Penultimate day - wow. I can hardly believe it is so close to the end of the ride. True to the tradition of Scottish summer that I have experienced the day dawned cool and cloudy, but a little warmer than the last few days. In fact ,it is a good day for riding as the wind is very light.
Everyone is cheered by the prospect of some flatter elevations and good scenery and points of interest along the way. We take off past Loch Shin and head up to ride through timber country before emerging onto open moors.
Peter, our guide, leads us out after this as he knows a quarry where carnivorous plants can be seen. One is in flower which he has not seen before. He warns Sue to take care as they would have her leg off if they catch it. She believes him, right up until she sees how small the plants are. I don't think she will believe him so readily in the future.
We have all had good briefings from Peter about the points of interest we will ride past each day, so we know to look out for reminders of The Clearances - a time when landowners forcibly removed Crofters from their homes, usually destroying the buildings, leaving them to fend for themselves as part of an "improvement" plan which included grazing sheep. The descriptions of this are very moving. We follow the Stratham et Trail alongside the beautiful Loch Naver stopping to read plaques and explore sites, with lunch alongside a church made from corrugated iron.
On through more rolling hills to our destination, Bettyhill. I can hardly credit what I am about to say, but on arrival at Bettyhill some of us, myself included, CHOSE to ride an extra mile downhill to get a cheese or fruit scone on the recommendation of a very pleasant woman we met at the lunch stop. Of course you realise that what I am saying is really that we chose to ride an extra uphill after the scone. Our brains are perhaps not functioning correctly. It was a very good scone.
No comments:
Post a Comment