Day 17 - Tuesday 14th August - Crieff to Kingussie

Weather - Wet start - dry with showers later - windy

Distance - 68.6 miles

Camp Site - Invernhavon Holiday Park, Glentruim, Newtonmore

Another wet start - up the steep hill through the centre of Crieff in the pouring rain - we were becoming well used to this weather and it did not deter us as it had on the first really wet day leaving Buxton although it was still very unpleasant. Once again we avoided a "circuitous loop" which was recommended to us on leaving Crieff. It passed - and suggested that we did not stop at- the Glenturret distillery and joined the A822 just after the junction with the A85! The steady climb on the A822 led us to Amulree where we turned off on to a narrow moorland road along the flat valley beside Loch Qualch. The only traffic we saw on this remote road was a 4 wheel drive Post Office delivery van. At the end of the flat valley we reached a lone farmhouse at Garrow where the road passed through a sheep gate and then climbed up a very steep hill at the head of the valley before dropping down an equally steep and winding hill into Kenmore. This downhill had a very poor road surface and numerous gravelly sharp bends and severely tested a bicycle's brakes and the riders nerves. The road crossed the River Tay in Kenmore and then followed a level stretch alongside the river before joining the B846 and yet another climb over the high pass before dropping down into Tummel Bridge. This pattern was to be repeated again with the climb out of Tummel Bridge before dropping down into Trinafour where it rained heavily to add to the problems with the steep hills which had to be climbed. Even the pleasure of the long downhill runs did not make up for the effort of the steep climbs when you realised that there was yet another climb to follow.

There was one particular stretch where the road climbed between trees that I noticed that one of the other cyclists had a cloud of flies around them as they rode along and it was not long before I realised that we all had our own cloud following us along. We had got very hot whilst climbing in the warm but damp weather conditions which must have attracted them to us.

Finally the narrow side roads joined the A9 after 48 miles in Glen Garry where there was cycle track to keep us away from the traffic on the main trunk road into Scotland. The cycle track took us up the long steady climb to the Pass of Drumochter summit at 1516 feet above sea level, the highest point of the A9 trunk road. This was the last high pass of the day and it was with some relief that I started the final long downhill run off the high pass.

This cycle track, sponsored by Sustrans, was sometimes a narrow cycle way which had been newly constructed alongside the dual carriageway and sometimes just the old road which was now by-passed by the new road. The surface often left a lot to be desired as the new stretches were often covered in loose gravel which tended to pile up on the track particularly on the corners and the old road stretches had often become badly worn and potholed. It was actually quite dangerous in places and in fact one member of our group fell off his bicycle on one of the corners of the new section on the loose gravel and injured himself badly enough that he was unable to complete the trip.

Whilst Sustrans are to be complimented on the fact that the route is there at all and allows cyclists to avoid the busy A9 further attention needs to be paid to the surface to make it safe for cyclists. We came to the conclusion that the person who decided on the gravel surface could not be a cyclist who would have been aware of the problems caused by the bad surface.

Eventually in Dalwhinnie at 61 miles I found a pub and stopped long enough for the usual lunch before continuing the final few miles to our camp site at the Invernhavon Holiday Park at Glentruim. This was a very large private caravan and camping site with very good showers and toilets and we had been allocated an area to ourselves at one end of the site.

This had been one of the longer days at over 68 miles and also included several of the highest passes on the whole journey. There was one time earlier in the day where I struggled with the lower slopes but after a stop for a banana and energy bar I soon recovered and was able to complete the days ride by early afternoon.

We knew that we were well into Scotland when we began to be attacked by the first of the "Scottish midges" as it began to get dark later in the evening, nevertheless this was one of the better camp sites although there was quite a long walk to the shower and toilet block.