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Days 16 to 18
Bankfoot to Alness
Thursday 20th June Bankfoot to Balsporran Cottages, Dalwhinnie
A few spits and spots as we started off on our ride today. Breakfast in the morning was probably one of the poorest of the whole trip so far. 
Over breakfast we chatted to a couple who were very interested in Inter Care - the lady was a physiotherapist and was telling us about the health and safety restrictions which stopped crutches and walking sticks from being re-used in the UK. From Bankfoot it wasn't far to Birnam which has a museum for Beatrix Potter and a garden outside which we spent a while in. Then a mile further on we reached Dunkeld with its cathedral in magnificent grounds alongside the River Tay. Tea and scones followed in a cafe in the town. After a short section on the A9 we left to take the side roads to Pitlochry which we entered using a very devious route over a very bouncy suspension footbridge with a man flyfishing in the river beneath us.
Having bought lunch in the town we carried on for the next 5 miles to Blair Atholl. In the village we found a nice quiet sheltered haven with benches in an orchard. As we were about to leave a motorist pulled up and enquired if we knew where the castle was - 
he said the notice back at Pitlochry said 6 miles and he felt as though he had been driving for at least twice that distance - don't we know the problem! I was able to tell him it was only another 1/2 mile down the road. Not long after we reached the entrance to the Falls of Bruar and from here onwards we joined the old A9 which runs alongside the new road and in the main is totally used as a traffic free cycle path with small sections of minor road. This path takes you 20 miles up to the top of the Drumochter Pass and is ideal cycling with shallow gradients and little traffic. The river, the railway, the cycle track and the new A9 gradually climbing to the summit of the pass at 462m. We arrived at Balsporran Cottages which is just past the summit at about 5pm.
The stats for the day were 47.84 miles : 10.0mph : 2896ft climbed
Friday 21st June Balsporran Cottages to Westhill, Inverness
Our hosts at Balsporran Cottages were also keen cyclists - we should have taken a few lessons from them on how to pack with light loads - 1 change of clothes, a tent and a sleeping bag were the bare essentials. Shortly after we arrived at the B&B the night before a train had passed twenty yards away and had shaken the whole building. Strangely none of the other trains that passed had the same effect. The last train at night was about 10 and the first one in the morning was about 7 so we had an undisturbed night. Siskins were feeding on the nuts outside in the garden and apparently oyster catchers were around with their young - we didn't see them. The two ladies at breakfast in the morning were also going to the Orkneys to visit the music festival - 
would it be busy and would we be able to find accomodation? The first half of the ride today would be essentially downhill - our reward for the efforts of yesterday. We stopped in Newtonmoor for tea, 
then Kingussie for fruit and sandwiches and finally Aviemoor for tea and scone at midday. Carrbridge was only another 7 miles so we decided to press on and have lunch here. Half way there we noticed a car pull in just ahead of us - out jumped David and Margaret Garratt. They were on holiday in the area and been following our blog on the internet. Just by chance they happened to be travelling along the same road as us! We ate lunch alongside the packhorse bridge in Carrbridge and then began the big climb of the day over the Slochd pass at 405m. Fortunately the gradient was reasonable for most of the way - thank God for Scottish hills and road engineers. 
After 6 miles it started to rain so we took cover in a bus shelter and gorged on flapjack. Once we reached lower levels the rain ceased. We had had to use the A9 proper for a short section just south of Inverness so we were grateful that we could turn off onto the side roads once again to reach our destination at Westhill overlooking Inverness to the south east. There was a drawback of course - more hills. At the Clava Cairns we stopped to photograph a group of prehistoric burial cairns dating from about 2000BC, then we had a final climb up into Culloden and the B&B. We'd had a long day a lot of which had been downhill, so the 3 mile circular trip to the pub for an evening meal was not ideal. The owners of the B&B were very helpful - they volunteered to do our washing and they gave us use of the computer to edit the blog. Thank you very much.
The stats for the day were 62.44 miles (plus 3 miles to pub) : 11.7mph : 2091ft climbed
Saturday 22nd June Westhill to Alness
Saturday had been planned as a short day to allow us time to do washing in Inverness - this of course was not needed. When we arrived at the Keswick Bridge we found diversion signs and the cycleway was closed. In retrospect we should have investigated further. 
It was not clear where we were being diverted to, so we took the option of cycling an additional 15 miles around the Beauly Firth. I have just read that what we should have done is gained access to the south carriageway from the other side of the bridge! Never mind - we had time on our hands and although it started to rain as we left Inverness it didn't amount to much. The clouds though looked very black on the horizon. At the head of the firth at Beauly we found a tea shop which provided us with lovely cake. The town was preparing to host the finish of the Highland Cross - a cycle race from coast to coast for charity. 
We cheated and finished early! Only 20 miles left now for the day so we took our time visiting a priory at Beauly and then camping in a cemetery overlooking the Cromarty Firth to eat lunch. Not long after a small deer jumped out from the woods onto the road just infront of us and then disappeared almost as quickly. The sun was still shining although the clouds were looking even more threatening behind us. We reached Alness at 3 just as it was beginning to rain. After several attempts at finding a B&B (three were fully booked) we found the Station Hotel at £60 for the night (one of the cheapest of the trip)
The stats for the day were 43.05 miles : 10.6mph : 1242ft climbed