The first half day (or the best of times and the worst of times)

A good full English and 2 cups of tea started the day well and the guys we
met last night from Exeter were heading off at about the same time, but
they had to go to JOG first.

So the A99 out of wick is reasonably quiet and flat so allowed us a good
pace - we saw off the first 20 miles quite quickly - then it turned into
the A9 at latheron and we were met by the berry dale brace (not sure if
I've spelt that right) there's a picture, but I'm not really sure it
captures how steep it was.

After a long hard slog over many hills (someone said this bit was flat!) we
got to helmsdale where we decided to another 10 miles to stop at brora for
lunch. It was hard going as we were both out of snacks and running empty,
but we made it and pulled in at the local shop to stock up on supplies and
ask the owner where was good to eat in this little town. He said there
wasn't anything other than a pizza place in the station, but there was a
nice chippy in the next town about 6 miles away. Disappointed, we gathered
ourselves and prepared for another 6 miles. We rode all of 100 feet when we
came across the Sutherland inn with a sign outside saying 'hot and cold
food available all day', we cursed the shopkeeper quickly and headed in for
a very good scampi and chips.

Dave is currently being shown how to use his camelbak by the waitress at
the hotel.

We've got about another 40 miles until we hit alness.