Day 5 Inveranan to Abington.

It started of dry this morning, but we didn't get far before the heavens opened. We were set up for the day with a lovely breakfast at the campsite, where Adies got his first experiance of the relentless Scottish Midge. My knee was still sore from them yesterdays riding, but we ploughed on towards the Erskine Bridge. Kristina had said it was flat all the way to Glasgow, ( maybe in her car). We made it to Paisley for brealfast, where we locked our bikes to the Court railings just to make sure they were still there when we got back. We had a great meal in a local cafe, where the owner brought is over some Tablet to up our energy levels. The roads through Glasgow were rough, and it wasn't long before I got my first puncture. It's a bit of an ordeal changing a tyre on a bike laden with luggage. We carried on and I got another puncture on East Kilbride. We got it changed but couldn't get enough pressure in th tyre. Later Adies had his first puncture, his tyre went with a bang on a hill. The side of his tyre had blown out. We fitted a tyre boot and carried on, about 10 miles later he had another blow out. The tyre was comming away at the side walls. We arrived late at the camp site and got the tents up as quick as possible. We wanted to get ou r washing done , but we also needed to get down to town to eat before everywhere shut. The laundry room shut at 8 so we asked if they could leave it open. We took our luggage off the bikes and cycles into town, what a weird feeling riding the bikes without all the weight, we nearly fell off. Beck at the campsite we got the laundry done and charged the sat nag, thinking we would get a lovely peacfull sleep in such an idyllic place .

Day 4 Fort Augustus to Inveranan

The night in the hostel set us up well for today. Everything is dry and packed back in the panniers properly. After some toast and coffe3 we set off. It was cold, but dry. We headed down towards Fort William along the Lochs. We stopped to take lots of photos today. What an amazing way to see this beautiful contry. The mountains were amazing, the hill climbs were long, but not steep, more relentless. H

owever the down hills made up for those long grueling climbs. We made it to Inveranan by 6, Kristina joined us for dinner which was really nice. Down through Glasgow tomorrow, we"re not looking forward to the heavier traffic.
Stats
92 miles
6 hours 29min
14.2 mph average
35.29 mph max
6343 calories burnt
3367 feet climbed.

Day 3 Lairg to Fort Augustus

Despite a text from Jackie my wife saying that the forcast was for gale force winds and 50mm of rain overnight and tomorrow. We decided to camp. Well, although the wind had picked up it was still bright. Needless to say the forecast was right. Fortunately the tents stood up to the battering and the ear plugs helped with the noise. It was a bit grim setting off from the campsite in the rain, but fortun

atelythe strong NE winds were mostly behind us.
It was a bit of a slog untold we stopped for breakfast at Skiach. After two Skiach breakfasts we hit the road again with dry jackets after the lady cafe owner offered to put our jackets through her dryer.
I
Inverness and then followed the road alongside Loch Ness.It was pretty much a wet ride all day, but arrived in good time in Fort Augustus.As we entered the very picturesque town, we spotted signs for a hostel and as it was still raining, we decided it would ne a good move to book in and dry out a bit.
After another haggis and black pudding supper I am writing this blog hoping for better webeather tomorrow.

Stats
83 miles
6.12 hours riding
13.31 Mph average
32.65 mph max
5457calories burnt
2534 feet climbed.

Day 2 Thurso to Lairg

Today was quiet a. challange, we headed West into a strong head wind towards Betty Hill, this was after riding around Thurso for half an hour with the sat nag throwing a wobbly. The wind was so strong at times it nearly ground us to a halt. The rain for the most part stayed off, we had some short showers, but nothing much. We also rode up some long hills today, which made me use my bottom gear lot. Ad

ie was kind enough to wait for me though. The scenery was amazing and it wasn't long before we could see the mountains. We had lunch at a little cafe in Betty Hill, before turning left and heading South, this put the wind slightly behind us and upped the speed. We cycled along Loch Naver, which was stunning and gave us some great photo oppertunities. We saw some Dormouse type things in the middle of the road and lots of buzzards, no sign of a Golden Eagle yet though. We reached Lairg about 4, so not to bad on time although our avarage speed has slowed a lot. The forcast is bad for tomorrow......Doh!!

Stats.

74 miles
5 hours 51 minutes riding
Average speed 12.6mph
Max speed 34.08
4663 calories burnt
3359 feet climbed.
Total miles 102
Camping at Dunroamin Campsite

Day 1 Wick - John O'Groats - Thurso

We flew out of Bristol to Edinburgh at 6:20, ready to meet the 11:00 flight to Wick. The Wick flight was on a Saab 340 twin prop plane which was fantastic. Leaving Edinburgh it was slightly wet, but the sun was shining on us in Wick. We picked our bikes up from The Spot Cycles and they were nearly ready to ride. A few adjustments to the pannier and I was ready to go. Adie had a problem with the pressu

re in his tyres to, but this was quickly solved with a visit to a local tyre garage. We cycled the 16 mile or so to John O'Groats quite quickly and had our picture taken next to the sign. We then headed towards Thurso.the wind was at our back all the way which helped a lot. At about 25 mile. I decided to change my hand position too quickly and with the weight of the panniers, lost control of the bike and wound up lying in a ditch. Tonight we are camping in Thurso campsite right on the cliff in the middle of town. The views are amazing. Fingers are crossed for good weather for tomorrows ride to Lairg.

Stats for today.

37.48 miles
2h 26 minutes
15.4 mph avarage speed
30.27 mph max speed
1249 feet climbed
2466 calories
£10 for camping.

Nearly There Now!

Its just three days to go now, the bikes have been packed and collected, and today I have confirmed with 'The Spot Cycles' in Wick that they have been delivered and will be ready for our arrival on Friday.
We fly from Bristol early Friday morning into Edinbrough then a connecting flight into Wick arriving middayish. Then a few adjustments to the bikes and away we go!
Just pr

aying for a bit of decent weather now.