www.justgiving.com/TheHopsons
The boys told me off today for not giving you the mileage so far - so, first day mileage was 80 miles.
We had a good (and very early) night in Dornoch and the morning dawned fair and wind free, thank goodness. The boys were on the road for 8.30 and, apparently, there were some very sore areas. G's advice was to lower yourself on to the seat very gently and then lift off again and then lower again and repeat until your bum is completely numb and then sit there and pray that it remains numb for the rest of the day. Apparently fingers also get numb which can be a bit of a bugger when you have to brake suddenly!
They started by crossing the Dornoch Firth:
and then started heading west towards Loch Ness. A beautiful road but quite hilly, apparently. T's comment of the day: "why don't these road builders, build tunnels"!
We met for lunch in Dingwall in a large supermarket car park - yeah, I know, we're a classy bunch. But, to be honest, in a large campervan with only a sat nav for company (brilliant, Adrian and Mads - thanks, it's been a life-saver!) a supermarket car park is the easiest place to park and it also means I can nip in for supplies which seem to be disappearing at an alarming rate - T is seriously concerned he might actually put on weight on this trip!
From Dingwall it was over the top to Drumnadrochit:
and then the first views of Loch Ness itself:
We looked out for Nessie everywhere but, no joy, until ........ hang on a second .........what's this?
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Nessie has decided to join us for the journey so look out for her in more locations!
On the knitting front:
By my reckoning I'm pretty much on target but not ahead of target so there's no respite.
We camped at Fort Augustus in possibly the most expensive camp site in the world (£35 for one night) and got eaten by midges. Fortunately Clare and John had given us their wonder cream (made by Avon - the only one that works) and it did work so we had a good night. The only good thing about the most expensive camp site in the world was the showers were fantastic (which, as all campers will tell you, is the most important rule of thumb). And, yes, we do have a shower in the van but it's far, far easier to use the ones on sight and at £35 per night T was sorely tempted to have 2 showers but lost the will this morning.
I bought one more souvenir of Loch Ness:
T is very concerned that I won't let him eat it but will keep it as a souvenir!
Another early night after a painful incident for G which involved Deep Heat in a sensitive area - a "joke" played by his father but after 74 miles in the saddle I'm not sure it was too well received! Time and place, FB, time and place.
Tomorrow there's a lovely start down the Caledonian Canal to Fort William and then there's the small matter of climbing up Glen Coe and Rannoch Moor.
Total mileage so far: 154.
Mwahahaha @ Nessie!
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear the boys are a bit sore. In Flanders we used to joke that the cyclists put a steak on the saddle/in their pants to pad them out a bit. Maybe that was Eddy Merckx's secret?