The first 25 miles were lovely. The weather started a little damp but soon cleared up and the wind was much lighter. The sun peaked out behind the clouds and we were flying! The scenery was fantastic again and we managed the toughest climb on the whole ride without any major issues apart from exhaustion!
After 50 miles we had some lunch in Dingwall, not a centre for culinary delights, and then continued southward. We met the group of four again. They were a bit down as not only had they started much earlier than us they taken a different route which was longer although much flater and they had further to go than us! It's tough carrying all your stuff and it was a reminder to us that whilst we were having a great day we know it won't always be that way! Just to remind us of that we finished the day, as with the previous day, with an 8 mile climb! It seemed longer than that but the last mile downwards was quite exhilarating although the lorries slowly climbing the hill made me nervous as we swept around the bends at close to 40mph!
We really noticed the difference in traffic levels during the day as we moved away from the sparsely populated Highlands down towards the more populated and popular tourist areas such as Loch Ness which is a mile from our hotel. We need to bare this in mind as we have got used to not worrying too much about traffic. We did have a funny incident today when a little old lady pulled out in front of Steve. She was in the wrong but he banged on her boot and gave her such as shock that should could well be in the Inverness Infirmary! I had a word with Steve!
We arrived at the Polmaily Hotel quite early as it was a relatively short day. This was helpful as we had things to sort out. The trouble is we were initially told the chef had gone out and there was no dinner and the hot water would be sorted out shortly! Not impressed! However the staff were absolutely lovely and the rooms were great but behind the facade things were a little haphazard and a certain TV programme, unfairly, came to mind. Anyway there was loads of hot water, they cooked us a special pasta dinner and have even offered to sponsor us! So no complaints apart from there was no draught ale which will make that section of my blog a big shorter!
At dinner we were joined by Steve's friends Patrick and Jane, which made it for a fun evening.
Now for the facts:
Stats for the day - 73 miles at an average speed of 13.8 mph with c 5,000 feet of climbing although I'm increasingly nervous about these numbers as they don't tie in with what others state when doing the same route. Our numbers are lower for some reason.
Ale and Arse report - not much to say on the ale front and a little more soreness on the other front!
Porridge report - well at the Crask in what do you expect, nothing other than very traditional salty Scottish porridge. Not all members of the team took a liking to it, and I can't say how one member of the team described it's texture, but I was a good boy and ate it all up. I have to say there wasn't anybody saying in a pleading voice "but who ate my porridge"!
Nature Watch - apart from a dead deer not much to say and frankly a dead deer is not that interesting other than to it's relatives! However I just returned to the room to get some facts from today's ride to found a bat had unwisely entered! He could have picked a lot nicer room as ours has some rather unpleasant cycling kit adorning chairs and some half clean cycling kit draped over the radiators! However in he was and I had to get him out! I opened the windows but he wasn't having any of that! Eventually the proprietor had to stun the poor little chap with a towel and take him outside to join his friends. When he wakes up,and hopefully he does!, he can rejoin his friends.
Forecast for tomorrow - we are off down Loch Ness tomorrow ending up on the west coast near Oban, the weather looks OK we might have to deal with a shower but that's fine. Friday is looking more challenging but it's one day at a time for me!
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