Breakfast at the Tenterden Guest House, Ullapool, was interesting to say the least. It was served by an elderly gentleman in an open hallway upstairs, near Jude’s room. Everything was slightly unusual: coffee came in a very old coffee pot that leaked, and cereals came in old, small cereal jars with wire lid clips that were hard to open, with each jar containing only just enough cereal for a single bowlful. Still, the toast was nice! We were joined at the table by two people from Fife who seemed chatty at first, but after a while they seemed to want to finish the conversation, so we left.

We packed our things, took a few video clips and photos, then left at 10.12. First stop was Tesco where we bought lunch and snacks together with some chilled coffees at Jude’s suggestion. We drank the coffees outside the store in the morning sunshine.

We set off for the day’s ride at 10.40, with 35 fairly hilly miles ahead of us. This was the hottest day of the tour so far, and we was always looking for ways to keep cool. The main road, signposted just “North”, was remarkably quiet for an A-road, but once we had passed the village of Ardmair the scenery was barren and remote. Jude took his time going down the hills but caught up again on the climbs. Michael kept thinking of the difficulties Gavin had climbing the hills on the tour in 2000 with his damaged knees.

We turned off the main road at Drumrunie at around 12.00 and took some photos of the impressive Stac Pollaidh mountain that lay ahead of us. This stretch of road held many unforgettable memories for Michael from previous tours. He told Dillan and Jude how he got food poisoning after eating some Scottish Jam at this very point on the 1986 tour and then couldn’t face eating strawberry jam for over a year. He told of the 1990 tour when a group actually climbed to the top of Stac Pollaidh, which took around two hours. And he told them how the torrential rain came in on Ash’s tour in 2010 and the only shelter was a clump of almost leafless trees that provided no protection from the rain at all. Today the weather was fine, so we took our time to enjoy the scenery, stopping for video clips and photos and taking a look at the steep path up to Stac Pollaidh, which today looked like it would be hot, tiring and infested with biting insects.

We took the right turn for Lochinver at Badagyle Cottage and stopped immediately for lunch as it was 1.08. We were just past halfway on the ride, which made us all feel really good – riding had been difficult in the heat, but we were making good progress. We settled down on a soft grassy patch near the road for lunch, but were immediately attacked by swarms of midges, so we had no choice but to return to the road and just keep walking up and down while eating, trying to lose them. They would not leave us alone though, and I managed to record an amusing video clip of Jude’s reaction to pesky midges. We really should have brought some midge repellent. We set off again at 1.32, glad to get moving and to have the chance of finally leaving the midges behind.

This road is fondly named the “Mad Little Road to Wester Ross”, mainly because it twists and turns through the remote Highland scenery for its entire length. Unlike previous years, when the twists and turns on the map made it hard to estimate the distance, we had accurate mileage readouts today, so we knew exactly how far we had to ride. The first downhill, just after the lunch stop, gave us a chance to cool down and left us all feeling much better, but we got hot again on every climb. Stopping for photos and videos along the way gave us further opportunities to keep cool. We passed the place on the approach to Enard Bay where one of our members lost consciousness on the 1986 tour and rode into a cliff face, but Michael didn’t notice it even though he was looking out for it.

We had been getting mileage readouts to our planned coffee stop, Achins Bookshop near Inverkirkaig, and it was 2.46 when we finally arrived, grateful for the opportunity of a well-earned rest. We were all just very thirsty from the heat, so we didn’t end up buying anything to eat: we had glasses of water first, then coffees, although sadly they weren’t able to make lattes. The woman serving in the café was chatty and was laughing to see us using the camcorder in her humble establishment. She said the place is up for sale.

We set off again at 3.30 for the final section of the Mad Little Road to Lochinver, stopping briefly to see the Primary School which, whilst set in the middle of a loch, is annoyingly up a long hill from the town. Arriving in Lochinver at 4pm we turned left at the bottom and tried out the café by the harbour. It was actually a café in some kind of hostel, and it was very comfortable, with nice coffees and even tastier tray bakes. Everything was very expensive though, with the traybakes costing £3.25, so Dillan and Michael shared one between them. It was a very enjoyable stop.

Next, we went to the Spar for 4.24 where we bought supper and breakfast – Dillan and Michael bought cheese, baked beans and mushrooms. Leaving at 4.43 we then rode the final half hour to Achmelvich Beach Youth Hostel, trying to get to the hostel as early as possible so we could enjoy the beach before the rain showers came along. For some reason, however, Michael’s right ankle was beginning to hurt on this stretch, so he was slower than usual. Little did he know that it would get worse and last for weeks!

We arrived at the hostel at 5.15, but the female warden was dealing with a group of three hostellers in front of us and was in no hurry at all, taking as much time as she possibly could. Even when she had finished checking them in and saw us waiting, she still decided to take the people on a guided tour of the facilities rather than serve us. We were sure she was making the hostellers feel very welcome, but she delayed us by 15 minutes, time we would have preferred to spend on the beach. We had a family room with five beds, so we left our luggage there and hurried down to the beach.

The weather was quite cloudy but warm and reasonably bright, and the beach was quite busy as usual. There are a string of similar beaches extending northwest along the coast, each boasting the same silver sand that is found at Achmelvich. It was a beautiful location. We walked over the hill to the next beach, scrambled down to it, then walked to the far end as there was a small group of people at the near end. Michael wanted to at least get his feet wet in the icy waters, but he had to work hard to get Dillan to go in at all – he had heard the story of how Gavin was stung by a jellyfish on the 2000 tour and was in agony all night, and there were many dead jellyfish on the beach today! Eventually he got his feet wet, although I’m not sure he enjoyed it. Jude did not go in.

We dried our feet, took a quick look at the next small beach and then headed back to the hostel, with rain starting before we reached it. Michael’s ankle was now really sore and clearly getting worse, not better.

Jude used the old shower, and Michael used the new one, which was so powerful and well-featured that he gave it a high score of 9 out of 10. Dillan wasn’t aware of the differences however and nipped into the old shower as soon as Jude came out, so he missed out on the best shower of the tour. We then cooked our beans, mushrooms, cheese and eggs with some good teamwork and enjoyed a tasty cheap meal in the cosy hostel kitchen.

Sunset was approaching when we had finished, and Michael persuaded Dillan to return to the beach at 9.30. Jude did not want to come initially, but he changed his mind and followed us down. This turned out to be the best part of the day for the beach and we were rewarded with a lovely rich sunset. It was just a wonderful place to be, so we took many photos and videos to capture the scene. Michael was so happy that Dillan and Jude had been able experience some of the unparalleled joy of Achmelvich.

We got back to hostel at 10pm and headed for bed almost immediately. Our en-suite toilet would not flush, but we still used it in the night to avoid a long walk outside. Additionally, the room ventilation was not great, so we had to open the curtains, but we slept OK after our very tiring day.

We had heard some rain outside overnight, which didn’t bode too well for the coming day. We made our breakfast of cereal and toast in the cosy hostel kitchen, then packed our things and watched the hostel chickens scratching around in the grass until we were ready to leave at 10.10.

There was some light rain as we left, and the weather forecast according to the printed sheet pinned up on the hostel noticeboard hadn’t appeared to be very good, but we couldn’t get a more up-to-date forecast as there was no mobile signal at Achmelvich and there was no Wi-Fi at the hostel, even though the warden had an internet connection. So, we cycled the four miles to Lochinver with the intention of making more informed decisions when we arrived.

Michael’s ankle had clearly made no recovery overnight, so it was a painful journey for him. By the time we arrived at Lochinver he knew he would not be able to cycle the planned 54 miles today, so we went into the “Coffee Shop, Pie Shop & Riverside Bistro” restaurant at 10.46, otherwise known as the Lochinver Larder, to contemplate the situation.

When we were ordering our coffees, we were somewhat shocked to see that they wanted £3.25 for each one. I asked how large they were, and she indicated a height that seemed quite large. When they arrived, however, the coffees were in what looked like modified wine glasses, the bottom third being just a glass stem, so in fact the coffees were tiny – very nice, but nowhere near large enough to be charging £3.25 – so we felt somewhat ripped off. The tray bakes were also around £3.25 – stupidly high pricing, but at least they were a good size.

We found a nice place to sit by the window, established that we now had mobile signals and checked the weather forecast on the internet: there would be showers all day, some thundery. Dillan and Jude did not want to ride in the rain, and they also did not want to split the group (since Michael would be unable to cycle). There was a bus, the North Bus, that left Lochinver at 12.42 and would take us right over to Lairg near the East coast, so we decided to make use of it.

We went back to the Spar to buy a few provisions for lunch, then wandered over to the harbour area and waited by the bus stop there at 12.07. After twenty minutes we realised we needed to wait at the main bus stop near the church, so we went there for 12.28.

The bus arrived a few minutes late. It turned out to be a minibus towing a cycle trailer! There were only two people on the bus when it arrived, and they both got off, so we had it all to ourselves for the first part of the journey. The guy strapped the bikes onto the trailer, then we paid in cash, £6 per bike and £7.70 per person, although there were probably some discounts as the total came to around £41. We set off at around 12.52.

He had to make a stop at Ullapool on the way, so after following our intended route as far as Ledmore, he then took us all the way back to where we had been yesterday morning. He picked up several more people at Ullapool, some of whom had bikes, then drove like a crazy man all the way to Lairg! Having re-joined our intended route at Ledmore again, we drove past the Altnacealgach Inn that we would have been depending on for refreshments if we had been riding. Unbelievably, it was being renovated again, so it was closed.

A spell of heavy rain started soon after Altnacealgach and continued for around an hour. That particular stretch of road is very remote with no shelter or places to stop, so we were very relieved we had decided not to cycle. The Indian boy on the seat in front of us, who had boarded at Ullapool with his family, was sick during this period, leaving the whole van smelling bad for the remainder of the journey. Dillan was not at all surprised the boy had been sick, given the speed of the driving, and said he would have been sick too if he was younger!

We were dropped at Lairg station at 3.12, just in time to see the 3.13 Bonar Bridge train arrive and leave before we had chance to unload our bikes. We therefore unpacked at leisure, and were pleased to note that the rain had stopped and the sun was beginning to return again. We could have waited another hour for the next train, but the ride to Bonar Bridge was only nine miles and all downhill, so we decided to cycle.

We followed the route recommended by Google Maps, which took us through a kind of nature reserve path near the station and across a pedestrian suspension bridge over the River Shin. From there we took a lovely, quiet, wooded B-road that followed the river downstream for several miles, providing some superb scenery. It’s just as well it was downhill, as Michael’s ankle was hurting quite badly again whenever he tried to pedal.

After crossing the Shin Bridge at Invershin we got some great views across the valley to Carbisdale Castle, the enormous building that was our favourite Youth Hostel in the world until it closed in 2011. This was the first tour where we were unable to stay there, but Michael at least had many happy memories of visits on previous tours. There had been subsidence that required millions of pounds to be spent, and the SYHA simply couldn’t afford it. We were pleased to see it still standing though, and hoped the new owners were getting as much pleasure from it as the 1.5 million hostellers who stayed there since it first opened.

We arrived in Bonar Bridge, location of our B&B, at around 4.45 and headed straight for the café that was listed as being open until 5.00. We quickly discovered that it had closed early, for reasons best known to the proprietor, and the whole village was dead except for the Spar.

We rode the short distance along Dornoch Road to Kyle House, our B&B for the night. The female owner saw us parking up outside and came out to enquire if we were lost, then wondered if we were looking for a place to stay. Michael said we were staying with her tonight, she said she didn’t know anything about that, but she had space anyway! After checking her records, she saw Michael’s emailed notes and then gradually remembered something about it. She also now remembered the conversation about her buying vegetarian sausages for our breakfast, but she had marked that down for the wrong date, earlier in the month. Oh well, we were just lucky that she had spare rooms!

Jude had a small room to himself while Dillan and Michael had a large twin room. It was a lovely big house, full of delightful furniture and ornaments, and the lady was very friendly. She showed Michael where to put the bikes later, and how to get the garage key from the greenhouse in the large gardens at the back of the property. But we needed a café, and the nearest was in Ardgay, so we set off at 5.15 or so in search of coffee.

The place that was open was the Ardgay Stores and Highland Café, just over a mile from our B&B and open until 7pm. We arrived at 5.23 and bought very good coffees for £2.50 each and very good traybakes for £1.89. The café was inside the shop, and the shop was actually very interesting, selling many unusual items that we had never seen anywhere else.

Leaving at 6.35 we rode back to the Spar in Bonar Bridge. We had to spend at least £5 to be able to get cashback, so we bought some reduced strawberries, but their machine cleverly charged full price for them, so we had to tell them to correct that.

Back at the B&B we all showered, then we settled in the large twin room to watch two programmes on the tablet. First we watched Mission Impossible Season 4 Episode 7: Submarine, to prepare Jude and Dillan for the new Mission Impossible film, Fallout. Then we watched Jamie Johnson part 2, since they really enjoyed Part 1 at Gairloch. We got to sleep around 10.30 and slept very well with the window wide open despite the duvets being rather large and hot.

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.