Dan's blog.

Today I passed the site of the last major set piece battle on UK soil (Culloden) and an amazing bronze burial site (Clara Cairns). Today the weather and the hills combined to make it feel like a battle and also that they both might end up burying me!

The day started with an hours climb over the Pass of Dromochter. This is where Dalwine whisky is made and is the coldest place, on average, in Scotland. The amazing views and challenging climb were slightly dampened by the swirling winds and rain. Just at my worst point – a message came through from Sarah describing a heat wave at home. But, five minutes after the message, I’d breached the top and the wind and rain that had moments ago been my foes- pushed me down the long hill at exhilarating speeds.

A lot of our problems in life come from expectations. We set expectations about something or someone and, even if they are unfair expectations, we sometimes react badly when they aren’t realised. Todays route plan showed a long route, but with the only real challenges in the first section. Having completed this section (basically the pass of Dromochter) I settled in expecting a nice and gentle kind of experience for the rest of the day. This is where the Scottish weather had other ideas and my expectations were to be sorely challenged.

The rain stopped. The sun came out. But then the wind started. It was my first experience on this trip of a relentless headwind. The wind was so strong that I had to get off and push my bike through the flat bottom of a valley because the gusts were almost knocking me off! It continued like that until my arrival at Dingwall. Later on I pushed my bike over a really big bridge north of Inverness only to be passed by several road bikers cycling at speed past me. OK, they might be more skilled and braver than me – but did they see the frolicking seals below the bridge?!

Today was a new distance record for this journey of about 180km – 111 miles. the ride started at 0815 and finished at about 1900. After three days of quite hard riding – Im going to take it easier tomorrow. As previously mentioned – Ive had to change the route to make sure I can catch a train home before industrial action starts. The new route includes a very nasty looking trunk road that has a lot of HGV and caravan traffic. Tomorrow morning I’m going to take a taxi to north of this road and then bike to John O Groats on a loop. It will mean a bit of a distance discount – but its a lot safer. It will also mean that I can really enjoy my last day cycling of this hugely enjoyable adventure.