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Day 10 - Bolton le Sands to Swindon

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Sunday 12/05/2019 ------------------------------------ Our final cold night in the tent went well - put to sleep by a warming meal and several ales. We awoke to the sound of the sea and glorious sunshine again. We had a bit of a long doze as we were in no real hurry and the  got up for a top fry-up in a local cafe before packing-up and heading home. The ride home was rather boring and uneventful with stops for coffee, cake and fuel (and to stretch our legs). In no time at all we were back in Swindon and enjoying the sunshine and warmth in the back garden. Reviewing some of the photos and video footage reminded us of what a great trip this had been and how much it is possible to cram into 10 days on this island that we call home. Nigh on 2000 miles, but most of those through great countryside with sights to die for. As a route it was almost perfect. Would I change anything if I did it again? Warmer gloves. Better luggage (or ideally not have a passenger or just stay in B&a
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Day 9 - Jedburgh to Hardknott Pass / Bolton le Sands

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Saturday 11/05/2019 ------------------------------------ The night was less cold than of late, but it wasn't exactly warm on our penultimate night in the tent . Slept quite well with the gentle sound of the river (and a few drinks) getting me to sleep. We had luck again with the weather and woke to sunshine and the sound of bird song. After quick showers we went across the road for a large fry-up breakfast before putting our gear back on for the push South across the border. It was a pretty late start in the end so we decided not to go through the Kielder Forest and took a quicker road skirting it instead. We passed the border back into England in glorious sunshine which made the Northumberland scenery all the more impressive. We did a bit of minor road zig-zagging and got to Hadrian's Wall at Homesteads and then onto Vilolanda. All very cool with lots of elements of the original wall still visible. Lots of walkers doing the entire length of the wall - I can see the
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Day 8 - Loch Ness to Jedburgh

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Friday 10/05/2019 ------------------------------ What luxury sleeping in the glam-pod, only I didn't sleep great because it was actually too warm and I kept getting woken up by one thing or another. In any case we slept in which was a bad idea as Krysia had decided to add to our already long day by making us ride all the way around Loch Ness... Before we left, we made full use of the facilities and made coffees and a super-noodle breakfast. We set-off around Loch Ness only to make a wrong turn and ended-up in Fort Augustus... Pretty town with great boat locks, but we were in a hurry so continued up the other side of the loch, mostly slowly stuck behind tourist coaches on the slow and windy roads. We stopped at Uruquart Castle to take a couple of pics but then sped back to Inverness in order to catch the road up to the Cairngorns. The road was surprisingly speedy and we went past Aviemore in no time. The mountains were also much higher than I had expected and half covered
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Day 7 - John o'Groats to Loch Ness

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Thur sday 09/05/2019 ------------------------------------ It was freezing last night, literally, at John o'Groats. The wind made it difficult to stay out after dark so after a warming shower it was time to wrap-up warm and sleep. We all slept well like dead men after yesterday's exersion and woke to sunshine. We watched the piper play at John o' Groats, had a great fry-up breakfast, did the tourist shops and packed-up just before the rain started. The rain wasn't bad, it was on/off all day. We saw the ruins of loads of cool castles along the way and rode into Ackergill to see the tower / ruins and a better preserved castle opposite. We then rode into Wick but kept moving as it had started raining again. We rode-up to Dunrobin Castle which was styled on the palace of Versailles and quite different to the other castles in the area and has beautiful gardens and grounds. We didn't do the whole tour we just took a couple of snaps and rode-on along the scenic rou
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