Highlands

It has been a while since our last entry. As we get ever closer to our finish point we are also getting more remote. Power to charge my phone, and the laptop has been sporadic to find and Wifi all the harder. Will has kitted us out with a gadget to remedy this by turning the laptop into an internet phone, but that too is unreliable up in the wilderness. That means that this update has become a bit of a novel, so get the kettle on.

We left you back at Stirling, where I had just done a long day trying to catch up distance after taking our rest days. Three days later we are past Inverness and back on schedule for a Friday finish. Will kneeds some rest so I continued to ride alone for the first two days. I can say it is a lonely road up in Scotland for a cyclist. I won’t lie to you now and say that my world has fallen apart. For now I still have the level of sanity I set off with. It is nice to have the freedom of riding alone and see Scotland at my own pace. It is all the better knowing that I will see Will at the end of the day. It is also refreshing to ride without so much weight on the bike. When injury stopped us from covering any distance, Will hired a Seat Alhambra (for the price of a Vauxhall Astra). “The Minibus” was big enough to fit a Dawes Galaxy in the back, panniers in the gaps and Will behind the steering wheel (a tall order!). With mother joining the team, we have upgraded to “the Megabus”. On this final stretch our home is a motor home, from Lazee Dayz. This opens up a whole new world of flexibility. Rather than finding and booking B&Bs/hostels we can stop wherever is appropriate, using campsites where we like. The bikes go on the back so we can even hitch a ride. Not to the finish line, but today we had to be taken back to a campsite after riding on too far! It is perfect for the vastly open Highlands.

The scale of the country is disorientating. Larger settlements are roughly fifteen miles apart, familiar from riding in England. However, what was once a city is now a town. What was once a town is now a village. What was once a village is now a house. The places are smaller, like a little England. In contrast, the landscape is new. The hills are huge and gradual, like a big England. Just as you conquer one set of hills you can see the next, just as huge. I don’t know how to combine these two into a description. What I do know is that they would not like the name Little Big England. National identity seems to be a big thing above the border. Since crossing, road signs pointing to landmarks and amenities all have a blue thistle on them. Even signs pointing towards cities seem to have something similar. I have not seen or heard the word British since crossing the border. Neither English for that matter. Notably, the money I took out from the Royal Bank of Scotland is Scottish. I hope I got a good exchange rate.

On Sunday I climbed out of Stirling to the Bridge of Allan on the hottest day ever, probably. After riding through Dunblane and approaching Muthill, the sun had become too much for this cyclist. An extended lunch was in order. I met Will at a bench with a view and basked in the unusual Scottish weather, deciding upon acceptable attire was and trying to make my Cornwall tan lines more gradual. From there, I continued into the hill town of Crieff. From the visitor centre down in the valley you could see the centre of town, hundreds of feet above. Upon cycling through, the road became isolated, with few signs of civilisation and pub lunches until Aberfeldy. With the next section looking wilder and darkness on its way, I waited for the Megabus to arrive.

Monday started early as we had to take the Megabus to return the Minibus to Stirling. My housemates will testify that I am not known for my early starts, I stayed with the family as they made the transaction. By the time we had made it back up north it was afternoon. I spent the day following the A9, rarely using it but rather the B roads and cycle routes around it. By keeping a good pace we ended up in Dalwhinnie, where there are a lot of signs but not a lot going on. Today (Tuesday) Will got back on his bike and back into the action. We covered some good distance following cycle routes around the A9, continuing to undulate slowly through the mountains, ending in a long, steep descent into Inverness and back onto schedule.

Fingers crossed we can do our last couple of days without significant problems, and find enough signal to keep you updated.

Nearly there,

Dan