This morning we discovered the blackout blinds had frozen to the inside of the windscreen. After chiselling it off and scarfing down a haggis and egg sandwich we set off for Dalwhinnie.
Today we are biking up to Loch Pattack, above the BnB we are staying at. But first we need to wrangle a wriggly doggy into a backpack. It’s quite a long walk for him (and us) these days at 24km so we (more like the royal “we”…) are going to carry him most of the way.
I did have to do this a couple times before when walking up Ben Nevis. He just got to a point where he didn’t want to carry on, and that was that. Shiba goes no further. So we sat him in the backpack and he bobbed his way up the hill on my back pretty happily.
But that was when he was tired, we are getting straight on the bikes today. He was good once he was in there, but it was like wrestling an octopus to get all his legs in there and sat down. After that, he spent the ride looking over my shoulder.
We pedalled all the way from Dalwhinnie alongside Loch Ericht, to the BnB. Then started climbing to Loch Pattack. This took it out of us and progress was slow as we haven’t biked in quite a while. But I was glad of the recent wedding diet. “Kayto” (or more accurately my porky belly) felt at least 6kg lighter than his chubby 11kg frame.
The view up here is spectacular and phone photos don’t do it justice. It’s so remote and wild and as far as untouched you can find anywhere in the UK. It’s amazing to look out on somewhere with so MUCH that’s untouched, given the rest of the world we live in is so “developed”… These hills would be recognised by any of the generations of deer stalkers and lairds past. We both really enjoy getting so far out, away from the dense and busy world. We sat on a mound and ate our packed lunch enjoying the view up to Ben Alder.
Coming down was a lot quicker, but Kayto was reluctant to get back in the bag. He was squirming and whining, so let him out to run beside us down the hill. When we got to the bottom I think he realised it was either sit in the bag or run with the bikes all the way back. He sat in the bag like a good boy.
After stopping in Kingussie for a shower and to pick up some bits for dinner – ok it was easter eggs – we drove to Laggan. Here there is a 24hr toilet which was useful but also a tap to fill up our water. We have gone 2 nights on the water tank we have and could probably have managed another. But we filled up anyway and parked up near the Heart of Scotland; another great place to enjoy the sunset, and some Easter eggs!
