The Slow Way home: trip blog 1

Dragging all the gear out to the front of the house in sunny Braemar weather was the easiest part of day 1. Following was the full packing of the gear (including throwing out even more of our excess belongings (that didn't really seem all that excess only a few weeks ago, but a bike can only take so much) ), the final goodbyes, and the first wobbly pedals taking us away from our highland life of the last 6 months.

And even after all the months of planning and talking, it still came down to waiting until the last minute for the postie to bring a memory stick for the new camera.
The postie was late for the first time. So we left.
Thanks Guy for thinking of us on your holiday aswell, much appreciated.
Luckily leaving Braemar there is a nice gentle down hill, so off we rolled, clipping into our cleats and enjoying the ease of it all - sun over our shoulders, wind in our hair, the country side gently rolling by. The next 2 years of our lives were going to be a breeze, if the first 9 miles were any indication.
But then something changed. Namely the gradient. The road from Crathie goes up, up into the Cairngorms, up to The Lecht Ski Centre, and then probably up some more. We knew this road was going to be hard, but the hills are what we came to Scotland for. Out of all the hills that day, we had to get off and push only a half dozen times or so.

We had been going for about half an hour that first day when a car came roaring up from behind with a dog hanging out one window and the driver hanging out the other, with tongues hanging out of both of them. It was Aileen with our memory stick. Gotta love Braemar. It's sort of like Sandy Point in size, and even similar weather, but the locals here are actually spotted out and about and enjoying their little part of the world. I know more people in Braemar after 6 months than all my summers at Sandy Point.

The first day we clocked up 43km, making it up to the ski centre, and just down the other side, to camp beside a stream, near an old mine. Dinner on the new stove, then into bed, and that was day 1 of 500, or so.

The next day we were up and away by 10.00, which seems to be our unofficial starting time.
It will quicken when my packing improves, and the weather improves also.
We started day 2 riding in a light drizzle. Our aim was to cut across country towards Loch Ness and although we were showered upon it was a very pleasant day with beautiful undulating countryside that seemed easy in comparison to day 1.
We managed to avoid big towns such as Aviemore by cutting through smaller places like Boat of Garten. We thought we'd try the 'off road' option on the bike path thinking that it meant 'away from the highway' but it also meant 'away from even sealed surfaces', taking us across a property including deep rutted 4WD tracks. AND it wasn't even a shortcut, we actually went 1.5 miles FURTHER!
After that little adventure we passed Slochd (we thought it quite amusing) followed by Slochd Summit. Shortly after that we reached 100km, woohoo! Once cruising down Slochd Summit we started looking for campsites and ended up just near Moy in the woods with the sun setting on the far hills.
Day 3 brought us to the shores of Loch Ness. It was a tough day with short sharp climbs on the single lane along the eastern side of the loch. The views were beautiful but for some reason all the little shops and cafes (that could've sold us ice creams) were closed in the middle of the day, a Saturday which you would think is prime tourist time.
The day ended with some lovely photos having been taken, but also with rain pelting down and us having to hide beneath the pine trees to erect our tent. Needless to say we hid and ate biccies for dinner in our sleeping bags!

After a few days on the road the moods were varied. Happy and then irritated. Hills and headwinds are something to get used to. But so much to look forward to also. We haven't gone far at all yet, but already seeing new corners of the world.