A scooter run with Billy round Loch Ness and up to Cannich (124 miles).
Billy asked me to go on a shortish scooter run. I didn’t need a second offer! The weather forecast kept changing and eventually we decided on this run. The weather has been stunning recently but today was a lot cooler with rain forecast in the West.
Billy came about 10.10 am. I’m afraid I held him back having a coffee before leaving. We went over the Blackisle via Culbokie and Munlochy. Once in Inverness we went to Ballifeary Nursing Home to see our old mum. She is 96 and in great spirits. A year ago we thought it was her end, she was so ill. What a difference. This is a fantastic nursing home.
I delayed Billy again by going to Tesco at Ness Side to fill up with petrol and purchase supplies for the day.
We headed out to Dores and somewhere between Dores and Foyers we stopped for our lunch picnic. What a beautiful spot to picnic at. The road was surprisingly quiet and we had no problem finding a parking spot.
The quiet parking spot.
We stopped a wee bit beyond Foyers, just as the B852 joins the B862. There is a cemetery there. There is a nice bridge across the road. I have stopped here before. This time it was old men needing to heed natures call.
We went over by Suidhe Viewpoint and down to Loch Tarff. We stopped at Loch Tarff. The day was much duller.
We went down to Fort Augustus and round the head of the loch and then followed the A82 North East to the Cobb Memorial.
At Drumnadrochit we went left and headed up to Cannich. We stopped at St. Ninian’s Episcopal Church in Glenurquhart which overlooks Loch Meiklie. It is a lovely spot. We had something to eat sitting on one of the seats in the churchyard looking out over the loch. After eating we went down to the loch.
Some pictures of this beautifully maintained building.
At Cannich we had a setback. The Highland Cross was on!
This is what the website says about it –
Highland Cross
Highland Cross is a 50-mile duathlon (20 miles on foot, 30 miles on bike) traversing the spectacular Scottish Highlands coast to coast, west to east from Kintail through Glen Affric and Strathglass to Beauly.
Highland Cross exists to raise money for causes that benefit the people of Highland, disadvantaged by disability, ill health or social need.
Entry to the Highland Cross is by invitation only for 265 teams of 3 (795 persons) of all athletic abilities; walkers, joggers, runners and cyclists. Teams must pledge to raise a minimum of £500 in sponsorship for the charities nominated by Highland Cross.
Well I think we met all 795 bikes. They were there all the way to Beauly. It was a disaster for making progress. Now I did a lot of cycling in my time but these cyclists seem to have a sense of entitlement to hinder traffic. It’s the same sense of entitlement that makes them use the road when there is a perfectly lovely cycle path made for them! It took ages to get to Beauly. We were going to stop for chips there but the place was mobbed. So we went on to Muir of Ord.
We went to Jaki’s chip-shop and got steak pie and chip suppers. Bill went to the COOP to get strawberry milk. We took this out to Lily Loch at the junction of the A832 with the B9169. It was lovely here apart from the mosquitoes.Jaki’s chip-shop hit the news recently – this was in the Scottish Sun on 22 Oct 2022
GOODBYE MRS CHIPS Jaki’s Fish and Chips: Scots chippy that celebrated Queen’s death ‘under new management’.
THE owner of a Highland fish’n’chip shop that celebrated the death of the Queen has handed over the running of the business.
Jaki’s Fish and Chip Shop has re-opened under new management – but with the same name and sign.
Hours after the death of the Queen was announced on September 8, a video of a staff member popping a champagne cork was posted on the Jaki’s Fish and Chip Shop Facebook page.
In the video, a staff member held up a chalkboard outside the Muir of Ord shop that read “Lizard Liz Dead and London Bridge has fallen”.
It was widely condemned online.
The chippie was forced to close that evening after being surrounded by a crowd of angry local residents.
We crossed the Blackisle and headed home. We stopped at the entrance to the Fyrish Substation to say goodbye. I was in a considerable amount of discomfort by this time. My hernia which was made considerably larger by the surgeon during my prostatectomy causes a lot of discomfort to my male anatomy! We will leave it at that. The scooter seems to greatly exacerbate it.
What a lovely day. Great to be out with Billy again.