In Nairn we met Grant Stevenson, one of Gary's oldest friends and someone he doesn't get to see very often. So we stopped for coffee and cake at the Harbour cafe. It had to be a bit of a flying visit as we had out last high mileage day to complete.
The road from Nairn to Inverness was a busy A road and probably the worst one so far on the whole trip for traffic. So we just pressed on and tried to get along it as fast as we could. At least the sun was out and visibility was good.
Just before Inverness we turned right over the Kessock Bridge to the Black Isle.
We stopped briefly to admire the view and as if on cue several bottle nosed dolphins came out to play.
Rather than take the busy A9 any further we opted for the CTC alternative route across the Black isle to Cromarty to get the ferry to Nigg.
It was a lovely ride in the sunshine with views of the Cromarty firth although we had to battle with headwinds for the last 10 miles or so.
I had imagined it to be more remote and barren than it was. It was mostly arable land and quite busy with people.
Arriving in Cromarty we found a man in the queue for the ferry who told us it had broken down and they were trying to fix it. In fact the turntable that turns vehicles around had broken so it had been operational all morning without that and cars just reversed off. Everyone seemed hopeful that it could be repaired and would be making the next journey shortly. We were asked to check back in 30 mins. It was 16.00hrs and we were hungry anyway so we headed off for a bite to eat. The choices were limited with only half an hour so we had to make do with a bag of peanuts from the local pub. We only had 25 miles left once we got across to the other side.
The update was good, the ferry would be leaving at 17.30hrs so we went back and ordered a fresh homemade pizza from a little organic cafe. With the hunger satiated we rejoined the queue and chatted to others waiting. A couple who's car was on the other side. A family of cyclists who's car was also in Nigg and numerous other people in similar situations. At 17.30hrs there was no sign of the ferry and at 17.50hrs we were told it wouldn't be going anywhere.
Our hearts sank as time wasn't on our side and now we had alot more miles to do. However we we had eaten and the choices were limited. We couldn't find any other boats or vans willing to give us a lift (I offered quite large sums!). So rather than waste more time we decided to just get on with it. We weren't going to let this ruin our trip.
At least the wind was in our favour on the ride back to the A9 bridge which crosses at the other end of the black isle. Then a short spell on the main road headed north and we had a choice. 35 miles along the coast on flat roads with fast traffic at a constant speed or 23 miles across the moor with 'a climb'. I was happy to do either but with light fading fast we had to move quickly. We decided to take the shortcut as we had got a little local knowledge from people in the ferry queue about the roads. As it happened it wasn't much of a climb and there was a decent fast descent on the other side bit it was misty and twilight as we dropped into Bonar Bridge and we arrived eventually at about 21.00hrs. The pub finished food at 20.30hrs but Sheila our host called the Crannag bistro a few doors down to explain and see if they would make us something.
We Walked in and were met at the door by our hosts "don't worry relax, we will sort you out food" was all I heard before I knew we had found our heros for the day.
We sat at the bar chatting with a cold beer while they made us fresh smoked haddock risotto.
The food was fantastic the service exemplary and I cannot recommend these people highly enough. If this bistro were in London it would take you a month to get a table. The beauty if it is that it's not in London though, it's in a tiny linear village on the road to John O'Groats.
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