. This is stressful and scary for us at times.  We climb out of the forest onto the open moorland. Always a joy.
Two riders taking a faster shorter Lejog route
The map in the guide is hard to interpret and we are at our high point of 250 metres suddenly and with a surprise. The last part of the riding has been windy and showery and cold but also beautiful.
The Kyle of Sutherland

 I make sure I'm well dressed as we zoom downhill to the Kyle of Sutherland where we rejoin cycle route 1.
Up the loch we go.  We make a  route mistake at Ardgay and lose 15 minutes. We return to route and  join a very quiet back road
Cycle pedestrian route beside rail bridge across river
which takes us through beautiful quiet roads to Lairg and Loch Shin.
Lairg
Lairg is full of atmosphere.  This  land now seems very north and remote. This is so typical of our trip. Two or three or four quite distinct  trips of very different character in any one day. Much much more the case than when riding in New Zealand.

We are tired. The rough roads are often bumpy and hard. The changeable weather is hard but better than constant rain.  We arrive at our what is an expensive BandB for us.  But it's great and there's a great breakfast to come in the morning.  It is worth the cost and it includes free good quality Whiskey.
Me testing the local whiskey
I fill a (very) small plastic bottle for future fortification.
Tomorrow is shorter. 60.6 km and the climb is only to 1200 feet. It is completely exposed to any northern weather however so I just hope the weather is not too grim.  2 1/2 days to go.

This is summer/autumn. How must it be here in mid winter with snow and short days. Our BandB hosts have just immigrated here from London and have yet to enjoy a winter.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 15 - Penrith to Gretna Green

Image
Day 15 –  Penrith to Gretna Green We leave around 9:00 am. The hostel stay here has been great.   It is a quiet, sunny and cool Sunday morning. Churches have cars parked in front of them. They are busy enough. We are slightly confused for a few minutes on our route so things feel normal. Then we're off -  route found. Nice gentle riding with a few ups and downs.   We climb up a bit to 230 metres. Then it is generally downhill. We come across a completely delightful house beside our quiet path. We have a chat with couple who are working in their beautiful garden. They tell us about their house and show us more garden around the back.    They voted stay(no Brexit). As did everyone we talk to if the topic comes up. We find there are defibrillators everywhere. Even small towns have several on display. Including in old phone boxes. This is reassuring on some of the more taxing climbs. Below - This was probably the only phone box we saw with a phone in it. More
Read more

Day 4 - Holsworthy to Barnstaple

Image
Day 4 - Holsworthy to Barnstaple Not many photos today. The heavy rain keeps the phones away in plastic bags. The White Hart hotel where we stay was built in the 16th century.   It feels like it with its pokey little rooms, low ceilings and rough finish. But we have a good night's sleep. In the morning,  as is becoming our routine, we repack everything ready for the bikes.   At 9:00 am Peter Rivett from Lands End Cycles arrives with a new bike for Zita. Peter and I spend 40 minutes swapping the handlebars. He's driven 100 miles to get here. Which is fair enough considering the hire cost of the bikes and the trust we have put in them.   Once the bike is set up the gears seem good and during the day Zita is very happy with the new reliable stable gear changing.   The forecast is for rain. It has been threatening to rain since yesterday afternoon.  It starts to rain. Really rain. We have toast and tea / coffee for a simple breakfast. Then reload our bikes at the back of t
Read more

Day 1 - Lands End to Redruth

Image
Day 1- Lands End to Redruth. We leave St Ives by the smaller local 10.15 train for Saint Erth - where we had come from 2 days previous.. Waiting for train from St. Ives Our train connection to Penzance and our hire bike pickups is supposed to be at 11:00 AM. But the train is delayed by 30 minutes. The official reason it is delayed we are told is   - “it was late coming out of the station”. Really!!  At 11:30 we board the train to Penzance.   Then to get to the cycle hire shop we're told it's a 20 minute walk. But it looks much longer with our heavy panniers etc. So we wait for the 12:05 bus to take us along in the right direction. Then we have another ½ mike walk. Peter Rivett, who we are hiring the bikes from, gives us a friendly welcome. However he had forgotten that we would bring our special Jones handlebars from New Zealand so we proceed to work together on getting the old hand grips off the normal bars so we can take the brake and gear levers off and re-insta
Read more