daily diary: day 10
Invergarry to Helmsdale

the plan:

Not far now… but the penultimate day is our longest ride of the trip. The beautiful Highland scenery will hopefully inspire us, and after 9 days in the saddle, we won't even notice the climbs! We follow the Caledonian Canal to Fort Augustus and the foot of Loch Ness. After several miles, we leave Loch Ness and head north, uphill, to Beauly and then on to Conan Bridge and alongside the Comarty Firth. From Cromarty we cross over to Balnapaling, and carry on winding our way north, crossing over the Dornoch Firth. Unfortunately funds don't stretch to staying at Skibo Castle for the night, so we'll just have to wave as we cycle past, along the A9 coast road until we reach Helmsdale 28 miles further on.

the reality:

A bit of a subdued start to the day - but that could have been due to the earlier start as much as trepidation of the huge number of miles we had to cycle today. We were lucky with the weather, so the cycle along Loch Ness in the (relatively) early morning was fabulous - although Nessie didn't seem to be in residence. After our morning stop, we then turned off towards Beauly and then all survived the biggest hill of the trip so far. Had a great stretch before we got to the Nigg Ferry at Cromarty, cycling along minor coach-free roads for the first time for a few days, all together as one team. Bit of drama at the ferry when the minibus couldn't fit on it, and had to reverse back up the ramp and on a 40 mile detour. Had a long afternoon stint of 46 miles, but Harriet's immense (dubious) singing talent kept everyone cycling very quickly.

Distance travelled: 110 miles (cumulative 905 miles)
Total time taken Day 8: 11 hours 21 minutes
Cumulative time: 95 hours 10 minutes
Ride time: 7 hours 30 minutes
Average Speed: 14.6 mph
Maximum Speed: 41 mph
Day Leader: Paul
Deputy: Jim

Amusing moment of the day: Watching Tom with bike being spun round on the 'revolving dancefloor' of the ferry (which is there to rotate large loads)

Quote of the day: Siobhan - "My wheel's buckled, I can't cycle on this for 100 miles" Sympathetic Sarah's response: "Deal with it".

Inspiration of the day: meeting Carol, who was running from Land's End to John O'Groats. She set off on 26 April, has so far run over 1000 miles and will get to John O'Groats in 10 days time - a really amazing person. Check her out at www.endtoendrunner.blogspot.com

Lucy of the day: Lucy asked the doctor "Is my ankle sore because I've started eating meat again?"

Thank you:
- to Lisa for tea, cakes and support during the long afternoon stint, not to mention the 14 back and neck massages she gave the team once we were back at our hostel

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