Said goodbye to the friendly family at the B&B. The landlady will be trying to do 5 Monroes in 48 hours next weekend. We reached the first hill on our route and the downpour started. We stopped to dry off at Crask Inn - very isolated, but very interesting and friendly with a wood stove and built about 1810. We made friends with a couple of equally wet Belgian cyclists (Jean and Jacqueline, Flemish with French names). The owners keep highland cattle as well as running the inn. There is a Sustrans sculpted way marker outside the inn. We rode on to Altanahara Hotel for some soup - clay pigeon shooting outside. Suddenly the weather improved and we were riding through the most beautiful scenery: a wide space of cotton grass and heather with mountains outlined against a light blue sky. Stopped by Loch Loyal with Ben Loyal towering above us. Arrived in Tongue with a marvellous panorama of the Kyle in front of us. We had a long search for a B&B as the landladies were all out. Eventually found a nice one in a small farm with a lovely view of Ben Loyal. We walked to the small castle with a good view over the Kyle. Meal at Tongue Hotel where we met lots of people (fishermen from West Hamstead and party of children on backs of tandems), then had a drink with our Belgian friends, who are camping.
 The Crask Inn |
 Sustrans way mark by Crask Inn |
 View north of Altanahara |
 Loch Loyal |
 View from the castle of Kyle |
 Kyle of Tongue |
 Ben Loyal from our B&B |
 The B&B at Tongue |
B&B: Mrs. I. McKim, Inchverry, Tongue, Sutherland IV27 4XF. 01847 611312
Lairg-Tongue, Total 321(40 today)
| Back to the index |