Stage 2 complete! No sign of Nesse...

Day 2 and 77 miles to cover to reach Drumnadrochit on Loch Ness.

It started raining as we got up so we had to adorn rain jackets again, overshoes and, more importantly, our marigold gloves!!! We set off at 6.38am along the same rough and pot holed road from the day before. The wind felt stronger today and again was blowing across us making it hard work. Thankfully though the rain had stopped. The first part of the journey took us along undulating terrain up fairly high in the mountains. We then had a long decent down towards Bonar Bridge. We kept on the A836 going through Tain and following the coast round to Cromarty Firth. The scenery was not as impressive as the previous day. We'd left the mountains behind and everything became very flat. The grey skies probably didn't help either! We had our first break at our usual 30 mile mark, refueling on kitkat chunkies. By half 9 the rain started again. It never got very heavy and was actually more refreshing than an annoyance. At 55 miles we stopped just past Dingwall for our chocolate oak cake break, and sheltered in a bus stop for a bit. We got chatting to a local Scottish lady about the ride and she very kindly gave us some sponsorship! We continued on through Muir of Ord and Beauly where we started a very long and steep ascent up the side of Carn A Bhodaich. My gears were once again playing up (story of my life!) and true to form it was the one gear that was really perfect for the steep climbs that wouldn't work!! This made it even harder work as I had to use a higher gear than I wanted to. I was already flagging a bit, feeling the need for more food to give me energy. We had 9 miles to the campsite, and as the road went on and on going up and up and up it felt like the longest 9 miles ever!! To our relief Pete's folks passed us in the campervan on the ascent so at least we knew there would be food waiting for us the other end!! The climb was definitely worth it though - once up on the mountain the scenery greatly improved and the downhill down the other side was incredible! Pete reached 40.4mph going down! I maxed at 32.7mph and got scared so sat heavily on the brakes for most of the descent. The road was pretty terrible being rough and pot holed with hair pin bends. It was so steep that going round the bends you felt the bike was going to go over the handlebars when you braked!! I was seriously wondering how much longer I could keep squeezing the brakes hard enough!! The end came rather suddenly, round a sharp bend and ending in a t-junction where I found Pete waiting at the bottom. The campsite was only a mile or so down the road and we arrived at 12.04 to find that it was little more than a car park by some horse stables!! The ground was concrete and there was no way for us to peg an awning out. It was completely unsuitable and rather resmbled a gypsy camp!! After quick deliberation we decided to go back into the village to the tourist info place and find a different campsite. The nearest was the Loch Ness Caravan Park down in Invermoriston, some 11 miles away we were told. This actually turned out to be 15 miles, taking Pete and I another hour to cycle down. It was a bit of a struggle as we had prepared ourselves for finishing the ride at 77 miles, so to have to go on another hour was a bit disheartening! The road went right down the side of Loch Ness which was absolutely beautiful! By this time the sun had come out making it even more stunning. It was pretty hilly and again the strong wind and poor road surface slowed us down a lot. 2 miles from the campsite I tried to change my gears to the big chainring to find I couldn't! The fingers in my right hand had gone really weak and I didn't physically have the strength in the hand to change them. I think the huge descent hanging on to the breaks so tight had really strained my hand. We arrived at the campsite at 13.48 making our journey 7 hours 10 mins including breaks and campsite faffing!! Total mileage was 92.4 miles. This campsite was amazing, being right on the Loch side with stunning views of Loch Ness and the surrounding mountains. 

We now only have around 92 miles to cover tomorrow instead of the originally planned 106 due to our new campsite arrangements, so we're feeling rather relieved about that! Now, time for a gigantic dinner to replace the 5000 calories I've burnt today!! :o)