Sunday 10th August

After resting my knee on Tuesday, (plus massage, ice packs and lots of advice from Chris's Mum) we set off nervously on Wed for Bettyhill. I was willing my knee to be ok! The route followed the coastline most of the way, with long climbs and long descents, like a 30 mile roller coaster. I was delighted to ride into Bettyhill and we were greeted by a lovely sandy beach and sunshine.

After a final slog up the hill to the village shop to get food for dinner, we headed down to the beach to find a spot to camp and watch the sunset.

Thursday: The next day, with stiff legs, we were back on the road to Lairg. We were both feeling good and looking forward to a good day's cycling. We had the best roads to cycle on, pretty flat, no cars, lovely scenery, taking in two lochs. We both put on our ipods and cycled separately - Chris's pace is quicker than mine- so it works better that way. I was listening to the Eels and Chris to Newton Falkner, both feeling very chilled out and enjoying the ride.

Stopped for lunch in Altanharra - bit of a ghost town. It's strange, when you look at the map and plan to reach a place, it becomes a landmark in your head and I imagine it to have a little shop, people, public toilets etc, then after 20miles of cycling, getting closer, you get there and there is nothing but a couple of houses and a hotel that has closed down! Nothing else for miles.

We cycled into Lairg later that afternoon having cycled through lots of forest and the contrast was stark; a lively friendly place with shops and a nice campsite. Lots of friendly midges too! We cycled 50 miles and were were both very happy and pleased that we had managed to do the miles. We had a good night, celebrating with a combo of fish and chips, washing clothes (liz very happy about this) and hot showers.

Friday morning and we set off for Bonar Bridge. After a grumpy start, we reached the bridge and headed towards Tain. With a choice of the high, shorter road to Alness or the longer, low road to Tain, we chose the high road. With a few miles of climbing which seem to get steeper, it was hard going and with the weight of the panniers, it took ages to reach the highest point. I was nearly there, when a lorry came flying passed, beeping his horn and not giving me any room. Every other vehicle so far had overtaken us with lots of space, but this lorry just acted like i wasn't there! There was no traffic coming the other way, so I don't know why he was so close. I really felt like he was going to knock me off my bike and was pretty shaken up. I got to the top, saw Chris and promptly burst into tears. We were not having the best of mornings.

We set off again and it was slow going. My mood was affecting my cycling and my legs felt like lead. I caught up with Chris, who had the blanket laid out and was sorting out lunch for us. I was relived and his timing was perfect. After scoffing loads of bread, cheese and german salami, as well as some Green and Black chocolate and Shortbread, I had renew energy and suddenly felt ok again. We cyled together, enjoying the reast of the ride and reached Evanton, just outside of Alness. We saw a big hare run across a field which was cool.

Despite plans to wild camp, the lure of a sparkly campsite was too great and we headed there for the night, knowing that we has 20 miles to do until we reached Inverness.

Saturday. We decided that once we reached Inverness we would check into a hostel so that we could charge phones, ipods, cameras, radios and the laptop! We have a solar charger, but it doesn't have enough power to charge much other than the phones. We woke up on sat to rain. We got our waterproofs on and headed off towards Inverness. The is a great cycle route than runs parallel to the A9 which is brilliant cos the A9 is really busy, full of lorries and 4 x 4s. We arrived in Inverness 20 miles later.

Inverness was really busy and quite hectic compared to the last few days, where we'd seen very few people. Our tent had had some issues during the week with poles fracturing, spare poles all used, we decided to buy a new tent (much to Chris's delight). This was followed by Pizza and a trip to the cinema to see Batman, which was fantastic, we both thought the Joker was brilliant, Batman's voice was funny though! So a good half day off.

After a lie in and some breakfast, we were told that we could find places with free wifi in town, so here I am writing this now, whilst Chris goes off to buy bits and pieces and find a bike shop. We are hoping to get a few miles in today and get to Fort Augustus, then Fort William tomorrow, we will see how we get on!

Thanks for all the donations, it make a big difference knowing we have so much support!