Today was the day we climbed heart break hill,the toughest hill on the LEJOG.
After a reasonable night I was already up at 5.30am.I tried to be as quiet as possible but unfortunately I woke up Matt who asked me for god's sake how many zipps my travelbag had and shortly after James wondered whether I was playing space invaders when I was checking the settings on my pocket camera.
They are a good bunch really and all was said with tongue in cheek.
Breakfast was made by staff and a few lejoggers and the porridge and full english went down a treat.
We set off just after 8.It was chilly and windy but dry(for the moment).Unfortunately the wind was a headwind coming from the NE and this was going to hamper us all day.
We soon past Invergarry and stopped at on old bridge on our way to Fort Augustus.
It was at Fort Augustus that we saw our first glimpse of Loch Ness but as the weather was very bad I didn't take any photo's of it.
1st Waterstop was at 29m at Drumnadrochit.We decided to stop at the coffeeshop across the road.In there they did a Simpsons-like hot chocolate and with the cold rain now coming down this was most welcome.
After our coffee stop we headed for Heartbreak Hill,a 1.5m hill with an average gradient of 8.7% and a few ramps with gradients of 20%.Phillip and I managed to scale this beast of a climb successfully.
Jim unfortunately was less successfull but his excuse was that in Ireland the hills are not as steep and not long as this one.I think the real excuse is Jim's cassette which only has a 22 as biggest cog!
We stopped for a couple of photos at the summit and with temperatures now close to freezing we quickly moved on.
After passing through Beauly we headed for Dingwall where lunch was at 52m.Lunch was in the carpark of a leisure centre.
After lunch it was straight uphill again and once over the top we had another 20m to do in now strong headwinds and exposed terrain.We took it in turns and after a brief stop at the 2nd waterstop saying hello to Jo we made our way to Tain where we arrived around 3pm.
In Tain Phillip and I are staying on the edge of town in the Morangie Hotel.Diner is at the Royal Tain Hotel in the centre of town.
Today:distance 76.93m,moving time 5hr30min,avg speed 13.8mph,max speed 35.3mph,elevation 3875ft
Total distance 867m,total moving time 58hr45min,total elevation 36054ft
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