Strathdon to Grantown-on-Spey to Muir of Ord

August 30, 2010

This morning, we woke up and at apples and shortbread for breakfast. Once we had broken camp, we headed into Grantown-on-Spey. Finding a Co-operative, we stopped to buy food for lunch, and a little ways down the road, we paused to load up on drinking water at a public restroom. Over the night, Joshua had the genius idea to make our own waterproof socks. So, sitting on the steps of the public toilets, we wrapped our feet in the extra plastic bags he had picked up at the Co-op, and then we jammed our plastic feet into our socks. Viola! Waterproof socks!

With rustling feet, we pedaled out of Grantown-on-Spey and onto one of my favorite stretches of road so far. As we cycled, the clouds began to part, and out of the Northeast, we saw blue sky. All around us, heather spread along diamond-sized lochs and over softly rolling hills. Patches of trees that grew out of mossy blankets cropped up in the valleys, and gradually, we descended into the woodlands.

At 1 PM, we stopped for lunch. Sitting on a stone fence overlooking a country valley, we basked in the sun. That's right. The weather had gotten better and better, until finally, it was almost warm. With blue skies stretching on for as far as the eye could see and the sun warming our toes, we fell in love with Scotland. It really is beautiful.

Once we had eaten our strawberries, spiced couscous, homous, oatcakes, and cookies, we hopped back on our bikes and cycled through Culloden Forest and the suburbs of Inverness. Once again following cycle route number 1, we entered Inverness and followed cobblestone streets into the city center.

Parking our bikes in the heart of the shopping district, we locked up and headed in search of an outdoor store. It took some doing, but after a little comparison shopping in three different outdoor stores, we found what we were looking for at the cheapest prices. The two of us purchased silk liners for our sleeping bags at Black's (we did our last-minute shopping for India in Inverness because it's the last major city we'll be in before leave... We won't have any time in London.), and then at Sports Direct, we found a cheap little backpack for day trips. For me, we purchased a pair of running shoes (mine now smell so bad we have to place them further than 20 feet away from the tent), spandex pants, and a wicking tank top. Sports Direct was having a mega clearance sale, so everything was dirt cheap.

In Marks and Spencers, we loaded up on food for dinner and breakfast, and when we were done, we got back in the saddle. In our cycling guide book, they have us cycling 70 miles tomorrow, but since the weather was so beautiful, we decided to go a little farther. The outskirts of Inverness look a lot like Edinburgh, and for ten miles, we skirted the Bay of Moray. In Beauly, we passed the last of the rush hour traffic, and a couple miles past Muir of Ord, we found a little path that led to an ideal campsite.

Once we had set up camp, I warmed up Cream of Asparagus Soup which we ate with big hunks of baguette. For dessert, we had a couple of very ripe Nectarines and Banoffee Pie. (Catherine and Donal - Joshua has been craving this ever since we left St. Helen's) Happy and full, we crawled inside the tent.

August 29, 2010

I'm at the top of Lecht Pass. The wind howling through the pass is so strong, I have to lean forward in order not to be blown over. The strongest gusts force me to stop, brace my bike, and close my eyes so that the grit from the road doesn't fly into them. It's freezing cold, and as I begin to push my bike downhill, I move my feet like senseless blocks of ice. Looking into the sky, dark, heavy clouds are rolling in, and I know that if it starts to rain, I will completely loose it. I'll start weeping, and then my tears will probably freeze to my cheeks.

Earlier that morning - or, actually, in the middle of the night - the two of us had woken up to the wind blowing the side of our tent into my face. Our little Mountain Hardware tent is made of pretty sturdy stuff, and although our tent poles bowed and the tent felt a little bit like an anti-gravity simulator, it did not break. The tents around us, however, weren't quite so lucky. At about 8 AM, Joshua and I were watching as the lashing rain and gusts of wind threatened our little safe harbour when, all of a sudden, a big, black thing hit the side of our tent and then flew all the way over it. That, my friend, was the tent next store. When Joshua looked outside to see how our other neighbors were doing, he discovered that we were alone. The nine other tents that had been pitched around us were gone. The little black tent that had taken flight was upside down and up against a fence, and another was poking out of the trash can, its poles broken like brittle bones, and its fly flapping sadly in the wind.

As soon as I woke up to the wind smothering my face, I pretty much assumed that we wouldn't be biking. The rain was fierce, and even though I was wearing all of my clothes and I was cinched into my sleeping bag tightly, I was still cold. All morning, we laid awake, looking up at the dripping ceiling and worrying over the billowing tarp. Just after 11, Joshua poked his head out again and announced that he saw blue sky. The rain had abated for a few minutes, and he was headed for the grocery shop to see if they had a forecast and to buy a little food to last for the day.

When Joshua returned, he asked me if I thought we should stay or go; the people at the grocery shop hadn't known the forecast, but they said they thought the week was supposed to get better. I told him that I had assumed we would stay, but that I was open to ideas. He dithered for a while, looking at the sky to the Northeast, and then he decided we should go. We might be facing a massive headwind, but even if we just went 5 miles an hour, we would make it to Grantown-on-Spey within 6 hours.

That seemed reasonable to me, so we leapt into action and broke down the sight. Within 40 minutes, we were already on our way. Unfortunately, our clear skies had succumbed to gloom, and within minutes, it began to rain. Thankfully, the wind that had decimated our little tent village was not quite as strong near the tree-line road, and we covered the first 10 miles from Strathdon to Cargraff relatively quickly. At the base of Lecht Pass, the rain had cleared, and the wind didn't feel particularly strong at all.

Which was good, because Lecht Pass looked like a vertical face. As soon as we saw the climb out of Cargraff, we had to dismount. We could barely cycle 10 feet. Pushing our bikes up the road, we began to sweat. We stopped every 200 yards or so to catch our breath, and then we continued forward. At the top of the first section, we paused to look South. The view was spectacular; Moors surrounded the entire valley, and in the distance, white-washed Cargraff Castle crowned an impossibly green hillside. Hopping back on our bikes, we hoped the worst was over.

It so, so wasn't. Traveling North through Lecht Pass, you encounter three major steep climbs. The first is the shortest. By the time we had made it to the third major climb, the wind was blowing so hard that every muscle in my body was braced for impact. Feeling panicky, we stopped at the ski village, but when we realized that the wind was not about to die down and the skies to the North did not look any more promising, we continued forward. A couple of times, we tried to get back on our bikes, but the wind was blowing so hard, we were worried it would blow us right over.

So we walked down Lecht Pass. Finally, after almost 5 miles of walking our bikes, we turned a corner, and some tree cover made it possible for us to ride. Descending into Tomountil, our feet were killing us. After the rain and then the wind, they were completely frozen. Joshua stopped to put socks on, but of course, the wind blew right through. In Tomountil, we stopped at the Tourist Office to see if they knew the weather forecast. When I asked, the girl behind the desk smiled and nodded. Then, without looking at her computer screen or using the aid of any printed information, she looked off into the distance and said, "rain. They said it's going to rain for the rest of the week. We should be getting some frost in the mornings, too." When I asked her if she had heard anything about the wind, she shook her head. "No," she said, "but there usually isn't any wind if there's frost." Hmmm...

Back outside, I told Joshua that things weren't looking hopeful. He told me that he was starting to hate Scotland. I looked up at the still threatening sky and silently apologized. I wouldn't want to make it any angrier than it already is.

Biking the last 14 miles to Grantown on Spey, we hit two more massive hills. Thankfully, these hills weren't quite as massive as those on Lecht, and we were able to stay in our saddles and sweat through them. Finally, descending through Moors and valleys with rivers and trees on either side, we passed the round about before Grantown-on-Spey. Pausing on the other side, Joshua thought he spied a good spot to camp, and we ended up pitching our tent right next to the round about, above a little park with wooden bike jumps.

Once we had set up camp, we boiled some water for tea and wolfed down a pack of oatcakes, a brick of cheese, apples, crisps, and shortbread fingers. Inside the tent, we read for a bit (Joshua's reading The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, and I'm reading the third book in the trilogy, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest... They are AMAZING.), hoping our frozen feet might begin to warm up, and then when Joshua's headlamp went out, we decided to go to sleep.