Inverness to Tongue

A day of "three halves".

I spent the morning pottering around Inverness. A small, attractive city. I visited the Cathedral (there was a service on, so I didn't go in; but peering through the glass doors, I could see a small Cathedral made of red stone in a simple design with twin, square flat topped towers standing either side of a large ornate entrance. The Cathedral stands close to the river on the opposite side to the Castle). I pottered along Ness Walk and Ness Bank enjoying the sun and admiring the fast flowing, shallow river, then headed into town to post home as much of my luggage as I could reasonably manage (took a gamble and posted the waterproofs, spare gloves and cycling kit etc - let's hope it doesn't rain!).

After an early lunch, I headed for the road. The route took me through Alnes, Bonar Bridge, Craske Inn, Altnarra and on to Tongue.

When I did this ride last year I marvelled at the beauty of it all. There were mountains, endless runs of flowering gauze and heather, lochs, peat bog pools, and it was so quiet that at times all you could hear were the birds and the odd fish catching insects near the water's surface. The forests butting up against the road that were so thickly planted you couldn't see more than a few feet into them before the sunlight was completely lost.

This year, the same single track road (the A836) headed north, but the flowers had all gone over, a good deal of the forest had been grubbed-up leaving dead tree stumps and piles of logs and the wind was so strong I couldn't hear any birds.

What had previously been a glorious ride quickly turned into an instrument of torture as a I ground my way up the long, long hills fighting against the wind towards Tongue, arms, knees and elbows aching. I even had a new saddle sore that was coming on nicely. To be frank, it hurt; it was all I could do to get the ride over with and I was very glad when it was done.

But I have to say that it was worth it - Tongue was breathtaking. The hotel sits on a cliff side overlooking the Kyle of Tongue. Even at 9.30 when I finished my meal the sun was still high in the sky and there was time for a walk across the fields and down to the beach. The beach itself was rocky, and covered in shells, sea grass, rock pools and streams. The sunset was stunning and it brilliantly silhouetted the castle ruins sitting high up on the cliffs on the far side of the water.

It didn't get dark until after 11, and I'm sure it was light again by 3 (not sleeping too well - the light wakes me up early every morning).

Despite the many positive things I've said about the earlier B&B's, this hotel was by far the best of the trip. I would dearly love to stay here again (if only it wasn't so far).

Total miles so far: 964.82
Total calories so far: 42, 195