Day 13 – Friday 3 August

Aviemore to Dornoch

The previous evening Liz had found me in hospital and helped me take out my contact lenses (I only had one serviceable arm) and gave me a supply of normal clothes, pajamas etc. The hospital suggested that I could stay there until Sunday, when my arm would be able to cope with the journey home to Birmingham. Liz had found a campsite at Bridge of Earn where she and the boys spent the night. Having given Mick time to cycle on to his B&B at Boat of Garten Liz ’phoned him to keep him in the picture.

On Friday morning it was raining so Liz packed up everything except the tent fly sheet and left the boys reading in the van while she went to clean her teeth, and in the ladies’ block met a friend from Moseley, so she and the boys went round to her friend’s caravan for coffee.

At about mid-day Liz and the boys visited me again in the hospital before setting off for Inverness and then the campsite near Dornoch that Mick would be aiming for. At Inverness they did some food shopping and tried to ’phone the campsite but were unable to get through, so drove on to Dornoch arriving at about half past seven and found Mick who had been there since about three. The campsite receptionist had taken pity on him and privided tea and sandwiches.

The campsite was in the dunes by the sea, very nice in good weather but on that night windswept. They were serenaded by boisterous neighbours but in the end ate well and slept soundly.

Tuesday 28 May 1991

After a superb breakfast of porridge and locally smoked kippers at Bridge of Earn, listening to two bird watchers chatting about, well, birds, I set off at about ten o’clock. South of Inverness I came across the Culloden battlefield and stopped to allow a moment of contemplation. I met up with Liz at Tore for lunch before carrying on along the A9, crossing the Cromarty Firth on the new bridge that wasn’t yet open to traffic rather than looping all the way to the end of the Firth through Dingwall. I cycled on along the northern shore of the Firth, past imposing castles, eventually getting to Dornoch at 7 o’clock just as dinner was about to be served. I grabbed a quick shower and dashed down to eat a lovely evening meal and then walked through the town to see the campsite where Liz had met up with Mick the year before. Our room in the B&B was infinitely more comfortable.