Sunday 21 September: day fifteen – Inverness to Altnaharra

74 miles. 7:13 hours of cycling. Average speed 10.3mph 

We were tired after the tough day on Saturday but riding felt good and we crossed the amazing Kessock Bridge out of town. We hit minor roads quite quickly and rode to Dingwall hoping to get some coffee – but it was Sunday in Scotland and everything was shut. 

We carried on cycling and found the lovely Balconie Inn in Evanton which served coffee and biscuits and afterwards we bought some lunch in the local shop. We rode on as far as the famous Bonar Bridge viewing point, where we stopped to eat our lunch, but it was overcast and we couldn’t see much of what is supposed to be a spectacular vista. 

Linda contacted us and suggested we meet at the Shinn Falls visitor centre for coffee but when we got there she was waiting with the news that it had burnt to the ground the previous year.  

We rode on to Lairg where we had coffee and shortbread in the Lairg Highland Hotel after which we started the long but very gentle climb up to the  famous Crask Inn, which turned out to be much smaller than I had imagined and rather un-imposing. This is the traditional place to stay for end-to-emnders on their last night before reching John o'Groats, but it was fully booked by another hunting party so we have an extra few mile to go to get the the next place - Altnaharra.

The landscape was strange – it had clearly been a conifer plantation but all the trees were felled leaving stumps and sliver wooden debris in rows. 

Once we had got to the top of the rise above the Crask Inn we had a lovely, swooping descent to Altnaharra. Their Lejog (Lands End to John o'Groats) cabin is lovely – we had it all to ourselves and a room each for the first time on the trip. Pete was still limping a bit and we were both tired, but I was feeling fantastic – especially having got the right side of a couple of pints of Tennants 80s and a fish supper.