Another poor night’s sleep in the tent… I’m way too old for camping. We rose at 07:00 to find that the troublesome mist had returned and packed the tent before treating ourselves to a big breakfast in the Flower Tunnel.
We climbed up through thick mist to the summit of the highest road in Britain, the Bealach Na Ba which rises to 2053 feet. A sign at the other side of the road reads Road normally impassable in wintry conditions and we later saw it described as “not an easy drive” so you can imagine what it was like with fully laden bikes. Still, cyclists are made of sterner stuff than touring motorists but we’d have preferred it without the mist. It did clear briefly for the start of the descent but then closed in for a very cold drop down into the valley.
We cycled through the attractive village of Lochcarron and then along the loch of the same name and on into Plockton where we’d hoped to find accommodation. No luck, so after a short rest at the café we continued over the new bridge and onto Skye, which seems less of an island now you can get there without recourse to a ferry. As expected, the Kyleakin SYHA hostel was busy with motor tourists covering the popular bits of Scotland by car, an entirely different clientele to the hostels in the far northwest.