Yesterday was a long drive, leaving Torridon at 9am on empty stomache. Given how much exercise we have done with the resultant calory deficit this was not a great plan. The obligatory whiskey tasting the night before had gone on longer than planned and in fact had only ended when my younger and wiser ( perhaps more battle hardened) partners had led me away from the bar. I think that saved me a significant wad of money as I had drunk just enough to completely disconnect my frontal lobe from any activity that was taking place elsewhere in my brain.
Anyway, the result of all that was a return to the youth hostel that was too late to order breakfast.. Needless to say, by the time we did have breakfast the appetites were well honed.
We had a scenic drive back bathed in the afterglow of a massive input of calories of the worst kind. Inverness and then past the Cairngorms, central Scotland with its softer country but still ever present Lochs and finally into Glasgow in the late afternoon.
Lots of time for reflection.
I am very blessed. I have a wife who encourages me to go on these little adventures. I have great friends, not just Ben and Stef with whom I am able to create these life long memories.
We have had a great week of riding, communing with nature, eating, drinking modestly and laughing till the tears rolled.
Nothing is perfect and so we have had the opportunity to feed the midges of which I have not yet spoken. Mother Nature does not like perfection and therefore there are midges( or sand flies or mosquitos or flies or whatever other bug). The midges gave us something to talk about when there was nothing else. They still remind me now with a million itchy bites needing to be clawed.
So, the first week of our trip us over. Ben and I are now in Dublin. He is sick and I am reduced to mopping his fevered brow and gently lifting his head to trickle Guiness through parched lips. Man flu is not easy. For women, think labour with a fever. And, unlike labour, there is no one to rub your back in the bath.
Depending on how riveting our days in Dublin are I may continue to write.
The pictures today are from our entire trip.
Dublin must be good because you are quiet!
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