A long old day. Buckie to Aberdeen is touching on 80 miles.
Spent the entire day on cycle route one. Stopping for lunch in Turriff.
Very much like a colder version of France.
At least for some food. This Lindhome Guest house is a fair jaunt from anywhere.
It’s Dundee which stands to be my hardest day yet, at around 90 miles. …
Learnt a few lessons today.
Today, I had a problem with 4,5, and 6.
Staying in a shared room in a hostel always pisses me off.
You’ve got so many considerations over and above organising yourself and getting your shit together.
You’ve got to consider security, other people’s comings and goings in your room. That puts and additional level of stress on your general organisation, and when you’ve been cycling all day, it’s not the greatest thing.
Still, I thought I’d try it to see how the two mixed.
It was bearable. There are other things to recommend the YHA, but in terms of getting remaining on top of your planning and organisation, it can cause problems.
Sleep
I didn’t get much sleep.
Was good.
It was an as much as you can eat continental buffet.
I had 3 round of toast, 1 with ham, 1 with pastrami, 1 with just cheese.
It was a sheer delight and made the whole visit worthwhile. Plus the staff in AYH are often friendly.
Got going about 10am, purely because I thought it was going to be a much easier day.
Due to googlemaps problems, this turned out not to be the case, it was actually a longer and slightly harder day.
There are a couple of problems with it:-
Firstly, if you leave the maps on visual it EATS your battery.
Secondly, the route planning is often not what you’d plan automatically as a cyclist. For example on my first day, it sent me down some gate blocked farmers access roads. You need to check your route, and familiarise yourself where Googlemaps is sending you.
Even this is not much good, as you have to confirm, each time you start Googlemaps, that it’s going to send you down the same route.
Thirdly, it crashes your phone. Usually, it retaliates for taking it off visual, (you can turn your screen off and let it simple run on audio cues to save your battery), by ceasing all other services, including the hardware function buttons.
It does this when you power down, then switch back to re-check your route.
It’s very annoying, and it led to me turning my Googlemaps off today, which led to me taking a wrong turn, (to Lossiemouth), and adding 8 miles to my journey.
This won’t be happening again.
I cycled along cycle path 1.
This took me away from the main roads, such as the A9, that I had been following previously.
The countryside was pretty impressive. I actually thought I was in France at one point. …
Another 70 mile job. This time the wind wasn’t in my face, and it wasn’t raining.
Stopped for a £3 meal deal in Tesco in Tain, the home of the Glenmorangie brewery, which was closed.
Otherwise, it was a day of straight cycling.
Took some great pictures along the way.
Today, I have to go from Inverness to Elgin, or there-abouts.
Here’s some pictures I took along the way.
Due to a booking falling apart in Lybster, I’ve arrived in Helmsdale one day early which has meant a day of rest.
Helmsdale has a fairly interesting story. It was set up by Thomas Telford and his industrialist compatriots as a fishing fleet base.
More or less the whole village was planned and build, on spec according to the need of the herring industry in the 19th century.
Despite that, it’s a fairly pretty place.
I stop at two places for food La Mirage and Bannockburn Inn. Because of it’s busyness, I assumed the food would be good in Mckkays.
It was bland and boring with big portions.
Bannockburn, I had steak with peppercorn sauce which you had to pay £1.75 for. Then I had a coconut bomb, which was also very nice and an Irish coffee which kept me awake the whole night.
Helmsdale harbour.
Started the morning in Bowen Wigwam.
This was a 07:30 start.
Had to go back for my shades, made it about 08:30.
Reached John O’Groats by 10:00.
Googlemaps took me down some non-existent roads, which is something you have to look out for.
I made it, got a nice cup of coffee and sat by the front.
Made this quick video about the journey ahead. …
Managed to get to my hotel booking.
Here’s a couple of pictures I took along the way.
Adam SmithThe inventor of modern economics has a statue here on the Golden Mile.
He said – “Virtue is more to be feared than vice, because its excesses are not subject to the regulation of conscience.” That make any sense? No? Well never mind, a lot of what he said did.
Stopped in Deacon Brodies Tavern, gave some money to a tramp then moved on down to the station which took me to Inverness.
Didn’t fancy a dorm on my first night. Also didn’t want to pay over the odds.
Staff are friendly. Did a review of it on Google, it’s central. …
Only a very short journey today.
Due to time constraints on travel over the Ribble, I’ve decided not to wait 10 days for the next crossing, and make my way to Scotland tomorrow.
From there I will be Bonnyless.
I’m parked at St. Mary’s Marina with Mark Ball who seems like an affable fellow.
It’s got a few mod-cons like electric, which means I can watch more telly and use the microwave.
The trip is only a very simple one. From Tarleton, you have to negotiate the 3 swing bridges, follow the river. That’s about it.
The marina is directly before the lock, opposite to another, competing marina.
I did get a look in both. I know my locking partner on the way up planned to leave her boat here. Also, it was the first one I visited. I know the other is slightly more upmarket, if that’s what you’re after.
Today has been busy booking accommodation for my first few days in Scotland.
The weather up there is over 15 for the duration of my stay, even rising to around 20.
I’m quite looking forward to it, because I’ve got no idea what to expect.
I know the first few days will be fairly easy.
From now on, I’m going to be using Strava to track my progress and making timelapse video.
From now on, my maps will look like this.
It’s roughly a 500 mile journey back down to the boat.