Allowed out ... day 11 (aka “It’s going to be a blemish free day”)

Miles today: 175

Miles so far: 1802

u-turns: disputed! Eric says 3, I say 5

ruins: 1, but impressive

Going to be short tonight - no desk in my room and its late.

Today’s blog is not much about the ride, fantastic though it was, it is about the hotel. A bit Fawlty Towers but loveable in every respect. Met in the car park by the slightly eccentric owner he provided tea and Tunnocks teacakes by the fire followed by a wee nip, after we had barely got off the bikes! What a welcome.

Then the food was superb, and cheap, followed by another couple of nips - with a wander round Fort Augustus in between to inspect the locks, take silly selfies, and look for Nessie. No surprise we failed - with Nessie, obviously not the selfies.

First impressions on riding up to the door had not been auspicious but its a fab place run by a man who really cares about his guests. I recommend it to anyone in the area. Quirky yes - definitely a bit Basil Fawlty about him but without the rank incompetence and stupidity.

And this was after another fine ride across the Cairngorms, on high moorland roads again with little traffic and beautiful sunny weather (until it a got a little cold in the last half hour - hence the need for tea and whisky)

We had of course used up the best part of 2 hours at the superb Dunottar Castle just outside Stonehaven, thus leaving us 155 of the 175 miles to ride in the afternoon.

And whilst u-turns are absolutely not the subject of today’s rant, Eric does get a special mention for breaking his promise of a “blemish free” day at about mile 4.5, when a u-turn had to be executed to stop us tracing the entire route of the Don river to its source. We were supposed to be going down the coast!

That will do for now, heading towards Edinburgh tomorrow, via Glencoe and if we have time St Andrews. Yes, its a mad route!. Our criss cross pattern is designed to avoid major roads as far as we can and keep us in Scotland for as long as possible. At one point today we were a mere 8 miles from Inverness, which we left yesterday morning!

Night night