Day 14

Friday, June 23
Evanton to Bettyhill
124km

Lovely ride today.  We woke up to sunshine for the first time since we arrived in Scotland.  Makes a big difference.  It was cool, but didn't rain for the entire ride.  Amazing.  I had all of my rain gear with me, just in case.

My back was still stiff this morning, but I was able to ride without much discomfort, which was lucky.  Getting on and off the bike was a bit slower than usual, and I was cautious riding out of the saddle at first, but I was soon riding very normally.

Kevin (the tour leader) billed today as "the most interesting day of the trip".  There was a lot of nice scenery and a lot of variety.

We started with a long, steady climb through farmland to a lookout point over Dornoch Firth...a large river in a wide valley.  We folloiwed the river a wile before climbing into a forested area. 

We stopped for tea at the Falls of Shin, a very touristy little cafe by a waterfall (1hich we didn't walk down to see).

After a short break, we rode through the little town of Lairg before leaving civilization behind and riding through moorlands for 30km.  It was lovely: a small road cutting across rolling hills with majestic mountains looming around every corner.

The only thing we past in those 30km was a small pub, where everyone stopped for lunch.  It was a long wait for food, since we filled the place to capacity, but it was tasty.

After lunch, was 30km of wonderful scenery.  With lots of donwhill, we rolled through a wide valley and along a loch.  Roe felt energetic again and pushed the pace to 35km/h for much of the distance, but I managed to stay with her this time.  My back felt good.

Reaching Bettyhill at the end of the ride, we saw the ocean for the first time since Cornwall.  It felt like the beginning of the end of the trip.

The campsite is very basic, with long grass and dirty washrooms.  It does, however, have a lovely view of a small snady beach, with rocky cliffs on both sides and waves crahing violently into the shore.

It got very cold and started to rain once we had set up camp.  I'm now sitting in a nearby B&B where we'll have dinner soon.  We had to pre-order our dinners for the next two nights, since there are few places to eat, and they are typically very small.

Roe's comments:
Hi.  Just back from the bar where I ordered a hot chocolate.  Yum.  The bar is quite dodgy!!.  Lots of drunken sheep farmers.                             

My gears are working better now.  I'm eating way too much.  Looking foward to the last 100km tomorrow as this has been quite a challenging trip.