Day 13: Oncih to Dingwall (98 miles)

That’s still how I feel the next day, as we mount up after a couple of day’s rest. The ride today will almost exclusively follow the Glens next to the Lochs, surrounded by the hills and mountains around us.

We cycle alongside Loch Linhe, which we’ve stayed next to for the last couple of days, and into Fort William, before crossing over to the B road to cycle next to the Caledonian Canal. After this, we follow the A road alongside Loch Lochy, until Fort Augustus, where we stop for lunch with the tourists at the foot of Loch Ness.

The route after lunch takes us to the other side of Loch Ness, away from the A road, and up into the hills overlooking the Loch. We climb steadily up to a small loch, Loch Tarff, before cycling along the ridge, and then dropping back down to the side of Loch Ness. The road is now narrow with passing places, until it widens to two lanes again and we reach Inverness.

From Inverness we skirt the Beauly Firth towards Beauly, before turning right towards Muir of Ord, and then Dingwall. By now we’re pretty tired, and it has become clear that my estimate of 85 miles for the day is out. Luckily our B&B is easy to find, and we pull up outside, just short of 100 miles today.

Our hostess is clearly going to look after us, directing Al to the bath and me to the tea. It’s been a day of ‘autopilot’ cycling, helped, no doubt, by the couple of rest days we’ve had.

We’ve now cycled 725 miles.