Day 11 - Trial by flies

Distance: 37 miles

A slow start to today. Breakfast at Kylesku Hotel was just as delicious as dinner last night; smoked salmon with scrambled egg. We passed an hour or so by the slipway; Rosie had a paddle in the water and I saw to a slow puncture in my rear tyre and took the opportunity to replace my rather worn brake pads.

We set out north from Kylesku with the full intention of taking it easy today. Unfortunately the road had other plans for us, with a number of steep climbs appearing in succession. Normally these wouldn't have presented much of a challenge to us but we were definitely feeling a significant cumulative fatigue given this was our third day in succession of cycling.

There was one bit of good news however, the insect repellent in the new sunblock we'd bought in Ullapool appeared to hold off the horse flies; they'd land, but immediately take off again without biting.

This good fortune held until just after lunchtime when we began our final ascent to a place called Gaulin House before our run down to the northern coast and Durness. It was at this point that our invertebrate pursuers got really hungry and invited all their friends to a party.

The sun was beating down mercilessly, the wind was behind us so the air around us was completely stagnant and it was just full of flies; flies that weren't going to let a little repellent get in the way of their lunch. We were exhausted, but the only way to escape was to keep going.

False summit followed false summit, and still the road continued to climb to our horizon. Worse still the road was single track, so we had to keep stopping for vehicles coming the other way. Never have I felt so demoralised to see that I have yet further to go.

The turning point came quite unexpectedly in the form of a headwind; all of a sudden a gentle breeze began to blow from the north. The road was still climbing, but the gradient was much gentler and we were able to reach a speed that made it impossible for the flies to keep up with us. It was an enormous relief to escape from them, and this feeling turned to elation as the road began to descend and we could see Durness in the distance, 8 miles away and all downhill.

The hostel and the pub where we found dinner were both incredibly basic, but it was all well earned and we were grateful.

Now for some serious rest and recuperation!