Day 15 - 31st July 2002

Tracy and friends

The day dawned dull again but dry and we were in no hurry to leave on what would be our shortest day. We would also have a choice to make later whether to go via Tain on the coast, or vote for more climbing over the hills to save 15 miles. The most interesting news was about the damage and widepread flooding caused by the previous days rain, in addition to the landslide at Slochd there was a lot of problems in Glasgow, including the closure of our theoretical arrival point, Queen Street station. Maybe we were lucky just to have endured the weather we'd met in the last 3 days! Interestingly the last time Tracy, Tim, Mickey and Mark had biked together (1997 in Central Europe) the area had suffered severe flooding. We will warn the authorities next time we get together.

Tim found a hosepipe to clean bikes while Mark worked on maintenance and lubrication, then Tim went out to buy food and find out whether we had cleared funds in the bank yet. We didn't so we changed some $ and meandered out of town. Once again we had a climb to start to get on a quiet road looking down on the Cromarty Firth but the route was then easy enough despite some ups and downs.

Once we dropped back near the coast, and got a view of oil rigs in the mist, we all decided that we were up to the climb and made for the hills. Tim would rush ahead today to allow time to arrange transport home while Mark hung back as sweeper, and he and Mike were soon busy fixing another spoke. Although the road was dull and murky over the hill there were some misty views to be had of Dornoch Firth on the descent and a beautiful ride along the water. Finding Carbisdale Castle was fairly easy with good signage and the group arrived at this most impressive Youth Hostels in ones and twos as the afternoon went on.

With everyone installed and showered, and transport home secured we headed across the railway bridge via the excellent footbridge attached in 2000. With the railway closed at Slochd and unable to take bikes on the replacement buses our return journey had to be by road: Mark and Tim would bike to Wick tomorrow, leave the bikes, train to Inverness, rent a car one way, drive to Glasgow and pick up a van. Then ride back north to meet at John O'Groats. Phew! The hotel was pretty basic (run by one woman, it's up for sale and might make a good investment for someone - not much else by way of nightlife for those at the Youth Hostel!) but fed and watered us successfully before we retired to our room in the castle.

The adults relaxed for the evening while Mike and Manda actually had some freedom for once and played pool till late. Discovering it's got strange rules in the UK! We will be splitting into 2 groups so we divide tools (Mike gets most for the inevitable spoke repair) and lighten the load still further by renting a locker and filling it with more junk.