Taking the smooth and the rough

June 10, 2026

The day started with another go on one of the chairs in the kitchen. The sun was out. The wind was belting along in the right direction! What's more, the overall slope for the first 15 miles, was down.

It was beautiful cycling. Amazing scenery and I came across my first shop for a while. I dived in, full of anticipation for all the goodies I could buy, then just stood there transfixed. I had no idea what to buy.

In the end I bought a pack of four scones (no butter or anything) and a hot sausage roll. I took them outside, found somewhere to sit and tucked in to the sausages roll. Despite my hunger, it was so disgusting that I could only eat half of it. It reminded me of an incident at school when I was twelve. Sausage rolls were on the menu for lunch. They tasted similar to the one I had just had. But being a boy, I wanted seconds. I went to the counter to ask and they refused to serve me. They said that they were so disgusting that no one should be eating them. And there we were, headmaster and all, tucking into them.

After more delightful cycling, I arrived at Tain. I stopped on the main drag and asked a women standing on the pavement if there was a coffee shop nearby. She looked crestfallen and said it was closed. Then added, but there's a nice one there. And pointed about 50 yds down the street. And it was a nice one too. I went up and ordered a second coffee. The waiter looked a little surprised so I explained that I hadn't seen a coffee shop for a while and the excitement was getting to me.

After Tain, things were a little less rosy. The wind turned on me. Well, I suppose I turned into it, to be fair.

I was now heading for Cromarty. Of shipping forecast fame. But Cromarty was on the other side of a big piece of water called the Cromarty Firth. Mr. Google told me that there was a ferry. As I cycled further and further down the spit of land that lead nowhere, I hoped that was right.

The ferry held up to two cars with plenty of room for bicycles. There was one of each on board for my crossing. Charge for this ferry which crosses a substantial amount of water: £6:50. Charge for travelling in the tub to Cape Wrath: £20!!

But Cape Wrath is behind me and looming very slowly in front because of the headwind, is Inverness. (Again)

I had looked up a campsite near Inverness and by pure coincidence it's very near to the air bnb I stayed at. But then up. A lot. You might see in the photos. Before taking myself up there, I looked for sustenance in Inverness. The trouble is that it was getting too late for cafés. So I cycled to the Tesco I had my breakfast in a few days ago.

I sat in the same seat as last time. It seemed only right... isn't human nature weird. Ok, just me.

And then up to the campsite.

I passed the scrutiny so often dished out on arrival at these sites and promised that I wouldn't hold any wild all night parties etc and was given the all clear and a pitch number. And name! Tinsley...

There was another cycle camper on the site. A 71 year old woman who still roughed it.

It was a huge site. Nearly all beautifully levelled hard standing for camper vans with just four camp pitches. All four were sloping. Come on guys, I would have preferred a nameless flat pitch. It was cold and windy but the tent behaved well and I slept.

At this point, my route ceases to coincide with our end to end route at any point.