RideEatCamp

Lochinver

Europe

The original plan was to make it a short day from Tain to Lairg, but when woke up something was wrong. The sky was blue and this strange yellow orb was glowing above us. It was time to alter our plans.

Carrie passes an abandoned manor built by the MacLeod Clan as a last ditch effort to remain important. The poor thing was burned down ten years after it was built.
Carrie passes an abandoned manor built by the MacLeod Clan as a last ditch effort to remain important. The poor thing was burned down ten years after it was built.
That odd looking peak in the back was just a taste of what we'd see as we got closer to Lochinver and the west coast.
That odd looking peak in the back was just a taste of what we’d see as we got closer to Lochinver and the west coast.

To get the most out of the dry weather we decided to ride the coast to the village of Lochinver. Although we were concerned that the route would be mainly on A roads and thus busy with high speed motor vehicles, our fears were unfounded. The road through the interior was quiet. We passed through a long farming valley and then climbed gradually to more barren terrain, reminiscent of the Burren in Ireland. A lot of the rock formations in these parts are made of gneiss, which in these parts is 3 billion years old. You read that right, three billion. This is some of the oldest exposed rock on earth.

As we passed the ancient rocks a curious thing happened. The blue sky and yellow orb was replaced by a dark blanket of clouds. It started raining again. It wasn’t raining hard though. In fact I was hoping we could make it to our campground without breaking out my rain jacket. With about five miles left however it got wet enough to make the rain jacket necessary. We’ve been in Scotland for nine days now and it’s rained every day. Perhaps tomorrow the yellow orb will reappear and assert it’s dominance in the sky for at least 24 hours.