Invershin to Killiecrankie
Day 3
 We
set off, back on to the A836 and crossed the Bonar Bridge. On
the advice of our hosts of the previous night we took a shortcut
through the hills along the B9176. There was a long ascent,
about 2 miles, but it was steady and I’m glad we did it as we
got a great view from the top and thereafter it was pretty much
downhill to the A9. I was not impressed by this huge road, or by
the bridge over the Cromarty Firth which we had to cross. So
when we reached the Black Isle we decided to take an alternative
route. We got
thoroughly lost because we were going
along small roads which weren’t very well signposted, but it was
a pretty place, especially Munlochy. Not overly black either. We
crossed the Beauly Firth and found ourselves in Inverness after
weaving round some roundabouts. Stopped at the Moray Inn for
food. Inverness is nothing special but quite nice up on the
hill. We spent a while escaping from it, but eventually got on
to the A9 and dragged up some huge hills.
We came off the A9 on to the A938 and found ourselves in
Carrbridge. We instantly loved the place, really nice town and
very friendly people in the Cairn Hotel, so we decided to stop
there for the night. But didn’t, we met some people in the pub
who suggested we go clubbing in Aviemore, just down the road, so
we did. We got far too drunk but had a very good night out at
The Vault, crashed at somebody’s house in Aviemore and hitched
our way back to our bikes in Carrbridge in the morning.
Day 4
Feeling slightly the worse for wear we carried on down the road
which ran alongside the A9, and then from Newtonmore there was a
cyclepath which ran alongside the A9. We had to go over the
Drumochter summit, which was fantastic: there was a really
daunting sign warning cyclists of the changeability of
conditions, even in summer, but after a fairly easy ride up we
went bombing down
the other side of it along the cycle path. We lost a lot of the
height we’d previously built up. Great fun. The character of the
countryside changed when we reached Blair Atholl, a historic and
very upmarket town. Blair Castle was gleaming white in the
sunshine. We stopped with more of Charlie’s mother’s cousins in
Killiecrankie, just North of Pitlochry. As before we were very
thoroughly fed and we slept very well. They also made us dress
up in highland warrior outfits and fight each other. Not exactly
what we were expecting but it was good to discover our inner
brutes.
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