Day 13 done: Beauly to Altnaharra

As we are drawing to the end of the tour the blogging duties have been passed back to me, Dicky, to hopefully see us home. 

Over dinner last night, and after yesterday's 11 mile overrun, the apparently easy 65mile cruise into Altnaharra for leg 13 suddenly became the main topic of conversation. Had all Ace's calculations (or lack of them) been askew or was leg 12 a blip. Boys being boys, the forecast versus actual mileage conversation suddenly turned into a major competition. The trigger question was simple, who has led the most accurate sector of touring, where their forecast mileage most accurately matched the actual miles covered. Therefore a quick read back over the tour so far revealed some very interesting stats:
- Ian had managed to under estimate his 4 leg sector by 19 miles. This included a whopping 18 mile shortfall on leg 3, from Bridgestowe to Taunton. Ace and I were both left speechless how we had managed to let this type of wilful neglect go without ridicule. 
- I had underestimated by a steady 3 or 4 miles per leg to come in at a total overrun of 18 miles for my 5 leg sector. A solid performance I put down to local knowledge. 
- Ace (who must remember is the most competitive man on the planet) realised that his 11mile error from day had seriously set him back. After a lot of mileage remeasuring into the wee small hours, Paul emerged this morning to announce that he was confident of a fairly accurate day. In reality we rolled into the Altnaharra Hotel as we clicked through 70miles, resulting in Ace needing to be within a mile of the forecasted 75 left to John O'Groats. It is going to be close! 

So to today's cycling. It was definitely the coldest morning of the tour so far as we prepared to roll out at about 8.30am. I was feeling rather smug about my ever increasing Lycra outfit as we slowly made our way through the mist filled valley. The cold start was quickly behind us as the sun burnt through the mist and we started the steady climb up to Stuies Hill. We met the support vehicle at the first designated stop of Dingwall. Big Mike was left to source supplies whilst the three musketeers cracked on up the hill. We were soon into open country and the blue sky against the heather mountains made for a pretty picture. 

A major milestone we were looking forward to passing during our morning in the saddle was moving to less than 100 miles to go to 'the end'. Ian, our Maths Graduate and resident Carol Vorderman, was left to do the calcs and we were confidently told by Ian that when we clock up 30 miles we will be down into double fingers. As we passed the mark we all gave a mighty cheer  and our spirits will filled ready for the last push. 10 minutes down the road and Ian confessed to a slight miscalculation. He had somehow managed to calculate 65 + 75 - 100 = 30. I might have to write to the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Nottingham to report the declining teaching standards. 

We made it to Stuies Hill lookout just before midday and were left in awe at the views down over the Dornoch Firth. A quick Scotch Pie (keeping up our high nutrition), a couple of photos for the album and we were on our way. 

A quick stop at Lairgs for our sandwich and we set off up the A836 north. Paul's desire to stear clear of the major A-roads of Britain has been severely restricted as we got further north and the A836 was the only road into Altnaharra. Fortunately the A386 is not one of Britain's major A-roads. In fact it is a single track lane that runs through some of the most rugged countryside I have seen in the UK. All in all, we must have passed 15 cars, a postman, 2 vans and a timber truck in the 20mile ride to our hotel. 

At our lunch stop, Paul had spotted a place called the Crask Inn that was 10 miles short of our destination. Could there really be a public house this far into the wilderness? Our hopes were fading as we hadn't passed a house, never mind a pub, in the first 10miles of the A836. As we drew around a corner our spirits raised as we spotted a white house in the distance. We quickly spotted the support vehicle parked up by the side. Surely not!? Our prayers were realised, and not only that but, Dad, in the advanced party, had already lined up the beers. We then enjoyed a quiet, refreshing pint in what must be one of the most remote Pubs in the country. The only issue was that the midges were out in force! 

We then had an easy 10 mile cruise into Altnaharra and our day on the bike was done! Due to the weather, the terraine and the general cycling, this was one of the best legs of the trip so far. 

Special mention must go to Dad in the support vehicle for a near (well actually completely) faultless performance today. The food run was spot on and Mike's tuck-shop has now turned into Mike's deli. The pastries and cakes went down a treat, there were no injuries to report and his forward advances tonthe pub and hotel perfectly executed. It seems he has got his A-game together as we reach the end. This was perfectly illustrated when we got to ordering wine with dinner. I asked for the wine list but it quickly emerged that Dad had already done his research and  suggested the Malbec would go perfectly with the steak. Perhaps supporting future expeditions could be a nice little earner for the retirement years?!

I must also report the budding bromance that has been developing between Ace and Deano. It has been simmering for most of the trip but has really started to blossom since Dad joined the tour and they have been thrown into room sharing. Since then the colour of each others facial hair has been rapidly converging, tyre kissing on the road has become a reglar event and double night-caps chit-chatting into the wee hours has become the norm. They have also made a formidable sports team taking the Dickinson team down at pool and ping-pong over the last 24hours. As a final straw, I am sure I caught them pushing their twin beds closer together when we reached the hotel last night. Talk tonight of sharing a single bed and spooning has just taken it all a bit too far! I think it is time to get these boys back to their wives!?

Stats for today:

- miles covered today: 70
- Unaccounted mileage cycled in the day: 5 
- miles covered in total: 964
- miles remaining: 75 (even though Ace needs to remeasure)
- injuries received: 1 (Ace managed to get a nettle sting where no man wants one)
- single track A-roads ridden: 1 
- falls: zero

The Big Mike Scotch Cup was once again well tested in Beauly. The local Singleton malt was well received if not spectacular. The Balvenie Doublewood was the best received of the evening and has emerged as a strong contender for the cup. Other malts sampled included the Highland Park and the Lagavolin, both of which were part of the bromance night cap but neither hit the high spots of the Balvenie.  

The beers consumption has remained steady if unspectacular. The Belhaven Best hs been slipping down well but we have decided it is not a patch on some of the English drops we have consumed on the trip. 

Food has remained focused on haggis and steak - this is a boys trip after all!!! We did also include the Cullen Skink to keep it Scottish! 

Tomorrow sees us embarking on the final push to 'the end'. Ian is convinced it is merely the 'precesion' to the Champs Élysées to receive our podium finishes. We are also looking forward to the shimmering peat bogs JB (John Bigley) promised us. I reserve my judgement until tomorrow. 

TTFN