We left the Air BnB pod after a significantly more basic breakfast and set off into a clear but much cooler morning. Crossing Bonar Bridge gave us our first giggle of the morning. Edd and I had connected headsets again and the lunacy bantering back and forth had us crying with laughter.
Following a log lorry out of town we finally overtook on a long uphill straight. As the view was getting better and better I couldn’t help but pull over for a photo. The truck sailed past again with a wave and a laugh from us. Then, of course, the photo I wanted to take was blocked by the councils placement of a bin at the end of the layby. This prompted a new joke Instagram account called “where we’ve bin” full of incredibly scenic shots of bins.
At this, I was literally gasping for breath, singing with laughter in my helmet. It took several miles of giggles to calm down. But this just prompted us to lose it when I said my eye ducts were getting chapped from the tears. I know Aimi and Adam were very happy to not have their helmets connected to our ridiculous chatter.
We had a bit more traffic dodging to do today. Pulling out onto the A9 required getting up to speed on the wrong side of the road. The driver approaching must have thought I was mental, but it was just till I was moving fast enough to merge and then I slipped back onto the correct side of the road. On the continent they give you a lane in the middle of the road for this specific purpose, but that’s too radical for backwards Britain. It’s just expected that you wait for the entire population of the A9 to pass before pulling out at a properly leisurely pace… completely realistic.
Pulling up in Drumnadrochit for a quick loo break, I got chatting to a big GS rider called Stan from the Netherlands. I spotted that he had the same cheap pannier bags that i had bought for this trip. We bonded over our mutual genius in this decision. Its meant that when we’ve rocked up to each hotel, everyone has been struggling with huge soggy panniers, dragging them up stairs and into rooms. I’ve just opened my panniers, lifted out the bag of clothes from one, and my shoes and wash kit from the other and walked in. I’ve then opened it up like a suitcase and used clothes in and out of it like normal, with full access to it all. Then, come the end of our stay, zipped it all back up and slipped it back inside the panniers and I’m away. I’ve been on the bike significantly quicker than the rest of the troop. I guess this is the years of experience coming to fruition.
Sending Stan the Netherlandian towards Lairg to enjoy the same remote roads we rode, we set off south. Passing Urquhart castle, Fort Augustus to Spean Bridge where I nearly blew past the commando memorial. We stopped for a quick look because during Adams last visit up here it was covered with scaffolding and he wanted an uncovered photo.
We had made great time and so made it to Laggan coffee bothy by 2pm for a late lunch. So far our big Scottish hotel breakfasts had carried us thru into the mud afternoon, but this morning’s granola and apple was a long time ago. We were very hungry and so got a little carried away ordering 2 hot drinks, a panini and 2 cakes each. It was great to see Annette again who looked after us beautifully while Sonya and Kevin were unavailable. Hopefully we will see them in December when we come up for Aimi’s birthday
Taking this route, we got to show Edd and Adam the hill on which we were married and the office where our marriage was registered in Kingussie. It was lovely to come back to this place and reminisce about the best day of our lives.
After a long leisurely late lunch, we were only an hour up the road from our hotel for the night at Nethybridge. This huge Victorian hotel saw it’s haydays in the 20’s to 50’s. This is both wonderfully and sadly obvious in the surviving period decor. The lounge and dining room are thoroughly art deco. It was clearly renovated to a high standard for the time, and tho looking tired now it’s still wonderfully hospitable with fantastic staff professionally and proudly serving us dinner and drinks.
But it’s obvious that the building needs a lot of restoration. The sash windows are all peeling paint and starting to rot and the rotating lobby door is plastered with “do not use” pieces of A4 paper. It’s a sad sign of slow decay. I really hope someone comes along to rescue this beautiful stone building because it really deserves to be saved. The little sheet of history in the foyer says there has been Inn Keeping on this site for over 1000 years now so I hope it keeps going.
