Thursday afternoon here in action-packed Inverness!!! Woke up late to find out from Moira (our lovely hostess at Braehead House) that there had been a big fire in the centre of Inverness last night (Click here for SFRS details). Across the road from Braehead House is a roofless two-storey building reinforced with scaffolding – when I asked Moira she said that it used to be a hostel until it mysteriously burnt down about eight years ago. The house used to belong to the town’s engineer, and would have been beautiful in its prime. Next to Braehead, overlooking the River Ness below, is a very stately home dating back to the 1840’s, complete with cannon in the front garden.
Managed to upload some video today of our ride to Applecross – check out the six minute video here “The Pass of the Cattle”
Had a lovely breakfast this morning (bacon & poached eggs), played with Archie a bit, and then caught a taxi to A&E for Karen’s appointment today. The decision was made to not change the dressing today, so we’ll return tomorrow to see Christine in the plastics section. Had a lovely walk back to Braehead – it’s a 30 minute stroll, and Karen had a brief rest before we wandered into town for a lunch of tomato and basil soup at a small bakery off the main street. I purchased a cheap copy of Colette Coleman’s “Great Motorcycle Tours of Europe” whilst Karen spoiled herself with a shampoo and blow dry – all carefully performed so as to not irritate her wounds. Colette Coleman’s previous book “Great Motorcycle Journeys of the World” is a great read and occupied a favoured spot on my bookshelf for years – the 2014 “Tours of Europe” is a worthy companion and possibly of more practical relevance to riders here in the UK. Having a quick look the book at the hairdressers I can safely say that we’ve already tackled some of the best roads and/or riding areas in Scotland and England, and our plans for Wales, Ireland and Europe are well placed to take in some of the best rides in the world – bring them on !!!!
We wandered past the fire crews still hosing down the smoldering building, and then stopped at the Castle Tavern on the way home for a pint of beer and some crisps. It’s almost 5pm now and Karen is in some bad pain with her burns – hopefully they’ll start to feel better soon …
