I awoke on the penultimate morning very worried that I wouldn’t be able to move. Fortunately I didn’t feel too bad (good old red wine) and my hands certainly felt a little better.
Getting my now holey cycling kit on proved quite slow and painful but after hobbling downstairs, I said my goodbyes and slowly headed out over the Kessock bridge, following the cycle track. Although this was slower, today was my shortest day so wasn’t in a rush and I wasn’t quite ready to mix it up with the traffic until my body had loosened up a bit.
Strangely, I found today one of the best. This was down to a combination of factors including flat and beautiful terrain and also not having the pressure of completing another century ride, only 58 miles today.
The wind was also in my favour for most of the day and I crossed over the Cromarty Firth and the beautiful Dornoch Firth where I stopped briefly for a drink and flapjack. From here, I followed the coast up past Loch Fleet, Golspie and Dunrobin Castle. From there it was only a few miles to my destination at Inverbrora.
I found a note on the door of the B&B telling me to go to the sheepshed if there was no answer. This I did and I was welcomed by a very English farmer who showed me round the B&B. My first priority was to test out the 6ft bath that I think proved to be the best bath I have ever had. I lay there and soothed my knee, feeling relieved that I only had 1 single day of cycling to go!
Later on, I made the 10 minute walk into Brora for another good meal, this time chicken stuffed with haggis! The evening was wonderfully calm and peaceful as we walked home and I fell asleep listening to the cows and sheep in the surrounding fields.
58.4 miles, 3 hours 38 minutes, average 16.03 mph, 3431ft of ascent
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