Two of us woke at 7.45 but Jude still needed waking up at 8.10. We all went downstairs at 8.30 for breakfast in the large dining room, and were amazed at the huge breakfast our host had laid on for us. She had prepared large quantities of everything we could possibly have wanted, including veggie burgers, hash browns, baked beans and eggs. She even made hot milk for us, to go with the coffees. During breakfast she was lamenting how an irreplaceable ship in a bottle, made specially for her late husband, had been stolen once by a guest from its home on the staircase.

When we came to check out there was a problem, as she had forgotten that she had negotiated a special price for us. Michael showed her the notes and at first, she did not notice the agreed price of £80 written there, so suggested splitting the difference from her usual charge of £120 and charging £100. Then she noticed the £80 and agreed to stick to it, saying she had too much stress in her life to argue. She gave the impression, however, that she was not totally happy to do that, which was a shame, but it was definitely her mistake, and she had been the only host to forget our booking.

Jude and Dillan got the bikes out of the garage and returned the key to the greenhouse, then after some photos and video clips we left at 10.35. First, we went to Ardgay station, on the other side of the Bonar Bridge, to check what train options we would have to get to Inverness. Michael’s ankle was hurting badly again, and there was a stiff wind that would be against us if we tried to ride the planned 42 miles. There was only one train all day from Ardgay, leaving at 2.49, but bikes required reservations and we were told it was too late to reserve now. There would be more train options if we could ride the 14 miles to Tain.

We sat down and talked about our options. Michael suggested that Dillan and Jude could ride to Tain and he could get a taxi there, then we would have a choice of two or more trains to Inverness rather than just one. But they didn’t want to ride 14 miles against a headwind, and they didn’t want to split the group, so we agreed to all wait until the 2.49 train and hope we could persuade the guard to let us on with no bike reservations. We went back to the Ardgay Stores and Highland Café and bought coffee and good value cakes again, taking a short video and buying a metal cereal bowl for the train journey to London. We had plenty of time and the café was a better place to wait than the station platform, so we were there for a considerable time. We bought lunch there as well before we left, since it was available for low prices.

Back on the station platform we just chatted mainly, but at one point Michael explained the basics of Calculus to Dillan and Jude for ten minutes, since they would both be doing A-level maths next term in Sixth Form. There was some disagreement between Jude and Dillan about who should load the luggage onto the train and who should help Michael with the bikes, but in the end Jude got to help with the bikes again.

When the train came the female guard was officious and confrontational. At first, she said she couldn’t take us as the bike spaces were already booked and there was not enough room. Then she relented a little and suggested she could only take one! At this point, Dillan entered the argument as he had already loaded all our luggage, which was unfortunate as she got angry with him too.

Diplomacy was called for, so Michael calmed things down by asking her if she could at least take us as far as Tain. She said she could do that, and then said actually she could take us as far as Dingwall, which was well over halfway to Inverness. So, all was well for now, and we boarded the train. As Michael was buying our tickets from her, which cost around £18, she had calmed down even more and conceded we could go to another station even closer to Inverness, as that was where the other bikes were due to be loaded. She said she was normally reluctant to do that, as some people refuse to get off when the time comes - she assured us she would stop the train if we didn’t get off when instructed!

Well, we loaded the bikes very carefully so they would take up the minimum possible amount of space and managed to leave loads of space on the second bike rack. When she saw the remaining bike space, she said actually she guessed it would depend how big the other bikes were. We sat on a table with a guy from Pitlochry who specialises in Gaelic. He was very interesting and talked to us for the entire journey, thanking us at the end for the interesting conversation. We told him about our problems with the train woman, and he said he would not have tried to negotiate with her at all! He said women are “prone to hysterics”, and when Michael explained to Dillan and Jude what that meant, he said he liked his explanation!

When we approached the station before Inverness where the bike was due to load, Michael went to the bikes. The guard woman was there, only one bike went on and there was plenty of space for it of course. She said nothing about us taking our bikes off, so he took that as acceptance that we could remain on the train to Inverness. It was a good outcome in the end, but she had made the entire experience very unpleasant at the start, and Jude, who doesn’t like any kind of “aggro”, had been really quite upset by it all. It had been a generally disappointing encounter with ScotRail.

We arrived at Inverness a bit late at around 4.20, and our progress to the bikes was delayed slightly by the crowds of people trying to get off. Another bloke with a bike was so impatient to get off that he moved Michael’s bike out of the way to get his off. Once we were off the station and started riding, Michael realised the guy had jammed his chain in the process, so that wasted another ten minutes and left Michael with oily hands.

We now had light rain, and as usual Michael’s foot was hurting. We had a ten-minute ride from the station to the very large Inverness Youth Hostel, then locked up the bikes and found our four-bed room, which was a “shared dorm” apparently. The other guy had already set up his bed. When we had showered, the other guy was back in the room. He was an elderly cyclist whose wife had died a while ago, and he needed us to help him with using his smartphone.

After consideration of our food options, we decided to walk down to Morrisons, a huge store that was open until 8pm even though it was a Sunday. The woman there was interested to hear that English stores can only open for six hours on a Sunday and wished they had those rules in Scotland too! Apparently, there are no restrictions on Sunday opening hours in Scotland, although since 2003 workers cannot be compelled to work on a Sunday. We bought loads of food there for a tasty pasta cheese melt meal.

We cooked our meal in the large and well-equipped member’s kitchen at the hostel, although it took us a while to work out how to switch on the electric ovens (double switches on the walls). The food was very tasty indeed, and we finished off with yoghurt and apple pie and custard. Michael definitely ate too many carbs after doing so little cycling and felt the effect until 2am.

The chap sharing our dorm was in bed when we got up there. We had invited him to join us for our meal earlier, but he had already bought an Indian takeaway. He wanted to get to sleep early so we went to bed around our usual tour time of 10.40.

Our room was way too hot overnight, especially for Dillan who was on a top bunk. He still hadn’t got to sleep within an hour or two of going to bed, so Michael helped him take the mattress down to floor level where it was cooler, and he managed to get to sleep there. The other guy got up as expected at 6.00, but he kept us awake for 25 minutes before he finally left, after which we slept until 7.45.

We had a good breakfast in the kitchen. All the Chinese students were having breakfast provided for them in the dining room this morning, which meant no noodles in the kitchen! We took some timed group photos sitting on a bench near the entrance, then left at 9.34.

This time we rode to the station via Morrisons, since we learned the route last night. Once again, Michael’s ankle was hurting so he had to ride carefully to avoid making it too painful. There was a large and very plush Costa on the station concourse, so we obviously went in for some very enjoyable coffees.

Our train to Edinburgh was due to leave at 10.45, but the platform wasn’t announced until 10.38, so we had to move very quickly to load our bikes before it left. There were no seat reservations on the train as, apparently, they hadn’t had time to put the tickets on the seats, but Dillan managed to find three seats fairly close together so we could at least see each other. The train was packed and very cramped, with some people having to stand.

Somehow we managed to make sandwiches under these rather cramped conditions, using bread and sandwich filler. A woman and three girls sitting opposite had been to the Little Mix concert last night in Bught Park, Inverness, the last night of their UK tour. It had been raining, it was standing only, the stars had been 40 minutes late on stage, and then they had only sung for 70 minutes! And tickets had been £50 each, so £200 for the four of them. They were not at all happy with the way it worked out. When they disembarked the train at Kirkcaldy, they gave us their table so we could sit together for the final part of the journey, which took us over the Forth railway bridge. From the train we could see the original Forth road bridge and, behind it, the new Queensferry crossing that opened last year.

We arrived at Edinburgh at around 2.40, which left us with more than eight hours to look around the city before our overnight sleeper train departed at 11.40. We didn’t have anything much planned as none of us had been anywhere in the city before other than the station, so we aimed to do some exploring.

We started by pushing the bikes up Cockburn Street, a quaint, cobbled street with a huge variety of interesting shops that was bustling with people. Michael’s foot was still hurting and even walking with the bike was painful. We wanted a good café, but whilst there were many places selling coffee, most also seemed to be bars, no doubt catering for Scottish tastes! We still hadn’t found a suitable café when we reached the High Street at the top, which forms part of the famous Edinburgh Mile, and since there was now an attractive-looking Starbucks right opposite, we decided to go in.

Whilst this Starbucks looked great from the outside, it was cramped and dirty inside. There were no free tables downstairs, but after waiting a few minutes upstairs we managed to get a sofa. The most annoying thing about the place was the notice on the counter saying that from next week, customers would be charged 10p if they used a disposable cup. When I asked for my coffee in a china cup, for drinking in, they said they don’t do cups! So, from next week people will be fined 10p if they don’t bring their own cup, even if they are drinking in! We felt that was disgraceful, and not at all environmentally friendly. While drinking our coffees in the grubby café, we were entertained by a woman having a go at her husband for not being able to gain access to the combination lock toilet!

So, this was the famous Edinburgh Mile. As we walked up the High Street it was clear that the entire street was busy and thriving, with activity everywhere we looked. We followed Google directions to Cotswold Outdoor, which we had assumed would be nearby, but ended up in East Princes Street Gardens, next to the station again, so as it was raining, we sat on a bench under some trees until it stopped. We then successfully found the enormous Cotswold Outdoor, on Rose Street, where we looked around for 25 minutes.

Next stop was Marks and Spencer on Princes Street, where we planned to have our afternoon tea, but we could find nowhere to leave the bikes safely, so we went back to the station and locked them up near the bike stands. We walked back to M&S, but by the time we had used the toilets and found the café on the ground floor, it was 6.02 and the café closed at 6.00. Annoyingly he refused to serve us, which was a great disappointment. Instead, we went to the nearby Pizza Hut on Hanover Street and had a great meal there. Dillan and Michael shared a delicious pizza for £20.50.

When we returned to our bikes, we found security notices attached to them! Apparently we were not allowed to leave bikes on the station with panniers attached. Any panniers left on bikes could be removed, searched and stored in Lost Property, after which a Lost Property fee would be payable to recover them! Fortunately, our panniers had not been removed so we didn’t have to pay a fee, but it felt like the station staff were being really unfriendly towards cycle tourists.

ScotRail had made an error in the booking and didn’t have enough space for our bikes on the train, so they had arranged for a courier to take the bikes to London by road. We had to meet the courier at “New Street Car Park” at 8pm, but of course we had no idea where that was, or how we could get to it from the station. We wheeled the bikes and luggage to Platform 11, where our train would be departing later, then Dillan stayed with the luggage while Jude and Michael wheeled the bikes on our search for the elusive car park. We took a while to find it but got there for 8.00 as agreed. There was no sign of a courier though, and now we were waiting outside in light drizzle.

Michael checked the online information, and the time of collection was actually listed as 8.45-9.00, which was different to the information given to him in the customer services email. Jude did not want to go back to the platform, so Michael went back and chatted with Dillan, then returned to meet Jude again for 8.35. The courier had still not arrived by 8.55, so Jude went back with money so Dillan could buy some milk. The bloke finally turned up at 9.10 and rang us to confirm we were there, but then he could not get into the car park because of some security issue. He went away and tried again, but still couldn’t get in, so he had to come down on foot and help Michael carry the bikes up a long flight of steps. Dillan arrived to help with the last bike, but it was a crazy situation. The guy said he had personally never done the Edinburgh pick-up, as he usually does Inverness.

When we returned to Jude the train was now waiting on platform 11, but we were not allowed to board it until 10.55. An American family seemed annoyed that they could not board it when it was just waiting there, and we kindof agreed with them. Dillan and Michael bought some more things to eat from the station shop, like fruit and pain au raisins for breakfast, then eventually we were allowed to board. We had the same sleeping arrangement as before, in two adjacent double berths with a connecting door, Coach C berths 9 and 10. Dillan was really tired, so we went to bed almost immediately and Dillan was asleep within seconds.

Michael felt a little ill for a while and was concerned he might have picked up an infection, but after a while he slept fine until 6.45. The train stopped dead for 20-30 minutes at Walsall (according to Michael's satnav). We had no idea why, but it sounded like possibly an engine failure, as it didn’t seem to be a scheduled stop.