Edinburgh to Inverness

Some great riding over the last few days including some with other people! In a landscape very reminiscent of southern New Zealand, I felt quite at home!

The day I went to leave Edinburgh it was pouring with rain. Whilst packing up and chatting to my host I got completely saturated!
I managed to get a photo of the row of houses I was staying in before the rain really set in, very nice.

Before leaving town I had breakfast with a friend from my old University Tramping Club, Rich, who’s studying in Edinburgh. It was good to catch up, and get another kiwi’s perspective on the city. He tipped me off on the Scottish Bothy system (like NZ’s backcountry huts) that I’m hoping to use at some stage.

Riding out of town in the rain, I crossed the Forth at Queensferry, not that you could see a lot!

It cleared up a bit later in the day, and there were only a few showers later on. At the campground I stayed at in Callander I met a Swiss cyclist who’s been riding around Europe for almost as long as me. It was interesting to compare notes!

Some really nice riding the next day, through some nice bush:

And past some really nice lakes:

The elevation profile for the day was quite strange- a lot of nice flat stuff, then some really steep sections with swtichbacks to get you up to another level section. Even a brochure I had about the section described one of the climbs as “alarmingly steep”!

Some more nice riding along Loch Tay got me to Kenmore.

One of the best things about this trip is stumbling across things you weren’t expecting! I had another example of this when I reached the sign for the village of Dull! I’d heard about this village back in June on one of my podcasts, as it was announced that they had paired with the US town of Boring. Get it? Dull and Boring? Hehe.

In Pitlochry I caught up with my friend Hilary (who’s appeared in this blog a couple of times now!) and her workmate Claire who are riding from Glasgow to Inverness over a week. They’re taking a different approach to me- stopping every couple of days and doing dayrides and walks from there.
It was good riding with people again, and it was a very scenic place to be doing it! We got out into some great open country. I’ll let the photos talk for me.

We passed the Dalwhinnie Whisky Distillery, stopped to have our lunch on the lawn, and I did a tasting. The cask strength stuff knocked my socks off, even though it was a pretty small amount!

The girls had planned ahead and booked at a hostel in Newtonmore which was full. Luckily the hostel owners were keen cyclists and let me camp on the lawn and use the hostel facilities for £5, which is cheaper than any campground I’ve stayed at in the UK! It’s the best of both worlds for me- the social aspect of the hostel but the privacy of a tent. It reminds me of a great backpackers in Motueka, NZ which does the same thing, the White Elephant Backpackers– I really recommend it.

Hilary and Claire were staying here for two nights, but I needed to push on so I can head out west after Inverness. It was a single days ride to get there, and most of the riding was on nice cycle routes.
I rode past a train.

And the remains of the 300 year old Rutlin Barracks.

A lot of the ride was on quiet roads, and some offroad gravel cycle paths.

Then it was up and over a bit of a pass before heading down to the coast and Inverness.

Just outside of town are the Clava Cairns, bronze age burial mounds.

I’m staying with a great couple here in Inverness via Warmshowers, Heidi (Swedish) and Chris (from Dunedin). They’re heading off in a couple of weeks to ride from Paris to Istanbul, and you’ll be able to follow their trip here. It’s been a really good stay, and we’ve talked about a good range of topics. It’s been especially good getting some ideas for where I go to get to Fort William for my train. I guess you’ll have to read the next post to find out where I go! :-D

I also got a haircut! Here’s three photos showing me before the trip, this morning before the haircut and after the haircut!

View Larger Map