A leisurely breakfast and a steady start to the morning - I suspect more than expected amounts of emergency wine found its way outside of the box and inside of Nige. We aim to be at Applecross for lunchtime and are following the road around the coast to get there rather than going over the Bealch na Ba - we'll do that from west to east for a change. Weathers not the best as its overcast and drizzling, which is the worst kind when on a bike as your visor doesn't clear very well and you end up riding with it up. The best kind of rain to ride in (if there is a best!) is proper rain drops which seem to hit and break up, the wind flow keeping your vision reasonably good. All my other wet gear is keeping me dry, even the gloves which is just as well as I haven't brought the lobster claws (rainoff overgloves that steve finds so funny - "they're not right"). Nige is getting pissed off with the drizzle as its getting into the inside of his visor and helmet - and he doesn't like a wet helmet.......apparently. Applecross appears as the weather clears and dries out and its a stop for fish & chips in the Applecross Inn. It's a day out for the Jaguar Owners club as well today as there's more than a dozen or so parked up and more keep coming & going. Couple of £100K in the car park I reckon if you add it all up.
Up and over the pass and its not worth stopping at the top as you can't see 100yds because of the mist. I've been up this pass probably 7 or 8 times and only twice could I see anything from the top, and one of those times it was so windy you could hardly stand up.
The mist cleared as soon as we started going down the hairpins and you could see clear down the pass to Loch Kishorn - the father-in-law worked on building oil rigs in the early eighties at Kishorn and used to regale us with tales of the 'wacky races' down to Fort William in his 3ltr Granada when they went home on leave on a Friday - did a full days work then home to Newark in one, then did the same in reverse on Sunday evening.
Final destination today is Flodigarry up on the north Skye. Nice steady run to Portree even allowing for crazy white van man tailgating us at 80, passing us a 90+ and then getting himself stuck behind traffic, which we pass no bother and which then seems to send him even more crazy as his passing antics in my mirror are anything to go by. he doesn't catch us up again but I'd already decided to slow and let him go if he did - the further away nutters like that are from me the better. North from Portree we're on the Trotternish peninsula and at Flodigarry, the hostel is right next to a posh hotel overlooking Staffin Bay.
The couple running the place are very welcoming and friendly - its a big place very reminiscent of Inchnadamph and only half a dozen of us in there tonight. Shower and changed, and across the field to the hotel next door for some food and a drink - very expensive and full of americans. We get talking to one group on the balcony outside, and as it happens you can see the light from Rubha Reidh lighthouse to the north east across about 25 miles of water. The yanks are grateful for the inside info on what to see and recommendations on where to go, but less so when they find out that what we've paid for five nights is less than what they've paid for one night in the hotel!!! Jaws dropped even further when we told them that we stayed in the lighthouse that was winking in the distance and it cost us less than the price for two steaks - photos on iphone to prove!!
Back to the hostel and we break out the emergency wine box again as we get chatting to a Kiwi couple on a round the world trip - Ally & Bryan, 3 months or so into a 7 month trip having done the US and South America and now doing Europe.
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