Caravans

Ride & Stride – Day 8: Wednesday 14 September – BRORA to EVANTON (61 miles)

As we approach the final leg of our Ride & Stride challenge it’s worth making a few comments on the NC500 route itself. On cycles and when running or walking it has not always been easy, especially on the busier sections where, we are told, the numbers of camper-vans and motor-homes have proliferated post-lockdown as Brits have discovered increasingly the beauty of Scotland. We can certainly vouch for that; even those of us who have done parts of the route before have been astounded by some of the sights we have seen in the last week or so. However you travel the rewards are plentiful, so give it a go, preferably in the off-peak times of the year, and be sure to book accommodation (and even dinner) well in advance!

Back to today’s Ride & Stride activities. Once more, we have been blessed with mostly dry weather, just a couple of showers of fine rain this morning. It has been a little cooler too these last couple of days, and we also had a tricky headwind today for myself and the runners on our 10 miles to Balnacoil, and for the cyclists on the first section of their 51 miles today, as far as Lairg. We have deviated inland from the strict NC500 route, adding a lot of additional distance but avoiding the heavier traffic, and the caravans, on the A9. This proved to be a good call, as we had a wonderful walk and run up the valley of the River Brora, then alongside Loch Brora, before a final stretch up Strath Brora. The changing light throughout and the occasional drizzle all added to the experience:

After completing the walk I drove the van to Lairg, where the cyclists were polishing off lunch before their onward ride to Evanton, whilst overlapping briefly with the jubilant runners winding down from their daily exertion.

Later in the afternoon, after the cyclists had completed a gruelling and wet sector over the hills from Bonar Bridge, we all met up at the Novar Arms in Evanton, our overnight pit-stop. We even had two new arrivals – Peter’s wife Alexis made a surprise visit, and our Ride & Stride team leader Julian completed a seven-train ‘Great Railway Journey’ from Buckinghamshire, via Paddington, King’s Cross, Edinburgh, Perth and Inverness to nearby Alness! Now a group of eleven, we met for supper and a couple of drams after.

Also known as ‘The Caravan Song’, today’s Blog heading is taken from a Mike Batt composition recorded by Dunfermline’s Barbara Dickson, from her 1982 album ‘All For A Song’. There is also an interesting link between Barbara Dickson and Gerry Rafferty; they were good friends, and after his early death Dickson recorded a tribute album, ‘To Each And Everyone – The Songs Of Gerry Rafferty’. Purely as a Blog heading ‘Caravans’ is a little contrived perhaps, but the song sits well in my Ride & Stride playlist!