974 Miles / 1568 km
Today marks 3 weeks on the road!!
This morning I lazied around at the hostel knowing that my ride was only going to take 3-4 hours. I checked out at 10, and headed to Culloden Moor (For those who are fans of the TV show outlander your’ll know what I’m talking about) It was a 16 mile detour from my ride this afternoon, but it was a sunny morning and I didn’t want to leave Inverness in a rush. Culloden was interesting to go visit, the battlefields, museums, and Cairns… lots of Cairns.
The Battle of Culloden was the final confrontation of the Jacobite rising in 1745. Where a Hanoverian victory took place against the Jacobites (the forces behind Charles Stuart). An end of an Era for Scotland.
After Culloden I took a quick cycle through city and up to the Inverness Castle before heading back to the hostel to load up my bike and head North. I didn’t leave the Hostel till 2pm which I knew was a little later than I was planning. I knew I was going to be cutting it fine with getting to Tain before dark, so I pushed pretty hard for the first half of the ride.
The ride was actually okay today, there were a few hills but they were manageable and my body was cooperating a little better today. Crossing over north Kessock Bridge was a bit of the nightmare as the side winds suddenly picked up, and again on the Cromarty Bridge. But most of the ride today was along the water.
The worst part of today was the A9, the hills were fine, the road was relatively smooth… but there was no hard shoulder, none what so ever. So I was effectively biking on the main part of the road of dual carriageway for about 15 miles. Terrifying. And drivers were clearly not impressed, or did they want to give much room when they passed. Arseholes. About 20% of them. Arseholes. haha.
After the Cromarty bridge I took a detour off the A9 and down closer to the water. I wanted to take photos of the ‘Oil Rig Graveyard’ abandoned oil rigs in the water. I jumped back on the A9, and straight over it to take country roads for the last 8 miles into Tain, No traffic, smooth roads, it was all good… But my legs weren’t having any of it. A lot of that last 8 miles I walked, even on the flat parts. My legs had hit their wall for the day, and my body was giving me all sorts of pains. I was ready to be in Tain!
I arrived in Tain at 6pm, perfect timing as the sun is going down. I head out to get some dinner before coming back and taking a BATH! This was fantastic, until I got out and realised I might have just made myself more dehydrated. It had zapped the last bit of energy from me. Happy to have a comfy bed for the night, an airbnb, which meant no dorm, no hostel, no one waking me up in the middle of the night or in the early morning…
less than 100 miles to go…
