Day 31 Aviemore to Alness
Quick facts:
Weather forecast: Sunny with cloudy periods. H 18 L 6 Humidity 89% at 7 am. Winds W 2 kph
POP 0%
Departure: The Park Guest House Aviemore
Destination: Commercial Hotel Alness.
Planned distance: 65 mi. 104 km
Planned ascent: 720 m 2,362 fr
Planned descent: 907 m 2,975 ft
Route: photo from Ride With GPS. For actual metrics see Ralph’s Strava report on https://www.cycling4charity.org.uk/strava
Good morning / Good day.
Sunny and bright as we headed off. Today we will be cycling over the Moray Firth on the Kessock Bridge at Inverness. Curious about what a firth is? Click here for a description: a firth. The bridge will literally be a highlight of the day. First we say goodbye to the Grampian Mountains, skirt the Monadhliath Mountains and head down to sea level again. The ride profile confirms this story!
Each morning I take a picture of the weather forecast for the day and the view outside my window so when I write my blog it is easy to know where one day stops and the next starts. Today my view is of a little Church of Scotland church. Ralph is particularly interested in all churches and abbeys and although we don’t visit or photograph all that we pass, we certainly note them as we cycle by. What I have noted in Scotland is that they are usually humble, community gathering places not ornate buidings designed to show power and prestige. Nor are they part of larger communities with multiple manses for the canons and fortifications in case of seige.
The little Church of Scotland outside my window this morning is of the gentler kind.
This is a relatively long day of cycling - over 100 km but we didn’t actually get very much distance in right away because we both tried to capture the beauty of the forest and flowers, particularly the heather, of the Speyside Way just out of town. It didn’t help that we could hear a steam engine puffing along the Strathspey Railway as it pulled the Royal Scottish Railway vintage cars and we wanted to catch a picture along the rail line if it went past - we didn’t get the picture.
Who couldn’t love cycling in Scotland when it looks like this?
As always we needed some of that clear Scottish air in our tires. Nash at Ride Cycles in Strathspey gave us all the air we needed and lent us the pump to get it in the tires! Thank you Nash.
Strathspey is a rather picturesque place on the little steam engine’s route. We could still hear the steam engine chugging. We did The Royal Scotsman with its old carriages whiz by…but it was pulled by an old diesel engine…. Not quite the same thing.
Ralph’s preferred breakfast is good old oatmeal porridge so when I saw this sign….I wanted him to pose for obvious reasons.
I don’t know if he will compete next year… but he can’t say he didn’t know about it.
As mentioned… we will be going over the Kessock Bridge in Inverness. This is not it…. But is just as photogenic!
The sweet Carrbridge pack horse bridge. Pack horse bridges can be easily identified because they have very low sides to allow wide loads to pass over. This Old Pack Horse Bridge is beside the one I took the picture from which we used to cross River Dulnain outside Carrbridge
We followed another excellent cyclepath in Carrbridge-Slochd, mostly hidden beside the A9 highway, to the Slochd Summit at 1,315. I could see the road, the bike path, the railway, the electricity towers and off in the far distance wind turbines.
Approaching Inverness wind turbines were stopped. No wind. Moy Wind Farm Even in the high Scottish hills we didn’t have headwinds . Everyone says we have not experienced the “true” Scotland because we have had glorious weather. There isn’t a cloud in the sky.
I became very fond of cell phone towers because they were the signal that we were at the top of “the hill”, whatever hill it was. Pun intended.
The following photos have three bridges in view and are part of our continued tour of” Britain’s Bridges”. The New Bridge was built in 1926 to replace the one built by Thomas Telford in 1833. The third bridge is a railway bridge likely built in the 19th century. We crossed many examples of Mr Telford’s building projects - bridges and canal.
Wide vistas as we rolled down to sea level. The Moray Firth in the distance.
There were always surprises as we quietly pedalled the empty roads. All of a sudden there would be cars all turning up “our” quiet road, tour buses and voilà- a parking lot.
“Clava Cairns are a well-preserved Bronze Age cemetery complex of passage graves; ring cairns, kerb cairns and standing stones in a beautiful setting.” (Visit Scotland.com)
https://www.visitscotland.com/info/see-do/clava-cairns-p245611
It was a very interesting park particularly when you think of how people may have lived at this spot 4,000 years ago.
Ralph headed off to see Culloden and its one-hour battle just off our route. It was apparently the last battle of the Jacobite uprising in 1745!and lasted one hour when the British overwhelmed Charles Stuart’s forces.
Red squirrels are rare and all efforts are being made to help them have a comeback. This is in stark contrast to my backyard in Canada where red squirrels are an invasive pest, fighting with our grey and black squirrels for habitat.
Inverness is a busy port town with paths along the River Ness, and Caledonian Canal downtown but our route headed us out to the industrial area around the approaches to the Kessock Bridge.
The first thing we learned was that the northbound bike path was closed. This was significant because, as any driver who has missed a ramp knows, it is a long way around these big structures to get on the opposite approach. Off we went, twisting around and were finally up on the bridge in the sunshine.
The Kessock Bridge divides the Beauly Firth at the mouth of the Ness River and the Moray Firth that reaches out to the North Sea. It opened in 1982 and replaced the ferry.
Ralph and I both get quite a kick out of cycling across these huge structures and are very happy when the bridge authorities let us do it. There are websites to check to see if the winds allow pedestrians and cyclists to cross. Otherwise they close the approaches to non-vehicular traffic.
A worthy addition to our “Bridges of Britain” list.
The last part of our day was back to rolling countryside, around the Cromarty Firth to
Dingwall - Newton
???where???
I am glad they put the English translation below the Scottish place names.
Dingwall afternoon views
Why did we cycle around this
firth and climb this hill instead of taking that bridge Ralph pondered.
The views just got prettier as we approached Alness in the early evening sun. I always like the colours at this time of day although it does warn that we may arrive at our destination after dark. This is a view of Cromarty Firth as we pedaled from its tip to Alness.
We were warmly welcomed at the Commercial Hotel on the main street in Alness and locked the bikes up for the night.
We had arrived too late for food at the hotel. I expressed my sincere regret when I saw the dessert of the day was Chocolate Mint Cheesecake!
I don’t remember if it was Julie who was standing there or the night manager Lorraine who overheard me…. but the result was complimentary cake for both of us. Thank you Commercial Hotel.
Julie and the mint chocolate Cheese cake. How could a day ending like that be anything but wonderful.
Safe travel.
Lorraine