Day 17: Aviemore to Dingwall

I’m in the bike shop in Inverness at 9am. I can already tell they don’t want to help me, judging by the look on this staff-member’s face: one of tiredness and dread. The look says, we already have a stack of bikes and only one mechanic. We don’t need any bother today. He says he will have a look for the part or a new wheel anyway, and disappears into the loft. Then emerges. No, they don’t have the part and they don’t have a wheel. 

For the first time it strikes me, as I walk away, that I might not be able to complete the ride. What will happen if I can’t get this fixed? I don’t mind missing out a few miles because of a mechanical, but no part of my scenarios involve me not reaching John o’ Groats. I try not to think about it as I wheel my bike across the bridge to Bikes of Inverness.

When I walk in, the look from the staff member is completely different. It says, we will try and help you. There is also a stack of bikes waiting to be serviced, but the attitude is one of, ’How can we make this work?’, not ‘We can’t make this work.’ They don’t have the wheel either, but they have a part that might be compatible. We’ll get you on the road again, they say. Leave it with us. 

In the meantime, Mark and Lorenzo are riding from Aviemore. They show me the photos later and I remember what that road was like, criss-crossing the Spey, the ‘Slochd summit’ sign on the railway line, the epic viaduct at Tomatin. It’s another scorching day. I’m sad not to be riding but I’ve made my peace with it. This will always be something that I did with Tim, and that’s how it will remain. 

It’s late afternoon by the time they roll into Inverness, by which time the bike shop has worked its magic and I am riding again. Thank you Bikes of Inverness! We head out of the city across the Kessock bridge, the Moray Firth on one side and the Beauly Firth on the other. There’s a rise and fall over the hump of the Black Isle, and a fantastic descent into Dingwall where we have planned to make our second ‘wild’ camp. We hope it lives up to the standard of the first.

I lead the others down the road to a picnic area next to the Cromarty Firth. It’s extremely peaceful. The cool waters gently lap the shore and we can see the many low arches of the Cromarty bridge in the distance. There are a few trees around to offer shelter and plenty of flat grassy space to pitch our tents. Once again, it’s the perfect spot. 

Stats for the day: 86km riding, 671m climbing

Accommodation: camping at the picnic area at the end of Ferry Road in Dingwall. A local man was collecting fallen wood and he gave us some whisky and some apple pies!