We started the day's cycling with a small uphill climb (still paralleling the A9) to Slochd Summit before descending from the Cairngorms slowly towards Inverness. On the way, we stopped at some ancient burial grounds (the Clava Cairns), took some photos of cute highland cattle and passed by the Culloden battlefield. We got slightly lost in Inverness as the bike path signs seemed to have disappeared.
Once we got through Inverness, we headed north using the A9 bridge over the Moray Firth. We had lunch (soup and sandwiches) in a tea house with views of Inverness over the firth. From there, we used minor roads for a while before joining the busy A9 over the Black Isle and across the long bridge over the Cromarty Firth. We had great views of the surrounding mountains – including the one we were about to climb up.
Neither of us were particularly looking forward to the +800 foot climb across the lower parts of Easter Ross, but sunny weather and the rich smell of gorse made ascent more pleasant. For the first time in the trip, we decided to break the monotony of the slow ascent by playing travel games (I am going to John O'Groats and I am taking an apple, a Brittany... etc.). The views from the highest point down to the sea were fantastic, but it started raining heavily as soon as we started descending towards Dornoch Firth. The rain then turned to hail as we sped down the hill.
We were glad when we finally reached Bonar Bridge, where we met some fellow LEJOG cyclists in the local café (they actually started on the same day as us). We only stayed at our B&B long enough to shower and wash our cycling clothes before heading to dinner at one of the town's two eating establishments. Considering the lack of competition the food was excellent (Simon enjoyed another local Scottish beer).
We only got to eat as a the result of the kindly act of a fellow cyclist who offered to share his table – all the other tables were reserved. It was fun to share stories about our travels and talking football (he was a big ManU fan, despite being from near Birmingham) as we ate.
Only one and half days left to go before our final destination – can't believe the past two weeks have gone so quickly.
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