Before I get into the story of the day, I have to record two things that I never thought I'd hear my younger brother say.
1. (before our day 6) "I think I might use this 72 miler as a bit of a recovery ride" and...
2. (Midway though our Full Scottish breakfast today) " I think I might be full up".
Back to the plot.
We were staying at the Fairfield House, a very nice house in Craig Road. The owners, John and Eleanor Leitch were a lovely couple and we had several chats with them. They had a lovely one year old dog, Gem, who loved fuss and sneaked into our room for some petting. The picture shows our 3 hosts.
They had a lovely garden, including bird tables etc and Eleanor brought a picture to show us of their other "pet". It was a wild buzzard they nickname Eddie, who arrives every day to be fed in their garden. Brilliant.
We made good steady progress and it seemed comfortable even though there had been a lot of climbing. After about 20 miles we pulled over to have a break and a look at the views. We sat on the grass which was thick and mossy and we both had to resist the temptation to lie down and get an hours kip.
We followed the tourist signs along some lanes and laughed how we were now doing some hills that we didn't need to do. We pulled into the Falls of Shin, which is a place of natural beauty owned, we believe by one Mohammed al Fayed. It is a bit disconcerting to walk into the Visitor Shop and see a large scale waxwork of the man himself fully kitted out in kilt and all the trimmings.
The falls themselves were lovely (see pic) but probably the wrong time of the year to see the salmon jumping there.
We had a fair old lunch sat outside and then carried on our way.
We now turned back North East and the wind which had been virtually nil in the morning had, as usual, picked up a lot by the afternoon. The next 20 miles were a real grind due to the wind and I kept saying to Ian it would improve once we got to the A9.
We reached the A9 junction and , yep it was a whole bunch worse. The next 3 miles were really hard. The traffic was also really noticeable after the virtually traffic-free cycling we'd had the rest of the day. The wind stayed in our face and strong for the rest of the day - which became 75 miles rather than the 65 we had planned. The scenery was okay, with the Ocean to our right, but we were just focussed on getting to our destination.
Finally we arrived - and even though I was shattered, I stopped to take this picture.
After a hot shower and a rest, we went and had a great fish meal in La Mirage and are now back in our room.
And so, to my title for today. Being on your own for long periods of time (we tend to cycle at our own pace and meet up at junctions etc) gives you a lot of time to think and to reflect on what is important to you.
Today I thought a lot about my home and the person who is waiting there for me. I want to thank her for being supportive of this tour and encouraging me all the way. I'd like to thank her for many things, but especially for just being her.
I spent a lot of time today singing "This One Goes out to the One I love" and I can't wait to be home again with Wendy. Love you loads xx