Our day started with the best breakfast of the trip. Excellent quality bacon, sausages that were different sizes, so definitely didn't come mass produced from a factory.
After our morning bike lubrication, we set off down to Gilmerton before taking a left turn up the small glen to Aberfeldy. I really like that road and Aberfeldy, so I had a great time. Even though I've traveled along it many times, there were still new experiences for me going on a bicycle. Obviously, the gradient is much more important on a bike. I also heard streams running down the hills that I never knew existed and smelled the countryside in a way not possible in a car. I also never realised just quite how long is the descent into Aberfeldy- what a hoot that was!
In Aberfeldy we turned east towards Balinluig where we picked up the A9. This is the main road up to Inverness and as a consequence can be very busy. Today however wans't too bad. Occasionally a truck would pass with a dozen cars in its wake, all waiting for the next section of dual carriageway to get passed the slower vehicle. The gradients are gentle and we made rapid progress. The road surface is also generally excellent quality, which we've found makes an enormous difference to our speed.
Up to Pitlochry for lunch and a stop at Escape Route cycles. We got our tyres pumped up and bought some new gloves- it'll be six degrees tomorrow and our gloves weren't warm enough. When they get wet and the wind blows on them they get really cold. The chap in the shop also gave us a great recommendation - "The Scottish Deli" for lunch. I had a baguette with stilton and pear spread that was utterly fantastic. The stilton had been kept at the proper temperature and was simply divine.
On to Kingussie- there was little navigation required today, and we put our head down and made good progress. We went particularly fast through the roadworks,where cars were unable to overtake because of the narow lanes. The best thing to do was to go as fast as possible and get out the other side.
Mid-afternoon we both developed trouble with our bicycles that affected the steering. They developed a strong pull to the left. Mysteriously, once we had passed the turning for the Dalwhinnie distillery, the problem seemed to fix itself.
In Kingussie, Fiona had booked us into the Silverfjord hotel. When the owners Claire and Joe found out about our journey.and the charities we are supporting they made a very generous gift. We were very moved by their spontaneous generosity and it will be a highlight of our trip.
We discovered in Kingussie that the Scottish Parliament has started introducing the motor car to Scotland. For those of you skeptical of his extravagant claim, I've attached a photo to back it up.
We're on to the last few days of our trip now. Our fitness has improved over the last 10 days to the point that we feel just about able to contemplate cycling from Land's End to John O'Groats, but who'd be daft enough to want to do that?
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