Lejog day 32 Inverness to Tain
The first challenge of today was negotiating the mile long Kessock Bridge out of Inverness across the Moray Firth to North Kessock. There is a cycleway but it was closed due to maintenance work so we had to cycle on the busy A9 dual carriageway. Fortunately drivers were kind to us and most moved out to the outside lane so we survived the crossing.
Cycleways then took us by the side of the A9 followed by a bit of a lull along quiet lanes before more busy roads into Dingwall. The mighty Ben Wyvis towered above Dingwall and over to the west was a large group of mountains which we think were the Torridon group - Rosie and I climbed most of them about 45 years ago!
Disappointing dumpy Dingwall! We thought it would be a pleasant place to stop for a break but it had a run down tired look about it and the toilets were closed due to vandalism. A huge Tescos with a loo solved that problem and then we did have a short break at a stone picnic table by a play area.
After Dingwall things improved. We were back to cycling along lanes with hardly any traffic. There were great views over Moray Firth and, later, Cromarty Firth.
One cycleway we did follow was like a roller coaster with twists and turns in between the pine trees. Annoyingly it kept crossing from one side of a road to the other but apart from that it was great fun.
This photo shows the closest we got to Ardross Castle (Traitors) - you can't see it and Claudia Winkelman was nowhere to be seen either.
A late lunch again - 2pm ish. We sat on a grass verge with our backs resting on a stone wall. People were very friendly. We were at a junction and occupants of the few cars that came out of the junction gave us a friendly wave. At least I think it was a friendly wave and not a rude gesture! A man walked by and chatted to us. He lived just up the lane and had been on cycling trips himself. When we told him the direction we were heading he was glad about that as the wind was behind us - again! That's three days out of thirty two now!
For several miles we barely had to pedal either because it was slightly downhill or the wind was pushing us along. Unlike yesterday it wasn't blowing a gale but just doing enough to make cycling easy.
Thirty seven miles today and a similar distance tomorrow - two of the longest days on the trip. Hopefully we'll have another tailwind and very little rain, as today.
