22 July - Calvine to Loch Insh

After leaving Camp Ticknmidge, we continued north along the A92 still on the Cycle Route 7. I

It was nice to not be on the highway, and moving slowly along gives one the opportunity to really see the scenery. This is looking west from the highway, into the distant mist across the moor.

Although we had technically been in the Highlands for some time, this sign appeared. Kinda have to stop for a picture of that!

By late morning we arrived at ... The Dalwhinnie Distillery! What a great way to start the day!

We had a lovely tour of the distillery - no photos allowed inside - and were impressed enough by the whisky that we bought a bottle. Not wanting to haul the glass, we transferred it to one of our plastic bladders. I know - it seems like sacrilege - but we kinda have to minimize the weight we're carrying. When Melinda brought the bottle back in for them to recycle it, they were quite impressed that we'd emptied it so quickly and were still even standing!

We passed through Newtonmore, which  houses the MacPherson Clan Museum. Inside were displays of the long history of the clan, as well as the supposed MacPherson's broken fiddle. We also found this great pipe march framed on the wall - going to have to learn to play that one!

After passing through Kingussie, we found the Ruthven Barracks. These were English barracks until the Jacobites drove them out. The barracks have been stabilized, and we went inside for a look around. Amazing to think that men were living there a couple hundred years ago...

We rode along the Insh Marshes, and found our way to Loch Insh. Inquiring at a bar, we learned of the public park along the Loch. We rode through the park until we found a beautiful knoll with huge oaks, and declared it home for the night. This camp we called Glen Oak. It was windy that night, but generally clear and not too cold.

Loch Insh was a great find for a camp site. No midges, no ticks, moderate amounts of cattle poop. We toasted the beauty of the place and our good fortune with our Dalwhinnie in the tulip glasses we received from the tour, and settled in for a quiet night.

Total miles for the day was 41.5. A long day, but a really good time.

21 July - Pitlochry to Calvine

The 21st of July was a tough day. We pared down our hardware and planned to ship about 8 lbs of stuff to the States. Well, the freight for it was an astonishing 50 pounds sterling! So we had to sift through that and decide what to keep, what to bin, and what to ship. We eventually got it down to the essentials, and it still cost 15 pounds sterling, with an estimated arrival date 56 days hence.

And, to add to the frustration, the bottom bracket on boB's bike started to fail. Horrible grinding and slop in the bearings ... so to a bike shop we went. Forty-five pounds [sterling] lighter, and half-way into the afternoon, we were finally able to depart Pitlochry. This was one of the places where the Route wasn't very well marked, so we had a couple false starts leaving town because we weren't sure we were on the right path.

Late in the afternoon we passed Blair Atholl. Feeling pressed for time, we didn't do much beyond a ride up the drive-way, and a picture from the front-gate. A shame, because it's apparently stunning inside the place. Next time we come through this way, we'll stop. We also had to pass the Blair Atholl distillery, which we will most certainly plan to visit sometime in the future!

Another half-hour up the road is The House of Bruar, purveyors of all sorts of fine Scottish things. Bob has two kilts from The House of Bruar, so we had to stop in and check out the tweed collections! It was late and we didn't have much time, and since kilts are less necessary than food while on cycle tour, we headed for the cafe and food shop first!

A fine selection of MacSween's fresh haggis! Yum!

We're not making this up... you really can buy vegetarian haggis in a can. If anyone from home would like some, let us know and we'll ship a case...

We continued up the road, through the site of Killiekrankie along the River Garry, and eventually found our home for the night.

This site was nicely secluded along the Old A92, and appeared to be ideal. We named this site Glen Ticknmidge, in honor of the dastardly swarms of midges, and the minor collection of ticks we picked off after climbing into the tent. 

Total miles 22.

20 July - Loch Tay to Pitlochry

We reluctantly left the shore of Loch Tay on the morning of the 20th, and headed onward along Route 7 still toward Pitlochry.

It wasn't long before we were greeted/warned of the Red Squirrels that might appear along the roadside. Not sure why the exclamation mark - are they carnivorous?? - so we rode on cautiously and with our eyes keen for Red Squirrels!

Just as we reached Kenmore it started to rain, so we took a break for writing post cards and a coffee. The inn where we stopped is reputedly the oldest continuously-running inn in Scotland.

Just outside Kenmore is the Taymouth Castle. It's got a turbulent recent history, with several corporations attempting the restoration over the last couple decades, and several of them going bankrupt in the process. Nonetheless, it's awfully impressive.

Later on the day, we happened along Menzies Castle. We felt pressed for time, so we stopped in to use the loo. It was all the way at the back of the place, so we had a nice self-guided tour through the first floor. Wish we'd had more time, because I'm sure the rest of the place was quite magnificent.

Our friend, National Cycle Route 7. In places the signs were brilliantly placed, and we had an easy time following the route. A few times the signs were practically hidden, and much angst ensued as we wandered helplessly about the roundabouts trying to find our direction. Overall, the route is well planned, and keeps the cyclist off heavily-trafficked roads...

And often times places the cyclist on desperately steep back roads!! This picture is taken just outside Pitlochry, half-way (or less) up one of the VERY steep back roads. A few minutes recovery, and we were off again.

Here's camp at Pitlochry. Not our prefered mode, to camp with the caravans, but this place had laundry, showers, and was affordable. 

We spent the evening in Pitlochry, and attended the Highland Nights presentation. We thought it was going to be a night of Scottish Country Dancing, and a bit of a ceilidh, but it turns out it was a purely tourist thing, with canned acts held at the Atholl Palace. It was still pleasant to sit in the warm auditorium, because outside it was cold and continued to rain!

Ascending to the Atholl Palace with high hopes and ghillies in hand.

Lovely Highland dancing, of the sword variety.

40 miles today!

19 July - Callender to Loch Tay

Now that we're base-camped on Shetland for a short while we'll try to put up some pictures of the places we've been and seen.

When we last left off with our picture posts, we were leaving from Callender on the morning of the 19th, and headed toward Killin.

The day started with beautiful sunshine ... here we are after leaving Callender, riding up and down (and up (and down)) along the Cycle Route 7. Huge fields of ferns on the hill sides, heavy conifers, and, for a nice change, lovely blue skies.

We passed through Balquidhidder (also the name of a super fun Scottish dance!) where Rob Roy MacGreggor is buried, along with his family. It's a beautiful old kirk with an ancient graveyard.

We took the opportunity for a stretch break, and pulled out our instruments to play in the kirk. A lovely old Scottish couple offered to take our picture while we were playing. We played a number of strathspeys, and at the end of it the woman said "That was lovely bluegrass music." We decided to take that as a sign that she was not too familiar with strathspeys, rather than our inability to play them. But after having not played much music for so many days, she could be more right than we are?

Even after that we still had lovely weather. Here's another beautiful picture as we're headed into Killin.

The Falls of Dochart, in Killin. We stopped in a pub for a beer and snack and ordered "Scottish Tapas." That included deep fried haggis, cullen skink, Scottish salmon, and mushy peas. We also ordered "vegetarian fish and chips," which was deep fried cheese and deep fried potatoes! 

Following that load of deeply fried Scottish culinary goodness, we continued on our way, albeit a bit sluggishly. We rode a good ways along the Loch Tay, and found an absolutely perfect campsite on the shoreline. We were treated to a million-pound sunset to end the day ...

19 miles today.

A Whisky Wonderful Day

Hi, All!

A glorious day yesterday, with a stop at the Dalwhinnie distillery mid-day. We bought a bottle of 15 yo whisky, carted it to The Loch of Insh, and had a great time wi'it!  Thusly, not able to write much today, as you might imagine.

We're off to Grantown in Spey today, if we can make it that far, and will try to blog more in the next few days. Giving ourselves a treat for the weekend in Dufftown. You can google it or wait for us to tell more on the blog.

Stay tuned!

Tak guid care, we'll be in touch.

Hi, everyone! In the interest of brevity, we think we'll switch to more of a photo book mode than a story book mode. Saves on the typing, and saves a little time. When there's really good stories we'll be sure to share them, though. Enjoy!!

Here's our last day in Bozeman, as we head to Anaconda to see M's sister and store the truck. This is July 9th...

Final stop at The Spotted Horse in Belgrade. Going to miss their coffee and their awesome atmosphere.

The good old Red Rig ALMOST made it to Karl's place in Anaconda. Vapor locked on the last hill ... Cooled it off a wee and it powered in just find.

Here we are with our buds at The Butte Folk Fest. One last blast with friends at home!

 Us and all our stuff at the airport in Bozeman. That's a lot of stuff! Next stop is Seattle for a long layover and hanging out with my brother, and then on to Iceland!

Our first night in Iceland. Beautiful sunset, and it's about 11:00 pm!! 

 The beautiful church in Reykjavik, called Hallgrimskirka. We unfortunately missed the noontime organ concert, which was a serious bummer. Maybe next time?

 We also stopped at the Blue Lagoon hot spring for several hours of much-needed soaking  had a blast, and then walked around a bit. The lava that makes up the country side is incredibly rugged and unforgiving, and is called Devil's Lava.

 Another beautiful sunset.

 Sitting on the plane after landing at Glasgow. The bikes made it!

 And several hours later... They're built!

 Our first camp in Scotland, after a day riding in the rain from Galsgow. We Wild-camped in the Balloch country park with huge beautiful cedars. We woke up to bagpipes from the highland games going on that day. We must be in Scotland!

 Following Cycle Route 7... Before we got to Aberfoyle. This is near Croftamie.

 Ahh... The Scottish country side!

 Cycle route 7 took us over a very rugged mountain pass on logging roads through the Trossachs. The road was so steep in places that we had to get off and walk, pushing our overloaded bikes up the gravel roads. The scenery made it all worth it, though. Here's some large timber stacks ... Huge!

Again, the beautiful scenery!

At the end of Day 2 we made it to Callender and stayed in a hostel to dry our stuff after 18 miles of riding.

If you want to see our route, Google National Cycle Route 7, and maybe add Sustrans to the search term. 

Now it's about 1:30 in the afternoon, and we're headed to Killen. See you there! 

The Mayhem Continues....

We hope this mayhem ends shortly... The never-ending tasks are, well, never ending!

We had intended to spend this week camping out and testing our gear, but we just haven't been able to do that yet. We've spent a couple nights in the tent in the yard, and will do that until we leave for Scotland.

We've been staying at our friends' place - Tim and Tina's. They've let us crash in the basement, and without their support this would all be vastly more difficult. We have room to sort gear, spread out and work on things, and it's nice to not have to worry about losing stuff. It's also a dry base camp for when the odd Montana July t-storm rolls through! 

Now, I know we should have been out in that rain riding - practice for Scotland, right? Well, we're not quite ready for that... :-)