Day 26, to Bettyhill

Breakfast this morning was the winner, it was sensational! I enjoyed porridge, with heaps of fresh blackberries, strawberries and blueberries. Haggis was also on the menu as well as lashings of bacon, egg, mushrooms and tomatoes. In fact, the works.

We hung around for ages talking to the friendly landlords, Mandy and Lindsay, and two Australian motorcyclists who were on a long vacation in the old country. We exchanged our different perspectives on travel by pedal bike and motor bike.

I then set off to ride across spectacularly beautiful countryside, hoping not to get caught by bad weather. I just wanted to enjoy the scenery and get up the steep hills.

One strange sight on the road was an immensely long lorry trailer – it looked as though a goods train had escaped from the railway. It was escorted at each end, and it turned out to be a giant wind turbine blade.

Alone on the moorland road I rode for a long time without seeing anybody, and then along would come a huge lorry with a convoy of cars behind, waiting for a passing place to overtake.

I met up with Paul for a coffee at Tongue and then continued my ride on to Bettyhill. The route now became savagely hilly. I frequently came across ascents that necessitated the use of my lowest gears – does Betty mean steep in Scottish?

At one point I saw a bull with his hareem of cows and six small calves. It was a challenge to get by as I felt that the animals might be aggressive as they were protecting their young. They were quite reluctant to let me past.

As I approached Bettyhill I saw beautiful sandy beaches, I had not realised how close I am to the sea.

Stats

These stats are utterly fictitious since I only planned to cycle as far as Tongue!

17.7 miles (883.11 miles total), 775ft ascent, 975ft descent