bonar bridge

We had an early start to the day, breakfast was porridge and toast before getting on the bikes and heading back onto the A82 towards Loch Ness. No sign of nessie, but we had a good steady run around the Loch, stopping for pictures on a georgous, clear sunny day. The water was completely still and visibility was excellent.

We got back on the bikes and chased down the rest of the guys along the loch to the first water stop. We loaded up with tracker bars and energy gels before we headed out toward Beauly, where apparently there was a hill that was the toughest since Dartmoor, and tough it was! The climb wasn't to bad, but it did carry on a fair way. I certainly had to get out of the seat to keep the pedals cranking over! Devon Knight joined me for the run to the top where we all rested before cracking on.

The scenery was amazing, and the run toward lunch was quite nice and undulating, with a last climb from Dingwall to the top of a hill overlooking another loch. The scenery was amazing-great views over the valley, and several low flying tornado fighter/bombers putting on an (unwitting) display for us! It was really quite warm, and we got the usual soup, pasta and sandwiches down us to fuel up for the next drag to the 2nd water stop. Everyone was making excellent progress in the good weather and we cracked on over a pass with undulating roads to the water stop. The scenery was amazing-cracking views towards bonar bridge, and a lovely downhill stretch towards Ardgay, where we stopped at the cafe on the corner and had coffee. The hostel we were staying in was only 5 miles away, so we put a steady pace in to get there shortly before 4pm.

The castle is more like a stately home, but even so there is some pretty fantastic artwork here, both oil paintings and marble sculptures. A quick walk to the local pub over the road, and some tins of irn bru to lift the spirits before supper and an early-ish night. We'd covered close to 80 miles, and now it feels like John O'Groats is really in our sites!