Any day's cycling which starts with a coffee stop after only 7 miles is going to be a long one. We forgot to make tea at breakfast in our rush to make an early start. We stopped at the Lairg Community Cafe after only 30minutes cycling. We had coffee, bacon sandwiches and cake and asked the heplful staff if they could make us a packed lunch. Then we set out into the wilderness of what must be the only single track A road in Britain, for the 30 mile stretch between Liarg and Bettyhill.
Ten miles out of Lairg Dad fulfilled a lifelong ambition when he spotted a Golden Eagle and we both came over all Bill Oddie. I only had the iphone handy and the picture posted on the blog doesn't do it justice. But, Pete knows his birds and we had a superb view for two minutes and it was one of the magical moments of the trip. When we reached The Crask Inn the owners confirmed there were Golden Eagles nesting in the nearby crag.
The Crask Inn must be one the most remote pubs in Britain and is a must for all visitors to the far North West of Scotland. It is run by a sheep farmer and his part-time teacher wife. When dad reminded them he had visited 10 years before, the land lady brought out free cake to celebrate the anniversary. The Crask Inn attracts an eclectic mix of passers by and tourists, as we were leaving a family of 8 from San Francisco all dressed in Tweed had called in for the authentic Scottish experience.
The ride north of the Crask Inn alondside Loch Naver and later the River Naver is a stunning piece of road for cycling. If there is any part of Britain that can be described as a wilderness then this must be it. We made good progress for this section of the ride, motivated to ride faster than the midges could fly and got our first view of the North Coast of Scotland at Bettyhill. The beach was empty, with golden sand which I imagine would make an excellent spot for surfing. We had a late lunch in the hotel overlooking the beach and the only visitors we saw on the beach were a group of six north atlantic seals.
After ideal cycling for our first 50 miles we were left with 34miles on undulating coast road into a headwind. We battled the headwind and hills to Thurso where we are staying at Sandra's Backpacking B&B above Sandra's chippy. Sandra turned out to be hairy Scottish bloke and must be Thurso's local equivalent of Alan Sugar.
Only 20miles to John O'Groats tomorrow, then a short 16 mile ride to Wick station, where we catch the 4 hour train to Inverness and then the sleeper train to Crewe. Can't wait to get home to see Jill now.
I'm just about to shut my eyes, hoping Sandra's B&B has an upto date fire certificate.
Stats
3566 feet climbed
84miles cycled
Sent from my iPhone
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