After a good breakfast of cereal we set off at 8 and within 2 minutes the problems began with Ben beckoning me back holding his chain in one hand! He had been hearing noises from his chain for a few days and it had finally gone. So after assessing the damage I made the use of another piece of well traveled equipment and we got to work with the chain breaker tool! After replacing the broken links and attaching the chain we then realised we'd attached it wrong and had to re break and reattach correctly.
We set off Loch Ness again just after 9 and had a steady first 20 miles along the loch until we turned west to avoid Inverness and head for the quieter roads. We were soon faced with a 15 degree slope for 1 mile sign, the first this steep since we left devon many miles ago. Half way up the climb Ben's chain came off again and after deciding the roads was to steep to work on we walked the remainder of the climb until we reached the top and fixed the chain once more.
Shortly after on the descent my rear light came out of its holdings to be swiftly destroyed by the following car and all the while we were still enjoying the cycle and stunning views. Just before lunch we were able to find a manned station and book out train tickets from John O'Groats to Edinburgh, whilst we were unable to book our bikes on the day we wanted we have an early train on the 17th leaving us an afternoon and evening to enjoy Edinburgh!
After a quick lunch in Tesco we again hit the road and enjoyed steady progress in the early afternoon with some of the best scenery of the entire trip!! With about 8 miles to go our problems continued again with first me getting a puncture and then after a heavy rain shower Ben also had a puncture! Two more puncture stops on the descent for Ben and another flash shower had us soaking wet but a stunning view over the Loch into Bonar made us still enjoy the afternoon. The viewpoint layby had 4 coaches of Americans who found us fascinating taking pictures and discussing the trip.
Despite all the problems we still arrived in Bonar Bridge around 4 and were welcomed to our B&B with cups of tea and a lovely chat with the hosts. Really really nice B&B some of the best accomodation and looking forward to a good nights sleep with a small lie in tomorrow and hopefully easier day ahead! Nice meal in the local pub and heading to bed happy with Match of the day and the news reaching us that England are the number one test side in the world!!
Also nearly forgot new top speed reached today!! Night all!
Time on bike: 4 hours 57 mins
Distance covered: 69.64 miles
Average speed: 14.0 mph
Max speed: 39.8 mph
Total distance: 878 miles
seriously impressive both of you! xxxx
ReplyDeletehow can u travel to Bonar Bridge and not expect someone to leave a comment about such a terrific place name. keep up the good work bitsens!
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