The cycling gods answered our prayers! The excellent weather started as we arrived in Edinburgh. The 360 degree panoramic views of the city are from the cocktail bar in the “W” building (known to the locals as the walnut whip!).
On to Inverness for the event where we were lucky enough to have a bathroom in our hotel big enough for us and two re-assembled bikes! Three days of “do not disturb” kept our improvised storage from the cleaning staff!
On to the event itself which started at 6am as the road closure was for the morning only. Beautiful skies but chilly single digit temperatures as you can see by my choice of clothing and “when’s it going to warm up?” expression!
Loads of people stopped at the bottom of the Loch to capture this image and to strip off a layer or two ahead of the climb…
Here we are at the top of the three stage climb – Chris’ particularly pleased with herself for NOT joining the Loch Ness Etape pedestrian club. Can you spot the bagpiper? All the way up you are listening for him to signal the summit is near!
Then it’s layers back on before the nice long descent back down to the Loch. Many smiling at this stage blissfully unaware that a couple of climbs are still to come!
And we are at the finish after 5hrs40, 66 miles and 4000ft elevation gain. Layers off again to fly the flag for the Falmouth Wheelers!!!
And yes, we did see Nessie along the way
and maybe two other Falmouth Wheelers cycling in disguise???