House on the shore..

Dover - Shetland Day 35
Cromarty - Tomich (Nr Lairg)

Distance cycled: today 66km, total 2,069.9km
Ascent: today 774m, 14,278m

Highlight: beautiful weather for just about the entire day, sunny, warm (but not too hot) and gentle following wind.

Lowlight: whilst mainly rural and deserved roads, there was a couple of miles of unnerving high speed A9 west of Tain. My uneasiness was exacerbated by a tumble off a bike on this road a few miles north of Dornoch, which could have had a very bad outcome had there been a vehicle close behind. This stretch has huge verges which would easily be turned into a protected bike path - perhaps it will take an accident to force the issue.

What else: with such nice weather and a fairly modest distance to cover today, lots of conversations with random people en route. All lived locally but only one of the 6 or 7 was originally from the area, with the remainder from England. On this unscientific evidence it seems that immigration is clearly important for the continued population of the far NW of Scotland.

Photo: a Mediterranean like day on the Dornoch Firth.