29th August Crianlarich to Paisley

Fantastic beautiful day. Except we went the wrong direction out our lodgings, and ended up 40 miles in the wrong direction. We had a lovely ride, but as we were due to meet up with the Scottish Bipolar people, we called it a day after 45 miles or so, and drove to Paisley. A picture of us meeting up is attached, along with one of the entrance to their office. Nice.

They looked after us very cordially, and we were all very interested in how their work is conducted in Scotland..

This was the worst accommodation of the whole trip. The manager, after about 5 telephone calls was completely unable to describe how to get to her hotel. We decided that it was because she lived there and didn't need to know.

There was the most almighty fire near the area as were searching. So big that several fire tenders were out, and kids from all around. They couldn't stop laughing at my Borat style shorts. There was a huge Hiroshima like plume of black smoke going up into the air. I even asked the hotel lady to look out the window, could she see the smoke, as a point of reference. She said not.

When we found the place, no thanks to her. I stood on the front step, and there was the smoke, 100 yards away. What a dipstick.

I was just settling down in my bed, when Sue (christened Jane Austen for the trip with regard to her sensitive and proper demeanour) invited me down to their shared bedroom. I entered the room, which was bathed in a gentle and romantic light, a mixture of provocative and sensuous feminine aromas in the air. They were both in their night attire, in their respective beds, and said they had a special request of me. Thinking my luck was in, they kicked me out of their fire door into the cold and asked if it was secure from the outside, as they were on the ground floor and wanted to feel safe. Hmm.

28th August Fort William to Crianlarich

A very physically demanding day. As we were bimbling along at our own not too fast not too fit pace, I saw a large group of cyclists behind us. My job for the whole tour was watching out for stuff from behind. Anyway, I urged Jess to speed up in order to sit on the back of this group of chaps. They were racing cyclists. out for a leg loosener of 150 miles or so. One of the pics is of me enjoying following up the rear over one of the lengthy climbs. We were ripping along at around 30mph or so for loads of it, the sheer pace was exhilarating for Jess. I had my first and only near death experience on one of the downhill sections. 45mph in the wet round tight bends, front wheel starting to skid, down a mountain. Not good

The annoying thing for Jess was that were all laughing, joking and behaving in typical bloke fashion all the time, which she found completely disgusting. She forgave them when a kind chap gave her the most delicious homemade flapjack ever in the whole world. Yum yum.

We must have saved a couple of hours that day from being towed along at such a speed. Thanks guys!

Lovely accomadation, loads of animals

Apparently, Crianlarich is Gaelic for 'low pass'. My a**.

27th August Drumnadrochit to Fort William

First part was along the shores of Loch ness, and most of the rest of the way was equally beautiful. We stopped for a quite a few photos today, so were running late as usual. Jess and Simon found the most gorgeous specimen of manhood (made Jess blush) in the whole world. He even stripped for us and dived into Loch Ness, emerging. aftershave ad style from the frigid waters, cascades of which were running down his muscular torso........ . His name was 'Rocas' which made him all the more 'fit'.

Possible highlight of the day was meeting up with a lovely lady who lives in Fort William. She invited us round to her house, having prepared an outstanding vegetarian meal. We couldn't stop giggling as she described her work in Antarctica, and her (then) beloved. When describing him, she went red as a beetroot and quivered a little, as if she was having a 'crisis'. We got her to do this multiple times until she appeared to have run out of energies. You know who you are thank you so much. We trust you will find another to fill the gap left by Mr X.

26th August Brora to Drumnadrochit

A more attractive day cycling wise, sunny during the middle of the day. We stopped for lunch, and the boys noticed that the indigenous ladies of the area were all about 6 feet tall. Even the schoolgirls were model height. Weird.
Day ended in absolute deluge, testing our waterproof gear to the max.

Our lodgings for the night were outstanding, we had a whole newly built chalet to ourselves, which we referred to as the big brother house. Wonderful. Jess forgot her 'ruby slippers' when we went to the chip shop, so had to be carried 'piggy on the back' style.

Are you sitting comfortably

(we weren't!) then I'll begin.....

24th August. The day kicked off at around 5.30 am, collecting the team from their various abodes. Luckily, our tardis like love bus managed to containg the ladies' make up etc. Mike being a travelling bluesman, had his guitar, a small case, and a bar of soap. Mike started driving after a while, and after a while of very competent motorway driving, I announced to the girls (who hadn't noticed because they were reading Hello magazine etc) that Mike hadn't actually driven for a few years. He did a fantastic job, and say that as an ex police highly qualified driver.

We collectively needed around 7 stops for Expressos etc en route. It's a long way! We were so bored that even the most feeble of jokes cracked everyone up. Everyone's favourite seemed to be 'Have you ever been groused?' as we passed another distillery. This had the girls in tears for about ten minutes, I can't imagine what they were thinking about.

The hotel place at the other end was basic but OK, as we were completely worn out, after a very long day off sitting down and doing nothing.

August 25th John O Groats to Brora. Started out very promisingly rainbows etc.

Following what we referred to as 'Road 1' , as there isn't any choice, we set off to the delights of dramtic sea and coastline to our left, barren landscape to our right, and a very steep up and down road grinding off into the distance. After a while, this became quite depressing actually, the cause of one of the very few squabbles or 'domestics' we had. We stopped for a few minutes to have a breather, then had to psyche each other up to get going by being really rude to each other. All forgotten after a few minutes though.

We stopped for dinner at a wonderful place called the Red Lobster, and along with delicious food, were treated to a French manager, who made it taste even better.

It was all worthwhile when we arrived at our DREAM of a b+b, you must go there. Straight out of country living magazine. The owners just said 'here's the keys' and went out. Very trusting, they also kindly made a donation,

http://www.inverbrora.com/

12 down 4 to go!

Thank you thank you thank you!!!!!!!

Massive welcome to Cardiff yesterday from all the guys and girls from MDF Bipolar Organisation. It means a lot to us, a real lift.

Sorry we haven't kept y'all up to date. The wifi, telephones etc just plain haven't worked most of the places we've been. That and disasters timewise, getting back at midnight a few times, due to stopping and checking out loads of stuff en route. In the fullness of time, after we have finished and slept for a week, the full story with all the laughter and tears will be here for you read.

In the mean time, 4 more days to go, we're off to the seaside today!

JESS HAS BEEN A STAR!!!!!!! All the folks along the way could not believe she started riding a couple of months ago. Amazing!

thanks guys!

WEWWW   TRY AGAIN. WE HAVE HAD LOTS OF GOOD WISHES.THANK YOU. ALL ARE WELL, WE WILL UPDATE IN FULL ASAP.