Tuesday 14 September

Had to pop round to the Guest House this morning in the rain to get our breakfasts. Had another 'discussion' about what to do today. I favoured staying in the warm, dry, cosy caravan (think mobile home, not a caravan you tow around behind the car) for another day. All mod cons, lots of room, lovely view (out of one side anyway - the other side was the back of the Guest House!), private. The weather forecast was for more rain (showers), strong wind. Peter favoured moving on as the forecast for tomorow was even worse than today. Constant rain with high winds. The dilemma is - where to move on to. We could go to Betty Hill - our original destination for today (only 12 miles). We could keep going to Thurso (42 miles and only 20 miles from JO'G), which would make us too early for Barry, as he's picking us up. There's not a lot inbetween these places, and we are increasingly finding it hard to get into anywhere for the night. My plan would mean we'd have to keep going for Thurso tomorrow, which is a long way to ride in strong winds and pouring rain (but my judgement is clouded by how comfortable I am now, whilst it pours outside). Peter's plan would mean we sacrifice a good place to stay for an place of unknown quality because of a forecast that may be wrong!
We cover all bases. We check if we can have the caravan for another night. YES
We phone Betty Hill Hotel to see if they have a room. YES, but it's not en suite and we'd only get a continental breakfast (no disrespect, Roelof :-)), but it is cheap.
We check on the laptop (that the owner of the guesthouse said we could borrow) to see if there are any B&Bs in Melvich (27 miles from Tongue). YES, but all booked up.
The rain stops. I feel more inclined to start out cycling again, especially as I really don't want to cycle 42 miles tomorrow, if the weather is as bad as they say it will be. We take the place in Betty Hill, check out of the caravan at 10.30 and start peddling, uphill.
The journey is uneventful. The sun shines most of the way, although it is colder now and the wind is blowing quite strongly. The road is still narrow and the landscape barren. There is one steep hill that goes on forever. We approach Betty Hill and have another long, steep climb up to the town (the clue was in the name, but we hadn't thought about that!). We arrive at the hotel at 12 noon, and nearly get blown away. The views from the bedroom window are great though.
We are currently esconced in the guest lounge having had tea and lunch brought to us (this is the life). There is nobody else in this room and I have found a computer in here!
Mileage: 13.05 miles (I know, a poor effort!!)
Current height: 157 ft
Max height: 583ft
Cara: Lovely to hear from you - glad you're enjoying the blog.
Thanks to everyone who makes comments - they're lovely to read and help to keep me going, but when I'm putting the blog together on my phone with one finger, it takes so long that I keep forgetting to respond to everyone.