Sept 24, 22:27: An apology. It seems some of you actually missed yesterdays post and have asked why there wasn't one - I'm sorry! As explained in my previous post however (see below), I was unable to publish anything because I couldn't get connected and so now I'm having a late night to catch up. I had no idea anyone would even bother reading.
So, today then. Well, after the huge relief of vacating the last undiscovered Nazi concentration camp at Aviemore (I really didn't like it), we actually managed to get away at a sensible time today - 09:30, which is about an hour earlier than usual. From there the five of us (Becks & Eddie still out at this point, leaving Mark, Carl, Andy, Veljko & myself) made really good time and rocked up in Inverness at 12:05. We would have made it at 12:00 but I misinterpreted a signal from Clare in the Merc and subsequently missed a turning (bugger). The stop was right outside the local Halfords, so inevitably some of us took the opportunity to stock up on all the wrong stuff.
An hour later we cracked on again, and enjoyed some fabulous roads along the east coast (ish) and over numerous bridges spanning various firths (Beaully, Cromarty, Dornoch). The weather was fine (some might almost say warm, particularly the locals I'd imagine) and once past Invergordon, where we stopped for lunch and for the first time had a chance to chat to other members of the Scottish arm of Skill, the wind was again on our backs for a while and we zipped along like people with Deep Heat in our shorts. Becks rejoined us at that point and completed the last 30 miles of the day, stopping only occasionally to break up a fight between her waterproofs and the rear wheel of her bike.
Along the way we got honked at by a lot of angry motorists (some punk kid actually waved his fist at us out of his window while shouting abuse, but didn't appear willing to pull over and discuss it), waved at by a few random carfuls, and even recognised by a bunch of cyclists who'd passed us as we had lunch on Sunday and who, depressingly, appeared to be on their way back down from John o'Groats.
We're now in Golspie, just 72 miles south of The End (I feel it warrants capitalisation), in yet another lovely B&B which is an astonishing contrast to the hellhole we were in last night. I'm quite content actually, despite the group being told at the local restaurant that they'd have to be quiet while the local golf club held their meeting there. Bloody cheek!
Stats:
Distance: 81.41 miles
Ride time: 5h 19m
Ave moving speed: 15.31 mph
Max speed: 38.59 mph (there was a fantastic hill coming down into Inverness!!)
Last day tomorrow!
Keith
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