July 28- Bonar Bridge to Tongue- 79.2 kms
July 28- Bonar Bridge to Tongue- 79.2 kms
The other think about Scotland is that there are Lochs everywhere and being a person that come from a dry country it is a great contrast....all very scenic
The remaining 40kms was over excellent roads with fairly undulating country with the occasional steeper part ( 5%) with equally good downhills which made for fast riding.
We were at Tongue before 1,30pm which was some sort of record for our journey so far.
Arriving early it was good to clean the bike ahead of the final day tomorrow and get my clothes sorted out.
The dinner tonight at the Ben Loyal Hotel is going to be our final dinner together as many from the group will be travelling further in Scotland instead of taking the bus back to Inverness.... so it will be a rather happy but sad dinner....I have been told that Scot ( one of the folk from the US) might be playing the guitar for us tonight.
I have not spoken about today's weather so.....it was cloudy with temps in the mid teens and we had a gentle breeze in our backs all day...made for great riding.
The ride group for me today was the "3 Amigos"of Steve Chris and myself...all good fun!
Photos will have to be posted later as the WIFI at Tongue is slow....
Todays Route....
It is hard to believe that today is the second last day of the ride.....gee time goes fast when you are having this much fun and meeting so many wonderful people with so many great stories to tell of what they have done and will do in the future....
I have described this journey as something like "Canterbury Tales" where there is a journey to a destination but the conversations with those on the journey are almost as interesting as the journey itself.
Today, Steve and I had a 6km ride to catch the rest of the group who were staying at a hotel at Invershin rather than at Bonar Bridge. We made really good time but missed the briefing from Rob.... No real problem as Steve from Tassie gave us the information we needed for the ride and it was only a "one pager" of instructions.
The first stop was at the Falls of Shin which were quite pretty and we were supposed to see the salmon making their way upstream for spawning....I did not see anything but the story seemed a good one!
Amazing when you think of it really that adult Salmon make their way back to their original place of birth to spawn after travelling in the ocean for years...nature has these wonderful mysteries really.
After this it was off to the next stop at the Crask Inn for tea ( about 40kms in to the ride) and scones which had been organized for us all by Bike Adventures....This place is virtually out in the middle of nowhere in the "moor country" but the hospitality of the family who own the pub/B&B was most friendly and the scones were YUM!!!
After "refuelling" it was on the bikes with a lovely ride through the Scottish highlands. I hope the picture I took give you some idea of the remoteness of this part of Scotland where there is basically moor type country with occasional softwood forests which are logged for building timber. The timber industry in the northern part of Scotland is very big and it seems that there are timber jinkers everywhere.The other think about Scotland is that there are Lochs everywhere and being a person that come from a dry country it is a great contrast....all very scenic
The remaining 40kms was over excellent roads with fairly undulating country with the occasional steeper part ( 5%) with equally good downhills which made for fast riding.
We were at Tongue before 1,30pm which was some sort of record for our journey so far.
Arriving early it was good to clean the bike ahead of the final day tomorrow and get my clothes sorted out.
The dinner tonight at the Ben Loyal Hotel is going to be our final dinner together as many from the group will be travelling further in Scotland instead of taking the bus back to Inverness.... so it will be a rather happy but sad dinner....I have been told that Scot ( one of the folk from the US) might be playing the guitar for us tonight.
I have not spoken about today's weather so.....it was cloudy with temps in the mid teens and we had a gentle breeze in our backs all day...made for great riding.
The ride group for me today was the "3 Amigos"of Steve Chris and myself...all good fun!
Photos will have to be posted later as the WIFI at Tongue is slow....
Todays Route....