Thursday 10th July

Raining from the start. Left a very cloudy bleak Fort Augustus. Cycled along the shore of Loch Ness. The water looked very cold and sinister. If there is such a thing as a current day monster I’m sure this Loch would certainly be high on its priorities for a home! On through the loch-side town of Invermoriston and then headed away from the water at Drumnadrochit. The road from here to Beauly gave us probably the steepest climb of the trip so far and was made worse by rain and northerly winds. An hours rest stop gave us chance to effect some road-side bike repairs and warm up. Still in the same weather conditions we cycled through Muir of Ord, Conon Bridge, Dingwall, shortly after which we joined the A9, the main road north. This made the cycling unpleasant with speeding traffic and lorries especially, giving us little clearance. This part of our journey gave us more spectacular scenery but little choice of route. Whilst this made the navigating easier it did mean we had to put up with traffic conditions. We cycled on by-passing Alness, Tain and over the long road bridge across the Dornoch Firth. We eventually found our campsite after a little mishap with the booking on our part which meant Marian using the local tourist office. Due to our late arrival at the site and the difficulty in erecting the awning it was decided to walk into the delightful town of Dornoch (definitely worth a visit if you are in the area) to search out a pub.

Miles today = 75 This has been out most unpleasant days cycling so far. But the pub meal at the end of it made up for it.