We were up late last night attending to last minute packing. We’d decided to take our tent and camping stove, as we were heading for the remotest part of the British mainland and weren’t sure how easy it would be to find food and accommodation. We also had to be prepared for the full spectrum of weather on our three week expedition, from hot sunshine to chilly winds and torrential rain, so we had to make some hard choices and took Christine’s compact camera rather than my SLR, so some days are lacking illustration.
We were awoken by a heavy downpour following several days of hot weather but it had ceased by the time we set off to pedal the seven miles to Bangor railway station for the 09:49 Virgin service which we took as far as Crewe. We had half an hour to wait before loading our bikes onto the Birmingham to Edinburgh, which reached the Scottish capital on time. This allowed me to sample the excellent Deuchars IPA at the Waverley station buffet before the GNER “Highland Chieftain” London to Inverness train turned up. This was running ten minutes late but the beer selection was superior to Virgin… York Brewery Terrier Bitter in bottles.
The only disappointment was that the gloom, low mist and drizzle spoiled our appreciation of the scenery. On arrival, we made straight for the spacious new SYHA hostel before eating and retiring to bed.