We left the Invergarry Hotel to continue cycling the Great Glen. It was once again warm enough for shorts and the waterproofs were left in the panniers.

The lingering morning mist seemed to hang just above our heads as we cycled the remainder of Loch Oich. As we reached the shores if Loch Ness however, the sun was beginning to burn through, giving us a fine view of the loch and it's surrounding mountains.

We had a brief stop to take photos of a bridge built by Thomas Telford in the early 19th century. The bridge is now in a poor state of repair, but very nicely placed next to a waterfall.

We followed the very lengthy Loch Ness to Drumnadrochit where we left the flat road to climb a mile long 13% incline over the hills to Beauly, Dingwall and beyond (the things you do to avoid Inverness...).

After the nice quiet roads of our cycling to this point, the A9 came as a bit of a shock. It carries fast cars and heavy traffic from Inverness and is the only main road in the area. We managed it for a few miles before turning to a quieter coastal road through Invergorden past the massive oil rigs around the Cromarty Firth. Eventually though we had to return to the A9 to cross the Dornoch Firth. Luckily the traffic had lightened and we did not have far to go to arrive at our guesthouse for the night.

The Amalfi guesthouse in Dornoch, is right on the golf course and just across the street from the site of the last execution for witchcraft in Scotland in 1727. The story goes that a mother and daughter were accused, stood trial and were found guilty of practicing witchcraft. While the daughter managed to escape the mother was subjected to the sentence of the time. She was rolled in tar, put into a barrel and paraded through the streets of Dornoch from the jail and burned alive. The site is now commemorated by a rockery in someones back garden which incorrectly gives the year as 1722.

After following the history trail on the way to the pub, we saw the village manse, one of the few remaining Plaiden Ells in Scotland and admired the small Carhedral.

In the pub we stuffed ourselves with burgers and cheesecake and sampled the very good "malt of the month" a Dalmore 12 year old, distilled in Alness, a place we had passed through a few miles earlier.

Grandma and Granddad Our sad experience of Dornoch was the tent being destroyed in a gale and a non-stop journey back to Birrmingham in the Deux Chevaux over night with Julian and Pascal aboard.

Sep 22, 2010