Just rolling

After leaving Inverness this morning, we followed the A9 cycle way north (I think it’s NCN route 1). We were soon off the main road for the day, and headed over the Cromarty Firth into Evanton for a simple bacon butty-and-cake lunch at the Cornerstone cafe (another Christian Cornerstone cafe—we found one in Melksham on our west country ride last year).

After lunch, Sophie demonstrated that she had been keeping her powder dry for the later stages, setting a blistering pace on the front up some huge hills, and more than once eliciting calls for mercy from behind. Indeed, for the time Sophie was on the front, our average speed was over 12mph, which is phenomenal for a section with so much climbing.

Towards the end of the day, we passed through Ardgay and Bonar Bridge (cue Ed offending the locals).

We are now comfortably ensconced in our supposedly haunted castle/youth hostel. No ghost sightings yet, but the food is awful and the showers tepid. Rather reminiscent of boarding school, really.