LEJOG day 14

An early start this morning to get us the best part of 90 miles to Helmsdale. We crept out of the Lochside hostel, at 6 am leaving the young revellers to sleep off their inevitable hangovers. This was the first early start for a few days and it seemed to affect Tracy quite badly.

Sun rise from our hostel window

Loch Ness from the back of the hostel

Her mood was low, her pace was snail and I was worrying if we would finish the route before midnight. We proceeded sloth like along the bank of the loch, no Nessie in sight. Every undulation slowed Tracy's pace further and at one point we were passed by a walker with a Zimmer frame.

We hit the steepest, longest hill that we have encountered since Devon and it was definitely time to use the lowest gear once more. Tracy found an even lower gear, walk incredibly slowly, stopping seemingly every 10 steps. I was very concerned. We eventually reached the summit, where I virtually force fed her chocolate and tunnocks caramel wafer bites. She recovered somewhat on the downhill to Beauly. We got a coffee from a petrol station. Suddenly Tracy came back to life. It seems that she has a problem.

My name is Tracy Mitchell and I am a caffeine addict!

From then on she was back to her normal self and our pace picked up through the day so that we averaged 11mph, one of our quickest days.

Cake themed bollard covers...

... crocheted in Dingwall...

...to mark the arrival of the queen of cake!

We continued on through various villages before stopping in Tain, for a romantic lunch of a Tesco meal deal, whilst sat in the carpark on a yellow salt bin. We were stalked by a persistent seagull, desperate for scraps. He was disappointed.

We crossed the Dornoch firth on the A9, a busy road, but not so bad on a Sunday afternoon. The further north that we went, the lighter the traffic became.

Dornoch firth

It's a sign I tell you!

We stopped at Golspie where possibly the last public toilets in the UK are to be found. The seagull was back. Definitely the same one.

The hostel at Helmsdale is beautiful. An old school gym with high ceilings and lovingly refurbished. We received a warm welcome from Marie, the manager. she even provided us with shower gel and flannels to remove the bike-chain oil stains from our legs.

We ate at the local fish and chips restaurant, where Tracy attempted to eat a haddock that was perhaps the size of the fabled Nessie.

A small Haddock apparently. Tracy was up to the challenge!

Marie told us about her trip on the Pacific coast cycle route from San Francisco to Mexico. Now there's a possibility for our next adventure...

For now though, we are more concerned with the strong winds and rain arriving in the morning. We are going for a super early start to avoid the worst of it. Tracy might remember to wear her waterproof coat this time, but therein lies another story.

Distance travelled: 88 miles 

Elevation: 4374 ft

Cake of the day: Mint choc chip cupcake from Spar (slim pickings today)

Tracy whinge factor: 2/10 (all in the first 90 minutes)

Total distance: 967 miles