............ Lands end to John o'Groats cycle ride 2014 .........: Day 17, Tuesday 16th September 2014

Drumnadrochit - Tain

Lined up ready for the what we were hoping would be an easy ride today, the low cloud covering the tops of the hills made it chilly.

An improved shot of the scenery without the four of us spoiling the view.

We set out and to our disappointment we turned a corner and started climbing a very steep hill, it was so soon we weren't even warmed up and we were climbing a category 3 hill.

A photo of the Garmin after we had completed the hill shows how steep it was but the free ride on the other side was rewarding and quite long.

The previous night we had all been put on edge when we were told the only way to reach our destination we had to cycle on a long section of the A9, all cyclist riding LEJOG or JOGLE become aware of the A9 and the A30 as the most traitorous roads for cyclists, but Andy was confident our planned route only touched the A9 at the end.

15 miles into the ride we were happy to be riding on quiet roads with little or no traffic, as we approached Beauly we were feeling a little more relaxed with the A9 unseen to our right.

At 20 mile we cycled into Conon Bridge where we crossed the River Conon and then crossed the busy A835 linking Inverness to the west coast of Scotland.
From the A835 to the small village of Dingwall there was a huge increase in the number of log lorries.

We were riding through the quiet residential streets of Dingwall, when we saw a huge industrial log mill totally out of place sat between two houses, you can only think it was their before the houses and the village grew around it.
We climbed the hill heading towards Evanton when we came across a stunning view of the Cromarty Firth, as we had ridden 26 miles so we decided it was a good place to stop and have lunch.

view behind us looking over the Cromarty Firth

Panoramic of Cromarty Firth

In the photograph above behind the house is the bridge carrying the A9 over the Cromarty Firth and after lunch we would be heading towards it, with 20 miles left to go maybe we would have to ride along the A9............................

Fed and watered we set off expecting to meet up with the dreaded A9, We managed to ride another 20 miles to Twain before we eventually met up with the A9, on the map cycle route 1 follows the A9 through Twain then along the main road, we tried to follow the cycle route it but it was poorly signed and we gave up.

We only had 2 miles left we looked at the traffic flows for a few minutes and we decided to ride along the A9

About 1/2 a mile from the campsite we passed the Glenmorangie distillery, there is a distinctive smell of oranges in the air, unfortunately we were to late for the tour.

The last 1/2 mile we rode along the coast, it was a great feeling nice warm day, no wind, smooth tarmac wide road and down hill pretty soon we were at the campsite with a view looking over the Dornoch Firth.

It was around 3.30 pm one of our earliest finishes and this provided the opportunity for washing our kit, servicing the bikes and long showers.

The site owner recommended the local pub about 200 yards away for excellent food, we had a budget for the trip for fuel and food, Lynn and H had been thrifty to this point we had only eaten out once on the whole trip so we decided we would go to the pub and give Lynn and H a night off from the cooking.

The landlord was very welcoming and warned us the portion size was not for the faint hearted as we ordered. The starters arrived, a good size but nothing too special, then the landlord reappeared with the main meals asking if we were ready as he placed two large fillets of fish with chips and salad in front of Lynn

The rest of us were not to be disappointed by the portion size either

After clearing the empty plates away he asked if anyone could manage a sweet, we surprised him by placing our order, Lynn ordered chocolate pudding and custard as you can see below she couldn't get enough of the custard.