Cycled: 61.51km//4hr59min//12.34km/hr
Monday September 30
In the middle of the night, the wind turned into a monster. At first distant humming, a lurking skulking thing, then building whistling, getting closer, howling louder, scarier, and then rushing up and BAM!, hitting then tent and trashing it like dog trying to shake the life out of a poor rabbit (us). Earplugs were the only way to be even remotely comfortable inside the tent (but still not sleeping). We made it through the night after re-staking the vestibule a couple times, and were amazed that the tent held up at all. In the morning we hurriedly at the last of our oatmeal and cycled on with Thurso and the Orkney's as our goal.
The day proved no easier than the night. Atrocious headwinds reduced our speed to 6km/hr for long sections, both uphill and downhill!. At some points, it felt quite dangerous as sudden gusts would catch us of guard, and threaten to push us off the road, or into traffic.
Determined to get a hot lunch, we stop in the village of Bettyhill at 2PM. We were directed to the Farr Inn, the only place open and with a kitchen, not to mention the smallest little pub imaginable. In no hurry to get back out into the wind, we slowly drank our beers, ate our tuna sandwiches, chatted to the owner, and used wi-fi. The 4 days forecast called for gale force winds much like the previous 12 hours (i.e. cycling hell). We quickly decided the Orkney's are out, and a train from Thurso to somewhere, anywhere, is in.
We headed out of Bettyhill to find shelter from the winds for the night. The Inn keeper told us of a quarry 2 mils out of town that would be protected, but his instructions did not match, and we could not find said Quarry. Jenn spotted a building behind a hill, and lo and behold we found an empty metal shed with an open door and no signs forbidding entry (but a corrosive warning on the half-hinged door). Complete shelter from wind, we pitch the tent inside, and crash into bed at 8:30pm.
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| Although pretty, wind made this the campsite from hell. |
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| Luckily, still smiling (sort of), despite the horrendous headwind. |
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| Beautiful views of Loch Eriboll. |
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| The smallest little bar at the Farr Inn. |
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| Things are not looking good. The red is gale warning. |
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| The metal shed we sheltered in, fully protected from the wind (although, still noisy). |
