Aviemore

July 15, 2019

Last night's campsite, the Spey Bridge Caravan Park, only cost five quid. The least we have paid so far has been ten quid but this site was full value for money plus a bit more. It was simple but clean, tidy and very quiet. I would be happy to find sites like this every day.

We had two options today. We could cycle the seventy kilometers to Auchnahillin, a campsite recommended to us by Elizabeth and Paul, or make a short day of it and cycle to just past Aviemore. It would normally have been logical to take the first option but we awoke to the most wonderfully sunny of mornings and felt we couldn't waste it by spending much of the day in the saddle.

Two Danish cyclists, Lou and Henrietta, had arrived in the campsite yesterday evening so we sat together while eating breakfast and had a long natter. This is their first cycle touring holiday and it didn't get off to the best start. On their first day, in Edinburgh, their expensive bicycles werew stolen. They bought some budget replacements so that they could carry on with their holiday, which is a two month tour through the UK and back to Denmark via France using trains to make up time. The next night, some French cyclists camping at the same campsite as them also had their bicycles stolen. I guess we should be more security aware.

Soon after leaving the campsite we stumbled upon the Ruthven Barracks, one of four identical barracks built during the Jacobite uprisings. Here we bumpoed into two English cycle tourists whom we had met at the base of the yesterday's long climb.

After that we spent an hour or so at the RSPB hides on the Insh Marshes before carrying on to Aviemore on National Cycle Route 7 via lovely quiet country roads.

One of the lovely tributaries of the River Spey which we crossed today.

Aviemore was a bit of a shock to the system being wall to wall with holiday makers and tourists. Our campsite just north of the town, although quite small, it not much different. I am sure we will survive.

Today's ride: 38 km (24 miles)
Total: 2,177 km (1,352 miles)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	3
Comment on this entry	Comment	0