We'd done well with the Diamond Creek
"Destroyer" and self having demolished about 10 courses on our way to desert ! Amazingly despite the menu being advertised as all you can eat - we were told we could only have 1 small lump of ice cream in our bowl despite the 3 we asked for !
This was easy to fix as we just simply ordered the ice cream 3 times with bowls littering our table ! H decided to make a point or two by also ordering a few more entrees to follow !
We paid up and walked the 200 metres back to our guest house. I asked H along the way what his fortune said in his fortune cookie but he'd apparently eaten it with the cookie !
Getting back to the hotel we realised that neither of us had the key so while I walked back to the Chinese H pounded on the locked front door eventually scaring a couple of residents into opening the door thankfully instead of ringing the police ! Yes the key was still sitting back on the dinner table !
With the nights hijinx behind us it was time to get back on the bike but H still recovering from his Kamikaze downhill ride 3 days back decided his wound (see gruesome pic) needed some airing to assist it to dry. The mental image of Henley walking around naked was enough to motivate me to go cycling by myself !
After researching some possible routes I settled on a section of the Dava Trail a 30 mile trail across moorland from Granton to Forres serving as an important rail link from 1860-1960's.
The trail is predominantly a walking trail but it is described as cyclable which after 15 minutes I thought was a load of bull until I realized I'd started on the wrong trail amidst brambles and stinging nettles !
Back on the trail proper the off road surface varied from smooth to rock filled, to narrow grass channels, to a path that went through forests and undergrowth !.
The historical markers en route provided an interesting backdrop including a lord who only gave permission for the rail line to pass through his property if he could have his own embarkation point, to the discovery of a 200 year old skeleton in a barren section of the moor to an area where railway carriages were stuck and buried in 15 ft snow drifts resulting in passengers having to be rescued - looking around the bleak landscape it was easy to believe !
I turned around after 10 miles having embedded my handlebars in my groin after my pedals caught the trail edge and headed back into very strong headwinds across open moorland to Grantown
This was the same way that my wife Monika and i cycled in 2011 providing me a reminder of her great effort in similar conditions.
Finally back in Granton i checked on the injured one to see that he'd been spending most of his day reading trying to help along the healing process and reduce his carrying weight !
We couldn't even go up and watch the cricket in the local pub with the resident Scots settling instead for the Scottish football !
Tomorrow sees us heading off to Inverness our so called finish line on our Northwards UK journey.
From there we head south over the course of a couple of days to meet up with friends to cycle around the lovely New Forest area near , Bournemouth for an epilogue effort before Kev heads home after 3 months and I head off for one final effort to go cycling in the Indian Himalayas !
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