Day 1 | Inverness to Strathcarron | 104 km

At 9:30 we gather in the hotel parking lot for the daily briefing from Fiona. A few minutes later we’re clipping in, starting the GPS and turning into a strong headwind.

I do find it a bit tense getting out of the city. Riding on the left side of the road feels odd, and it’s particularly nerve wracking in a roundabout. In my head I’m saying, stay left stay left stay left…

The traffic lights are different as well. Instead of green, yellow, red, it goes green, red, yellow. Once we’re onto quieter roads, the scenery gets better and our first stop is at a bakery in Muir of Ord at 24 km. I end up riding with Viv from Northumberland for most of the day.

The headwind gets even worse and I can’t even count the number of times I’m almost blown off the road. It’s not raining though, so that’s something. Plus the scenery is amazing.

It’s a struggle to reach the lunch stop at the Midge Bite Café after 70 km. It’s not a long day in terms of the distance, but the wind makes it so much harder.

Fiona passes us again and she stops to see if we need anything from the van. She and Paul are a great support system and it’s nice to know they’re a phone call away.

After 90 km the road gets significantly narrower, and in many places it’s one lane. There are spots to pull over here and there, but sometimes when a car (or worse, a camper van) is approaching from the front, all I can do is grit my teeth and hold on tight. I don’t have any photos of the really narrow spots because I needed to give it my full attention.

We’re staying at the only hotel in town. In fact, we’re taking up all the rooms.

Tomorrow we head north to Poolewe.