Day 24 -- Lairg to Tongue

Day 24 - Lairg to Tongue

I have been pronouncing Tongue "Ton Gee"  but locals tell me it's just like you would expect normally in English.  I have had some concerns about today with a lot of travel on open exposed moorlands.  I hope we don't get the same weather as the last 2 days with big bursts of cold wind and rain showers.  However after the most fantastic and excessive of  breakfasts,  we leave Lairg at about 10:00 am.
Lairg BandB - "Lochview"

Lairg - but where did we take this photo from? It must be from the internet from a plane.
We start up the loch and our first climb to Crask Inn,  famous in the  UK, especially among cyclists,  for its remoteness. It is called the most remote Inn in the UK.  The weather has turned out not too bad.
  There are still big weather clouds about but also  plenty of sun and not too much wind.
Crask Inn in distance

Crask Inn
  We arrive at this famous Inn -  set in this huge peat bog a landscape with great old mountain shapes about.  This peat bog is known as the most extensive single peat bog area in the world and it contains more carbon sink than  in all the forests in the UK.

 We stop have a biscuit and tea at the Inn and a conversation with 2 English couples who are also cycling LeJog but on tandems.
The two tandems. One is unusual in that one rider sits in front of the handle bars
They head on.  We follow a little later.  It is a little more climb and then downhill  to Altnaharra beside another loch.  We stop for lunch.  We eat with the Tandemers.  Our new companions head off. They will go a simpler, flatter adn shorter way to the next destination.  We have more climb up from this loch. We cycle past a  small forest with many large trees that  have been knocked down - presumably by extreme winds.  Then another beautiful descent with great mountains about.

Now we ride up beside another loch into  a light headwind.

 There is a final 50 metre climb and there is Tongue on the north coast of Scotland - by the sea.  A pretty but expensive little town.  We have a simple afternoon tea and then, because our BandB is a few kms out of town and in the country, we eat a  rather poor dinner. I hope it  causes no stomach problems. In the dusk we ride on for 4 miles to our accommodation for the night. 
The views of the steep coastal hills and coast and islands are enchanting in the misty dusk light. This coastal road has a similar tourist reputation for Scotland as the West Coast in New Zealand. We should be prepared for camper vans tomorrow.
  It's gonna be our last full day tomorrow.  While on the last part of today's trip and looking for our accommodation we stop to check the map. The rain has just stopped and we have our 1st and only 5 minutes Scottish midge attack.  Nasty but thankfully very limited. We have arrived here at a good time of year to miss the midges.
Accommodation 4 miles outside of Tongue

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