Day 29 June 11th

I stayed with Martin and Craig Lamont (father & son) who are second cousins or something like that. Martin is retired so he was kind enough to meet me at the airport and take me back to their place. Martin then took me for a quick car trip around Edinburgh. Stupid me forgot my camera so no shots but I will have to go back to some of the places to get some piccys.

We stopped for fish and chips a a seafood restaurant and I had a nice pint as well. By the time we got home I was pretty done for and had to have a half hour power nap to keep me going. Craig got home from and work and we immediately went back into town to watch a MTB movie. After another pint before the movie I only just managed to last the movie out. Danny McKaskill was there and starred in it and he is a trials rider who did some amazing stuff. Some of his stuff is on you tube.

DISTANCE TODAY 0km TOTAL DISTANCE 696 km

Day 30 June 12th

Rode into the city and went to the Edinburgh Castle. It was a fantastic place but the queue to get inside was horrendous so I didn't bother to get a ticket as I had limited time to see everything along the Royal Mile which stretches from the Castle to the Palace of Holyroodhouse which is the queens summer residence when in Scotland. Bought some sandwiches and sat in the park along with lots of others and enjoyed the sunshine and then continued down the Mile to Holyrood and did a tour. As part of the tour you got a commentary of what each room was and the history of it. It was interesting to hear about Mary Queen of Scots when she was living there.

Met Craig at his work and we rode home to pack to leave for Fort William. Left about 5:30 and arrived at Craig's Aunt & Uncles place at Roy Bridge about 15km past Fort Bill. What a lovely couple, they had pizza and cuppa's ready for us when we got there.

DISTANCE TODAY 15km TOTAL DISTANCE 711 km

Day 31 June 13th

We only had to do a practice lap of the race course for the race on Sunday so Craig took me for a tour along Loch Linnhe and then to the end of Loch Shiel and the Glenfinnan Monument at the end of the Loch. Directly behind the road around the Loch is the railway bridge that was in the 2nd Harry Potter movie where they were in the flying car with the Hogwarts Express right behind them.

We then continued on to Mallaig which is a port where there is one of the main ferries to The Island of Skye. Here we saw the Royal Scotsman train in the station which Craig said was very unusual to see and we were still looking in the windows when it took off. Had a bit more of a look around the town and then headed back the same way we had come.

We caught up to the Scotsman so made a bee line for the Harry Potter bridge to get a photo of it with the train on top. Got the photo and also a video of it. Went for a look down Fort Bill main street which didn't take too long to see and headed for the racetrack. Craig got the chairs and table ot and we had a nice lunch in the car park before setting out on our practice lap. The course was very different to ours back home as there was quite a lot flattish gravel path and then some very technical descents that suited me fine.

More Scottish hospitality as we went to another aunt & uncle's for dinner and home to get our beauty sleep ready for the the race.

DISTANCE TODAY 18km TOTAL DISTANCE 729 km

Day 32 June 14th

Race Day - Scottish National Championships - It was cross country only and there were about 200 entrants with heaps of kids and women of all ages which was quite different to back home. We lined up for the start and they made an announcement but I couldn't hear it at the back because the younger age group were lined up in front of us. They then started their race and our guys started moving up to the line and kept going. I then realized that we had started as well and was right at the back. I wasn't too far back so it didn't matter much. I passed a few riders on the mainly flat start loop and then we cam to the first technical downhill and half they guys in front got off and started running down on the line we were riding down. There were a few harsh words and banging into people but those of us still riding eventually got past. The field generally spread out from there nd I had a pretty good run from then on.

I had no idea how I was going as we were all mixed in together with the other grade. I just kept going and had little private races with the guys who were close. One guy who I raced to the finish and I just held off continued on for another lap when I finished so I quickly had to check with the timekeepers to male sure I had finished which I had and the other guy was in the other category which still had another lap. They had a 32" inch TV screen showing the results and according to that I had finished 3rd with I was stoked with. We had presentations just after the elite & expert riders started their race and they called out 3rd place for the guy who finished 2nd according to the other results I had looked at. We thought there must have been someone else that got missed who had either won or got 2nd which would have bumped me to 4th which I was still happy with. They then called me up for 2nd so we weren't sure what was going on but that was the official result. At the time of writing we haven't been near an internet point so we haven't been able to check times etc to see what they said. Anyway I'll take it.

Headed off to Aviemore straight after racing and got Craig's caravan out of storage and towed it to our caravan park site. It rained from just out of Fort Bill all the way up and was still raining at 11pm when we went to bed. It is hard to come to terms with going to bed at 11pm and it is only just starting to get dark and the it gets light about 4:30am so you notice it in the van.

DISTANCE TODAY 24km TOTAL DISTANCE 753 km

Day 33 June 15th

The rain had stopped but the mist was almost a ground level so we decided to do a tour in the morning and went to Inverness and then down to Loch Ness looking for monsters. WE went down the Loch as far as Urqhart Castle which is a ruin on the edge of the lake but were too jewy to pay to go in when Craig said we could go to better ones than that for nothing. We called into a couple of Nessy shops and had some photos with the typical fibreglass nessy's and had a look at all the corny tourist items. Went back to Inverness for lunch and a quick look at Inverness Castle which is still used as a courthouse today. The weather was pretty good over there with low cloud but no rain and the cloud had lifted when we got back to Aviemore so we suited up and went for a 5pm ride out to Badguish which is an outdoor adventure place with MTB trails behind. There were some nice trails and good views and we were back in town by 7pm.

DISTANCE TODAY 29km TOTAL DISTANCE 782 km

Day 34 June 16th

The weather was fine so we headed out from the caravan park on a bit of an epic ride up Burma Rd. It was a reasonable climb up to the top of about 6km which gave us great views of the countryside. There was a stone cairn at the top and Craig made me follow Scottish tradition and picked up a rock from the track and placed it on the cairn. It was very cold at the top and I put my thermal top on as well as my arm warmers. I'm glad I did as it was even colder going down at 64.5kph on the rutted gravel road. It didn't seem like it but I suppose it was close to 6km down as well.

We then followed a decent river for quite a while on dual track (landrover track as they call it) and got our feet wet a couple of times while riding along it. We passed a few touring cyclists going the other way but I'm sure they weren'y going to the top of where we had just come down. The track eventually took us to Carrbridge where the original bridge over the river was built in 1717. It is still in one piece but looking pretty flimsy. We stopped and had a snack and filled our water bottles from the river and headed on a new off road cycle path to Aviemore that Craig had never been on before.

DISTANCE TODAY 51km TOTAL DISTANCE 833 km

Day 35 June 17th

Our luck with the weather finally ran out. It was raining in the morning so there was no way we were going out for a ride. Craig suggested a trip to the whisky distillery area which was not too far away. We went to Glenfiddich and did a tour of the distillery which was interesting. The whole place was immaculate and every building was amazingly well maintained. I even bought a bottle of malt whisky liqueur which is a bit sweeter than normal whiskey which I don't drink.

We were going on a ride with the locals at 5:30 but it was still raining so we bailed out of that. Went to a local cafe bar for dinner and I had some haggis as entree and it was great. It wasn't presented like the normal haggis and it was whiskey flamed but the basic ingredients were the same.

DISTANCE TODAY 0km TOTAL DISTANCE 833 km

Day 36 June 18th

It was a bit better weather today with just passing showers but they were heavy. We packed up the van, put it back in storage and left Aviemore to head back to Edinburgh. On the wat there just happened to be a MTB park at Laggan called the Wolftrax. It had its own cafe and bike shop and we got there just after midday and met up with a mate of Craigs.

It was a reasonably easy climb up a fireroad most of the way and then it turned to singletrack to get to the very top. Once again the views were great and it windy but dry (not the ground though). We could however see a huge rain cloud coming our way so we set off down as fast as possible. We were only about halfway down when it started chucking it down and we got saturated. We continued down to the carpark and went into the cafe for a nice hot coffee. The rain only lasted about 15min so we went out and did a few more tracks.

It was great fun with lots of flowing singletrack with just enough technical trail to make it interesting. There was a lot of armouring of the track with huge rocks which often went for 50 metres. Most of the singletrack was covered with crushed gravel and without this they would have been almost impossible to ride in the wet.

Left there about 3pm and travelled back to Edinburgh to clean and wash bikes, clothes and ourselves.

DISTANCE TODAY 22km TOTAL DISTANCE 855 km

Day 37 June 19th

It was blowing hard this morning so Craig thought a windsurf would be in order - for himself not me. We drove about half an hour south and Craig had a couple of hours on the water, jumping off what waves there were and behaving like a kid. He is as good at windsurfing as he is at mountain biking, snow skiing, diving, climbing and I'm sure there are others he hasn't told me about.

A quick trip back home to drop off the boards and pick up the bikes to go to Glentress which is part of the 7 Stanes. We arrived at 3:30 to meet up with some of Craig's skiing mates for a 4pm ride. When the last one arrived at almost 5pm we were cold and anxious to get away so the 2 of us headed out and a did a loop of the red trail. This was about an hour of solid riding and heaps of fun.

It was then into the van and and down the road to meet up with some more MTBers at another 7 Stanes park at Innerleithen. We didn't end up riding in the park but went out on some old trails on the other side of the town. This was straight up a fire road to the top, down some really hairy, steep downhills through the pine trees and back up to the top for another go down an even hairier downhill and back to the top for a 3rd time. We eventually had a great view of the town on last downhill and it was back to the cars for a late night BBQ. We got back to the cars at 10pm, left there at 11pm and finally tucked into bed at 12:15. A good, hard day but a tiring one.

DISTANCE TODAY 41km TOTAL DISTANCE 896 km

Day 38 June 20th

Had a pretty lazy day spent cleaning the bikes in the morning as they were really dirty from the previous day's riding. After lunch we couldn't be bothered doing anything else as Craig's brothers were coming around for a BBQ. Ross, Fraser and his partner Amanda brought their 4 month old son Cameron as well and a cousin from Craig's mums side of the family, Rona came too. Martin's friend Eleanor was already here for a few days, so it was a family get together. It was a good night with a few reds and a few beers.

DISTANCE TODAY 0km TOTAL DISTANCE 896 km

Day 39 June 21st.

We went back to Glentress to ride some more of the trails we had missed out on Friday. The black route was not a lot more technical than the red we had done but it was longer and rougher. Towards the end of it we climbed back up a bit more to try a few fun trails that Craig knew and they were really good fun. They were smooth crushed gravel but you could really go fast and all the way along were little jumps that could be taken or not.

After about 3hrs of riding we went back to the cafe for coffee and cake and then went to visit Richard, a friend of Craigs who has just moved about 5 minutes from the trails. His house was huge, 3 stories, but very old and he and his partner are going to be doing a lot of work over the next few years renovating it.

DISTANCE TODAY 34km TOTAL DISTANCE 930 km

Day 40 June 22nd

Poor old Craig went back to work today so I just went into the city to have a bit more of a look around. It started to rain as soon as I got there so I locked the bike up and headed for the nearest shops. Had some lunch and the rain stopped so I thought I would head over to Arthurs Seat which is and old volcano right in the middle of town. I think just about every tourist climbs to the top and I was going to join them.

To get there I had to pass the new Scottish parliament building so I thought I would go in and have a look. There was a policeman talking to an Asian girl about climbing Arthurs Seat in thongs and I waited to ask him where I could lock my bike up. He took ages so I just locked to a pylon and thought it would be safe with him on patrol nearby. I went in and had a look around and was impressed by the woodwork but the bare concrete looks as though they ran out of money to finish it off properly. I had my cursory look at the place and decided to head out and do my climb. The policeman was standing near my bike and when I went over he asked me if it was mine. I said yes, thinking he was going to say he was a mountain biker or something but he said I was just in time because another policeman was waking up behind me with a pair of bolt cutters to cut my lock and take my bike away.

He then told me that there was this piddling little sign on the edge of the building that said you couldn't lock your bike up because it may be packed with explosives and mat blow up the building. No one would have gone anywhere near the sign because there was nothing to lock your bike to and when he pointed out the bike racks they were around a corner and he had to point them out twice before I could even see them let alone know what they were. All's well that ends well.

I did push my bike most of the way up Arthur's Seat and locked it to a handrail while I climbed up the last bit. The views were pretty good and after the mandatory photos, I rode down the other side and back home.

DISTANCE TODAY 25km TOTAL DISTANCE 955 km