Dreich to Dingwall

17 June
52 miles
809 metres climbing
Cumulative 979 miles

Last night we spent at the Scottish YHA hostel in Aviemore- a modern large hostel full of people doing outdoor things in the Cairngorms (or looking at the low cloud and wishing they could do things), the drying room suggested plenty of people were out whatever the weather.

We set off in good time and again were going to be following the line of the main A9 trunk road- up here there are not really many alternatives due to the mountains in the way. In fact the start was brilliant- a custom made cycle track through the forestry quite a long way from the main road , quiet and fast through heather and bilberry heathland.

Heather heathland

Should have had lovely views of the Cairngorms but the cloud was firmly down. We weaved our way through the golf course and then on to Carrbridge on a smaller road parallel to the A9- all very picturesque if only we could see the hills- mainly they were smothered in cloud. In Carrbridge we admired the ancient packhorse bridge, used until 1829 when it was damaged in a ‘muckle spate’ it looks quite precarious to cross now and we were happy to look at it from a distance.

Carrbridge packhorse bridge

Climbing through the mist

We spent most of the day cycling in dreich- for those that don’t know this great Scots word refers the sort of fine drizzle that you can’t see but gets you just as wet as if it was properly pouring. Whilst we do have it in Derbyshire it is an essential ingredient of any holiday in the Scottish hills.We pedalled patiently uphill to reach the rather bleak summit of Slochd where the road and railway cross a rather damp pass.

Going down the other side was cold but quick and we promised ourselves a coffee at the advertised “ country store “ at Tomatin- sounded hopeful. In fact Tomatin has a handful of houses and the country store is a tiny village shop- but it did have a coffee machine although nowhere to sit. we sat outside on a bench drinking hot chocolate and eating our sandwich in the dreich – it was good to get moving again.

Lunch outside Tomatin village store .
The Aero hot chocolate out of the machine really hit the spot

Scotland is still lovely though even in the wet, the soft colours, the mosses and pines and then occasionally a glimpse of the hills

Climbing through the forest

A quiet lochan

A Scots pine coming into flower

The moss was very happy, swollen with moisture

We liked this fellow

A couple more hills and we were in Inverness.

View over Inverness

We succumbed to the delight of coffee in KFC as the only place nearby and then had to navigate through an industrial estate to get to the bridge over the Beauly Firth and onto the Black Isle.

Sutherland hills from the Black Isle

Sutherland hills

We made it to Dingwall with tired legs but received a really warm welcome from Ian and Dianne who have revived us with tea and supper, a tour of their beautiful garden and good conversation. Dianne used to work with Gayle quite a few years ago and they moved to Scotland where they have completed the Munros- a mammoth task.