Into Sutherland

18th and 19th  June

53 miles

Climbing 729m

Cumulative 1032 miles

It wasn’t raining on Sat morning! Not only that, by lunch time the sun was out and in the afternoon our arms and legs came out for the first time in several days. Gayle usually has a minimalist approach to dressing for wet weather, shorts and sandals on the principle that it keeps her clothes dry however, the cold wind and wet of the past few days have called for leggings, gloves, waterproof hats, the lot. The only problem is that as the weather is nicer for us , it is also warmer for the midges and they have been in evidence all day, strong incentive to keep pedalling.

Ian made us porridge for breakfast and it would have been easy to sit and chat all morning but we mounted the steeds and got on our way. It has been really nice being able to catch up with  Dianne and meet Ian and they made us so welcome in their lovely home and garden

Ian and Dianne in the parsonage garden

We set off along the Cromarty Firth, amazed to see patches of snow still in the top corries of some of the hills. In the other direction, oil rigs which had been floated into the firth for maintenance.

Snow patches in the high corries above the gentle East Coast fields

Bee in foxglove

This guy made a very menacing growl at us. We were glad not to be on his side of the fence

Coffee at Evanton in a friendly cafe and over the peninsula on quiet lanes to the small town of Tain which has elegant buildings and a lovely community garden where we sat and soaked up the sun over lunch.

Tain community garden

The possible routes for people doing the End to End are coming together and there have been several parties today: two Australian girls in Dingwall, four very efficient machines powered past us at high speed in Evanton, and we chatted also to Kate, an intrepid lady from near Bakewell who has been walking North from Lands End since the 4th of April.

Then down to the bridge over the Dornoch Firth and the A9 over the next peninsula to loch Fleet.

Looking over the Dornoch Firth

Heron on the mud flats above the bridge on the Dornoch Firth

Bridge over the Dornoch Firth

The A9 is quieter here but we were glad to get off it and cycle up the Fleet valley to Rogart where we are staying with Hugh and Pat.

Loch Fleet

We got to know Hugh 27 years ago cross country skiing together in Norway and he invited us to visit then…. He has been really inspirational to us because of all the adventurous and creative things he has done since then. It is lovely to visit and to sit and renew acquaintance in their beautiful home, sitting in the sunlounge looking into Pat’s exquisite garden

Rogart valley

Sunday morning was bright and nice. Hugh and Pat gave us a lovely breakfast and we sat and chatted and enjoyed seeing around the lovely garden which they have created over the years from nothing.

Hugh and Pat

We set off up the beautiful quiet valley towards Lairg but Martin became overcome by another migraine….  We sat and gave it time to settle but he clearly wasn’t going to be well enough to carry on further today so we are ensconced in Lairg and he is feeling better after a good sleep. We have had no Internet access until tonight and hence have been a bit incommunicado,  this may still be an issue tomorrow I guess but we will just do our best

The broom is just riotous

Valley up to Lairg

We are planning to go North to the coast at Tongue tomorrow… we are looking forward to the day as the scenery will be lovely and it will be good to be on the coast.

People continue to be very generous to both MSF and Ashgate Hospice and this is a great motivator for us.